Mason Mennenga joins Michael to discuss his journey surviving Veggie Tales (an evangelical children's animation franchise), an evangelical mega church and its theology, and how he came to question it all and discover a liberating and more historically-honest faith.  As a podcaster, YouTuber, and aspiring theologian with an MDiv, Mason has some really valuable, simple and profound content that helps people deconstruct toxic theology and rebuild a healthy faith or new theory of life.  To see or listen to his material, visit: masonmennenga.com To learn more about Michael's journey, vi ..read more

Angela Herrington joins Michael to discuss her work as a Faith Deconstruction Coach, workshop presenter, and author of a forthcoming book, "Kicking Toxic Religion to the Curb: Deconstruct Your Faith Without Losing Yourself." Hear about Angela's journey and the abundant content she has developed helping people deconstruct conservative Christianity and evangelicalism. Also, the many examples that both Angela and Michael bring up of harmful beliefs and practices. Do you find yourself asking, "If Jesus is love, why do so many Christians hurt so many people?" You'll learn how to uncover the answer ..read more

Brad Jersak joins Michael to discuss his latest book, After the Embers: Faith After the Great Deconstruction. Their conversation includes Brad's deconstruction journey, both his support and critique of today's mass deconstruction, and examples of historical deconstructionists like Voltaire, Kierkegaard, and Dostoevsky. He also shares how Simone Weil's take on the problem of evil "saved my life" as well as signposts and guides that help people find authentic faith after deconstruction. This is a critical discussion on where popular religious deconstruction is going today and how to navigate it ..read more

Biblical scholar Jennifer Grace Bird joins Michael in a fascinating conversation about the importance of knowing original meaning and thinking for oneself when it comes to the Bible. Jennifer shares her insights found in her book "Permission Granted: Take the Bible into Your Own Hands" and her forthcoming book, "Marriage in the Bible: What Do the Texts Say?" Folks, you have permission to examine the Bible with an open mind to both critique it and decide for yourself what's inspirational. Learn why it's more respectful to the Bible to approach it this way and some fascinating examples of why th ..read more

What does post-Christian mean? According to Maria French, it doesn't automatically mean post-Jesus or post-faith. Join Maria and Michael as they discuss why the ideas in Maria's book are so critical to the conversation about deconstruction. The community of post-evangelicals, or even those who are still evangelical but disillusioned, will benefit to hear how Maria's journey offers this lesser known path—outside what we might think a destination would be after conservative Christianity like progressive Christianity, agnosticism, or atheism—but a path for us who still believe in mystery and conn ..read more

Dan Henderson joins Michael to discuss his book, Confessions of a Recovering Evangelical, which chronicles his journey of alienation and frustration with traditional evangelical Christianity. Many like Dan are "Nones" and are often traumatized by the transition from a rigid religious world view to a more humanistic open one. They are also usually harassed by family and former friends. Drawing on his many years experience as a former Christian private school teacher, Dan shares how he gave up narrow Bible beliefs, harmful theologies, a gay-bashing attitude, the evangelical behavior-police ..read more

Rob Schenck had at least three conversions. One, to Christ, two to a highly politicized faith, and three from the Religious Right back to Jesus' teachings. Michael and Rob have a fascinating conversation about his journey and how evangelicals turned their backs on Jesus' love ethic by justifying outlandish gun rights and using Jane Roe (Norma McCorvey) of "Roe v. Wade" as a trophy in the abortion culture war. Rob and the mother of a teenage shooting victim ask, is it possible to be both pro-gun and pro-life? What should be the moral and ethical response to gun violence, especially for those wh ..read more

Can you be a Christian and be gay? Tim Rymel spent nearly 20 years emphatically answering no to that question. Born into the fundamentalist, Pentecostal Christian faith, he went into the ministry at 15-years-old, pleading with God to make him straight. His desperate journey led him into conversion therapy (among the Ex-Gay Movement), where he went from participant to leader at what was once the world's oldest and leading ex-gay organization. He, and the prominent ministry staff, including John Paulk, John Smid, and other Exodus leaders, suddenly found themselves thrust into the national media ..read more

This episode is critical to listen to as we get close to the midterm elections in November 2022. My new friend, Carolyn Baker, shares lessons from her book, Confronting Christofascism: Healing the Evangelical Wound. We discuss the history of this unholy alliance--fascist, macho, authoritarian ideas mixed with conservative Christianity (and politics)--its relation to Trumpism, and how it threatens society and democracy. Carolyn invites those recovering from the influence of fundamentalist religions, as well as the non-religious seeking to preserve the democratic experiment, to excise the t ..read more

There is the accepted, often-repeated version of Christian history—and then there’s the real story. In this podcast, Michael interviews author Steve Paul on his book that helps people learn little-known details of the world’s largest faith and helps them differentiate between Jesus' teachings and institutional religion.  Steve's extensive research of Christian history, once simply called "The Timeline," was often cited in Michael's first two books. Meet the man behind that study and learn how he started his journey to search for meaning through the study of history. Paul's book is an exce ..read more