Episode 9 in the serial season called ‘Farewell Evangelicalism’. In this episode, we lay the groundwork for the embodied work ahead when we lose a core element to our being. We name pathways to help process leaving church, including the loss of community and the mountain of grief that follows. A lot of Christianity tends to shy away from the hard things; it’s time to be honest about the road towards healing from religious trauma, grief, and loss.

Episode 9 Show Notes

(00:00) Introduction with Rohadi on grief and loss. (04:24) Grief Coach – Mandy Capehart (32:00) Intro Meghan Crozier (46:00) Losing community after leaving church community. (56:20) Components that help grieve. (59:00) Cautions for folks entering the deconstruction space.

Featuring your host, Rohadi (from Rohadi.com)

Rohadi’s books can be found here, including his latest publication, When We Belong. Reclaiming Christianity on the Margins. Visit his online church community: https://abeautifultable.ca/

Mandy Capehart – Grief Coach and Podcaster Mandy Capehart (she/her/hers) is the founder of the Restorative Grief model. Find more about Mandy and her coaching program at https://www.mandycapehart.com/. Find her latest podcast episodes and her publication on grief.

Meghan Crozier – Community Catalyst and Podcaster Visit Meghan over at The Pursuing Life! Meghan lives in the Pacific Northwest. Meghan curates space to help folks wrestle with questions on deconstruction and what spiritual growth looks like. She writes about topics like faith deconstruction, spirituality, equity, justice, race, mental health, and religion. She also explore the same themes and topics on the Thereafter Podcast with my good friend and co-host, Cortland Coffey.

Bumper music by Daniel Wheat; Intro by Jesse Peters

Find Dr. Hillary McBride’s Holy Hurt podcast.

Featuring: Rohadi Nagassar, Janice Lagata, LetGregLive, Kristian A. Smith

Episode 8. We venture through the land of deconstruction through a Black and brown church experience. Although this serial series is entitled, ‘Farewell Evangelicalism’, it’s unfair to suggest only evangelicals are susceptible to both white supremacist formation, and contributing to the political nonsense we’re currently experience through their tacit support of conservative/Republican candidates.

In this episode we hear from Janice Lagata who shares her story about the eventual implosion of Hillsong New York. Followed by Greg, who provides some insight on the work of deconstruction and decolonization out of a Black church experience. Lastly, Kristian A Smith and Rohadi shoot the breeze outlining what faith looks like beyond white hegemony. All this and more, episode 8.

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Featuring the voices of: Rohadi, Scott Coley, Lamar Hardwick, and Robert G Callahan

Episode 7 on white supremacy, a crucial conversation for churchgoers, particularly white churchgoers, to generate awareness to the ways white supremacist thinking invades thought and beliefs. Indeed, white supremacist theology is in the DNA, a feature not an add-on, of nearly every denomination across the Americas. We’ll try to pinpoint some of the most egregious forms in this episode, with a hope that listeners will become alert to the ways you own formation/beliefs are filtered through racist understandings of the world around us.

We discuss biblical examples used to support white superiority and how common they are; learn how ableism is a precursor to white supremacy; and end with naming the weird in white evangelicalism, with a side of hopeful alternatives to find your way out.

Show Notes:

(00:00) – Welcome (01:00) – Rohadi introduces to white supremacy and why it matters to interrogate our formation, from 2020, CRT, to DEI. (10:40) – Scott Coley describes one mechanism of malformed hermeneutics; how to twist the Bible to fit white supremacist narratives. (19:00) – Intro to Lamar Hardwick and how ableism fuels racist views. (24:00) – Intro to Robert G Callahan (25:40) – Robert Callahan speaks to his experience in Texas. (27:45) – Robert describes all of the ‘weird’ in white evangelical churches. (54:00) – Unpacking righteous anger. (1:00:00) – Outro

Featuring your host, Rohadi (from Rohadi.com)

Rohadi’s books can be found here, including his latest publication, When We Belong. Reclaiming Christianity on the Margins.

Guests in Episode 7

Scholar/Author – Scott Coley Scott Coley Scott M. Coley holds a Ph.D. in philosophy from Purdue University, a Master’s degree in systematic theology from the University of Notre Dame, and a B.A. in philosophy and English from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. His research interests include philosophy of religion, moral epistemology and political philosophy. His book is entitled, Ministers of Propaganda: Truth, Power, and the Ideology of the Religious Right from Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing.

