Losing Our Religion

At this point, Holly and I have been drinking for hours. So this conversation is full of tantalizing personal stories and experiences from our lives. Hollie's story of coming out, losing virginity, her first lesbian relationship and more. My story of marriage after religion, and healing from the PTSD of religion. Quantifying the value of an episode is hard because each is valuable in various ways for different reasons to us all. This one holds a lot of value to me because we both find solidarity in our experiences as well as the joy of transparently sharing where each of us is in life today. Holly is a vocalist in the music featured in this episode. Music by The Brodcast. This Episode's Show Notes SUPPORT THE SHOW RATE & REVIEW THE SHOW BECOME A PRODUCER DONATE GET YOUR FREE AUDIO BOOK from Audible.com SHOP THROUGH OUR Amazon Portal  JOIN US Join the CounterCulture Society - Get Emails & Deals! Website Connect with us on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook Call the 'Loser' Hotline: 206-395-5608 Mus

Holly is a fantastic woman. She’s one of those people that lights up a room. As soon as we met, there was an instant connection, and I’m excited for you to hear her story. From a home grown CBN, 700 Club, Jim & Tammy Faye Bakker background to the beautiful human she is today, her story will encourage and challenge you to question what you've been told and embrace humanity. She has a beautiful voice and is a vocalist in the Hip Hop band The Brodcast. She shares that voice and their music with us. This Episode's Show Notes SUPPORT THE SHOW RATE & REVIEW THE SHOW BECOME A PRODUCER DONATE GET YOUR FREE AUDIO BOOK from Audible.com SHOP THROUGH OUR Amazon Portal  JOIN US Join the CounterCulture Society - Get Emails & Deals! Website Connect with us on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook Call the 'Loser' Hotline: 206-395-5608 Music featured on this episode:  Vintage Ocean by Phillip Gross and Used CDs (All Across the Land) The Brodcast This podcast is produced by select producers and created by the Cou

Growing up in a conservative, Christian home, along side a profoundly mentally and physically disabled brother has given him a perspective on empathy, government, and capitalism that’s refreshing to hear. Blake has an intimate knowledge of my life. He knew me when I was a youth pastor, in a sense we grew up together. Hearing his perspective on my life and the extreme turns away from religion I've taken are helpful and insightful. This Episode's Show Notes SUPPORT THE SHOW RATE & REVIEW THE SHOW BECOME A PRODUCER DONATE GET YOUR FREE AUDIO BOOK from Audible.com SHOP THROUGH OUR Amazon Portal  JOIN US Join the CounterCulture Society - Get Emails & Deals! Website Connect with us on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook Call the 'Loser' Hotline: 206-395-5608 Music featured on this episode: Raw Instrumental pt.1 by Digi G'Alessio and Seasons by A Hope Not Forgotten This podcast is produced by select producers and created by the CounterCulture Society™.

Due to the tragic and violent events taking place in Charlottesville Virginia this past weekend. We are taking a break from our regularly scheduled programming to address a conversation around hate, dealing with it, and growing past it. We all are expressing our anger, grief, pain, remorse, and disappointment differently. It's important to feel those emotions. Expression of our emotions is extremely healthy for us all. But how should we express our distaste for the beliefs of others and our disgust with hate, indifference, white supremacy, the KKK, and Nazi's? Is violence the answer? Is punching a Nazi justified? Is it helpful? Some would say yes. Some would say it doesn’t matter. Some would say no. This is a conversation condemning hate, white supremacy, Nazism, and the KKK, all the while asking ourselves, how should we suppress hate and defend human rights? This Episode's Show Notes SUPPORT THE SHOW RATE & REVIEW THE SHOW BECOME A PRODUCER DONATE GET YOUR FREE AUDIO BOOK from Audible.com SHOP THROUGH O

Blake knew me when I was a Pastor, in fact, I was his Pastor. We spend time talking about growing up together, how our lives have changed, leaving Facebook, and more. After listening to every episode of the podcast, Blake doesn't understand why so many Christians hate us, but life is hard, and we can't please everyone. The world is not the way we wish it were. Blake has gone through some things that many can not fathom. Growing up with a mentally challenged older brother, essentially he had a stroke at birth, which led to a seizure disorder, autism, and further brain damaged after surgery. He was physically and mentally disabled and considered medically fragile. We talk about our experiences and moving into healing, therapy, and the future. This Episode's Show Notes SUPPORT THE SHOW RATE & REVIEW THE SHOW BECOME A PRODUCER DONATE GET YOUR FREE AUDIO BOOK from Audible.com SHOP THROUGH OUR Amazon Portal  JOIN US Join the CounterCulture Society - Get Emails & Deals! Website Follow on Twitter & In

