We talk with Ani Zonneveld about Progressive Islam and the life she lives as a Progressive Muslim. Ani is a writer, singer/songwriter, and founder & President of Muslims for Progressive Values, an international human rights organization that advocates for social justice and equality for all, a strong supporter of freedom of expression and of conscience, women’s rights and as an ally, LGBTQ rights. -- Want more? Check out our exclusive Patreon episodes here. Transcript of this episode is here. Podcast links: https://linktr.ee/iwatf Doubting your beliefs? Have questions about changing or leaving your faith? You are not alone and Recovering from Religion is here to help. Please visit: https://www.recoveringfromreligion.org/ Deconversion Therapy Podcast

In this episode, we talk with writer Bernard Warnick about humanity's obsession with certainty and ask, is certainty attainable? Bernard spent nineteen years as a judge of the trial division and later the Appeal Division of the Family Court of Australia before retiring from the bench in 2010. He developed a deep interest in the reasoning process and researched the works of neurobiologists, cognitive scientists, philosophers, linguists and other thinkers for ten years, culminating in his book, Illusions of Certainty | thoughts about thinking. -- Want more? Check out our exclusive Patreon episodes here. Transcript of this episode is here. Podcast links: https://linktr.ee/iwatf Doubting your beliefs? Have questions about changing or leaving your faith? You are not alone and Recovering from Religion is here to help. Please visit: https://www.recoveringfromreligion.org/

We're back for Season 5! In this episode we review the highlights of Season 4, let you know about the changes we've made and where the podcast is heading in 2024. -- Transcript of the episode is here. Podcast links: https://linktr.ee/iwatf Doubting your beliefs? Have questions about changing or leaving your faith? You are not alone and Recovering from Religion is here to help. Please visit: https://www.recoveringfromreligion.org/

We recently stumbled upon a podcast we thought you'd love. Sexvangelicals is a sexual health podcast and education platform with the mission to support relationships in reclaiming sexuality following adverse religious experiences. This is one of their episodes, The Sex Ed We Wish We Had: Consent, Part 1 of 2. We hope you enjoy it. If you want to connect with Sexvangelicals then find them here: Sexvangelicals (website) Sexvangelicals (podcast) -- Want more IWATF? Check out our exclusive Patreon episodes here. Podcast links: https://linktr.ee/iwatf Doubting your beliefs? Have questions about changing or leaving your faith? You are not alone and Recovering from Religion is here to help. Please visit: https://www.recoveringfromreligion.org/

Maggie Rowe is an author, writer, director, & producer. Her memoir, Sin Bravely: A Memoir of Spiritual Disobedience, was named to NPR's Best Books of 2017. In this episode, we speak to Maggie about her childhood where she describes being tormented by the fear of Hell and not being truly saved. At 19 years old she admitted herself to an 'evangelical psychiatric institution' where she found an unlikely ally who encouraged her to break free of the fears that held her back, and to go forth and 'sin bravely'. Maggie's links: Maggie Rowe's website Sin Bravely: A Memoir of Spiritual Disobedience Easy Street: A Story of Redemption from Myself If this episode raised issues or concerns for you or someone near to you, please contact Lifeline Australia - 13 11 14 - Crisis Support. -- Transcript of the episode is here. Podcast links: https://linktr.ee/iwatf Doubting your beliefs? Have questions about changing or leaving your faith? You are not alone and Recovering from Religion is here to help. Please visit: https://www.recoveringfromreligion.org/

Van Badham is an Australian playwright, novelist, journalist and activist who writes regularly for the Guardian. In this episode we speak with Van about her 2021 book QAnon and On: A Short and Shocking History of Internet Conspiracy Cults in which she investigates who is behind the internet cult and how it often intertwines with the world of Evangelical/Fundamentalist Christianity. She also tells about her year 'undercover' at Hillsong in Sydney. Van's links: Van Badham - Wikipedia QAnon and On QAnon | The Guardian The ‘prosperity doctrine’ and neoliberal Jesusing | The Guardian -- Transcript of the episode is here. Podcast links: https://linktr.ee/iwatf Doubting your beliefs? Have questions about changing or leaving your faith? You are not alone and Recovering from Religion is here to help. Please visit: https://www.recoveringfromreligion.org/

We talk with Janice Selbie, a former fundamentalist Evangelical Christian of over 40 years and now a counsellor and specialist in the area of religious trauma. Janice shares her own story and the work she does with others in helping heal the pain caused by religious trauma. This is the first of a two-part episode we did with Janice. You can find part two on Janice's The Divorcing Religion Podcast. In this episode, Janice referenced Steven Hassan's BITE Model of Authoritarian Control. You can connect with Janice via these links: Religious Trauma Syndrome Therapy | DivorcingReligion The Divorcing Religion Podcast Conference on Religious Trauma (CORT) Janice on YouTube Janice on Instagram -- Transcript of the episode is here. Podcast links: https://linktr.ee/iwatf Doubting your beliefs? Have questions about changing or leaving your faith? You are not alone and Recovering from Religion is here to help. Please visit: https://www.recoveringfromreligion.org/