Author/Pastor – Lamar Hardwick Dr. Hardwick is a father, husband, pastor, and author. He holds a Master of Divinity degree from Emory University as well as a Doctor of Ministry degree from Liberty University School of Divinity. He is a graduate of the Yale School of Divinity Clergy Scholar Program and a 2017 graduate of Georgia Forward’s Young Gamechangers Program, which included 50 of the state of Georgia’s top thinkers, innovators, and leaders under the age of 40. He is currently a PhD at Union Institute and University in Cincinatti, Ohio. Find him on Instagram

Author/Attorney – Robert Callahan Robert Callahan is a prolific writer and accomplished attorney, dedicated to his practice at Callahan & King in the heart of Waco, Texas. He earned a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science from Gonzaga University and a Juris Doctorate at Baylor University School of Law, where he now serves as adjunct professor of Integrating Faith and Legal Practice. His latest book is called, Fire in the Whole: Embracing Our Righteous Anger with white Christianity and Reclaiming Our Wholeness.

Bumper music by Rubix; Intro by Jesse Peters

Let’s settle in friends for some quiet time…. Just kidding. Episode 6 in this serial series interrogating the malformed pillars in evangelicalism is here. We examine one of the most important elements in evangelical belief systems–perhaps THE most important religious icon–the Bible.

Evangelicals claim the Bible has supreme authority in designing beliefs. It’s the “Bible alone”, used with complete disregard for malformed interpretations. You may be wondering why chat about the Bible mid-way through this series and not at the very start. After all, isn’t the Bible central to evangelicalism? It is, but not in the manner you might think. The Bible has been distorted to become a tool for religious propaganda that advances the interests of white evangelicalism. In other words, the Bible is used to define conservative and white supremacist worldviews, and believers stuck in the pew of these churches must adopt specific interpretations or risk being excommunicated (if evangelicals had such a thing.) Malformed beliefs like biblical inerrancy and literalism are not, ironically, biblical, yet are core attributes used to keep the faithful in line.

Let’s talk about it, Episode 6 is here.

(00:00-01:00) Introduction (02:30) Rohadi on why we’re interrogating the validity of biblical tradition in evangelicalism. (02:33-14:00) Quiet time. Just kidding. Unpacking the ways evangelicals twist the Bible to fit their own devices. (14:00-20:05) Unpacking one of the malformed pillars is used to justify: Patriarchy w/ Liz Jenkins. (20:05-22:00) Intro to Ryan Canty – Author of Deweaponize. (22:00-24:20) Naming malformed pillars including inerrancy and the Chicago Statement (24:20-33:00) Unpacking the Chicago Statement with Liz Grant (33:40) Ways evangelicals distort scripture using literalism wrong. (40:11) Rohadi and authoritarianism and the Bible. (43:40) Ryan on, What are the possibilities of change? (50:15) Possibilities of how we can reclaim biblical interpretation with Liz Grant. (59:50) Liz Jenkins with the final word on interpretation. (1:02:02) Outro

Featuring your host, Rohadi (from Rohadi.com).

Rohadi’s books can be found here, including his latest publication, When We Belong. Reclaiming Christianity on the Margins.

Special Guests in Episode 6:

Ryan Canty – Author of Deweaponize. Re-examining how we read the Bible in pursuit of a more Christlike interpretation Former Calvinist theology nerd on a journey to de-weaponize the Bible and love others like Jesus. Find him on Substack | Instagram

Liz Charlotte Grant – Author of KNOCK AT THE SKY: Seeking God in Genesis After Losing Faith in the Bible. Liz is an award-winning nonfiction writer based in Colorado, USA. She is also an online columnist for The Christian Century. Her essays and op-eds have also been published in outlets such as the Huffington Post, Religion News Service, the Revealer, Hippocampus Magazine, Brevity, Sojourners, Christianity Today, US Catholic, National Catholic Reporter, and elsewhere. Find Liz on Instagram and Threads

Liz Jenkins – Author of Nice Churchy Patriarchy. If you’d like to read more, check out her now-occasional blog, her Substack, and/or her book Nice Churchy Patriarchy. Find Liz via Instagram: @lizcoolj and @postevangelicalprayers.

