Chapel Probation

"Julie," (not her real name) has been listening to Chapel Probation for a while and came to a SoCal ExVangelical hang at my house a few months ago. She told me about her time teaching at a well-known Christian school in the area, and I was struck by how similar our stories were. Like me, the whole experience contributed greatly to her deconstruction, forcing her to choose her humanity over the big...

One of the new hosts in the Dauntless Media Collective, Maggie Harrigan is a graduate of Gordon College who came onto Chapel Probation to talk about her experiences there and her life since. She found some good professors and even better friends while at Gordon who helped her to deconstruct her fundamentalist beliefs and forge a new worldview based on truth and love. Today, Maggie hosts the Hello...

This week, Priska and Scott dive into marriages and intimate relationships, sharing their own experiences and talking about the harms done by purity culture that keep people from experiencing real connection and wholeness. We share some deeply personal stories and details of our own lives while unpacking all the trauma in general. The Horny Chapel is part of the ⁠⁠⁠⁠Dauntless Media Collective.⁠⁠⁠⁠...

Long before most of us were a glint in the eye of today's deconstruction world, Blake Chastain created the Exvangelical hashtag and Facebook group, giving the world the title and the framework for the good, bad, and the ugly of all things related to deconstruction. He also started the Irreverent Media Group bringing together so many great podcasts like the Dirty Rotten Church Kids, Straight White...

Earlier this year, I read an amazing piece in the Huffington Post about a woman who was once a pastor's wife who left the church and ended up opening up her marriage to explore dating and sexuality for the first time. I immediately thought this woman would fit in beautifully with our Content Warning community...only to discover she had actually been at Content Warning. I somehow didn't mee...

This week we are joined by a special guest, our dear friend Keiko Agena. Keiko is best known for her role as Lane Kim on the show Gilmore Girls, but she is also a writer, artist, and beloved member of our AAPI arts and activist community in Los Angeles. With her own real-life evangelical past to draw on, she goes deep in analyzing her Lane Kim role as we talk about the dangers and harms to young w...

Hannah Lee knew early on that life inside of her Korean American church was far too restrictive for her. And even though she felt that church life was deeply embedded into life as a Korean American, she saw its limitations as a curious, passionate person who valued art and people outside of the church. From her mom trying to exercise demons who would have her buy ski pants (true story) to the dama...

In this second episode, we're still introducing ourselves, and we compare our experiences as Asian Americans from different generations and in different kinds of churches. But there are still incredible similarities between our experiences...bad ones, mostly. Scott's experiences as a Gen X-er in the 80's was less intense than Priska's Millenial experiences in the 90's, but both...

Marla Taviano returns this week to talk about how her latest book of poetry, Poem Art Therapy , can help all women who've been through terrible marriages and divorces in the christian world. Just as her White Girl Learning work reflects Marla's journey as she decolonizes her mind regarding race, Poem Art Therapy reflects her clap back against patriarchy and shitty christian marriages and m...

Clare McIvor grew up in the toxic Christian Nationalist movement known as the New Apostolic Reformation. This included all of those damn 7 Mountains, and it forced her to deny all of the natural aspects of her humanity. After fighting to get out, she has educated herself and armed herself with knowledge and courage to fight against that world and its insidious agenda to take over the world for Whi...

The first episode of the Horny Chapel, a collaboration with Priska of the Two Horny Goats podcast. We introduce this limited series with a look back at our youth and early adulthood and break down the ins and outs, so to speak, of purity culture. And we talk about where this series will go in the coming episodes. In the end, we hope to help everyone become sex-positive and love themselves. Be sure...

Sheila Chappelle has come such a long way from being a student at an oppressively high control school that had a wild counter culture. She had to remove herself from this environment and ultimately this religion altogether to overcome her finely honed skills of keeping secrets. But she's overcome that by getting sober and transitioning into her true self, and now she helps others heal from rel...

Seth survived 2 years at Bob Jones only because he figured out how to actually live life. But this required a significant amount of deception and rides in trunks of cars, so it was just a matter of time before he asked himself if all the effort was worth it. When he challenged the school's racist prohibition of interracial dating, arguing directly with Bob Jones III, himself, the experience je...

