In this second episode we pick up Dana's story from last week: coming out as a transgender woman and having to formulate a plan to do so, without her entire world falling apart. Part 2 continues that story and also develops what happened when she and her spouse decided to talk to the pastor of their church, where they were both heavily involved in leadership. Would either end well? And where is Dana now, in terms of her own faith journey, as well as her transition? Listen in to find out!  

What's it like to grow up in the evangelical church culture, with parents who were pastors, but all the while struggle with your own gender identity? What do you do when you're married with a family, involved in church leadership, yet have the feeling inside that you're not being honest with yourself about your own gender? How does God factor into all of this also? This week we're going to hear exactly what it's like from my friend, Dana Stinson. Making it all the more difficult for Dana was the cognitive dissonance--the conflicted thinking--of trying to balance what the church taught about gender identity and her own, internal feelings and struggles. If you don't know a trans person at all, well...now you do! Listening to another person's experiences and points of view--with an open mind--is one of the best ways to enter into their world and see things from their perspective.

What's it like to attend a Christian school? And what happens if you've never had any experience of Christianity or the Bible? This week's guest, Tim Malins, is an old friend from way back--he moved up from Southern California to Washington State at the tender age of just 12 or 13. We met at the Christian fundamentalist school I and several other church friends attended. This is Tim's story: how fundamentalism affected his mental health; introduced conflicted thinking via the concepts of "secularism;" scared him with end-times prophecy  creationism, and more. He's since become an atheist...

If Jesus of Nazareth did not exist--as the Gospels indicate he did--what are the implications for Christianity? Find out more in Part 2 of my conversation with mythicist and atheist David Fitzgerald, author of Nailed: 10 Christian Myths That Show Jesus Never Existed at All and Jesus: Mything in Action. We explore the implications for Christianity, society, culture, and as a planet. Christianity is losing its best and brightest, most thoughtful and compassionate people--so who will be left to carry the torch? Find out in the second half of our conversation!

Did Jesus of Nazareth actually exist? Believe it or not, this is not the first time this question has been posed by theologians and biblical scholars.  Dating to the 18th and 19th centuries, scholars responding to biblical higher criticism sought to find the "real Jesus of history"--not the Jesus of the Gospels, whom they alleged had been covered up by layers of traditions. But today, mythicist and atheist David Fitzgerald questions whether Jesus even lived at all, or if he was indeed a construct of literary and theological notions. Author of Nailed: 10 Christian Myths that show Jesus Never Existed at All and Jesus: Mything in Action, David searches both the biblical and historical records to see if Jesus ever walked the earth. Join me for the first half of this challenging and thought-provoking discussion!  

Should Christians who believe in "young earth creation" be threatened by the notion of ancient civilizations that predate all major world religions? Only if their own worldview is so narrowly restricted with a literalist reading of the Bible. In the second half of my conversation with Andrew Gurevich of Portland, OR, we somehow tie together: apophatic theology, neurology, politics on the right and left, and paleolithic cave art. How is this possible? I'm not entirely sure myself, but somehow Andrew is able to tie all those seemingly diverse threads together and make it work.  

How does a person go from evangelical Christian, studying at Bible college and seminary, to becoming an angry atheist and now an expert in paleolithic cave art? Believe it or not, this trajectory describes the life of this week's guest: Andrew Gurevich of Portland, OR, USA. A leading mythologist and teacher of world religions, Andrew is fast becoming an expert on not just ancient cave art, but also explores the connections between humanity, religion, spirituality, politics, and tribalism. In this first half, Andrew talks about his upbringing and how it's all come full-circle somehow, in this process of becoming who he is.    

Part 2 of my conversation with "Seamus Clarke" (a pseudonym) continues our exploration of the deconstruction of his Christian faith.  What happens when you mix the childhood trauma of sexual abuse, a distant father with major issues of his own, evangelical dogma, "spiritual bypassing," and life in a red-state, Trump-supporting Bible belt? Let "Seamus" tell his story of a man who is in the process of questioning all these things and more. Adding all those issues up, and then layering a veneer of Christian respectability and platitudes that are supposed to deal with trauma...then what you end up with is a particularly American brand of evangelical Christianity that desperately needs to be deconstructed.

This week's episode of MindShift podcast features a discussion with "Seamus Clarke," who feels the need to use a pseudonym to protect both himself and his family. Why use a fake name? This is actually quite a common theme--people raised in the evangelical or fundamentalist church feel that they cannot "be themselves" and tell their friends and family members still steeped in the church that they've gone down the road of deconstruction and discovery. Seamus is in a similar position...but just because he uses a pseudonym doesn't stop us from having a deep and meaningful conversation about his childhood, experiences of trauma, and how the church badly failed him.      

Today's episode features a discussion with Richard Jacobson, author of Unchurching: Christianity Without Churchianity."  Have you left the church behind? Perhaps you have, but still seek a sense of community. But if you've abandoned the "institutional church," yet still consider yourself a Christian who yearns for an authentic experience of church, where do you turn? Listen in as Richard offers a biblical and theological deconstruction of the institutional church, and lays out his vision of what he believes the church should be all about.