45 episodes

Conversations with regular people about their deconstruction experiences, leaving toxic religious groups, and what comes next. Maple syrup-flavoured discussions about how authoritarian religion manifests in the Canadian space. Episodes release biweekly on Wednesdays.

Slow Train to Heck Josiah Mahon

    • Religion & Spirituality
    • 4.8 • 31 Ratings

Conversations with regular people about their deconstruction experiences, leaving toxic religious groups, and what comes next. Maple syrup-flavoured discussions about how authoritarian religion manifests in the Canadian space. Episodes release biweekly on Wednesdays.

    Bonus Episode: The Divorced Virgin Project

    Bonus Episode: The Divorced Virgin Project

    Check out a special bonus episode of Slow Train to Heck where I interview Mindy, the creator of The Divorced Virgin Project, about her experience growing up in purity culture and how leaving it motivated her to create this resource for others who are trying to figure out how to deal with the fallout of purity culture in their own lives.The Divorced Virgin Project brings together dedicated psychotherapists and specialists, including divorce coaches, financial advisors, sex educators, and more,...

    • 32 min
    Episode 43 (Finale): The Story You Told

    Episode 43 (Finale): The Story You Told

    Welcome to the finale of a podcast about people, sharing their stories of deconstruction and leaving behind toxic religious systems... so what happens next? I've got one more story for you.Podcast episode about Hegel's God: https://www.philosophizethis.org/podcast/hegels-godSlow Train To Heck - the Substack: https://slowtraintoheck.substack.comThank you all for listening for the past two years. It has meant the world.

    • 43 min
    Episode 42: Love Really Does Win

    Episode 42: Love Really Does Win

    In this final conversation on Slow Train To Heck, Matt and Mandy Ottaway share the story of their lives together: Growing up in evangelicalism, attending Moody Bible Institute, getting into youth ministry in their early 20s... eventually with Matt realizing the restrictive intellectual cage that his ministry position required and Mandy experiencing the burnout of a life dedicated to church ministries while trying to raise their kids. After leaving ministry, they discovered what the world outs...

    • 1 hr 39 min
    Episode 41: The Kid in the Bookstore

    Episode 41: The Kid in the Bookstore

    Matthew Burkholder joins the podcast to share his experience of growing up immersed in purity culture, starting all the way back as a kid in a Christian bookstore surrounded by the key texts of that ideology. We talk about the lasting damage that can be done by teaching children to hate the natural things that make them human, and the subsequent roadblocks that are created that can get in the way of healthy spirituality. We also chat about his journey into academia, as he's now working on his...

    • 1 hr 15 min
    Episode 40: Forced to Betray Ourselves

    Episode 40: Forced to Betray Ourselves

    Olivia Grigg shares her experience of Christianity and the spiritual trauma that it caused her, and gives her take on religious trauma as a whole from her perspective as a social worker and counsellor focused on helping people navigate changing beliefs, deconstruction, and that religious trauma. She discusses how many church environments force us to betray ourselves in many ways, from an early age, and normalize the lack of boundaries, portraying that lack of boundaries and submission to chur...

    • 58 min
    Episode 39: The Correlation of Dysfunction

    Episode 39: The Correlation of Dysfunction

    Laurel talks about the link between dysfunctional families and dysfunctional fundamentalist churches, and how people in abusive situations who are desperate for love are reeled in by the promise of love from leaders who manipulate that desire for the purposes of control.She also shares her own story of growing up in an abusive environment and how she has since found freedom from environments that use fear as a method of control.Content warnings: physical and spiritual abuse of children, menta...

    • 1 hr 35 min

Customer Reviews

4.8 out of 5
31 Ratings

31 Ratings

Mlubbers ,

Much Needed Canadian content.

Thank you for this. So much of this content is what has been on my heart and kind for a very long time and I didn’t have a place to commiserate and learn and have a community of like minded folks. I’m really thankful for this podcast, it helps me feel less alone. Thank you for marching straight into really tough conversations and for the bare honesty of your guests. If there is ever a way to build some sort of community for those of us folks that resonate with these podcasts, that would be amazing. Leaving church was necessary for myself and family but the loss of community sucks.

kmax6 ,

This is helping.

As a child I spent most Sunday mornings in a small “non-denominational”, fundamentalist, evangelical church. Mostly good-hearted people and gentle teachings BUT the fear of eternal damnation set me up for years of repeatedly “getting saved”. My husband came from a United church background and we attended for many years with our children. I welcomed their emphasis on acceptance of all, social justice and especially that it was acceptable to be living with the questions. I am 62 now and find this podcast to be interesting and also comforting. It is helping me to make sense of my experience with the evangelical church.

MManchester ,

Impressive introduction.

Great voice. Within the first 30 secs I was wondering if this was a longtime radio host doing a documentary series. Of course each individual will view the content differently but he has a very clear presentation. Given the horror of Faith documented in the news recently this could not be more timely.

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