CW: Spiritual, emotional, and physical abuse toward someone who is differently-abled and mention of suicide attempt Dustin VanDyke (featured on HBO's We're Here Season Two finale) is differently-abled and trans. Dustin was restricted from being themselves while in an abusive home, but now they are free to be who they are while inspiring others who lack representation.   Follow Dustin's YouTube and Facebook.   Bookended with music by Nightlightr (CDBaby, iTunes, and Spotify) | Find...

With one more new episode left in 2021, here's a classic episode with Jamie Lee Finch and my former co-host Chuck Parson. Before the new episode, if you're able, check out the Season Two finale of We're Here on HBO. My next guest is Dustin VanDyke and was featured in that episode. You won't want to miss this!   Unbuckling The Bible Belt: Brady Hardin and Chuck Parson takes the show on the road to Nashville, TN to interview Jamie Lee Finch on the subjects of sexuality, the dangers of...

For this very special Thanksgiving episode, my ex-wife Jessi McCracken joins the show to deconstruct her high-pressure charismatic upbringing, the saga of our marriage and divorce, how Purity Culture sets unhealthy relationship expectations, coming out as queer, the life-altering power of therapy, co-parenting while deconstructing, and how chosen families become so important as we evolve into who we truly are.   Our 9-year-old son, Helo, stops by to say hello during the introduction and...

Vi La Bianca (Skeptic Generation co-host) joins Brady to deconstruct reason's relationship with mental health, rapture anxiety, being neurodiverse, and how to set boundaries with people AND beliefs. With Special Intermission Interview Guest, Sherman the Dog from Adventures in Odyssey.   Find Vi's work with Skeptic Generation at SkepticGeneration.com | Follow Vi on Twitter on @AuthorConfusion   Bookended with music by Nightlightr (CDBaby, iTunes, and Spotify) | Find links for The...

Spiritual and leadership coach Taj M. Smith joins Brady to deconstruct Queer Theology, transitioning, and how his love for sci-fi shapes his outlook of the future. They also discuss the Star Trek Next Generation episode, Darmok.   With Special Intermission Interview Guest, "Angel" from Netflix's Midnight Mass   Find Taj's work here at tajmsmith.com   Bookended with music by Nightlightr (CDBaby, iTunes, and Spotify) | Find links for The Life After Community (our secret Facebook...

Julianne King (Poet and old friend of Brady) deconstructs her LIFE AFTER spiritual abuse with intensely manipulative church leaders. A major event occurred while in the youth group and another afterward. Also, Julianne shares her theory about how the musical Cats represents Evangelicalism.   Find Julianne's book of poetry, Bible Belt Revolution, on Amazon   Bookended with music by Nightlightr (CDBaby, iTunes, and Spotify) | Find links for The Life After Community (our secret Facebook...

Singer, Activist Jamar Rogers joins Brady to deconstruct his radiant LIFE AFTER repressing his queerness, receiving a positive HIV diagnosis, appearing on American Idol & The Voice, and learning to silence his inner critic so he could return back to himself. Jamar shares passionate wisdom on how representing real-life experiences does more for the greater good than advertising for "God."   Get Jamar's single Flow wherever you purchase music | Follow Jamar: 📷@jamarrogersofficial...

Sheri invited me to be on her YouTube Channel, FireSide Creators, alongside Catherine Wilcox, who has an M.A. in English Rhetoric and has researched the role of storytelling as a healing and community-building practice for individuals recovering from religious abuse and trauma. Here's the audio from that conversation as a special bonus before next Thursday's episode! Find Sheri's website at sheripallas.com and her YouTube channel at youtube.com/FiresideCreators.   Find links for The...

Rev. Dr. Sheri Pallas (activist, ally) joins the show to discuss "God" (and why she uses quotes), how an injustice done by a church toward her family pushed her to care deeply about religion, and her perspective on Deconstruction Culture as someone who left fundamentalism years ago ("deconstruction legacy," I'm calling it 😉). Find Sheri's website at sheripallas.com and her YouTube channel at youtube.com/FiresideCreators.   Bookended with music by...

Content Warning: This episode includes mentions of sexually predatory behavior and the retelling of a racial, anti-fatness comment   Emily Dukes joins The Life After to tell how her love for Christian fiction put her on the path to be groomed (use of privileged relationships to normalize exploiting a young person's body) by novelist Ted Dekker, what she's discovered about herself, and how she's pushing back.   This episode begins with Brady retelling his experience of being groped by...

Welcome to The Life After Podcast Season 3! Chuck Parson joins the show one last time as co-host to catch up, announce his departure, and tease his next steps. Stay tuned this season of The Life After Podcast for more important conversations with courageous people about deconstructing Christian beliefs!   Transitional music by Nightlightr | CDBaby, iTunes, and Spotify Links for connecting with The Life After Community (secret Facebook Group), rating, reviewing, and/or subscribing on...

