Penelope French

church'd podcast

Society EN ↓ 4 episodes

Faith & spirituality for everyday people. Penelope French (they/she/he) a spiritualist, theologian, ethicist, and cultural community organizer, but around here, I'm just your people. I was raised Full Gospel Baptist. First family, so I was born into building and maintaining the tradition. I knew the altar, the oil, the tongues, the tambourine. And I honored it. And then, like so many of us, I outgrew ther version of God handed to me. Not out of rebellion, but revelation. These days, I don’t claim any one tradition. I claim truth. I claim freedom. I claim spirit in its many forms. A space to ma...

Author

Penelope French

Episodes

Dont Ask Me if I'm Religious: From Baptist to Ifa w/ Olorisha Kamil Oshundara 08.06.2026 58:39

I am so excited for you all to hear this one. Building a belief grounded in your experiences can take many forms. Your goals and desires can become the places that you find devotion to yourself and God(s), Uni, Allah, spirit whatever you call it. This episode is about living in the in-between. The space where you no longer fit the boxes you were given religious, gendered, cultural, or spiritual bu...

The God I Dont Believe in Anymore w/Kareem Manuel 17.05.2026 54:18

This episode is about the quiet work of unchurching. The much like an addict attempting to beat addiction beginning is the hardest part. Not just leaving a religion. Not just changing what you believe. But slowly untangling the ways we were taught to see ourselves, God, and the world. Because many of us left Christianity, but the programming didn’t leave us. The habits stayed. The fear stayed. The...

Under The Spell: How We Learned to Fear Pleasure & How Pleasure Was Never the Problem 04.04.2026 42:40

We were taught to multiply but not to feel. To discipline the body, but never listen to it. In this episode, I sit with Mxter Xero (The Bishop of Bliss) to talk about the spells many of us were raised under theology and how they disconnected sensuality, sexuality, and sacredness from our bodies. What happens when rebellion is actually remembrance? When pleasure is not a sin but a language of the s...

We Were All Church'd: The Permission Slip 04.04.2026 56:56

"What if everything you thought you knew about faith, church, and spirituality is just a piece of a bigger puzzle?" ✨ Drop a 🔥 if you're questioning what faith really means to you. For years, I believed church was the only way to connect with God and that everything outside it was wrong. But what happens when your own journey pushes you to question everything? After deconstructing my beliefs, I...