Seth and are I are back after watching the Tony Robbins documentary "I am not You Guru." In a continuation of our conversation where Seth challenged us to not only to own our shit but heal our shit. He continues to explain his affinity and experience with Energy Intuitive Healing and Rapid Transformation Therapy also known as weird shit with spirits, psychics, and exorcisms. I'm not convinced that this is the path to my healing, but it and the pain I have inspired me to take the plunge into a new therapeutic journey. CONTACT SETH This Episode's Show Notes SUPPORT THE SHOW RATE & REVIEW THE SHOW BECOME A PRODUCER DONATE GET YOUR FREE AUDIO BOOK from Audible.com SHOP THROUGH OUR Amazon Portal  JOIN US Join the CounterCulture Society - Get Emails & Deals! Website Follow on Twitter & Instagram. Join our Facebook Call the 'Losers Anonymous' Hotline: 206-395-5608 Music featured on this episode: SK - Beats - Positive Anthem by SK and Let Me Heal You (Apollo's Song) by Monk Turner This podcast is pr

“The trap of high experiences, however they occur, is that you become attached to their memory and so you try to recreate them. These memories compel you to try to reproduce the high." -Ram Dass I’ve many times been referred to watch I AM NOT YOUR GURU, a documentary about Tony Robbins and his experiential retreats. I watched it right before recording with Seth, and it leads us into a discussion about my own thoughts on "teachings" and gurudom. Because of my preacher past as well as my future desires for my life, I have for quite some time now, run from the moniker of “teacher” or “guru.” No matter what, it seems to keep coming up, especially from those with a religious past. Well, I don’t want to be your teacher or your guru. Maybe as Seth suggests, it’s because of my ego holding me back from embracing who I am, or maybe it’s not who I am because it’s not who I want to be. I don’t believe in needing teachers or gurus. I believe that as we live our lives, there are guides that pop up when we need them. When w

When I got an email from a high school friend, I was excited to reconnect. Little did I know that it would introduce me to a movie that I would really enjoy, connect with on multiple levels, laugh, cry, and want to share with all of you. Director Steven Prince and Traveling Picture Show Company have put together a film that will make us think, and re-evaluate how we hold or let go of our "religions." A cast with the likes of Billy Burke, Patrick Warburton, Sarah Shahi, Gary Cole, Joel David Moore, and film legend Adrienne Barbeau. Each actor does an excellent job portraying the story of a man who wrestles with his humanity as his life takes a new direction after his recent fame from dethroning a public access televangelist. I know you'll enjoy this movie as much as I do, click the links below to check it out and then LET'S TALK ABOUT IT! WATCH DIVINE ACCESS on Amazon Prime, YouTube, or on your local TV provider. This Episode's Show Notes SUPPORT THE SHOW RATE & REVIEW THE SHOW BECOME A PRODUCER DONATE GE

T.O. fulfills his promise and shares with us the Crack Head Hoagie story that reminded him how things often just come together. We also dive into a conversation about music and why many musicians stay involved in church even though they don't get much out if it. T.O. is a steel working musician from Pittsburg Pennsylvania with roots in Philadelphia. We take the time to chat over drinks about his faith, Shane Claiborne, Guns N Roses, Drug Dealers, This American Life, David Bazan, being triggered by Christian media, God's Not Dead movies, Donald Trump, Hunger Games, the Kardashian's, and a lizard named Harrison Ford. This Episode's Show Notes SUPPORT THE SHOW RATE & REVIEW THE SHOW BECOME A PRODUCER DONATE GET YOUR FREE AUDIO BOOK from Audible.com SHOP THROUGH OUR Amazon Portal  JOIN US Join the CounterCulture Society - Get Emails & Deals! Website Follow on Twitter & Instagram. Join our Facebook Call the 'Losers Anonymous' Hotline: 206-395-5608 Music featured on this episode: Shiny Stainless S

There is no doubt from the start of Losing Our Religion that this entire podcast is about people and their stories. It seems that as the podcast grows and goes on, it has become less and less about religion and more and more about people. To this end, we take this 100th episode and devote it to people. In this episode, we share clips from a handful of popular and most downloaded episodes. Shows that you gave us the most feedback on. We also take the time to thank the Losers and producers as well as receive thanks from Losers. There are behind the scenes stories and some shared tears. This Episode's Show Notes SUPPORT THE SHOW RATE & REVIEW THE SHOW BECOME A PRODUCER DONATE GET YOUR FREE AUDIO BOOK from Audible.com SHOP THROUGH OUR Amazon Portal  JOIN US Join the CounterCulture Society - Get Emails & Deals! Website Follow on Twitter & Instagram. Join our Facebook Call the 'Losers Anonymous' Hotline: 206-395-5608 Music featured on this episode:  Stronger Than Dirt by The Mummies. This podcast

