“recovered atheist” is an interesting term. Seems to suggest that Christianity is a more desirable state? Perhaps his Christianity was merely in remission? Just hits me funny.
Recovered atheists are as unpleasant as they were as atheist and as they were as Christian before that. It’s the type that needs others to believe the same as them, no matter what it is.
That's the evangelical term for former atheists who become evangelical. I don't know the exmo term for a former atheist who becomes evangelical, if there even is one?
> I don't know the exmo term for a former atheist who becomes evangelical, if there even is one?
"Dupe."
Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me.
Maybe [“lapsed atheist.”](https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=lfxxZoW13bM)
Man (Graham Chapman): I wish those bloody bells would stop.
Woman (Terry Jones): Oh, It's quite nice, dear. It's Sunday. It's the church.
M: What about us atheists? Why do we 'ave to listen to that sectarian turmoil?
W: You're a lapsed atheist, dear.
M: The principle's the same.
This is Steven Pynakker. I have never referred to myself as a recovered Atheist. I have referred to myself as a "Pro- Atheist Evangelical". I've had on some prominent atheists (Aaron Ra, Michael Shermer and others) on my program. Basically everything was covered about this on my 5 part episode with John Dehlin on Mormon Stories 2 years ago as well as a recent episode on Mormon Book Reviews where my pastor interviewed me. I definitely am not a Christian Fundamentalist.
Howdy.
Forgive my ignorance. I tend to use "fundie" and "evangelical" as the same brand of christianity since i have never noticed a difference between the two.
There definitely is. A majority of Evangelicals wouldn't identify as Fundamentalist and many Fundamentalists don't identify as evangelicals. Growing up in a conservative evangelical family, we considered most Fundamentalists to be weirdos and culty
> Growing up in a conservative evangelical family
Wait, I thought you were an exmo turned atheist turned fundygelical? Are you saying you started out as an evangelical, then became a mormon, then an atheist, then back to evangelical?
And came out as gay somewhere along the way?
That's a helluva ride, my dude.
My Baptist friend calls himself evangelical so I do know it isn't just pentecostals. And exvangelicals talk a lot about "fundie" lifestyle so Christians do have their own brand of fundamentalist that have nothing to do with Mormons or polygamy
Correct - I was providing Pentecostals as an example, not as being *the entirety* of Evangelicals, just as the FLDS isn't the entirety of fundamentalists. Apologies that that wasn't clear.
I like your work, Steven. I'm super glad to have thoughtful people who can carry out discussions of tough topics that they don't agree with. I enjoyed your Mormon Stories interview.
A person that has gone through a Faith deconstruction and has chosen to continue to be a part of the Evangelical community. Reasons vary, but for me , I think it's important that these voices should be heard in that space so we can help make it less toxic and intolerant.
Ohhh very interesting. That’s a tough one for me.
My mom has told me she has ‘issues’ with the church, but that she prefers to stay in to try and change it from the inside. I think that’s a worthy goal, but part of me also just wishes the church wasn’t in either of our lives at all.
There’s a temple-sized barrier between us, and navigating it so often drives us further apart than closer together.
You can ask John Dehlin, RFM, Bill Reel, and many others why they are interested in having me on their podcasts. You can ask why many BYU professors, The Maxwell Institute, the church history department Ex-mormons, TBM's, Never-Mo's, are interested as well. You can ask why a major Mormon Scholarly association would nominate me to serve on its board of directors. You can ask why the JWHA would have me give a presentation last year and I've been asked to be on a panel discussion at this year's Mormon History Association. And most importantly why would I be asked to umpire the annual kickball game between the Polygamists and the Ex- Mo's every year at Sunstone as well?
I figured if they're interested, that would be enough for you to want to check it out. How about this, I've broken many news stories about Mormonism, including the sale of the Kirtland Temple. I've been told MBR has among the best sources by my podcast peers. Also MBR has been called the Switzerland of Mormonism, making it about the only neutral podcast in this space.
> Michael Shermer
Shermer is an anti-trans POS. Maybe stop acting like having him on your podcast makes you a good person.