We talk with April Ajoy, a well-known viral TikToker, YouTuber and podcaster. She describes herself as a “recovering conservative, humorously detoxing religion.” Raised as a pastor's kid, April was deep in Evangelicalism to the point of working for The 700 Club and singing her original song, America Say Jesus on The Jim Bakker Show. While deconstructing from fundamentalism, she walked away from her Christian nationalist beliefs and began to make irreverent and funny videos lampooning modern Evangelical culture and church life. You can connect with April on: Twitter: https://twitter.com/aprilajoyr TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@aprilajoy Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/aprilajoy -- Transcript of the episode is here. Podcast links: https://linktr.ee/iwatf Doubting your beliefs? Have questions about changing or leaving your faith? You are not alone and Recovering from Religion is here to help. Please visit: https://www.recoveringfromreligion.org/

Brian & Troy take a look at how divorce is presented in the New Testament and how the Church has handled it over the last 2000 years. Our hosts also reflect on their own experience and ask, do Jesus and the Bible really offer adequate guidance for the 21st century. Spoiler alert, no. The resources suggested in this episode are: Christian views on divorce - Wikipedia A Theology of Divorce – Religion Online Ep #69 - Troy Story II: Leaving My Marriage...and Church Ep #75 - Brian Walks Away from his Marriage -- Transcript of the episode is here. Podcast links: https://linktr.ee/iwatf Doubting your beliefs? Have questions about changing or leaving your faith? You are not alone and Recovering from Religion is here to help. Please visit: https://www.recoveringfromreligion.org/

Dan Barker served as an evangelical Christian preacher and composer for 19 years before leaving Christianity in 1984. He and his wife Annie Laurie Gaylor are the current co-presidents of the Freedom from Religion Foundation, and he is co-founder of The Clergy Project. In this fascinating chat, he shares his journey out of faith and why he identifies as an Atheist today. You can connect with Dan and his work at: Freethought Radio Podcast Freedom From Religion Foundation - Freedom From Religion Foundation The Clergy Project Dan Barker: Books --- Transcript of the episode is here. Podcast links: https://linktr.ee/iwatf Doubting your beliefs? Have questions about changing or leaving your faith? You are not alone and Recovering from Religion is here to help. Please visit: https://www.recoveringfromreligion.org/

Catherine Quiring describes herself as a reformed people-pleaser, Exvangelical and an aspiring advocate for anti-oppressive spirituality. She is a licensed Mental Health Counsellor, and Self-Trust Coach. Catherine tells Brian and Troy why she believes the Evangelical god is a narcissist and that the symptoms experienced by those who have experienced covert narcissistic abuse are extremely similar to those experienced in high-control religious settings. You can connect with Catherine via: Her website: www.cqcounseling.com Instagram: @catherinequiring Facebook: @cqcounseling The book she referenced in this episode was Breaking Their Will: Shedding Light on Religious Child Maltreatment : Heimlich, Janet --- Transcript of the episode is here. Podcast links: https://linktr.ee/iwatf Doubting your beliefs? Have questions about changing or leaving your faith? You are not alone and Recovering from Religion is here to help. Please visit: https://www.recoveringfromreligion.org/

Picking up where he left off in Episode 79 - Troy Deals With His Religious Trauma in Korea, Troy journeys to Singapore in search of his next adventure. In this episode, he continues to unsuccessfully park his religious trauma and finds himself in a very glamourous scene in Singapore. He falls hard for a Chinese woman and they return to Australia to start a new life, but Troy is soon confronted by his religious baggage. --- Transcript of the episode is here. Podcast links: https://linktr.ee/iwatf Doubting your beliefs? Have questions about changing or leaving your faith? You are not alone and Recovering from Religion is here to help. Please visit: https://www.recoveringfromreligion.org/

After Troy and Brian appeared on Stephen's podcast, Cult Hackers back in 2021, Stephen now brings his expertise to talk about cults from an organisational psychology perspective. He shares how organisational models help us understand cult leadership, coercive control dynamics and why people join and stay. You can find Stephen's podcast here: Cult Hackers and his website here: culthackers.com --- Transcript of the episode is here. Podcast links: https://linktr.ee/iwatf Doubting your beliefs? Have questions about changing or leaving your faith? You are not alone and Recovering from Religion is here to help. Please visit: https://www.recoveringfromreligion.org/

Krispin and D.L. Mayfield are a husband-and-wife team and hosts of the Prophetic Imagination Station. Both were missionaries and published Christian writers who have recently been very public about their deconversion from Christianity. Brian and Troy talk with them about their deconversion journey and its impact on their careers and marriage. --- Transcript of the episode is here. Podcast links: https://linktr.ee/iwatf Doubting your beliefs? Have questions about changing or leaving your faith? You are not alone and Recovering from Religion is here to help. Please visit: https://www.recoveringfromreligion.org/