Bumper music by Daniel Wheat.

This episode is about propaganda: the mechanisms by which evangelicals and conservative Christians are formed. Evangelicals are suckers for conspiracy (Ep. 3) and are easily swayed by propaganda. The propaganda machine has done masterful job inoculating conservatives from developing worldviews beyond their own enrichment.

In the first half, I invite Scott Coley to help unpack the how and why conservatives tend to accept damaging beliefs and theologies that harm vulnerable people and themselves. Connecting the dots between conservative political aspirations that seek power to preserve white supremacy and patriarchy, and the supprting belief systems in evangelicalism, opens a pathway for folks still in, leaving, or who have already left, to begin making sense of all the weird in the pursuit of freedom and liberation.

“Evangelicals favor morally problematic social arrangements and political policies because they just aren’t thinking about the moral salience of institutions. They tend to focus on individual piety. They tend to not think about institutional injustice. I’ve come to recognize that is an incomplete picture. It’s true, bad belief leads to bad practices, but it’s also true that bad practices lead to bad beliefs. This ‘feedback loop’ is called ideology.” Scott Coley

Later, DL Mayfield joins to discuss one of the most effective propaganda arms in evangelicalism: Focus on the Family. It, along with many others, are key reasons why evangelicals are harbingers of harm to the nation (and the world).

“If you grew up with Dr. Dobson or Focus on the Family parenting methods, then you are a child of a positive eugenics movement. The continuation of the white supremacist patriarchy was the entire goal and they used religion to spread their ideology.” D.L. Mayfield

Episode 4 – Show Notes

(00:00) – Introduction (03:00) – Scott Coley on The Scandal of the Evangelical Mind (05:40) – Why do conservative evangelicals appear to inhabit an alternate reality? (08:40) – Ideology and legitimizing narratives that provide moral justification. (11:47) – Propaganda as mechanism to bring folks into sub-culutre.. (14:30) – On fundamentalism and creation science example. (15:30) – Motivated reasoning and hermeneutics of legitimizing narratives. (21:30) – The pull of ideology, how do you know you’re on the ‘right’ side. (26:30) – Introducing DL Mayfield and Focus on the Family. (29:26) – The Strongwilled Child phenomenom. (31:00) – Focus on the Family is propaganada. (36:00) – Are folks leaving the church over the abuse they experienced as children? (40:38) – James ‘Fucking’ Dobson and white patriarchy. (47:30) – Speaking about estrangement.

Featuring your host, Rohadi (from Rohadi.com).

Rohadi’s books can be found here, including his most recent publication, When We Belong. Reclaiming Christianity on the Margins.

Special guests in Episode 4:

Scholar/Author – Scott Coley Scott Coley Scott M. Coley holds a Ph.D. in philosophy from Purdue University, a Master’s degree in systematic theology from the University of Notre Dame, and a B.A. in philosophy and English from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. His research interests include philosophy of religion, moral epistemology and political philosophy. His book is entitled, Ministers of Propaganda: Truth, Power, and the Ideology of the Religious Right from Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing.

Author/Podcaster – D.L. Mayfield D.L. Mayfield (they/them) is a podcaster and author. After a decade of writing for Christian spaces, they now write primarily about issues of neurodivergence and healing from high-control religion. D.L. and their partner Krispin Mayfield are currently working on a multimedia publishing project entitled STRONGWILLED, which is available on Substack. You can read along here.

Bumper music by Daniel Wheat.

Episode 3 of the Faith in a Fresh Vibe podcast serial series called, Farewell Evangelicalism. There’s an enormous chasm between evangelical thought and praxis, and the actual teachings of Jesus found in the Gospels. We name how evangelical traditions are swayed, methods they use to shape and form malformed belief, and what that does to their overall culture. The primary tool? The widespread application and belief in conspiracy theories. Jared Stacy joins us to share his insights on the ways conspiracy theories are entangled with evangelicalism. We then pivot to name how the reliance on conspiracy theories shapes eangelical culture with guest Dr. Ed Ng. We discuss how the religious right is shaped to stay rooted in fear as a key contributor to belif systems.