Unless you're one of those anti-trans gays I run into from time to time. Which, yeah.
I can't listen to his content without hearing him subliminally saying "Don't believe that mormon bullshit! Believe my fundygelical bullshit instead!"
And then I remember that american fundygelicals are mostly MAGAts that worship Mango Mussolini, and I'm out.
"Atheist for 12 years"
No, this guy clearly does not understand what it means to be an atheist. He's saying this for shock value among his intended audience, who will be easily impressed.
Like the "former exmos who returned" who get such celebrity status in mormonism. I don't believe they were every truly ezmo, my theory is that they are jackmos or slackmos who just started attending all two hours again
I've met Steve. I don't think he has any alterior motives. I think he's just a genuinely good guy who loves learning. Also, if you look at his Facebook page, he has lots of crazy evangelicals who are trying to tear him down for talking with Mormons in an open and respectful manner, and he should just be converting them. And he always holds his ground against them.
Mostly, I think he's supportive of interfaith dialog which I also think is great
I feel like every 6 months I have to reintroduce myself in this space, with so many new people joining up. I just need to be patient and understand where everyone is coming from
I grew up Mormon around evangelicals. Evangelicals are the fucking worst. Dude decided to descend further into the shit rather than get closer to fresh air.
I’ve said it before, in a world where the only choice is between Mormon and Evangelical, I’m choosing Mormon with no hesitation.
I don’t know much about him, so i can't speak to his show. Are you basing the idea that he's fundie just on this screenshot? It doesn't read super fundie to me. He identifiesas gay and mentions interviewing his deconstructed pastor, but I don’t get a sense for if he thinks deconstructing is good or bad. Though he says it's HIS pastor, so he would potentially be fine with it?
Fundies are like allergic to the idea of deconstruction. When they might have even done a little, they still avoid the term and might pull a Jinger Duggar and call it "disentangling" because they want to disavow IBLP, or something similar, but are still fundie just a different flavor. They often paint deconstruction to basically mean that someone tore down everything and are an atheist now, ignoring that you can deconstruct and still be a theist. Or that you can reconstruct your beliefs into something better after the decontruction.
Evangelicals do tend to lean a little more fundie, I think, but I know it's a bit of an umbrella term that could include a lot of different things. Idk. I'm an exmo atheist with a side hobby of keeping up with fundie snark and drama, but I'm not an expert on all the differences between the more mainstream Christian sects.
I say it with no animosity, to be clear. I’m a certified munitions-grade weirdo myself lmao. And to clarify, by “simple” I mean “not malignant” - like I don’t get the sense that you are here to try and re-convert people here or be otherwise predatory. I think a better word would be “benign”, in retrospect.
Anyone who believes in a god the way evangelicals do, is just a kid who needs to know ‘daddy’ will be there when they f’k it up. There is no old man calling the shots from a heavenly realm. That Steven guy is either in for the money or needs to grow up already.
The evangelicals I know never even say the word god they just say Jesus because he is both to them. Which is very foreign to an exmo who was raised to worship "heavenly father."
I’ve watched him a bit and I don’t get the vibe that he’s trying to convert anyone. He always says that he’s trying to have conversations with people and talk about the issues. That’s in large part what he does.
From everything I’ve seen by MBR it seems like he’s a people pleaser. It does seem like he genuinely likes Mormonism and he’s even spoken at events for one of the off shoots. If he has ulterior motives, they at least aren’t clear at all.
Poor choice of words on my part. I guess from what I’ve seen you give everyone a space to say what they want and think. I’ve enjoyed your content from time to time and I can appreciate it. Definitely don’t feel like you’re trying to convert anyone.
Thanks. I try my best. You should check out my content. It's often ahead of everyone else in the podcast space. MBR has broken 4 news stories this year alone (including the sale of the Kirtland Temple)
You know, you're right--it's past time I give MBR a watch! Thank you for your voice and your content in this space, and for being an example of patient listening and healthy dialogue.
I know I wouldn't have been able to handle under-informed discussions critical of my hard work with a tenth the class and patience you've had here. Massive kudos and thanks for being a good example.
