Exvangelical

In this episode, I talk with fellow IMG podcaster Bradley Onishi about how things have developed in the last year since the 2020 election. In that time we've seen Trump's decisive electoral loss, the Jan 6th insurrection, the entrenchment of The Big Lie within the GOP, and vaccine hesitancy. We've also seen reasons for hope. We talk about it all. This is an unedited conversation, recorded live-to-tape on November 4th, 2021.Read Brad's NYT editorial about the insurrection here, and support Straight White American Jesus on Patreon. I'm also writing a book! Read the announcement here. Subscribe to my newsletter at postevangelicalpost.substack.com - 25% of net revenue goes to organizations that serve communities harmed by white evangelicalism. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoicesSupport our show by becoming a premium member! https://www.postevangelicalpost.com/about

This past July marked 5 years of publishing Exvangelical. In this minisode, I describe my new funding/listener support model. Read the full post here.When you support the show via Substack, I will donate 25% of net revenue to organizations that serve populations harmed by white evangelicalism. Those organizations are: White Homework, The Religious Trauma Institute, and REAP (The Religious Exemption Accountability Project). Support the show at $8/month and receive access to ad-free feeds of Exvangelical and Powers & Principalities, and supporter-exclusive writing at The Post-Evangelical Post, with more perks to come in 2022. Learn more at The Post-Evangelical Post.Why this model? Because I think it’s the right thing to do. I am building this from the ground-up with no outside funding, and have an opportunity to build a business model that includes reparative economics from the beginning. My work focuses on the personal & social impact of white evangelicalism. By committing to donate a significant percentage of my net revenue to organizations that serve communities that have been historically harmed by white evangelicalism, I am able to quite literally put my money where my mouth is. Further, I know that I cannot (and should not) try to speak to every potential audience—but I can help to finance the work of others who are better equipped than me to do so.I also acknowledge that the work I do is sensitive, and as a cis white man asking for direct support, it may activate some traumas that my own potential audience of supporters has. So long as we remain a capitalist society that does not provide universal basic income nor universal health care, that will remain an unavoidable tension and reality when I seek direct payment for my output. I hope to address some of that tension through this model.This model isn't perfect, but it is within my capacity to start here and in this manner. Thanks for listening. New episodes coming soon! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoicesSupport our show by becoming a premium member! https://www.postevangelicalpost.com/about

In this episode, I chat with Paul Southwick & Erin Green of The Religious Exemption Accountability Project (REAP). Paul Southwick (he/him) is Director of REAP, and Erin Green (she/they) is REAP's Campus & Alumni Organizer.REAP has filed a landmark class action lawsuit, Elizabeth Hunter, et al. v. U.S. Department of Education, that challenges the religious exemption Christian college and other religious colleges use to deny LGBTQ+ students Title IX protections - and still receive federal funding. Learn more about the lawsuit and REAP's work at thereap.org.CW: this conversation includes discussion of sexual and gender discrimination and other forms of abuse.We talk about how LGBTQ+ students are treated by college administrations, how LGBTQ+ students end up at religious colleges, the history of religious colleges resisting civil rights, and why a formal legal challenge is important.Support the show via a subscription to The Post-Evangelical Post. Follow Blake on Twitter @brchastain.Buy merch: https://exvangelical.threadless.com/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoicesSupport our show by becoming a premium member! https://www.postevangelicalpost.com/about

On 9/9/21, I spoke with Meghan O'Gieblyn, author of the new book God, Human, Animal, Machine: Technology, Metaphor, and the Search for Meaning. We talked about her time at Moody Bible Institute, experiencing 9/11 on a Christian campus, the similarities between Christian prophecy & secular transhumanism, and all sorts of other great things.Buy Meghan's book on Bookshop.org or at your local independent bookstore. (Yes, that is an affiliate link, and it helps the show). Follow Meghan on Twitter.Support the show directly via a subscription to The Post-Evangelical Post newsletter. Follow Blake on Twitter, Instagram, or TikTok.Exvangelical is a production of The Post-Evangelical Post, LLC and a part of the Irreverent Media Group podcast collective. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoicesSupport our show by becoming a premium member! https://www.postevangelicalpost.com/about

Recorded on 9/1/2021, I spoke with Peterson Toscano all the way in South Africa. Peterson is podcaster, performer, climate activist, and biblical scholar. In this conversation, Peterson talks about activism, trauma, and recognizing when to move on to other projects. We also talk about curiosity, the role of relationships in activism & He-Man!Learn all about Peterson's projects at https://petersontoscano.com/Support my work via a subscription to The Post-Evangelical Post newsletter.Follow me on Twitter @brchastain, and on Instagram & TikTok. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoicesSupport our show by becoming a premium member! https://www.postevangelicalpost.com/about

