The Dismantling Doctrine Podcast

This week's episode features returning guest and former host of "The People I Meet" podcast, Dean Krosecz. Dean walked away from charismatic Christianity years ago, and finally the faith altogether. In the process, in his words, he's become "a strict materialist with doubts"--but what does that mean, and how does it relate to him rebuilding his life post-Christianity? In the telling of his story,...

This week's guest is my friend Mike Phillips, currently a therapist in California who does a lot of work in the area of religious trauma syndrome--a subject I am not only very familiar with as a sufferer of RTS myself, but I've devoted a lot of time to it also. Like me, Mike is an ex-pastor who tells an incredible tale of not only being in church ministry for decades, but also how he transitioned...

This week's episode features a conversation with conspiracy theory expert Mike Rothschild, author of the excellent 2021 book The Storm is Upon Us: How QAnon Became a Movement, a Cult, and a Conspiracy Theory of Everything . We begin at the beginning: what is the appeal of conspiracy theories in general, and why are so many people attracted to them historically? Conspiracy theories are nothing new,...

While most of us may be familiar with the concept of Christian nationalism in the United States among evangelicals, what about the idea of Christian internationalism? That's the topic that this week's guest, Dr Melani McAlister of George Washington University, happens to be an expert on. We begin by discussing the war in Ukraine and how it shone a spotlight on the widespread American evangelical s...

This week's guest is documentary filmmaker and author, Jen Senko, whose brilliant work The Brainwashing of My Dad tells the story of not just how her father Frank literally became a different person due to the effects of far-right media, it also tells the story of how conservative media became such a powerhouse. More than likely, you have friends, family, friends or other acquaintances who have be...

In light of the recent "leak" of the Supreme Court's apparent ruling to overturn the 1973 Roe v Wade case, I reached out to former guest Peter Montgomery of the Right Wing Watch to bring us up to speed on what's happening. Aside from the leak itself, which is unprecedented to say the least, the much larger concern of American citizens should be the slow erosion of progressive, democratic rights th...

This week's episode is one I've wanted to do a long time--it's based on a section of a book I'm working on about Christian Reconstructionism and the roots of dominion theology. But the recent news about the Supreme Court's "leak" on the upcoming reversal of Roe v Wade got me to thinking that it's time to take a look at historical examples of theocratic kingdoms on earth. Were they more of a utopia...

This week's guest features a father-and-daughter combination, Stephen Mather and his daughter Celine, who are co-hosts of the "What Should I Think About...?" podcast. As an ex-JW, Stephen is uniquely qualified to shed light on this cult--and although his daughter Celine was never a part of it, as a non-JW with many family members still involved in the religion, she has a fascinating perspective to...

This week's guest is Rachel Hunt, who is an ambassador for the RFR: the Recovering From Religion organization founded by our good friend (and former guest) Dr Darrel Ray. Not only does Rachel share her own story of escaping from religion, she provides excellent information on what the RFR does, how you can be a part of it, and how you can support this tremendous work that is helping so many people...

This week's episode features an alarming conversation with returning guest Katherine Stewart, author of The Power Worshipers and The Good News Club , as well as numerous articles in a variety of online sources. In this chat, we discussed a January 2022 article Katherine wrote in The New Republic in which she not only identified some of the funding behind several Christian Right organizations in Am...

This week's returning guest is ex-cult member, now sociologist and cult expert--Dr Janja Lalich, co-author along with fellow cult survivor Kala McLaren of the excellent book Escaping Utopia: Growing up in a Cult, Getting  Out, and Starting Over . In this episode, Dr Lalich and I take a deep dive into not just what makes a cult a cult, but more specifically her "bounded choice" model of cults, with...

We've got the first bonus episode of 2022! I'm happy to welcome back returning guest, good friend Janice Selbie, to talk about the upcoming CORT2022--the Conference on Religious Trauma. We not only delve into which great presenters she has lined up for this important conference, we discuss the many and varied aspects of religious trauma. What is it, who is affected by it, and what can you do about...