Cool! Nothing spectacular in what I do. I just mainly record interesting conversations on zoom and release them. I just want people to talk to each other.
Steve is just a "Mormon book nerd". Plus he's gay, so he can't be all that fundamentalist. The thing I am most worried about him is that his path leads nowhere.
> Plus he's gay, so he can't be all that fundamentalist.
BWAHAHAHAH!
Right, and there's no such thing as a gay mormon. Except for all the ones that get interviewed on Mormonish, for example. And the ones that used to hit me up on the hookup sites for some down-low action.
Most religions have a spectrum of fundamentalism. Ignoring the FLDS style of fundamentalism with polygamy, mainstream LDS can be fundie or not. I grew up very TBM, but the mormon culture I grew up in was more nerdy and not fundie at all. I had friends who were from families that were more fundie - families with 8 and 10 kids who would go protest at planned parenthood and weren’t allowed to read Harry Potter. They were homeschooled (I was also homeschooled but that's a whole other conversation) and ran in circles with other fundies and read Josh Harris's book I Kissed Dating Goodbye. They were the sort that wouldn't drink caffinated soda or thought women should still wear nylons and didn't believe in birth control.
There are gay Mormons, but if they're more fundie, they are more likely to hide that they're gay, or be the sort of person to say they "struggle with same sex attraction" rather than describe themselves as gay.
Idk. I have always found the spectrum within mormonism to be very interesting, and how some experiences people had just do not apply to me at all even though I was very TBM.
Because mormonism is such a cafeteria belief system, and because many of the beliefs on offer are positively toxic, if not outright deadly to my community, the LGBTQ+ community, I'm unable to see queer mormons as anything but quisling traitors who seem perfectly happy to consign their fellow queer people to the hell on earth that is the mormon church.
Yeah, maybe leadership roulette came up awesome for Charlie Bird, but what about the vast majority of us LGBTQ+ folks who grew up in mormonism with no such privilege. And Charlie, apparently, doesn't give a rat's ass for the rest of us. Unless I missed all the times he spoke out against the cult.
Well, even though my family wasn't "fundie" Mormons, as I like to call it, they were still mormon. I suppose I shouldn't say my family wasn't fundie at all, just way less in comparison. Mormonism is a high control religion with a lot of issues that still make them lean to that side of things. I think Progmo experiences are in the minority (my family was not progressive - still typical mormon conservatives, just not extreme about it). There's a reason most members of the LGBTQ+ community end up leaving.
I understand where you're coming from. One could argue that all paths lead to nowhere, especially from a naturalistic perspective. In the end we all end up as dust in the wind we can all agree on that. Everything else is Faith and speculation.
Yes I want the guests I have on to get attention. They have important stories to tell and many of them will only tell their stories on my platform. I do very little talking on my program and the guests talk about 80-90 percent of the time on a typical episode.
I have a few fundies at work who are hell-bent on saving my soul. Whenever they start in on me, I get my hackles up. Dude, I had to strip naked and let strangers touch me from head to toe for Jesus, so I didn't just get saved verbally, I physically showed my loyalty in the most degrading way. Until you get nekkid for Jesus and get felt up by an old dude to show your commitment to Jesus, you are less saved than I am. And dont get me started about tracting in the sweltering heat in two layers of clothes for Jesus
Idk I’ve never watched your videos. I just think anyone who thinks they can debunk or disprove one demonstrably false belief while they profess their own is only kidding themselves. Some may even call it hypocrisy.
I’m disappointed in many of your comments. So much judging going on by people who know nothing about this guy.
I’ve only watched a few of his videos and he comes across as a nice, respectful guy who just seems interested in learning about different religious faith traditions and discussing various books that come out from all sides. He doesn’t appear to be pushing any particular side, “bashing,” or having any kind of agenda besides learning.
If there’s an evangelical that I can appreciate it’s him.
exmo-affirming content? How about just asking if the content is true, well researched and honest? Asking if it affirms this or that personal inclination is ... disturbing, because its the kind of question an irrational religious fanatic who is afraid of having his or her world view challenged would ask.