We're back with a traditional Chapel Probation episode talking to Peter Hull, a Gen X dude who almost never went to chapel while at Grace College. He only stayed for 5 semesters, but he got a taste of shitty christian higher ed. We talk purity culture and the struggles of finding oneself after faith in the aftermath of Grace College. Here's a link to th e artist Peter mentions, Alannah Sab...

Christa Brown was a victim of horrible sexual abuse as a child by her SBC youth pastor. This took place in what she calls, "Baptistland," and this is the title of her incredible book . She writes unflinchingly at her childhood filled with abuse at the hands of said pastor and her family members, but she also pulls herself out of Baptistland to become a successful attorney. She eventually...

I knew Dave Galvan as a friend and bandmate for many years before I learned that he grew up in a strict Pentecostal church. And I learned in this episode that Dave led worship with a black Les Paul copy at that church. Epic. When you know people outside of religion, you can just live and enjoy life, so I was a little anxious making Dave go back through his early days, but that's what bandmates...

Ever since I started this podcast, I've wanted my friend Mark to come on to tell his story. But even more has happened since early 2022, so I'm actually glad he finally agreed to come over and do this. It's a story of a common upbringing in high control pentacostalism to the lighter theologies of Inter Varsity Christian Fellowship at the beginning. But life got pretty damn scary for Ma...

Sex educator Erica Smith did not grow up in Purity Culture, but she has learned about how damaging it is for men and women and for society. She has dedicated her life's work to helping people heal from their patriarchal pasts that stunted their development as sexual humans and move forward to explore their bodies and their sexuality. With a deep understanding of race, gender, and the maddening...

The first non-Christian guest on Chapel Probation! Hear Scott's pal Tanzila (Taz) Ahmed tell her story and talk about her life of advocating for human flourishing. Her poetry will rock you to the core, and you'll hear her performace from the 2016 AAPI Heritage event at the White House during President Obama's last year. And whatever you know or don't know about the Islamic faith, T...

When you are the son of a big-time Korean pastor who suffers from narcissism and rage, christianity and life are filled with trauma and despair. But Abraham Kim found music and drums early on to help him deal with life, drumming his response to violence at home and oppression in the church. And he found his way out with the help of Talbot (Biola) and found footing in a full, beautiful life with hi...

If you've read my book, Asian American Apostate, you know how important traci is to me. She's important to a lot of people, really. But she met me when I was still trying to be a Christian, and she helped me become the person I am today. So it makes sense to have her be the guest for the 100th episode of Chapel Probation. You'll hear her story, her perspective as a visitor to APU when...

Ross is the real deal. Solid human who sees all the things we need our White men allies to see. Do I go a little overboard praising him? Sure. Am I sorry about that? Hell no. Anyone who steps away from privilege to engage in the complexities of other peoples' lives is awesome in my book. Throughout Ross's christian life, he challenged assumptions and pushed back at racism, homophobia, sexi...

Pastor Trey is the author of T heologizin Bigger from Lake Drive Books, and he is a solid human. From a wild college experience at the University of Miami, Trey found himself at a fundamentalist seminary and eventually dropped out. He found a home at a much more open-minded seminary and now is a pastor and social media presence, pushing back at the worst parts of Christianity and spreading wisdom...

The first full episode of Season 4 has Lisa Christy from Grove City College. She got duped into going to this Libertarian and Presbyterian school and ended up staying. She found community in the "rebel" crowd and started a significant sports revolution at the school. Chapel Probation is part of the  ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Dauntless Media Collective⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Join the  ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Dauntless Media Discord ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠...

And we're back. Heading into the 100th episode. This one is #95. We look back on some clips, bits, and songs of the past 3 seasons as we look forward to the shenanigans coming in season 4. Chapel Probation is part of the  ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Dauntless Media Collective⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Join the  ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Dauntless Media Discord ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ for more conversation with all the podcast communities. Scott's book,  ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Asian-...