Are We More or Less Anxious Since Leaving Evangelicalism? cover art

Are We More or Less Anxious Since Leaving Evangelicalism?

Are We More or Less Anxious Since Leaving Evangelicalism?

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 Christianity messed with our minds, and we get into it! We ask ourselves the question: Did our mental health get better or worse after leaving the church? And how was it when we were in the church? Emily describes how a lot of her anxiety is night-and-day better because the burden of Christianity is lifted, and discusses how her faith was intertwined with her OCD. Heather talks about how her anxiety actually got worse in some ways after leaving, because she no longer had a God to dump all her worries onto and had to actually face the depths of her brain for the first time. We focus on the stress that plagued us as devout Christians who felt a need to do everything right, and how confusing it was to receive conflicting messages of sin and grace. We share in the joy of how we feel more freedom now to just be humans, without so much worry about converting people, honoring God in every damn thing, and monitoring our behavior. We both share what helps us deal with our anxiety now — medication! Internal Family Systems! Friends! Autonomy! Being free from our former God concept! Very importantly, we also close out by discussing VIBRATORS! And our shame in discussing them and even saying the word “masturbation” aloud. Other fun things: Which meds we’re on :) God’s voice adding to & becoming our anxiety The Bachelor & MTV being “sinful” Religious OCD Shroom trips Emily reads the Bible aloud for the first time in forever The “playground for perfectionism” of Christian culture, and never measuring up A pretty bad Rick Warren quote Blindly pondering about what today’s youth groups are like Getting kicked off the roster of people who were asked to volunteer at youth group summer camp (whoops!) Resources mentioned: This Instagram post by The Naked Pastor D.L. Mayfield’s Substack: Healing is My Special Interest Our episode with Beth K. Schwartz The Religious Trauma Institute — this is how Emily found her therapist! Be a Baddie with us on social media! Instagram | TikTok Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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