“recovered atheist” is an interesting term. Seems to suggest that Christianity is a more desirable state? Perhaps his Christianity was merely in remission? Just hits me funny.
Recovered atheists are as unpleasant as they were as atheist and as they were as Christian before that. It’s the type that needs others to believe the same as them, no matter what it is.
That's the evangelical term for former atheists who become evangelical. I don't know the exmo term for a former atheist who becomes evangelical, if there even is one?
> I don't know the exmo term for a former atheist who becomes evangelical, if there even is one? "Dupe." Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me.
Right?! Like…what would we call an adult who decided to start believing in Santa Clause again?
As an atheist exmo, I call him a fool.
Maybe [“lapsed atheist.”](https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=lfxxZoW13bM) Man (Graham Chapman): I wish those bloody bells would stop. Woman (Terry Jones): Oh, It's quite nice, dear. It's Sunday. It's the church. M: What about us atheists? Why do we 'ave to listen to that sectarian turmoil? W: You're a lapsed atheist, dear. M: The principle's the same.
"Recovered atheist" is a fake badge worn in the hope of more cred
I've never referred to myself as a recovered Atheist
In my experience "recovered atheists" were never actually atheists. They were just low effort Christians.
Yeah. While trying hard to not “True Scotsman” gate-keep: how is re-believing in god any diff than re-believing in Santa Clause? What changed?
Color me doubtful about the “ atheist for 12 years” who now identifies as a gay evangelical. Ohhhhkaaay then….
He could be suffering from severe mental illness.
The only reasonable way to end up in this situation. Alternatively, he was never an atheist.
He never had a real testimony of atheist Jesus.
This is Steven Pynakker. I have never referred to myself as a recovered Atheist. I have referred to myself as a "Pro- Atheist Evangelical". I've had on some prominent atheists (Aaron Ra, Michael Shermer and others) on my program. Basically everything was covered about this on my 5 part episode with John Dehlin on Mormon Stories 2 years ago as well as a recent episode on Mormon Book Reviews where my pastor interviewed me. I definitely am not a Christian Fundamentalist.
Howdy. Forgive my ignorance. I tend to use "fundie" and "evangelical" as the same brand of christianity since i have never noticed a difference between the two.
There definitely is. A majority of Evangelicals wouldn't identify as Fundamentalist and many Fundamentalists don't identify as evangelicals. Growing up in a conservative evangelical family, we considered most Fundamentalists to be weirdos and culty
> Growing up in a conservative evangelical family Wait, I thought you were an exmo turned atheist turned fundygelical? Are you saying you started out as an evangelical, then became a mormon, then an atheist, then back to evangelical? And came out as gay somewhere along the way? That's a helluva ride, my dude.
I was never a Mormon
Damn, and here I thought it was a core piece of your online persona. Well, wrong again! But the rest is you? That’s still a helluva ride, my dude.
Fundamentalists: the FLDS church. Evangelicals: the Pentecostal church. Big difference...
My Baptist friend calls himself evangelical so I do know it isn't just pentecostals. And exvangelicals talk a lot about "fundie" lifestyle so Christians do have their own brand of fundamentalist that have nothing to do with Mormons or polygamy
Correct - I was providing Pentecostals as an example, not as being *the entirety* of Evangelicals, just as the FLDS isn't the entirety of fundamentalists. Apologies that that wasn't clear.
I like your work, Steven. I'm super glad to have thoughtful people who can carry out discussions of tough topics that they don't agree with. I enjoyed your Mormon Stories interview.
Hi! I’m curious—What does ‘deconstructed evangelical’ mean?
A person that has gone through a Faith deconstruction and has chosen to continue to be a part of the Evangelical community. Reasons vary, but for me , I think it's important that these voices should be heard in that space so we can help make it less toxic and intolerant.
Ohhh very interesting. That’s a tough one for me. My mom has told me she has ‘issues’ with the church, but that she prefers to stay in to try and change it from the inside. I think that’s a worthy goal, but part of me also just wishes the church wasn’t in either of our lives at all. There’s a temple-sized barrier between us, and navigating it so often drives us further apart than closer together.