Alice Grecyzn (actress and upcoming author) re-joins Chuck and Brady to update her life since the recording of the last episode months and months ago.   Follow her important work helping deconstructors at www.daretodoubt.org.   Transitional music by Nightlightr | CDBaby, iTunes, and Spotify Connect with the Life After Podcast & Community here: linktr.ee/thelifeafter

Alice Grecyzn (actress and upcoming author) joins Chuck and Brady to discuss her life after homeschooling as a PK, the Toronto Blessing (a charismatic movement in the 90's), and an almost-wedding pressured upon her by prophecy.   Follow her important work helping deconstructors at www.daretodoubt.org.   Transitional music by Nightlightr | CDBaby, iTunes, and Spotify Connect with the Life After Podcast & Community here: linktr.ee/thelifeafter

Denver-based counselor and coach, Suandria Hall, joins Chuck and Brady to unpack her Life After. Suandaria's father was a preacher. So much of her life was entrenched in church culture, filled with rules and expectations. After learning beyond what the Bible could offer, she became interested in why people do what they do. She landed on counseling with an emphasis on religious trauma. Though her religious trauma experience didn't begin until leaving the community, she became a mental health...

The Life After Podcast Hosts, Chuck Parson (R) and Brady Hardin (L), take a pause on their backlog of upcoming episodes to have a special, no-guest episode to address anxiously with the Coronavirus.   In this episode, they discuss: -how to keep End-Time anxiety at bay during current events-recommendations for staying busy-grieving-meaning-making-Chuck says "fuzzy red balls" and Brady doesn't laugh-Plus A LOT more!   Transitional music by Nightlightr | CDBaby, iTunes and Spotify Connect with...

Victoria Lynn Myers (model) joins Chuck and Brady to unpack her life after! She grew up in a very strict, Independent Baptist home with many, many rules, but Victoria noticed she didn't value the beliefs over her experience like those around her. When her church community showed obsessions with modesty, she knew there were still horrible sexual abuse occurring. Her world turned up-side down when Victoria had an empowering sexual experience with someone of the same gender, an act her community...

CW: Anorexia  Chuck and Brady are joined by Laura M, who opens up about her childhood struggling in silence with a Fundamentalism-fueled eating disorder.   Laura, like many women raised in Christianity, was taught to be silent and smaller. When tragedy struck her family, she developed anorexia out of a need to be seen and to have a feeling of control in a time of uncertainty. The eating disorder became increasingly dangerous, leaving her with the ultimatum: Get well or risk death within 28...

 CW: This episode includes mentions of race-based physical abuse, racial slurs, sexual abuse, and mention of childhood violence. Carrie Maya, calling from Australia, opens up to Chuck and Brady about her life after leaving a high-demand Charismatic community, spiritual abuse, and life-long conditioning to submit to authority.   A very tumultuous childhood and extreme Fundamentalism positioned Carried to be victimized by self-seeking authoritative voices. First, it was family. Then her pastor....

Ronna Russell joins Chuck and Brady to discuss her life after strict Pentecostalism and oppressive Purity Culture. Her saucy memoir, The Uncomfortable Confessions Of a Preacher's Kid, tells her story of not fitting into Christian culture's idea of what a woman should be and how she found her true self instead. The episode begins with advice on how to safely set-up a sexual encounter through an app and other advice for those dipping their toes into the sexual waters. Episode ends with practice...

Elle Reneé of St. Louis Chapter of Black Nonbelievers joins Chuck and Brady in the studio.   Elle's step father was a pastor for multiple churches of varying denominations and current pastor of a nondenominational church, and some of their church services would go all day long. All of this made church a very foundational part of Elle's childhood. Along with the good side of closely-knit church communities also brought the bad, including lot of unwanted touch.   Elle got married during the...

Counselor ("counsellor" for the Canucks) Janice Selbie joins Chuck and Brady for a insightful, practical conversation on grieving God. Janice came from a ultra-Fundamentalism background that became hyper-charged after marrying her now ex-husband. While working at a bookstore, she befriended a group of Mennonite (Anabaptist) women and began wearing head coverings like they did out of a obedience to the Bible. Around the time of her divorce, Janice encountered traumas that shook her from her...

Dave Warnock shares with Chuck and Brady about facing his mortality after leaving Christianity and being diagnosed with ALS/Lou Gehrig's disease. He's creating new meaningful relationships and learning to savor the moments of life as an Atheist.   They also discuss the pretzels they twisted themselves in to justify Biblical language, whether Dave's illness would make him want to go back, Christians who gaslight by saying people who left weren't really Christians, and finding new community...