Marc Fennell is an award-winning Australian journalist and documentary maker who was once a teenage fundamentalist...but he claims he was not a very good one. He has just released a documentary about Australian Pentecostalism called The Kingdom where he confronts his own past spent in church. Brian & Troy talk with Marc about why he left and why he’s remained largely silent about his religious past until now. You can learn all about Marc here: marcfennell.com The Kingdom is available to stream in Australia here and will be available to international audiences soon. --- Transcript of the episode is here. Podcast links: https://linktr.ee/iwatf Doubting your beliefs? Have questions about changing or leaving your faith? You are not alone and Recovering from Religion is here to help. Please visit: https://www.recoveringfromreligion.org/

Ross Blocher and Carrie Poppy have a hugely popular podcast where they join religions, undergo alternative medical treatments, and hunt for ghost, goblins, demons, and deities...so you don't have to! If it has an extraordinary claim attached to it, they'll check it out and report on it. In this episode, Brian and Troy talk with them about their teenage fundamentalism and what they have discovered about some of the wild claims of Christianity and other religions. You can connect with Ross and Carrie through their website: ohnopodcast.com and their podcast: Oh No, Ross and Carrie. --- Transcript of the episode is here. Podcast links: https://linktr.ee/iwatf Doubting your beliefs? Have questions about changing or leaving your faith? You are not alone and Recovering from Religion is here to help. Please visit: https://www.recoveringfromreligion.org/

Clare Heath-McIvor is an exvangelical blogger and podcaster who has been operating under the pseudonym 'Kit Kennedy' since a dramatic and shunning-esque exit from her pastor father's church in 2016. In 2022, she and her ex-husband (a gay conversion therapy survivor) became whistleblowers for a 60 Minutes Australia political and religious expose on her father's City Builders Church and its tactics in Australian conservative politics. Trigger warning: This episode touches on issues concerning depression and suicide. If you are in Australia and require support, please reach out to 1800RESPECT by phone or online at www.1800respect.org.au/ or Lifeline on 13 11 14. You can connect with Clare at www.unchurchablepodcast.com. If you want to explore her whistleblowing story, then see the links below: 60 Minutes Australia - Praying For Power: Caring church or crazy cult The Age Newspaper #1 - Liberal Party Candidate Agent for Ultra-Conservative Church, Family Says #2 - Speaking in Tongues, Exorcisms and Control: Life in City Builders #3 - Inside City Builders, the Pentecostal Sect with Lofty Political Goals #4 - Ultra-Conservative Candidate won’t sit in the party room if elected #5 - Shame on you: Liberal Party figure caught using fake 007 pics and fake identity for dirty tricks --- Transcript of the episode is here. Podcast links: https://linktr.ee/iwatf Doubting your beliefs? Have questions about changing or leaving your faith? You are not alone and Recovering from Religion is here to help. Please visit: https://www.recoveringfromreligion.org/

Following on from Episode 072 Was Keith Green a Cult Leader?, we interview Sharon Madere. She was 'led to the Lord' by Keith and experienced the 'baptism in the Holy Spirit' experience with Keith in the 1970s. She lived at the Last Days Ministries commune in California and later in Texas in the 1980s. In this episode, Sharon tells her stories and claims Keith Green arranged her teenage marriage to Martin Bennett, one of the three elders of LDM. Correction: In this episode, Sharon says she remained with LDM until 1985. She wishes to correct this and state she stayed with LDM until early-1987. You can find their podcast here: Feet of Clay—Confessions of the Cult Sisters and follow Tracey & Sharon on Instagram. Melody Green's biography of Keith Green and memoir of life at Last Days Ministry, No Compromise is available here. --- Transcript of the episode is here. Podcast links: https://linktr.ee/iwatf Doubting your beliefs? Have questions about changing or leaving your faith? You are not alone and Recovering from Religion is here to help. Please visit: https://www.recoveringfromreligion.org/

Following on from Episode 53 - The Cairns Christ, Brian recounts the breakdown of his marriage and the end of his faith in Jesus. Ladies and gentlemen, Brian has left the building. --- Transcript of the episode is here. Podcast links: https://linktr.ee/iwatf Doubting your beliefs? Have questions about changing or leaving your faith? You are not alone and Recovering from Religion is here to help. Please visit: https://www.recoveringfromreligion.org/

No one had as profound an impact on Troy's deconstruction as Dr Bart D. Ehrman, the James A. Gray Distinguished Professor at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. An expert on the New Testament and the history of Early Christianity, he has written or edited thirty books, numerous scholarly articles, and dozens of book reviews. Six of his books have been on the New York Times Bestseller list. Brian and Troy talk to Bart about his own teenage fundamentalism and his upcoming book, Armageddon: What the Bible really says about the end. In this conversation, Bart delves into the most misunderstood—and possibly the most dangerous—book of the Bible, Revelation. You can connect with Bart via his blog: The Bart Ehrman Blog, his website: Bart D. Ehrman, and his podcast: Misquoting Jesus. --- Transcript of the episode is here. Podcast links: https://linktr.ee/iwatf Doubting your beliefs? Have questions about changing or leaving your faith? You are not alone and Recovering from Religion is here to help. Please visit: https://www.recoveringfromreligion.org/