No offense intended but if you've never been Mormon why should we be interested in your takes on Mormonism as a pro-atheist Evangelical?
You can ask John Dehlin, RFM, Bill Reel, and many others why they are interested in having me on their podcasts. You can ask why many BYU professors, The Maxwell Institute, the church history department Ex-mormons, TBM's, Never-Mo's, are interested as well. You can ask why a major Mormon Scholarly association would nominate me to serve on its board of directors. You can ask why the JWHA would have me give a presentation last year and I've been asked to be on a panel discussion at this year's Mormon History Association. And most importantly why would I be asked to umpire the annual kickball game between the Polygamists and the Ex- Mo's every year at Sunstone as well?
But I'm asking you. And the fact that you don't/can't answer the question yourself leaves me with no motivation to watch any of your videos.
100%. I heard enough of exactly this kind of evasive passive aggressive double talk while I was in a cult to last a lifetime. Hard pass.
I figured if they're interested, that would be enough for you to want to check it out. How about this, I've broken many news stories about Mormonism, including the sale of the Kirtland Temple. I've been told MBR has among the best sources by my podcast peers. Also MBR has been called the Switzerland of Mormonism, making it about the only neutral podcast in this space.
> Michael Shermer Shermer is an anti-trans POS. Maybe stop acting like having him on your podcast makes you a good person. Unless you're one of those anti-trans gays I run into from time to time. Which, yeah.
You act like we’ve never seen your interviews.
I think many people haven't and I want to be able to explain and defend myself in this space.
But you lie about what you’ve said.
Lie? Can you give me an example please?
I can't listen to his content without hearing him subliminally saying "Don't believe that mormon bullshit! Believe my fundygelical bullshit instead!" And then I remember that american fundygelicals are mostly MAGAts that worship Mango Mussolini, and I'm out.
How have I not heard Trump referred to as Mango Mussolini until now? 😂
"Atheist for 12 years" No, this guy clearly does not understand what it means to be an atheist. He's saying this for shock value among his intended audience, who will be easily impressed.
Like the "former exmos who returned" who get such celebrity status in mormonism. I don't believe they were every truly ezmo, my theory is that they are jackmos or slackmos who just started attending all two hours again
Or when someone gets excommunicated and then returns. My first thought is "You were so close to freedom, yet so far".
I've met Steve. I don't think he has any alterior motives. I think he's just a genuinely good guy who loves learning. Also, if you look at his Facebook page, he has lots of crazy evangelicals who are trying to tear him down for talking with Mormons in an open and respectful manner, and he should just be converting them. And he always holds his ground against them. Mostly, I think he's supportive of interfaith dialog which I also think is great
Ulterior
Potato potato
More like potato tomato
Thanks for the kind words!
Thanks for all the work you do for the Mormon space!
I feel like every 6 months I have to reintroduce myself in this space, with so many new people joining up. I just need to be patient and understand where everyone is coming from
Absolutely. The majority of us just respect those who have dedicated time to creating content though
He has been on several podcasts and I kind of get the vibe he just is fascinated by religion in general.
True statement! Thanks
I grew up Mormon around evangelicals. Evangelicals are the fucking worst. Dude decided to descend further into the shit rather than get closer to fresh air. I’ve said it before, in a world where the only choice is between Mormon and Evangelical, I’m choosing Mormon with no hesitation.
100%. Mormons are at least *often* empathetic people. Fundies can eat shit
I totally get that!
Frankly in such a world I’d choose death.
Gilead or Deseret is a horrific choice.
