Chapel Probation

Tori Williams Douglass is an educator and podcaster who went from a cult-like family upbringing to an Assemblies of God bible college. Thankfully, she dropped out after just one year of the typical racism, sexism, queerphobia, and annoying theo-bro's, thus continuing and accelerating her deconstruction from christianity altogether. Today, her White Homework podcast and website is a crucial resourc...

*Warning to current Bob Jones University students and employees: This episode contains music with beats on 2 and 4, so you are not allowed to listen. But you should. We won't tell. A little longer episode than normal, but I just had to get all the stories into this one from Nate Nakao. Nate is the co-creator and co-host of the Full Mutuality Podcast , and his story of surviving Bob Jones Universit...

Every adjunct college professor dreams of having a full-time, tenure-track position. Cynthia Vacca Davis was offered a tenured position teaching English at a small Bible College, a job that offered a good salary with benefits. The problem was, Cynthia had just agreed to be a supporter of her friend Danny, who had just come out as an intersex male after living well into his adulthood as a female. T...

In the second part of our almost 4-hour conversation, Abbie and Liz talked about the many ways evangelical culture oppresses women, particularly queer women and women of color. They tell stories of how they fought patriarchal systems from the inside at APU through the so-called Women's Resource Center and inside the classrooms. As we suffer through a dark time of Supreme Court activism on behalf o...

Biola is a Southern California evangelical school, similar to APU. It tends to be a little more conservative in every measurable way, but Hope and Nikki decided early on to push back at the repressive culture around them. They lived their lives to the fullest, going to great lengths to appear to be "good" Biola students while maintaining a fast-paced life of partying and fun. But it wasn't all fun...

This was the 5th Episode of Season 1, and one of the more popular ones at that, but out of an abundance of caution, I moved it behind a paywall. But it's back by popular demand!  2 new "ads" featuring the best of "conservative christian" organizations, Plaulty (Psalty's cousin) and a Metal Men's Rights Science group.  Ryan and Anthony talk about being science majors in a place stuck betw...

Long before Haven, led by Glenda and her friends, found themselves in a national spotlight, Amy Scott came to APU not yet understanding their identity. Within a year of their time there, they would realize they was not straight, and that this part of their identity was a threat to the fabric of APU's conservative evangelical culture. This also meant, the culture was a very real threat to their fle...

Glenda McDannel was tapped by Haven's graduating leaders to be a co-leader of the group just as it was emerging from the shadows of APU's underground.  She didn't know it at the time, but she would help lead the group into battle with the homophobic and transphobic culture and administration to make the campus  safer than it was. And during her final years, she would see Haven become a n...

Dr. Craig Boyd came to APU to be the Director of the Institute of Faith Integration. Within the first week, he was confronted with the absurd nature of the rest of the administration comprised of confused men and women trying to serve the two mutually exclusive masters of respectable academia and evangelical culture. At every turn, Dr. Boyd would learn, evangelical culture would win, leaving him s...

Dr. Daniel White Hodge survived 8 long years at APU, teaching in Global Studies and Biblical Studies. He refused to play nice with the white supremacist culture of the school, and that, as many of us know very well, makes for a tortuous experience at APU. But like many of us, Dan found and developed his identity as a Black man and as a Christian as he fought for his humanity and his place at the s...

Jonathan Garcia just gets shit done. He has made a life of putting himself in places of power and influence, at times at great cost to his sanity and humanity. As an undergrad and graduate student at APU, he forged his identity as a co-founder of LASA (Latin American Student Association), as a leader in student government, and as a member of the administration itself. That put him at the tabl...

Liam Young is a former student who, by all measures, shouldn't have gotten along with me. When we first met, he was ultra-conservative and a newly enlisted Marine. But from the very beginning, he was interested in learning and being challenged. Seeing firsthand how the prosperity gospel is both a horrible misreading of the bible and a weapon used against lower-income people, Liam began decons...

Before LASA (Latin America Student Association), ethnic orgs at APU were places to hide out away from the oppressive white culture that dominated the campus. The Multi-Ethnic Programs office was safe space to find your people and build communities of support. Matthew Gonzalez, Rod Olmeda-Lopez, and Jonathan Garcia created LASA during the beginning of the Obama era. Not content to just offer suppor...

For at least 6 or 7 years, maybe more, an amazing event took place at APU (and then the Citrus College parking lot when they got booted). The LGBTQ club, first called the GSA (gay-straight alliance) and then Haven, put on a showcase of LGBTQ creativity and pride. At first, it was just called "Art Night," and it was held at the 7 Palms, an outdoor amphitheater ringed by palm trees...7 of them, I be...

Ella Baker survived APU while presenting as a half Korean and White young man knowing she was something more. Her deconstruction began early on as she realized through the sheer force of her intellect that evangelical culture had lied to her. After a period of atheism and anger, she channeled her energies into spiritual growth and became a strong, zen, christian, trans woman.  While at APU, s...

Sammie Howell was one of the progressive pillars of her class of 2010. She went from "on fire" somewhat conservative evangelical to firebrand progressive warrior in her four years at APU. From the very beginning of her experience, she found herself on the outside of APU's white, wealthy culture. After an early incident where a fellow student asked her if she knew how to use chopsticks (Filipinos d...

Meet Dacia, a Black Samoan woman who could always be found in APU's social justice spaces spitting poems, singing, and clapping back at white supremacy. She looks back and talks about how she was so angry at the white evangelical culture around her while simultaneously playing along and repping the school as a Multi-Ethnic senator. She also shares the struggle students face when they come from low...

If APU knew that it was directly responsible for the deconstruction of conservative, white men, it would lose a lot of sleep. BJ Karlik is a physical therapist in Colorado Springs who now identifies as an atheist. He credits APU's Bible classes for his deconstruction, and his story obliterates the current narrative from famous Evangelical pastors who say the EX-Vangelical movement is based solely...

Dez Revish revisits his unique time at APU and recounts his deconstruction of faith. After growing up in a Black church, the christianity of the evangelical world felt like a completely different religion with a different god and Jesus. As a leader in the Multi-Ethnic Programs community, Dez became a conduit between administration and the students. This put him in a tough spot, as he learned that...