Growing Up Fundie

Send us Fan Mail Dr. Andy Thomson: Part 2 In the fall of 2025, my friend and multi-time podcast guest, psychiatrist Dr. Anderson Thomson, proposed an idea for my podcast: He wanted to interview ME. In his words, I’d spent nearly 200 episodes interviewing guests about their experiences with religious and political deconstruction, but I had never really shared my own personal story.  So, on January...

Send us Fan Mail In the fall of 2025, my friend and multi-time podcast guest, psychiatrist Dr. Anderson Thomson, proposed an idea for my podcast: He wanted to interview ME. In his words, I’d spent nearly 200 episodes interviewing guests about their experiences with religious and political deconstruction, but I had never really shared my own personal story.  So, on January 1st, 2026, we met in-pers...

Send us Fan Mail   In celebration of our 4 year Anniversary (GUF launched in December of 2021), we are revisiting (and remastering) some of our earlier episodes' guests, opinions, current events from the past, and to celebrate how far we have come. The Kavernacle is a political and social commentary content creator, whose YouTube channel features livestreams, podcasts, and more. (Including ov...

Send us Fan Mail In celebration of our 4 year Anniversary (GUF launched in December of 2021), we are revisiting some of our earlier episodes to revisit guests, opinions, current events from the past, and to celebrate how far we have come. This episode was originally published on December 20th, 2022, via Zoom. Hemant Mehta is a speaker, activist, and YouTuber who has dedicated his career to normali...

Send us Fan Mail In celebration of our 4 year Anniversary (GUF launched in December of 2021), we are revisiting some of our earlier episodes to revisit guests, opinions, current events from the past, and to celebrate how far we have come. Tim Whitaker from ‘The New Evangelicals’ talks about how he began his mission, ideas that keep him motivated, and what being an ‘Evangelical’ means to him. Find...

Send us Fan Mail Tiktok clips from this debate have garnered over 1.5 million views and counting View the full video version of this debate here:  https://youtu.be/xbBY0S2w1aU?si=h9GEjXmA7H0lNGd6  From “What is Irrational About My World View?”  The Conversation Coalitions June 2024 live event in Nashville, TN. Featuring Sydney Davis Jr. Jr. & Pedro Garcia  https://www.youtube.com/@TheConversat...

Send us Fan Mail (Watch the video-version of this episode here: https://youtu.be/swyLoDOBUK0 ) Gary Parker and Secular Rarity are long-time friends, and co-producers of “The Conversation Coalition,” A group of Nashville Atheist speakers seeking to have friendly and informative conversations with Christians. They are also part of the team of producers leading NANOCON 2025, a convention of atheists...

Send us Fan Mail "The Casual Scholars" is a new podcast brought to you by the creator of "Growing Up Fundie," featuring interesting people who know a lot about interesting things. In this sneak peek of Episode 1: Adam Hinkle is a Chicago-based actor and filmmaker. He grew up on the east coast, primarily in the Philadelphia suburbs and attended college in Pittsburgh, PA, but rel...

Send us Fan Mail Poulomi Saha is an Associate Professor & Co-Director of the Program in Critical Theory at UC Berkeley.  They lead a popular course called “Cults and Popular Culture,” which examines, among other things, the idea of naming something a cult, and the reasons human beings are so obsessed with them.  In an interview with Berkeley News, Saha discussed why it’s important to teach stu...

Send us Fan Mail View the visual version of this episode here: https://youtu.be/gcp7w5AypU8 What is Christian Nationalism? Christian nationalism is a form of religious nationalism that focuses on promoting the Christian views of its followers, in order to achieve prominence or dominance in political and social life. Separation of Church and State (Definition & Details) https://www.freedomforum...

Send us Fan Mail Watch the YouTube version of this episode here: https://youtu.be/qObbkKvJ9rQ?si=hvepS4FmVs0yoo8j Kelley Laughlin was raised Lutheran until the age of 14, when he first began questioning what he was being told. He continued to read, research, and search for the truth until joining the military both literally and figuratively put the Bible back into his hands.  Once out of the milit...

Send us Fan Mail Spiritually speaking, Lynn was raised as a devout Catholic, before her family later transitioned into a more Charismatic-leaning Christian church.  As an adult, however, Lynn realized that (despite her actions and intentions growing up) she has actually been a non-believer for over 20 years. She has also been bi-sexual as well. Lynn is currently a lawyer-turned-freelance-editor wh...

Send us Fan Mail View the visual version of this episode here: https://youtu.be/lZFazV_SdfU Lindsey grew up in a religious family that devoutly followed the now-infamous IBLP IBLP organization, or “ The Institute in Basic Life Principles.” Made infamous by documentaries like “Shiny Happy People,” on Amazon Prime (which Lindsey was also featured in), this church was lead by Bill Gothard, a man who...

