Is purity culture pushing us toward theocracy? In the nearly two years since I made the leap from blogger to podcaster, we’ve watched the conversation on purity culture continue to swirl on social media. There has been no shortage of material; between Rachel Joy Welcher’s book last year and the ongoing lawsuits involving the SBC’s … Continue reading The War on Sex
Exvangelical
Let’s Talk About Sin
Last week mainstream evangelical magazine Christianity Today published a jaw-dropping article on their website detailing the egregious negligence of famed pastor & author John MacArthur. According to the article—which was sourced from dozens of survivors and chiefly one former elder and officer of the board at Grace Community Church where MacArthur is senior pastor—the church … Continue reading Let’s Talk About Sin
Then Sings My Soul
One unseasonably warm spring day in Southern California when I was 18 years old, I crammed into a car with 4 or 5 of my closest friends from choir at our Assemblies of God university and drove an hour inland for a concert. We parked in a vast asphalt parking lot surrounded by empty land, … Continue reading Then Sings My Soul
Burdens We Weren’t Meant to Carry
https://youtu.be/fKkQMTm0sY0 "Obsessed" from the film Twister (1996, Universal Pictures) I’ve always loved extreme weather. Not the destruction it leaves in its wake, but the wildness and mystery created by our planet’s atmosphere. Probably why the film that the clip above is from was one of my favorite movies when I was a teenager. I can … Continue reading Burdens We Weren’t Meant to Carry
Not Broken
Within evangelical Christianity, people aren’t good at holding opposite truths with tension. Everything exists within a binary, and anything outside or in between is a problem, and often willfully ignored. Usually labeled as sin or at the very least unimportant if the gray area makes the Christian feel too uncomfortable. I’ve been thinking about this … Continue reading Not Broken
Identity is (Not) a Sin
Here we are together at the end of this long journey back in time, processing a set of teachings that has left a visible scar across the landscape of millennials and beyond. If you’ve been reading every week since this began, I hope you’ve found comfort and solidarity knowing you’re not alone. If you’ve just … Continue reading Identity is (Not) a Sin
Honey, I’m (Not) Home
Purity Culture Part IV: Gender roles within purity culture and beyond. Heteronormative: “of, relating to, or based on the attitude that heterosexuality is the only natural expression of sexuality.” This term will be used ad nauseam over the last two parts of this series. Mostly due to the fact that evangelicals have built their entire … Continue reading Honey, I’m (Not) Home
(Not)That Kind of Girl
Part I: A purity culture prologue. First of all, I want to thank you, dear reader, for coming on this journey with me. When I first announced on Twitter and Instagram that I was starting this series, so many of you responded with your stories and solidarity. If I’m being real with myself, I’ve been … Continue reading (Not)That Kind of Girl
The Perfect Storm
Rachel Hollis and her destructive wake of fake feminism. It’s not the first time author & speaker Rachel Hollis has had negative press in her (relatively short) career thus far, and probably not the last. But on Thursday, the New York Times published an exposé of her wild rise to fame in 2018 that culminated … Continue reading The Perfect Storm
A Seat at the Table
Could one famous pastor use his power for change? This past week’s discourse between ex-evangelicals and Presbyterian pastor & author Tim Keller has left me raw, emotional and resolute. It’s a mixed bag of emotions really. Memories from my past, conversations with pastors or bits of sermons have been floating through my brain as I … Continue reading A Seat at the Table
The Life She Wrote 