I’m sure we all have weird relationship stories, but when you're raised in religion, they seem weirder and ridiculously over complicated. T.O. Knowles shares with us about growing up in Teen Mania Ministries, the cultish, mega, TV, youth ministry, and his premature, basically fake engagement to his cheating ex-girlfriend. This Episode's Show Notes SUPPORT THE SHOW RATE & REVIEW THE SHOW BECOME A PRODUCER DONATE GET YOUR FREE AUDIO BOOK from Audible.com SHOP THROUGH OUR Amazon Portal  JOIN US Join the CounterCulture Society - Get Emails & Deals! Website Follow on Twitter & Instagram. Join our Facebook Call the 'Losers Anonymous' Hotline: 206-395-5608 Music featured on this episode:  Weird by Dust Mill and Dangerous Weirdo by The Zombie Dandies This podcast is produced by select producers and created by the CounterCulture Society™.  

As I have traversed down the road of Losing Religion, my former life as an American Christian Pastor has haunted me. How I used to consider myself a teacher for others, someone who knew the way. Someone who could be followed. I fear these things now. They have caused me to resist being a leader, a guru, a teacher for others. Even though many have called me these things, Josiah shows me another way. The way of a guide. It's a passive way; it's a path in which we all head down when we follow our desires to be better and different humans. We all are given guides along the way, perhaps through books, relationships, or chance meetings. Even this podcast community. Guides come into our lives and leave our lives as we traverse the different paths we embark. Who or what are your "guides" right now? This Episode's Show Notes SUPPORT THE SHOW RATE & REVIEW THE SHOW BECOME A PRODUCER DONATE GET YOUR FREE AUDIO BOOK from Audible.com SHOP THROUGH OUR Amazon Portal  JOIN US Join the CounterCulture Society - Get Ema

Josiah is a missionary kid with a psychology degree that's deconstructing his faith.  His perspective is refreshing, educated, and compassionate.  Change and transformation are hard, no matter how, or what is changing.  But growth is a choice, and Josiah is inspiring. This Episode's Show Notes SUPPORT THE SHOW RATE & REVIEW THE SHOW BECOME A PRODUCER DONATE GET YOUR FREE AUDIO BOOK from Audible.com SHOP THROUGH OUR Amazon Portal  JOIN US Join the CounterCulture Society - Get Emails & Deals! Website Follow on Twitter & Instagram. Join our Facebook Call the 'Losers Anonymous' Hotline: 206-395-5608 Music featured on this episode:  The Churches by Telepathic Teddy Bear This podcast is produced by select producers and created by the CounterCulture Society™.  

We leave the evangelical conversation for a few minutes as we roll through the gambit of the sickness of relationships, marriage, therapy, counseling, wonder, questioning, even ridiculous religious colloquialisms. This Episode's Show Notes SUPPORT THE SHOW RATE & REVIEW THE SHOW BECOME A PRODUCER DONATE GET YOUR FREE AUDIO BOOK from Audible.com SHOP THROUGH OUR Amazon Portal  JOIN US Join the CounterCulture Society - Get Emails & Deals! Website Follow on Twitter & Instagram. Join our Facebook Call the 'Losers Anonymous' Hotline: 206-395-5608 Music featured on this episode: Upside of Looking Down Instrumental by Ryan Cullinane and putrid person by Oozer. This podcast is produced by select producers and created by the CounterCulture Society™.    

If you’re wondering if I have any Christian friends left, yes I do. Kyle is one of them. You may remember Kyle from the REJECTED EPISODE. You know, the episode that was too far for the "Christian Organization" to put out. Kyle is on the show this time as my guest. As I continue the journey of deconstruction of faith, I no longer call myself a Christian. As Kyle has, he no longer calls himself an Evangelical. In this episode, we talk about this as well as engaging into the inadequacy of defining truth, embracing other religions, and theological differences we hold. This Episode's Show Notes SUPPORT THE SHOW RATE & REVIEW THE SHOW BECOME A PRODUCER DONATE GET YOUR FREE AUDIO BOOK from Audible.com SHOP THROUGH OUR Amazon Portal  JOIN US Join the CounterCulture Society - Get Emails & Deals! Website Follow on Twitter & Instagram. Join our Facebook Call the 'Losers Anonymous' Hotline: 206-395-5608 Music featured on this episode: Loser by Monkey Mind This podcast is produced by select producers and