Send us Fan Mail Eric’s YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@theinvestigativemillennial9381 Our discussion on why Skeptics leave the Church: https://youtu.be/XpUYnlhfATY?si=uuZtDGj_uAqcu9do Our OG Livestream from June 13th 2023: https://www.youtube.com/live/w07vEeqW7vM?si=M5w4WWB3QXb3l4Dd ______________________________ Tell me what you think of the show here: https://forms.gle/R7giKgimVAUJfQ4...

Send us Fan Mail On Growing Up Fundie, Episode 151. Misty walks us through her family’s decades-long journey through the gamut of Christian denominations, and the college assignment that finally opened her eyes to what she really believed.  __________________________________ Tell me what you think of the show here: https://forms.gle/R7giKgimVAUJfQ477 Find more “Growing Up Fundie” here: Website: ww...

Send us Fan Mail Watch the visual version of this episode here: https://youtu.be/M3aVTqQkoss Darante’ Lamar was once the most devoutly religious person in his family.  After finding God, and dedicating his life to being a pastor, he started to realize that even the people at the top of the food chain (who he considered to be mentors himself), still didn’t have all the answers. In fact, they didn’t...

Send us Fan Mail This episode originally livestreamed on YouTube on Wednesday, June 5th 2024. Watch the original stream here: https://www.youtube.com/live/xPTs1No2Qa4?si=D6InpFHxZVzQSbF7 Jimmy Jr. is a host for the shows ‘Talk Heathen’ and ‘The Non Prophets,’ from the Atheist Community of Austin (ACA).  However, he wasn't always.  Jimmy was once a normal twenty-something with no idea where he...

Send us Fan Mail 148 Brett M. considers himself a free-thinking Christian. He recognizes that in order to hang his hat on a belief system, and claim that he wants to follow a specific faith or religion, he has to feel as though he’s done as much research as he possibly can in order to feel comfortable calling himself a Christian. In this episode, Brett describes this experience, and how his though...

Send us Fan Mail Note from Sydney: Please take a moment to fill out this short survey to help me make future episodes a continued success. Cheers! https://forms.gle/g48Bn8Nzd1P8ymBs5 Watch the visual version of this episode here: https://youtu.be/FrRgKx1vaGg Danny B. was enrolled in Christian school until the 1st grade, after which he became homeschooled all the way through high school. Throughout...

Send us Fan Mail  Kyle Lett attended a Baptist church with his Grandmother until the age of 12, when his father and stepmother decided he needed to attend a Pentecostal church with them. After years of involving himself in the ministry, Kyle began to recognize that he wasn’t sure he truly agreed with everything he was helping preach, or even believed it himself.  Now an “agnostic who still sometim...

Send us Fan Mail This episode originally livestreamed on YouTube on May 24th, 2024. Check out the video version of this episode here: https://youtube.com/live/7vvBtIe6RCs?feature=share Find this episode, and others here: Website: www.growingupfundiepodcast.com Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/2EHJGf8kGbSV9SRbqsfYKS Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/growing-up-fundie/id160...

Send us Fan Mail Cliff aka Asura the Atheist is a humanist, atheist, and content creator who faces difficult topics and conversations head-on. Through Tiktok stitches and duets, Cliff promotes critical thinking and empathy to his audience, whether they’re there because they agree, or they’re there to call him a “pick-me.” In this episode (part 1 of 2), Cliff addresses the “Man or Bear” controversy...

Send us Fan Mail Cliff aka Asura the Atheist is a humanist, atheist, and content creator who faces difficult topics and conversations head-on. Through Tiktok stitches and duets, Cliff promotes critical thinking and empathy to his audience, whether they’re there because they agree, or they’re there to call him a “pick-me.” In this episode (part 2 of 2), we find out more about Asura the Atheist hims...

Send us Fan Mail Watch the visual episode on YouTube here: https://youtu.be/Vp1QaAcmAFE Rich grew up in a Baptist household in California.  Despite his devout upbringing, and attending church multiple times each week, he began to see the cracks in the lessons being taught by the church, vs the choices they were showing him through their actions.  After specific events that caused even his parents...

Send us Fan Mail ___________________________ Find this episode, and others here: Website: www.growingupfundiepodcast.com Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/2EHJGf8kGbSV9SRbqsfYKS Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/growing-up-fundie/id1602008078 Amazon Music: https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/ad6ac91e-c2fb-47d6-8658df8aed941eac/growing-up-fundie Patreon: https://www.patreon.c...