Stella McCormick: Surviving a Single Family Cult

Adoption, Adverse Religious Experiences, Authors, Book Review, Books, Deconstruction, Deconversion, High Demand Religious Group, Humanism, Podcast, Purity Culture, Religious Abuse, Religious Trauma, Secular Grace

Author Stella McCormick has written a powerful memoir, Deliver Us From Mother: Faith, Fear, and the Family Cult That Broke Me. The story she tells in the book and shares with us on the podcast is one of surviving a single family cult, purity culture, sexual assault and desconstruction.

Stella is more than a survivor. She has thrived. Today she is a sexual assault advocate for the Army where she helps other victims of sexual assault process their experience.

Growing up, Stella McCormick believed her family was different because they were more faithful than everyone else. Homeschooled in a deeply controlling religious environment, she was taught that unquestioning obedience was a virtue, suffering was sanctifying, and the outside world was something to fear. Every rule, punishment, and sacrifice was justified as God’s will.

For years, she accepted it all without question.

Until the questions became impossible to ignore.

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Support the podcast
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Deconversion
https://gracefulatheist.com/2017/12/03/deconversion-how-to/

Secular Grace
https://gracefulatheist.com/2016/10/21/secular-grace/

Clearly Written by Boys

Authors, Autonomy, Book Review, Books, Podcast, Women Leaders

Karis Burkowski and David Fitzgerald have written an amazing book called Clearly Written by Boys: A Woman’s Guide to the Bible. The book takes this question seriously:

What if women mattered, really mattered, to the authors that wrote our Bible? Not just the queens and concubines, harlots and handmaidens, and barren women in need of a son’s miraculous birth; not just the unnamed mothers, wives and daughters; but all women?

Clearly Written for Boys is a book about the Bible, and Christianity, and the problematic relationship both have had with women throughout their histories. Karis and David come from Christian backgrounds and are “cleaning up their own house.”

Join me in hearing from these two amazing authors and the critical message they have about women in Biblical history and for women of today.

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Join the Deconversion Anonymous Facebook group!

Support the podcast
Patreon https://www.patreon.com/gracefulatheist
Paypal: paypal.me/gracefulatheist

Deconversion
https://gracefulatheist.com/2017/12/03/deconversion-how-to/

Secular Grace
https://gracefulatheist.com/2016/10/21/secular-grace/

Doubt is Antimemetic

Atheism, Blog Posts, Book Review, Books, Deconstruction, Deconversion, doubt, Humanism, Podcast, Secular Grace

I recently read Antimemetics: Why Some Ideas Resist Spreading by Nadia Asparouhova and it blew my mind. Just reading the intro I knew I needed to do an episode on the subject. Almost everything about deconstruction and deconversion is antimememetic. It is a significant idea that resists spreading.

All of the following are antimemetic:

Doubt
Deconstruction
Deconversion
Atheism
Humanism
Secular Grace

Amazon Paid Links

As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.

Amazon #CommissionsEarned:

Antimemetics: Why Some Ideas Resist Spreading

There is No Antimemetics Division

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SNL Skit: Mom Confession

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Support the podcast
Patreon https://www.patreon.com/gracefulatheist
Paypal: paypal.me/gracefulatheist

Deconversion
https://gracefulatheist.com/2017/12/03/deconversion-how-to/

Secular Grace
https://gracefulatheist.com/2016/10/21/secular-grace/

Transcript

NOTE: This transcript is AI produced and likely has many mistakes. It is provided as rough guide to the audio conversation.

Purity Culture Doesn’t Get the Last Word

Books, Deconstruction, Influencers, LGBTQ+, Musicians, Podcasters, Purity Culture, Uncategorized, YouTubers

Purity Culture says that monogamous married sex between two heterosexual people is the only good and moral way. Anything that “deviates” is evil and sinful, even an abomination to god.

But it’s all a lie.

When we leave religion—whether it’s Christianity or any other fundamentalist belief system—we don’t magically forget everything we believed. The homophobia, internalized or otherwise, runs deep. Be compassionate and patient with yourself and others.

Below are some resources from members of our private Facebook group. Perhaps they’ll be helpful to you, as well!

“Just getting to know human beings who do life differently cannot be replaced by all the reading and listening.” —Ursula Schneider

Books

Entertainment

Instagram

Podcasts

Coming Out with Lauren and Nicole

Youtube

The last resource is a simple quote from a community member and past guest, Ursula Schneider: “Just getting to know human beings who do life differently cannot be replaced by all the reading and listening.”

We don’t have to walk this path alone, and there is so much we learn from one another. If you’re in need of community, consider joining the Deconversion Anonymous private Facebook group.

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