“…when it’s ancient we call it a legend, when it’s modern we call it a conspiracy theory. – Jared Stacy”

Episode 3 – Show Notes

(00:00) – Introduction (05:30) – Jared Stacey on a history of conspiracy theory. (12:00) – Conspiracy theory in the 20th century. (19:00) – Naming some of the mechanism propogating conpsiracy in the 20th century. (25:17) – The use of media in consipracy. (29:00) – Introducing Dr. Ed Ng (30:00) – Dr. Ng on Terror Management Theory (37:30) – Describing contirbuting social conditions in the Religious Right. (44:00) – Rugged individualism and Moralistic Therapeutic Deism. (52:00) – Outro

Featuring your host, Rohadi (from Rohadi.com). Special guests in Episode 3:

Theologian/Author – Jared C Stacy Jared Stacy is a theologian and ethicist and former pastor to evangelical churches. He received a PhD in moral & practical theology from the University of Aberdeen in Scotland. His research focuses on the intersection of theology and politics. Specifically on ethics, extremism/conspiracy theory and US evangelicalism. Jared’s work & story has been featured on platforms like TIME, NPR, NBC News, the BBC, and Christianity Today.

Psychologist – Dr. Ed Ng Ed Ng is a Registered Psychologist in private practice in Vancouver and is the founder and director of Eastgate Psychological Services. Ed has taught at Trinity Western University and Regent College in the areas of diversity and counselling. He is also the founder of the Eastgate Project and hosts its podcast, which focuses on the intersections of psychology, theology, and the experiences of the Asian diaspora.

Intro Music by Jesse Peters. Bumper music by Daniel Wheat.

Episode 2 in this serial series called: Farewell Evangelicalism is here.

In this episdoe we begin to peel back to layers of evangelicalism to make sense of how it’s become the broken and malformed expression it is today. When did the wheels fall off? When did evangelicals become white nationalists? It hasn’t always been this way. To get to the ‘how’ evangelicals became associated with various monkers like white nationalism, we must develop cultural context, garnering information to begin naming specific components in the movement that produce harm to the neighborhood, city, and nation, and of course to those stuck within the confines of the four church walls.

The hope for this episode is to help give name to cultural moments when the evil and broken pieces in evangelicalism emerged so more folks can make connections to their own church or belief systems. We go back into time connect the dots between political movements, the use of fear to sway evangelicals, and ways evangelicals have casually sided with white supremacy to inform their beliefs.

Episode 2 – Show Notes

(00:00) – Introduction (00:28) – Setting the Scenes (01:35) – When evangelicals lost the plot. (05:30) – Introducing Scott Okomoto including his time teaching at Aszuza Pacific. (09:00) – When evangelicals swung hard right. (10:20) – How white was APU? Explaining culture and culture shifts. (14:00) – From Bush to Obama and evangelical militancy. (19:45) – Unpacking MAGA. (26:00) – Outro and Intro to Dr. Marlena Graves (20:45) – Unpacking the connections between evangelicals, Republicanism, and white supremacy. (26:15) – History: Moments in the 20th century when evangelicals married Republicans. (39:00) – Connecting the Religious Right movement. (42:50) – Talking about the strategy behind preserving white supremacy. (54:00) – Outro and wrap.

Featuring your host Rohadi Nagassar (rohadi.com) and:

Scott Okomoto – Writer/Podcaster R Scott Okamoto is a writer and musician from Los Angeles. He is passionate about AAPI identity and politics, fly fishing, sex and sexuality, cooking, and religious deconstruction. Scot is the creator and host of the Chapel Probation Podcast and the author of Asian American Apostate: Losing Religion and Finding Myself at an Evangelical University, published by Lake Drive Books.

Dr. Marlena Graves – Professor/Author Marlena received her M.Div. from Northeastern Seminary in Rochester, New York and his pursuing her PhD in American Culture Studies at Bowling Green State University in Bowling Green, OH where she is researching the influence American culture has on Evangelicals’ view of immigration, race, and poverty. Marlena’s book, “The Way Up Is Down” (with IVPress) released in July 2020.

Intro Music by Jesse Peters. Bumper music by Daniel Wheat.