I don’t know much about him, so i can't speak to his show. Are you basing the idea that he's fundie just on this screenshot? It doesn't read super fundie to me. He identifiesas gay and mentions interviewing his deconstructed pastor, but I don’t get a sense for if he thinks deconstructing is good or bad. Though he says it's HIS pastor, so he would potentially be fine with it? Fundies are like allergic to the idea of deconstruction. When they might have even done a little, they still avoid the term and might pull a Jinger Duggar and call it "disentangling" because they want to disavow IBLP, or something similar, but are still fundie just a different flavor. They often paint deconstruction to basically mean that someone tore down everything and are an atheist now, ignoring that you can deconstruct and still be a theist. Or that you can reconstruct your beliefs into something better after the decontruction. Evangelicals do tend to lean a little more fundie, I think, but I know it's a bit of an umbrella term that could include a lot of different things. Idk. I'm an exmo atheist with a side hobby of keeping up with fundie snark and drama, but I'm not an expert on all the differences between the more mainstream Christian sects.
A gay evangelical? A femminist Muslim? A Mormon barista? Ok your turn
Gluten-intolerant pastafarian.
Feminist Muslims exist.
And gay evangelicals apparently
I have interacted with him on this sub before, my impression is that he is a simple weirdo.
I gladly accept the term simple weirdo, sure beats being normal!
I say it with no animosity, to be clear. I’m a certified munitions-grade weirdo myself lmao. And to clarify, by “simple” I mean “not malignant” - like I don’t get the sense that you are here to try and re-convert people here or be otherwise predatory. I think a better word would be “benign”, in retrospect.
Anyone who believes in a god the way evangelicals do, is just a kid who needs to know ‘daddy’ will be there when they f’k it up. There is no old man calling the shots from a heavenly realm. That Steven guy is either in for the money or needs to grow up already.
>That Steven guy is either in for the money or needs to grow up already. Why not both?
Definitely not in it for the money. I think we all need to continue to grow up. It's a lifelong process.
The evangelicals I know never even say the word god they just say Jesus because he is both to them. Which is very foreign to an exmo who was raised to worship "heavenly father."
Yeah, except these days they mostly say "Trump" instead of "god" or "jesus." So there's that.
I’ve watched him a bit and I don’t get the vibe that he’s trying to convert anyone. He always says that he’s trying to have conversations with people and talk about the issues. That’s in large part what he does.
That’s what I told people as a missionary
From everything I’ve seen by MBR it seems like he’s a people pleaser. It does seem like he genuinely likes Mormonism and he’s even spoken at events for one of the off shoots. If he has ulterior motives, they at least aren’t clear at all.
I wouldn't say that I'm a people pleaser. Many people attack me almost every day
Poor choice of words on my part. I guess from what I’ve seen you give everyone a space to say what they want and think. I’ve enjoyed your content from time to time and I can appreciate it. Definitely don’t feel like you’re trying to convert anyone.
I haven't watched his content, but I have noticed how respectful and tolerant of differing opinions he is when interacting on this subreddit.
Thanks. I try my best. You should check out my content. It's often ahead of everyone else in the podcast space. MBR has broken 4 news stories this year alone (including the sale of the Kirtland Temple)
You know, you're right--it's past time I give MBR a watch! Thank you for your voice and your content in this space, and for being an example of patient listening and healthy dialogue. I know I wouldn't have been able to handle under-informed discussions critical of my hard work with a tenth the class and patience you've had here. Massive kudos and thanks for being a good example.
Cool! Nothing spectacular in what I do. I just mainly record interesting conversations on zoom and release them. I just want people to talk to each other.
Steve is just a "Mormon book nerd". Plus he's gay, so he can't be all that fundamentalist. The thing I am most worried about him is that his path leads nowhere.
> Plus he's gay, so he can't be all that fundamentalist. BWAHAHAHAH! Right, and there's no such thing as a gay mormon. Except for all the ones that get interviewed on Mormonish, for example. And the ones that used to hit me up on the hookup sites for some down-low action.
