This week, I sit down with my friend DL Mayfield for an in-depth conversation about where our neurodivergence begins and where faith in the evangelical church/fundamentalist god ends. Also included in this episode is a brief discussion about Sam Smith's Grammy performance, Christians who felt “led” to walk out of the ceremony, The Black Church's obsession with wanting Beyoncé to die, and so much more. Please go and listen to Part One of this episode on DL Mayfield's website God is My Special Interest | D.L. Mayfield | Substack For all things Black Music: Follow Hate it or Love it podcast For Richie's newsletter: Just Above My Head | Richie X | Substack --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/survivingfundamentalism/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/survivingfundamentalism/support

In this season three opener, I discuss Joel Leon's tweet regarding his mother and her will to make ends meet for her children, which he defines as "HOLY". During the episode, we deconstruct together what many of us in fundamentalism have been taught about the terms "holy" and "holiness" and how they have been used to demonize Black and Brown poor folk for centuries in this country.  For all things Black Music: Follow Hate it or Love it podcast For Richie's newsletter: Just Above My Head | Richie X | Substack --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/survivingfundamentalism/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/survivingfundamentalism/support

I didn't grow up celebrating Christmas, and I've had enough experiences over the years that ruined it for me. I was also in a cult that was completely anti-Christmas, and even went as far as to call it a devil's holiday and say that the "Christmas Spirit" is a spirit from Satan sent to make people be nice for the month of December. This year, I bought and wrapped gifts; I decorated my tree with glee; I participated in multiple parties and celebrations, as well as cooked a portion of my family's Christmas dinner. I'm finally free from that Grinch spirit that kept me from enjoying the most wonderful time of the year. For all things Black Music: Follow Hate it or Love it podcast For Richie's newsletter: Just Above My Head | Richie X | Substack --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/survivingfundamentalism/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/survivingfundamentalism/support

You don't have Soul Ties; you have attachment and abandonment issues! The Christian church lied to you about your body not belonging to you, because it benefits from you not having Bodily Autonomy.  In this episode, I discuss soul ties, the history of women as property in the bible and American culture. I also discuss Pastor Tim Ross and the foolishness he was spewing about those of us who have deconstructed and decolonized our faith.  For all things Black Music: Follow Hate it or Love it podcast  For Richie's newsletter: Just Above My Head | Richie X | Substack --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/survivingfundamentalism/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/survivingfundamentalism/support

In this episode, we're talking about the rise of the "worship" movement within the 21st-century church, the rise of Blue Eyed Gospel, and the role it played in bleaching the Black worship experience while limiting the traditional African parts of our worship. We're talking about how history repeats itself and the church follows a pattern based on what's happening in the world. In 2016, the underbelly of white supremacy was exposed in this country. Soon after, we saw a reemergence of traditional Black gospel music and a deep appreciation for that sound that is so deeply associated with our Black survival experience.  --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/survivingfundamentalism/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/survivingfundamentalism/support

In this episode, we're having the hard, tough conversation about the condition of the Black church throughout history and how we got to where we are now. We are examining ourselves and the condition of our hearts--how so many people are lost in the sauce of every phobia without even realizing that those are tools of white supremacy that only lead to erasing those we should be loving and honoring.  Just Above My Head | Richie X | Substack --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/survivingfundamentalism/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/survivingfundamentalism/support

This episode discusses the intersection between Kanye and the evangelical church. How he used the tax-exempt status of his "Sunday Service" style gatherings to get himself out of debt and rebuild his brand, while essentially washing in white American Christian supremacy and using Black gospel music/musicians to make that come to pass. They're still going hard for him today--believing that his conversion was anything more than a sham and calling it crazy for Christ rather than fully addressing the truth of who he is as a person including his lack of personal wellness.  Subscribe to my newsletter Just Above My Head | Richie X | Substack Follow me on Instagram   --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/survivingfundamentalism/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/survivingfundamentalism/support

In this episode, I wanted to dive further into this topic, because the question "Does Black Lives Matter to God?" had simply never crossed my mind. I always separated my religion from my Blackness, my socialist fight, my queerness, and my disabilities. I viewed them all as things that couldn't be fixed and therefore unholy and unclean. Now, I do not, but I still struggle to answer the question. Although, I try.  --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/survivingfundamentalism/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/survivingfundamentalism/support

Whew! This one gets heavy in several spots. In this episode, I discuss the intersections of poverty, educational racism, ableism, homophobia, and much more. We are also getting deep into the value of human life as it pertains to the god of the bible, especially Black lives. Tune in. Tap In. Visit Richie at Just Above My Head | Richie X | Substack. Be sure to subscribe to the newsletter there. Follow us at https://www.instagram.com/survivingfundamentalism for updates when new episodes are released. --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/survivingfundamentalism/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/survivingfundamentalism/support