This week's conversation is a fascinating one with American expat Dr David D'Andre, currently residing in Canada but who's lived in such places as Kiev and Brussels. Originally from the United States, David has a fascinating story of deconstruction of his former Christian beliefs from academic, theological and personal points of view combined. David's story is a fascinating one--and one that you'l...

This week's episode features returning guest, "Dr Death"--my good friend, Dr Terri Daniel.   Terri is hosting a conference coming up in July of this year called "The Conference on Death, Grief and Belief." Not only do we discuss which guests will be at this year's conference--including yours truly--but we delve into its purpose and who should attend it.   Beyond that, we have a fascinating chat ab...

This week's guest is Michael, who self-identifies as a recovering religious addict. But what exactly is "religious addiction," and how would you even know if you are one?   Writing on the Religious Addicts Anonymous blog, Michael defines religious addiction as follows: "The religious addict has developed the capability to produce a spiritual high and/or trance-like state, the source of which the a...

This episode features returning guest, Rebekah Drumsta, author of a brand-new book entitled When Family Hurts: 30 Days to Finding Healing and Clarity . Have you had to cut off relationships with family or friends because they were simply too toxic, abusive or hurtful? Maybe the "family secrets" came out and left you devastated, or abuses from the past became too painful to bear. Or perhaps cutting...

This inaugural episode of 2022 features a fascinating conversation with Australian-born author and investigative journalist, Elle Hardy. She's the author of a brand-new book entitled Beyond Belief: How Global Pentecostalism is Taking Over the World . In addition to researching the history and the various sociological aspects of global Pentecostalism, Elle was able to conduct amazing field research...

This final episode of 2021 features another returning guest and good friend from Canada--David Hayward, "The Naked Pastor." A former evangelical pastor like me, David and I go way back and share a lot in common since we both left both our ministries and our former faiths behind. I wanted to reconnect with him after we were on a panel last year's CORT 2020 conference on religious trauma.  In additi...

This week's guest is another returning friend--Dr Josie McSkimming from Sydney, Australia.  I reached out to her recently because I was interested in speaking with her about not only her backstory in Christian fundamentalism, and how she got out of that system, but also about her work as a psychotherapist who specializes in helping clients recover from such afflictions as religious trauma syndrome...

This episode is something I've wanted to do for a very long time--a re-release of an old recording I did with my sister Valerie way back in 2017 when she came to visit me in North Wales. We sat down and shared stories of what it was like to grow up in not just a fundamentalist home, but actually a cult --the Bill Gothard Bible cult. Hearing Valerie's story will move you...perhaps even to tears.  I...

This week's episode couldn't be more timely--discussing the draconian and hugely controversial Texas abortion law, Senate Bill 8 (SB8). Now that it is finally being argued at the Supreme Court, we have to ask: will the Christian  dominionists who have played the long game in terms of appointing conservative and anti-abortion judges finally succeed in overturning Roe v Wade? This has been their str...

This special bonus episode features a conversation with my very good friend, Religious Recovery Consultant Janice Selbie! Starting the 7th of November, she is running another one of her amazing "Divorcing Religion" workshops.   We've talked about this before, but I wanted to touch base with Janice to give her a chance not only to promote the workshop, but to explain why such a thing is so needed f...

This week's guest is Jonathan Larsen, managing editor over at The Young Turks (TYT) Network.  Ever since he and his colleagues obtained the formerly-secret invitation list to the yearly National Prayer Breakfast that The Family--otherwise known as "The Fellowship Foundation"--wanted desperately to keep a secret, Jonathan has been doing some great investigative reporting on this uber-secretive, dom...

In this special bonus episode, which I've long been promising is indeed coming, I was able to interview therapist Rachel Bernstein of the IndoctriNation Podcast. This is actually Part 2 of two episodes we did--for the first half of the chat, you'll have to head over to the IndoctriNation podcast to catch Part 1. There, we discussed my backstory in evangelicalism, my deconstruction, and the journey...

Kurt Andersen is a returning guest, this time to talk about his sequel to Fantasyland , which is his excellent and thought-provoking work, Evil Geniuses: The Unmaking of America--A Recent History . How exactly does it function as a sequel to Fantasyland? In this followup book, Kurt reveals that the vast wealth and income inequality in America was not by accident, but by design--the work of the "ev...