Reading Time: 5 minutes This weekend, the Political Action Committee (PAC) Citizens United (yes, that same Citizens United) releases in theaters a new film entitled Torchbearer, a movie aimed at stirring their conservative base into a frightened frenzy, mobilizing them to get out the vote, hoping to use the November election to put conservatives back into the White House before America […]
Fundamentalism
Posted inLeaving Religion
I let my husband rape me, and here’s why
Reading Time: 17 minutes I have spent the last few weeks wondering if I should own this story or if I’ve said too much, but I think it’s time we have a very open and honest discussion about domestic violence and rape. The repercussions of shame and silence are far too great not to speak up. When we hear […]
Posted inGeneral
FAQ: What Do You Make of “Progressive Revelation?”
Reading Time: 4 minutes I spend a good deal of my time unpacking (and helping friends unpack) the ideas we all learned growing up in church. Many of these ideas are directly damaging (e.g. You’re wicked and deserve to be tortured), while others are indirectly harmful in the way that they confound attempts at critical thinking (e.g. You’re not supposed to […]
Posted inCulture, Parenting & Family, Psychology, Religion, Sex & Gender, The Secular
Sexualizing Everything Doesn’t Prepare Children for Healthy Relationships
Reading Time: 5 minutes Sex, for me, has never been an easy thing to talk about openly. And I place the blame for this deficiency squarely upon the shoulders of my fundamentalist Christian upbringing. I am hoping that this post will serve as an educational experience for those who don’t understand first-hand how religion poisons the well of sexuality. Perhaps this […]
Posted inLGBTQ News, Religion
Jesus, Friend of Sinners…Except Not You
Reading Time: 4 minutes I really liked Craig and his wife, Sofia*. They were weird, and I was 13. It was perfect. This odd couple had been involved with my small church for a few months as volunteers. They helped with the youth group (which mostly consisted of me and my brother). Sofia was severely obese, very sweet, and […]
Posted inEducation, General, Parenting & Family, Sex & Gender
Letters to My Daughters #9: Taking Ownership of Yourselves
Reading Time: 7 minutes You girls are growing up fast, and now that three of you are teenagers (how can this be?), the things I have to say to you are “aging up” as well. Lately I’ve been thinking a lot about the messages I know you are hearing in church, and while I usually keep my opinions about […]
Posted inLGBTQ News, Psychology, Religion
STOP! (In the Name of Love)
Reading Time: 6 minutes In the name of honoring or preserving religious doctrine or upbringing, Christian parents say some hurtful, ugly things to their LGBT children. With love, education, and understanding, relationships can recover from the pain of these mistakes.
Posted inReligion, Sex & Gender
Sexual Purity: What They Said vs. What We Learned
Reading Time: 10 minutes I had a very eye-opening conversation with my mom recently. We were talking about my marriage to my ex, and she asked me if her hunch was correct that I’d have married him anyway if my parents hadn’t given us the go-ahead. (You see, in our iteration of purity culture, even as a 22-year-old adult, […]
Posted inSex & Gender
Escaping A Culture of Repentance
Reading Time: 6 minutes I was fourteen years old when an older boy showed up on my street. I often walked my dog in the evenings, and he would drive up and down the street, slowing down to offer me every sex act he knew about (and a few I’m sure he knew nothing about at all). He tried to get me into […]
Posted inCulture, Film/TV, General
God’s Not Gay: SNL Parodies the Christian Persecution Fantasy
Reading Time: 2 minutes By now anyone who reads Godless in Dixie knows that Pure Flix and the God’s Not Dead franchise hold a special place in my heart. My first somewhat viral hit was a critique of the original movie, followed by another fairly well circulated post about how the sequel to the first movie played out in […]