In light of the TX SB8 law going into effect, and SCOTUS' refusal to strike it down, I am re-releasing this episode I recorded with Katherine Stewart, author of The Power Worshippers: Inside the Dangerous Rise of Religious Nationalism. This book is extremely helpful in detailing the strategies and tactics employed by Christian nationalist politicians and their allies.This interview part of Season 1 of Powers & Principalities. Listen to that season here.Follow me on Twitter @brchastain, on Instagram/TikTok @brchastain_.Support the shows & my writing at The Post-Evangelical Post. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoicesSupport our show by becoming a premium member! https://www.postevangelicalpost.com/about

Jamie Lee Finch, author of You Are Your Own, returns to the show!We had been planning to talk this month for quite some time, but our conversation has a different tenor than we anticipated. This is one conversation among many about issues surrounding exvangelical/deconstruction spaces--and this has happened before. Listen to the show for further context, but we’re still going to try and talk about why things like these moments of drama happen, and why these cycles of commentary occur: what is general to the types of conversations we have now, and what is particular to post-evangelical spaces and the sorts of traumas that are activated.I've been talking about this in various ways on other shows recently, including these conversations with Your Favorite Aunts & Activist Theology.We also talk about Jamie's upcoming course, Your Body Is a Person. Registration closes on 8/31/2021, so act fast!One production note: the wrong mic recorded my audio, so it's of lower quality.Support my work via a subscription to The Post-Evangelical Post. Follow me @brchastain on Twitter, @brchastain_ on Instagram & TikTok, and follow the podcasts @exvangelicalpod on Instagram. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoicesSupport our show by becoming a premium member! https://www.postevangelicalpost.com/about

Earlier this month, Tucker Carlson broadcast from Hungary. This was not an accident, as many figures in the Christian Right and far-right have cozied up to European autocrats like Hungary's leader, Viktor Orban. There's always a lot of simultaneous crises happening (the climate crisis, Afghanistan, the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, and more), but I think it might be beneficial to loop back to this story and learn what we can from Sarah Posner, author of Unholy: How White Christian Nationalists Powered the Trump Presidency, and What They Left Behind. I spoke with Sarah Posner last year on Powers & Principalities.Follow Sarah on Twitter.Support my work via The Post-Evangelical Post. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoicesSupport our show by becoming a premium member! https://www.postevangelicalpost.com/about

This week, I spoke with Kevin Garcia & Rev. Sarah Heath (aka YFA, or Your Favorite Aunts). This is part 2 of our conversation, and you can hear part 1 over on Your Favorite Aunts!This conversation has a chill vibe. It's the type of quiet conversation you have in the corner at a party. I don't know about you, but that's not something I've experienced in well over a year, so this conversation ended up meaning a lot. We talk about how the pandemic affects caretakers, how it affects community, what the future of spiritual care and community might be, and whether math involves gnomes.Listen to Your Favorite Aunts. Follow Kevin. Follow Sarah.To support my work, sign up for The Post-Evangelical Post. You can also buy merch! Follow me on Twitter, Instagram, and TikTok. Follow the show on Instagram. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoicesSupport our show by becoming a premium member! https://www.postevangelicalpost.com/about

Kelsey McKinney, co-owner & features writer for Defector.com and author of the debut novel God Spare the Girls, joins the show! We talk about her novel, how getting to know people outside the evangelical bubble changes your perspective, her experiences in the media, and much more.God Spare the Girls tells the story of two daughters of a megachurch pastor whose rise to evangelical fame came from a viral speech about purity culture - and that's just how the story starts. When news of their father's marital infidelity breaks in their church, the two sisters are drawn together in ways they never were before. It's a great read.Buy God Spare the Girls here and support the show! (Affiliate link.) Follow Kelsey McKinney on Twitter.-We're back! July was very busy, and I'm super excited to get back to releasing episodes for you. A lot happened elsewhere: Exvangelical turned 5! I wrote a piece for Religion Dispatches about David Jeremiah's sermon saying exvangelicals are a sign of the end times! I was on MSNBC's The Week with Joshua Johnson! Other stuff I can't wait to tell you about, but can't yet! Support the show through a subscription to The Post-Evangelical Post. Follow Blake on Twitter, Instagram, and TikTok.Follow the show on Instagram and Facebook. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoicesSupport our show by becoming a premium member! https://www.postevangelicalpost.com/about