The Dismantling Doctrine Podcast

This week's guest is Julie Anne Smith, known primarily for her blogging and activism through the Spiritual Sounding Board blog. Julie Anne not only works hard to expose church abuses of all kinds--sexual as well as spiritual--she is herself a survivor, having come through the ranks as a former Christian homeschooling mom. She subsequently began to deconstruct and question a lot of the indoctrination she received through Christian homeschooling curriculum and conferences. In this wide-ranging and informative chat, we cover everything from Bill Gothard, RJ Rushdoony, Michael Farris of the HSLDA, and how the whole movement somehow...is all linked together under the concept of "Christian dominionism." Help Support Independent Media Like MindShift Podcast on Patreon! Contact Details Follow Julie Anne on Twitter @DefendTheSheep Follow me on Twitter @MindShift2018

This special bonus episode features a conversation with journalist and author Angela Denker, whose recent book Red State Christians: Understanding the Voters who Elected Donald Trump takes a much more personal look at Trump Christian voters in America. Beyond being a journalist and author, Angela is also a Lutheran pastor--and after seeing the disruptive effect of the Trump vote in 2016 on her own church members, and watching it nationwide for the last 3+ years, she's concerned for the future of Christianity in light of the widespread evangelical Trump support. Thus her book seeks to understand what motivated many Trump-supporting Christians in America who often don't receive a lot of media coverage. While you may not entirely share her concern, perhaps her book will open up dialogue between Trump-supporting Christians and those who don't--which can only be a good thing, given the incredibly polarized state of America today. Help Support MindShift Podcast on Patreon! Contact Information Follow Angela on Twitter @Angela_Denker Follow me on Twitter @MindShift2018

This week's guest is Rob Boston, senior editor of Church and State and long-time prolific writer for the organization Americans United for the Separation of Church & State. Rob has been with AU for more than 30 years, and in that time he's written extensively on not only church and state, but on exposing--and debunking, in some cases--many of the key leaders of the Christian Right and Christian nationalist movements. In this episode, Rob and I cover a wide range of topics related to the importance of maintaining the separation of church and state, which a great number of Christian nationalists have been working to batter down for decades now. Why should you be concerned, or for that matter, care about this topic? I think you will after listening in! Support Independent Media like MindShift Podcast on Patreon Contact Information Follow Rob on Twitter @RobBoston1 Find his articles on the AU Website Follow me on Twitter @MindShift2018

In this special bonus episode, I'm happy to share my interview of Kristin Kobes Du Mez, author of an outstanding book released on Tuesday, the 23rd of June 2020, and timed to coincide with its release. Titled Jesus and John Wayne: How White Evangelicals Corrupted a Faith and Fractured a Nation, the book explores the legacy of "evangelical masculinity"--and chronicles how, in the last century or so, white evangelicals have been on a quest to "reclaim their lost manhood." We'll cover not only how this movement came about and how it developed most clearly over the last 40 years, but also discuss the legacy of this movement--biblical patriarchy, along with its numerous abuses and scandals. This is also the legacy that led to that infamous 81% of white evangelicals voting for Trump in 2016. Find out more about the book on Amazon Follow Kristin on Twitter @kkdumez Follow me on Twitter @MindShift2018 Support Independent Media Like MindShift Podcast on Patreon

This week's episode features an information-packed chat with Dr Milton Gaither, widely considered one of America's foremost leading experts on the subject of Christian homeschooling. Dr Gaither wrote the book on the subject--literally. His 2008 book Homeschool: An American History (revised in 2017) contains a wealth of information not just on the development of homeschooling in general, but specifically Christian homeschooling. This is the subject we spend the most time unpacking and exploring. Why does this topic matter? Generally speaking, much of the Christian homeschool movement today has been influenced by the work of RJ Rushdoony, "the father of Christian Reconstructionism." Why does that matter? Listen in to find out why! Support Independent Media like MindShift Podcast on Patreon Dr Gaither's Homeschooling Research Notes site Contact Information Follow me on Twitter @MindShift2018

This week we are taking another break from talking about dominion theology and Christian nationalism to focus on a topic I've dealt with a lot in the past--how to reconstruct your life, and rebuild, after leaving one's faith or religious beliefs behind. My guest this week is David, host of "The Graceful Atheist" podcast. We have a fantastic discussion comparing notes both as ex-pastors who walked away from our former Christian beliefs, but are still doing a lot of "pastoral" work--helping others who have deconstructed, or are thinking about starting the process. You'll find this a helpful and informative episode that covers a lot of ground! Help Support the Show on Patreon Contact Details Follow David on Twitter @GracefulAtheist Follow me on Twitter @MindShift2018 Like the MindShift Podcast Facebook Page

In this special episode, I'm chatting with author, ex-evangelical and now atheist, John Loftus. John is the author of the recent book The Case Against Miracles, an anthology that aims to discuss miracles from a scholarly point of view. Along with several other noted academics, John takes aim at this topic, seeking not only to define miracles--but to ask whether or not there is even evidence to believe that such a thing exists. Support MindShift Podcast on Patreon John Loftus's Website Debunking Christianity Contact Details Follow John on Twitter @loftusjohnw Follow me on Twitter @MindShift2018

I apologize in advance for the long title, but when you hear this show, I promise it will be worth the listen! This week's guests are the legendary returning guests, Conway & Siegelman. They wrote the hugely important and influential books Snapping in 1978 and then, just a few years later, came out with Holy Terror. With their incredible, on-the-ground field research, they were among the first to track and study in depth the "cult phenomenon" of the 1970s, and then later the rise of the Christian Right in the late 1970s-80s. In this episode we'll cover a lot of ground, so strap yourself in and hold on! Support MindShift Podcast on Patreon http://patreon.com/mindshiftpodcast Contact Conway & Siegelman http://stillpointpress.net Follow Me on Twitter @MindShift2018

Off the back of a recent Medium article I recently wrote on this subject, I decided to riff on this topic and so turn it into a podcast episode on its own. In this episode, I describe what life was like for me, growing up as a loyal foot soldier in "The Lord's Army." Thoroughly indoctrinated by my church and Christian school experiences alike, I had never heard the names of influencers like RJ Rushdoony and others who later came along and helped spread his Christian Reconstructionist and dominion agenda. If you grew up in church, or attended a Christian school--then you'll resonate with this bonus episode. Follow me on Twitter @MindShift2018

This week's guest is sociologist and author Sam Perry, who co-wrote the book together with Dr Andrew Whitehead Taking America Back for God: Christian Nationalism in the United States. What makes their book on Christian nationalism different? The authors take a sociological approach to the subject, distilling data from nationwide surveys on religion, to uncover the motives and inspiration behind Christian nationalism. Along the way, they discovered some fairly disturbing trends about what's going on in the intersection of evangelical Christianity and the American political scene today. Support the work of MindShift Podcast on Patreon Contact Details Follow Sam Perry on Twitter @socofthesacred Follow me on Twitter @MindShift2018 Like the MindShift Podcast Facebook Page