In this episode, I speak about reading the bible like a book and not as a religious text so that you can see the many contradictions and how this can strengthen one's faith and NOT kill it. The key to this is accepting that the Judeo-Christian text is, in fact, not inerrant and should not be taken literally. The sad thing is many people NEED the text to be literal. They need it to be precisely what they have been taught because if there is an error in the text, then there is undoubtedly an error in the doctrines people have allowed to govern them for centuries. Get Free. Visit Richie at Just Above My Head | Richie X | Substack. Be sure to subscribe to the newsletter there.  Follow us at https://www.instagram.com/survivingfundamentalism for updates when new episodes are released. --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/survivingfundamentalism/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/survivingfundamentalism/support

This episode is part 2 of my episode about God being a monster. After I thought about it, I realized that the version of God built and handed to me in fundamentalism wasn't the end all be all when it comes to all things god. Maybe none of us know what the FK we are talking about is and are just figuring things out. Either is cool with me.  --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/survivingfundamentalism/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/survivingfundamentalism/support

This week, I'm dealing with springboarding off a meme I saw, which read, "You will never look into the eyes of someone that god does not love." Of course, my immediate reaction was that this god I came to know did not love me--he shamed and abused me through the fundamentalist Christian church—so many stumbling blocks in my path that destroyed my faith. So now, I help other people find light outside Plato's Cave.  Check out and subscribe to my newsletter at RichieAtItAgain.Substack.com Check out my cousin's podcast "Holy Smokes". Also, Check out Donnell McLachlan at donnellwrites on tiktok and IG --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/survivingfundamentalism/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/survivingfundamentalism/support

This week, we are having a very important conversation about what the church has taught us about women, and how we can overcome the sexist, misogynistic culture that so many of us have been raised in. The church as an institution must be challenged to decolonize and deconstruct every aspect of it's belief systems, especially those which aid in the the oppression of those who stand and several different intersections.  --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/survivingfundamentalism/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/survivingfundamentalism/support

This week, we’re diving into some scriptures and asking some questions about the ways we define holiness and whether it is in alignment with the love we know we should all be experiencing. --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/survivingfundamentalism/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/survivingfundamentalism/support

This week on Surviving Fundamentalism, we lock in with special guests Anna Dawahare and April Little from Reclaiming The Garden Podcast for a more in-depth discussion about the ways we each fought to reconstruct the ways we saw ourselves in the light of God's true love that we have had to realize has always been present with us. We also discuss identity politics, radical self-love, and neurodivergence.  As always, we hope that our stories can be a light to you wherever you are in your faith journey.   Subscribe to April's Newsletter (mentioned in the show): Butterflies in the Wilderness | April Little | Substack  Subscribe to Richie's Newsletter: Just Above My Head| Richie X| Substack  For Reclaiming the Garden Merch: https://reclaiming-the-garden.creator-spring.com/ --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/survivingfundamentalism/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/survivingfundamentalism/support

Sorry it's been so long, but I'm back with a new show about how the Christian Evangelical church is rebranding for a rebuild. There is a revival brewing, and they're currently preparing for a whole new bunch of scared folks to come in so that they can rebuild their dying churches. Here's why I believe it's going to work...  --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/survivingfundamentalism/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/survivingfundamentalism/support

This episode is all about the y8 supremacist male patriarchy is well aware of what it is doing--they have planned and orchestrated this for decades and finally they have been successful and at least overturning Roe v. Wade. This is not, nor has it ever been an issue of "saving innocent unborn"; it has always been a battle for the control of women. It's a huge move to show women and liberals that they'd do better to learn their places and stop trying to override and dismiss the white man. Hope you enjoy --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/survivingfundamentalism/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/survivingfundamentalism/support

THis episode is all about losing the fear of hell, Carlton Pearson, and the ways the church has used the doctrine of hell to control and manipulate. --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/survivingfundamentalism/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/survivingfundamentalism/support

This week, I discuss whether or not my diagnoses are fuel to relight my pentecostal fire. I explore why it's difficult to exist as the same person in many of the same spaces, with so much new information about myself and the world. I have deconstructed my fundamentalist, literalist belief system and I have decolonized my mind. I have returned to the divine nature of my being and I honor those who look like me who are my ancestors who gave their blood and bones for me.  --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/survivingfundamentalism/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/survivingfundamentalism/support

This week, I give my normal weekly update, while providing a look into what it was like being neurodivergent in the fundamentalist church and what it's like to not understand nuances and colloquialisms. That shit is literal torment for neurodivergent people. That's not even to mention the noise and overstimulation that goes on in churches. Subscribe. Share the show if you enjoy --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/survivingfundamentalism/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/survivingfundamentalism/support