June 2023

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Jessica and I spoke about several stories from the past week involving religion and politics.

— Pat Robertson is still dead.

— What happened to that submersible? (0:20)

— Josh Duggar‘s father-in-law delivered a racist sermon praising Christian slaveowners. (5:15)

— Is the Supreme Court case involving a bigoted Christian web designer built on a lie? (32:40)

— A GOP congressman is targeting a church/state separation group with his defense bill amendment. (46:10)

— In Colorado, nearly 1 in 4 state lawmakers are non-religious. (1:01:20)

— At 14, she was “betrothed” to her pastor. She’s finally sharing her side of the story. (1:11:51)

— A Catholic priest forgot how to count. Now the Church is celebrating a “Eucharistic miracle.” (1:28:15)

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Jessica and I spoke about several stories from the past week involving religion and politics.

***CORRECTION***: The “He-Man Woman-Haters Club” is from the Little Rascals, not The Simpsons! Oops!

— What we can learn from the disgraceful life of Pat Robertson. (0:22)

— Stop overreacting about Jeopardy! players missing a clue about the Lord’s Prayer. (10:47)

— Most Christian pastors use armed church members to thwart a possible mass shooting. (18:25)

— Utah Republicans are furious schools banned the Bible to comply with their book-banning law. (27:05)

— The Catholic Church in Kansas City used the wrong wine… and broke the religion. (34:35)

— A California restaurant chain had employees confess their work-related sins to a fake priest. (43:26)

— U.S. bishops are about to block trans-affirming care at Catholic hospitals. (53:17)

— After complaints from Christians, Poland’s 666 bus to Hel will cease to exist. (1:05:45)

— Survey: In the U.K., belief in God has finally dipped below 50%. (1:09:35)

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You may have already encountered Gloria Beth Amodeo‘s writing in places like Publishers Weekly, The Literary Review, and American Atheist magazine. She received her MFA in Creative Writing from The New School, and currently works at an advertising agency in New York City.

She recently wrote a book called God’s Ex-Girlfriend: A Memoir about Loving and Leaving the Evangelical Jesus (affiliate link), so you know I had to talk to her.

We spoke about how Campus Crusade for Christ (now Cru) hurts people, the advice she’d give potential Cru members, and how the group’s bigotry made her rethink her faith.

1:13 – Background

5:45 – Why belonging to a larger group was so important to her in college.

8:00 – How Cru entered her life.

10:00 – How Christians avoid saying Christian.

11:55 – How Cru connected with her.

13:59 – The power of “relational evangelism.”

16:22 – What Cru did that convinced her they were worth joining.

18:40 – When Gloria Beth realized this brand of Christianity espoused anti-LGBTQ and anti-abortion thinking.

24:50 – How Cru is more about belonging than Jesus

25:55 – The three steps to successfully convert someone.

29:09 – Evangelical Christianity as a kind of diet.

30:01 – The sexual history they wanted to know before she went on a summer mission trip.

36:57 – The most cringe-worthy stuff Gloria Beth did as a Cru member.

40:27 – When she realized she might be wrong.

47:30 – What life after Christianity felt like at first.

49:16 – How Cru failed her after she graduated.

50:48 – The most harmful things that Cru teaches.

54:07 – The politics of Cru.

54:50 – What she would say to someone thinking about joining Cru or InterVarsity.

57:20 – What religious label she uses now.

58:10 – What happened with the people she met in Cru.

59:20 – What she’s heard from current Cru members and leaders.

Join our private Facebook group and Discord server!

Jessica and I spoke about several stories from the past week involving religion and politics.

— What we learned from watching “Shiny Happy People: Duggar Family Secrets.” (1:57)

— Christians are furious over a tiny Pride flag on the set of “The Chosen,” a show about Jesus. (29:12)

— Oklahoma just approved a taxpayer-funded Catholic charter school. (41:03)

— The L.A. Dodgers never should’ve caved after honoring the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence. (51:38)

— Richard Dawkins has a new analogy to describe people who are transgender. (1:03:17)

— If Louisiana forces every classroom to display “In God We Trust” signs, atheist Chaz Stevens is preparing to send them Arabic ones. (1:10:00)

— What does it mean that “non-churchgoers now rule the GOP”? (1:16:35)

— To comply with Utah’s book banning law, a school district removed the KJV Bible. (1:28:00)

— Two Christian schools sue Minnesota for cutting them out of a taxpayer-funded program. (1:33:00)