Victor and I drank and talked like junior high girls into the wee hours of the Nashville night. Growing up in the glow of the Pentecostal gold dust revival scene, Victor could be a lot less level-headed than he is. But his youthful optimism in the face of a fucked up world was refreshing, to say the least. Growing up in the south doesn't fit all the stereotypes, but you will notice some. But what you'll leave with is a feeling of solidarity and a glimpse of a future that may not be so bad. This Episode's Show Notes SUPPORT THE SHOW RATE & REVIEW THE SHOW BECOME A PRODUCER DONATE GET YOUR FREE AUDIO BOOK from Audible.com SHOP THROUGH OUR Amazon Portal  JOIN US Join the CounterCulture Society - Get Emails & Deals! Website Follow on Twitter & Instagram. Join our Facebook Call the 'Losers Anonymous' Hotline: 206-395-5608 Music featured on this episode: defy! by The Fucked Up Bet and He's the Groove by Snuky Tate This podcast is produced by select producers and created by the CounterCulture Soci

Victor Huckabee is an artist, illustrator, and designer from Nashville, Tn. He's also a husband and a dad. He's lived in many places around the globe, and it's shown him some things. One thing being, that humanity is great, and the more you travel, the more you open up. We're often so closed off to each other and locked into our own cultural norms. The time has come to leave our comfort zones. “Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness, and many of our people need it sorely on these accounts. Broad, wholesome, charitable views of men and things cannot be acquired by vegetating in one little corner of the earth all one's lifetime.” ― Mark Twain, The Innocents Abroad/Roughing It This Episode's Show Notes SUPPORT THE SHOW RATE & REVIEW THE SHOW BECOME A PRODUCER DONATE GET YOUR FREE AUDIO BOOK from Audible.com SHOP THROUGH OUR Amazon Portal JOIN US Join the CounterCulture Society - Get Emails & Deals! Website Follow on Twitter & Instagram. Join our Facebook Call the 'Losers Anon

There’s no doubt that I was triggered in a lot of ways while recording this episode with Chad.  Goal setting, ambition, competition, self-help, growth strategies, and gurus are all things that trigger me in a negative manner.  Then he mentions the name of someone he appreciates from our shared past, that personifies everything I despise about Pentecostal, Charismatic Christianity.  Needless to say, internal growth opportunities have presented themselves to me, and I get to begin that process with Chad and finish the work later on my own. Check out the ThingsWeThinkAbout Podcast This Episode's Show Notes SUPPORT THE SHOW RATE & REVIEW THE SHOW BECOME A PRODUCER DONATE GET YOUR FREE AUDIO BOOK from Audible.com SHOP THROUGH OUR Amazon Portal JOIN US Join the CounterCulture Society - Get Emails & Deals! Website Follow on Twitter & Instagram. Join our Facebook Call the 'Losers Anonymous' Hotline: 206-395-5608 Music featured on this episode: Burlesque by David Szesztay and World of Empire by Lofiuse

Here is an interesting episode for ya.  Chad Weber knew me when I was a pastor; he was a parishioner at the particular brand of mega-monster we both attended.  But until now, we're never really talked.  He's a fellow Loser and a producer of the show, and we sit down over drinks to chat.  As we begin his story into MMA, Jujitsu, and his debut cage match, we quickly move into, what was, a therapeutic conversation around being goal driven as a Type A personality.  This is a frank and transparent ride through my journey as it is today, an online guru? Check out the ThingsWeThinkAbout Podcast This Episode's Show Notes SUPPORT THE SHOW RATE & REVIEW THE SHOW BECOME A PRODUCER DONATE GET YOUR FREE AUDIO BOOK from Audible.com SHOP THROUGH OUR Amazon Portal JOIN US Join the CounterCulture Society - Get Emails & Deals! Website Follow on Twitter & Instagram. Join our Facebook Call the 'Losers Anonymous' Hotline: 206-395-5608 Music featured on this episode: Type of Guy by Clinical Archives Mix. This podca

In this continuation of our conversation with Christian about, Where Love Comes From. We begin where we left off, and quickly move into conversing about our parents, raising kids, and the meat of letting go of absolutes and expectations. Christian is a natural critical thinker, learner, who candidly and clearly shares his journey of growing to understand love. Romance, religion, experience, science, and psychology all give us definitions of love, but is there a definition that makes sense for all of us? Do our personal definitions of love cause us to put expectations on others? Why do we consistently see only our idea of love as the truth? This Episode's Show Notes SUPPORT THE SHOW RATE & REVIEW THE SHOW BECOME A PRODUCER DONATE GET YOUR FREE AUDIO BOOK from Audible.com SHOP THROUGH OUR Amazon Portal JOIN US Join the CounterCulture Society - Get Emails & Deals! Website Follow on Twitter & Instagram. Join our Facebook Call the 'Losers Anonymous' Hotline: 206-395-5608 Music featured on this epis