TheThinkingAtheist Kayse Melone: Deconstructing
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Dec 12, 2025 Kayse Melone, an ex-evangelical turned secular humanist activist, shares her journey from a strict fundamentalist upbringing to embracing secular ideas. She discusses the deep-rooted patriarchy and purity culture she faced as a girl, and the disorientation that followed her loss of faith. Kayse also connects evangelical teachings to political ideologies, emphasizing the importance of dismantling these beliefs. She highlights her path to reclaiming femininity through tattoos while coping with the void left by her deconversion and the challenge of missing her former community.
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Raised In A Fundamentalist Bubble
- Kayse Melone recounts being raised in an evangelical fundamentalist household, school, and church in Tulsa, Oklahoma.
- She believed literally in the Bible and experienced daily reinforcement through school and church until college expanded her perspective.
Literalism Shaped Daily Life
- Kayse explains fundamentalism meant literal Bible interpretation, creationism, and rapture anxiety.
- That literalism shaped constant end-of-world expectations and daily life decisions in her community.
Gendered God, Gendered Roles
- Kayse describes gendered theology that framed divinity as male and led girls to associate masculinity with divinity.
- This upbringing produced hierarchical treatment of boys and girls and long-lasting effects on women's roles.
