This was amazing.

I’m an ex-minister (music pastor from the Assemblies of God) turned atheist journalist (among other things) and my wife is… sort of an agnostic theist right now. But we both met in bible college. She still believes in Jesus, just doesn’t know exactly how or why any more, largely thanks for me and my study, I guess.

To put it in perspective, I was a young earth, god made it look old, you don’t need therapy if you have Jesus, abstinence is the BEST! type of Christian in HS and College. And so was my wife.

My turning point was a thorough reading of the bible, all the stuff I didn’t have hammered into me in college. Re-asking all the questions where I’d gotten rote answers in the past.

Anyway, listening to the childhood stories, and especially the bit about therapy and your current awesome non-judgmental church really struck a nerve. In a good way.

Now we have a 3 year old (we’ve been married 6 years) and it’s tough deciding to take her to church anyway, but we don’t know what else to do to socialize our kid. And I’m trying to be sensitive to my wife’s needs, and her desire to raise Adelaide in church (for now, at least). And there simply aren’t any progressive churches near us. We’re apparently now in the most conservative part of SoCal.

Add to that the fact that her sister and brother in law are missionaries in Mozambique, my mom is a completely nuts faith healer (if you’re not healed, it’s YOUR FAULT!), and my whole immediate and extended family are fundamentalist christians of the “Jesus was not a socialist!” stripe. They all still live in the midwest.

Anyway… I’m on An American Atheist now, writing and doing some podcasting in the future, and it’s really nuts trying to sort all of this out.

This has helped a ton. Don’t even know how I came across it, but I’m so glad I did.

Heathen’s greetings to you all!

ADJ

Erudition at its finest and most genuine. I’ve been a fan of Bazan for a while (see you in Chicago 3/18/12, Dave!) and now I am officially a fan of Stephy and Grapes of Rad. I listened to all 3+ hours of this and wasn’t bored a damn second! It’s people like you I find solace in. Bravo and godspeed.