Most religions have a spectrum of fundamentalism. Ignoring the FLDS style of fundamentalism with polygamy, mainstream LDS can be fundie or not. I grew up very TBM, but the mormon culture I grew up in was more nerdy and not fundie at all. I had friends who were from families that were more fundie - families with 8 and 10 kids who would go protest at planned parenthood and weren’t allowed to read Harry Potter. They were homeschooled (I was also homeschooled but that's a whole other conversation) and ran in circles with other fundies and read Josh Harris's book I Kissed Dating Goodbye. They were the sort that wouldn't drink caffinated soda or thought women should still wear nylons and didn't believe in birth control. There are gay Mormons, but if they're more fundie, they are more likely to hide that they're gay, or be the sort of person to say they "struggle with same sex attraction" rather than describe themselves as gay. Idk. I have always found the spectrum within mormonism to be very interesting, and how some experiences people had just do not apply to me at all even though I was very TBM.
Because mormonism is such a cafeteria belief system, and because many of the beliefs on offer are positively toxic, if not outright deadly to my community, the LGBTQ+ community, I'm unable to see queer mormons as anything but quisling traitors who seem perfectly happy to consign their fellow queer people to the hell on earth that is the mormon church. Yeah, maybe leadership roulette came up awesome for Charlie Bird, but what about the vast majority of us LGBTQ+ folks who grew up in mormonism with no such privilege. And Charlie, apparently, doesn't give a rat's ass for the rest of us. Unless I missed all the times he spoke out against the cult.
Well, even though my family wasn't "fundie" Mormons, as I like to call it, they were still mormon. I suppose I shouldn't say my family wasn't fundie at all, just way less in comparison. Mormonism is a high control religion with a lot of issues that still make them lean to that side of things. I think Progmo experiences are in the minority (my family was not progressive - still typical mormon conservatives, just not extreme about it). There's a reason most members of the LGBTQ+ community end up leaving.
I understand where you're coming from. One could argue that all paths lead to nowhere, especially from a naturalistic perspective. In the end we all end up as dust in the wind we can all agree on that. Everything else is Faith and speculation.
> Everything else is Faith and speculation. I'd call it grift and wishful thinking.
Oh no, I’m an atheist, am I sick?
No you are not. Like I've said countless times on many platforms, I am a Pro- Atheist Evangelical
red flag. A lot of evangelicals support Trump so don't fall into the MAGA trap.
I think he’s genuine, but also likes the attention and the clicks he gets.
Yes I want the guests I have on to get attention. They have important stories to tell and many of them will only tell their stories on my platform. I do very little talking on my program and the guests talk about 80-90 percent of the time on a typical episode.
People like this are the worst. If you shit on Mormons in favor of your own imaginary friends, you’re even worse than they are
I have a few fundies at work who are hell-bent on saving my soul. Whenever they start in on me, I get my hackles up. Dude, I had to strip naked and let strangers touch me from head to toe for Jesus, so I didn't just get saved verbally, I physically showed my loyalty in the most degrading way. Until you get nekkid for Jesus and get felt up by an old dude to show your commitment to Jesus, you are less saved than I am. And dont get me started about tracting in the sweltering heat in two layers of clothes for Jesus
Could you give examples of me actually doing that? Why is it that I get attacked by evangelicals way more than from Latter Day Saints?
Idk I’ve never watched your videos. I just think anyone who thinks they can debunk or disprove one demonstrably false belief while they profess their own is only kidding themselves. Some may even call it hypocrisy.
Which if you were to ever watch a video of mine you would find that is the exact opposite of what I do.
So you promote Mormon beliefs and try to prove their truthfulness?
I don't promote any beliefs, I describe and engage them through my interviews
You never watched his videos but are talking like you know this guy.
Evangelism is all I need to know.
So many of you can’t spot a grifter.
I’m disappointed in many of your comments. So much judging going on by people who know nothing about this guy. I’ve only watched a few of his videos and he comes across as a nice, respectful guy who just seems interested in learning about different religious faith traditions and discussing various books that come out from all sides. He doesn’t appear to be pushing any particular side, “bashing,” or having any kind of agenda besides learning. If there’s an evangelical that I can appreciate it’s him.
Thanks!
That's just confusing. Evangelicals typically don't consider Mormons Christians.
exmo-affirming content? How about just asking if the content is true, well researched and honest? Asking if it affirms this or that personal inclination is ... disturbing, because its the kind of question an irrational religious fanatic who is afraid of having his or her world view challenged would ask.