Flawed Theology Flawed Theology

In this episode, Phil and Suzie talk with Sarah Miller Mott, a former preacher/leader under the Foursquare Denomination. She is a published author of poetry and working on getting her novels that she has written over the years published.  She tells us all about her very interesting story, growing up Lutheran in North Dakota, how she deconstructed, became an atheist, and then went back to Xtianity in a whole new way, and then after being misled and manipulated by the church, deconstructed and deconverted again.  She tells the story how she will never go back to being a believer and why.  Her story is fascinating and engaging and you will certainly benefit from hearing it.  

You can find her published works on Amazon and Follow her on Tiktok @authorsarahmillermott:  

The Collected Poetry of The Girl in the Corner 
The Collected Poetry of The Girl in the Corner Vol 2
A Short Tale of a Happy Trail

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In this episode, Phil and Suzie talk with Darante’ Lamar in an incredible, wide-ranging, and passionate discussion about his faith background, his life in ministry, what lead to his deconversion, and the impact of faith and the journey away from faith on him as an Black man and the black community.   

Bio: Darante’ LaMar’s journey from serving as a leader in both charismatic megachurches and hyper spiritual storefront churches, to embracing a life of secularism and reason, offers a unique perspective on the evolution of faith in contemporary society. With a background that includes virtually every role within the ministry, Darante’ brings a comprehensive understanding of the inner workings of religious organizations and the impact they have on individuals and communities. Currently, Darante’ is a Global Project Manager and DEI executive in the healthcare industry. He serves, alongside his wife, as the managing partner of DLDD World Group - a nonprofit committed to people centric projects, programs and progress. He is the author of three published books: Significant, Parenting on Purpose, and Memphis: The Last Supper and three upcoming books, Making The Jump, Christ Held Up and The Case for Religion 

Link to the ”Hell” video referenced in the episode:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W-mQwkFBgaY

Where to Find Darante: 

Social Media 
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCbROOoAVy40Cv5NtKccRClg 
https://www.facebook.com/darante.martin/ 
https://twitter.com/DaranteLaMarX 
https://www.tiktok.com/@darantelamar7 https://www.dldd.us 
Books 
https://www.amazon.com/s?i=stripbooks&rh=p_27%3ADarante%27+LaMar&s=relevancerank&text=Darante%27+LaMar&ref=dp_byline_sr_book_1
Significant - https://www.amazon.com/Significant-diffidence-confidence-Darante-LaMar/dp/1506105572/ref=monarch_sidesheet


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In this episode, Phil and Susie discuss the correlation between religious ideology and the ideologies of authoritarianism.  This was suggested to us as a It’s a Feature, not a Bug” idea, but we decided to expand it to a full episode topic, because there’s a lot of interesting things to talk about! Thanks to one of our listeners who suggested the topic.

Data Nuggets Segment:  Is there intelligent life on other planets? Opinions of the religious and non-religious.
https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2021/07/28/religious-americans-less-likely-to-believe-intelligent-life-exists-on-other-planets/


Sources: 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Religion_and_authoritarianism 
https://theconversation.com/trumps-use-of-religion-follows-playbook-of-authoritarian-leaning-leaders-the-world-over-140050
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3389201/ 
https://oxfordre.com/politics/display/10.1093/acrefore/9780190228637.001.0001/acrefore-9780190228637-e-667
https://one.npr.org/?sharedMediaId=1236709842:1236709862

In this episode, Phil and Suzie talk with Helen Greene, Ambassador and Fundraising Coordinator for Recovering from Religion.  In this wide-ranging conversation, Helen talks with us about her interesting journey away from faith from her Catholic upbringing, discovery of paganism, and eventual deconstruction to skepticism and atheism. 

Helen comes from a diverse background of beliefs. Raised Roman Catholic, then rejecting the church to move into paganism, she was a pagan high priestess for 10 years during her time in that faith (which was 13 years). Eventually realizing through education and skeptical inquiry into herself, she came to the conclusion she had no solid evidence for her beliefs – which brought her to a more humanistic and realistic worldview. Still studying psychology even out of college, she spends her time trying to understand human behavior, the emotional and psychological understandings of ourselves, and what forms our perspectives and why. She is an ambassador for Recovering from Religion, head of their fundraising team, and one of the co-hosts of their Monday night podcast RfRx. She also volunteers at the Atheist Community of Austin, a rotating co-host of the podcast the Non Prophets, hosts a TikTok live The Queerly Godless Feminist via the ACA,and one Women Atheist Unload and Global Atheists at the Skeptic Haven YouTube channel. For fun, she enjoys horror (esp cosmic horror) and sci-fi movies, video gaming, and diving deep into made-up world-building stories such as the Lord of the Rings.

Helen’s Links:

www.recoveringfromreligion.org  
The Atheist Community of Austin https://atheist-community.org/  
https://youtube.com/@TheNonProphetsACA?si=aR9VmZsuZwHgeQTB 
https://youtube.com/@SkepticHaven?si=hcvsBRbJkxioSh9p
https://www.tiktok.com/@hellsbellssrq?_t=8kUAFrm9k6c&_r=1

In our first standalone Flawed Theology in Real Life segment, Phil and Susie analyze a clip where the concept of God creating evil is compared to the realities of cold and darkness.  See if you think this theology is flawed and why?

Source Material: https://www.facebook.com/reel/3477048449227507

As deconstruction and deconversion are becoming more prevalent in our world, the institutions of Xtianity are flailing to craft a response that will attempt to stem the tide of people leaving the faith, the church, and god himself.  The “explanations” of why people are leaving, of course, they are not based in reality or facts, because most have never spoken with anyone who’s actually left to find out their real reasons.  In this episode, Phil and Suzie debunk many of these common “myths” that the church attempts to sell as the real reasons for deconstruction.  

Show Notes & Links

https://relevantmagazine.com/current/skillets-john-cooper-its-time-to-declare-war-against-this-deconstruction-christian-movement/

Data Nuggets:  Catholics and Climate Change

https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2023/09/28/the-pope-is-concerned-about-climate-change-how-do-us-catholics-feel-about-it/ 

It’s Not a Bug, It’s a Feature: Conspiracy Theories

https://www.deseret.com/indepth/2021/3/28/22334183/what-group-of-christians-most-likely-believe-conspiracy-theories-white-evangelicals-qanon-faith/ 

https://www.economist.com/graphic-detail/2021/07/27/what-drives-belief-in-conspiracy-theories-a-lack-of-religion-or-too-much


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