The Life After Podcast
Conversations with Courageous People Deconstructing Christian Beliefs | Brady Hardin interviews guests about their faith deconstruction, unraveling religious indoctrination, spiritual abuse experiences, religious trauma, the rebuilding of a personal community after leaving Christian Fundamentalism, and much more.
Episodes

Friday Dec 24, 2021
Friday Dec 24, 2021
CW: Spiritual, emotional, and physical abuse toward someone who is differently-abled and mention of suicide attempt
Dustin VanDyke (featured on HBO's We're Here Season Two finale) is differently-abled and trans. Dustin was restricted from being themselves while in an abusive home, but now they are free to be who they are while inspiring others who lack representation.
Follow Dustin's YouTube and Facebook.
Bookended with music by Nightlightr (CDBaby, iTunes, and Spotify) | Find links for The Life After Community (our secret Facebook group), subscribing, rating, and/or reviewing on iTunes here: linkin.bio/thelifeafterorg

Thursday Dec 09, 2021
Unbuckling The Bible Belt (Classic Episode Re-Release) with Jamie Lee Finch
Thursday Dec 09, 2021
Thursday Dec 09, 2021
With one more new episode left in 2021, here's a classic episode with Jamie Lee Finch and my former co-host Chuck Parson. Before the new episode, if you're able, check out the Season Two finale of We're Here on HBO. My next guest is Dustin VanDyke and was featured in that episode. You won't want to miss this!
Unbuckling The Bible Belt: Brady Hardin and Chuck Parson takes the show on the road to Nashville, TN to interview Jamie Lee Finch on the subjects of sexuality, the dangers of Purity Culture, and the downfalls of Patriarchy. Jamie describes how much of her journey after leaving religion involves understanding her body. She gives life-changing advice on how to become a whole person and heal from trauma.
Bonus: Listen to Jamie reading her own original poems throughout the episode.
To learn more about Jamie’s work, follow her on Twitter, @jamieleefinch or visit her website: jamieleefinch.com
Find links for The Life After Community (our secret Facebook group), subscribing, rating, and/or reviewing on iTunes here: linkin.bio/thelifeafterorg

Thursday Nov 25, 2021
Thursday Nov 25, 2021
For this very special Thanksgiving episode, my ex-wife Jessi McCracken joins the show to deconstruct her high-pressure charismatic upbringing, the saga of our marriage and divorce, how Purity Culture sets unhealthy relationship expectations, coming out as queer, the life-altering power of therapy, co-parenting while deconstructing, and how chosen families become so important as we evolve into who we truly are.
Our 9-year-old son, Helo, stops by to say hello during the introduction and is my guest spotlighted in this episode's Special Intermission Interview!
Bookended with music by Nightlightr (CDBaby, iTunes, and Spotify) | Find links for The Life After Community (our secret Facebook group), subscribing, rating, and/or reviewing on iTunes here: linkin.bio/thelifeafterorg

Thursday Nov 11, 2021
Know Better (Reason x Mental Health) with Vi La Bianca
Thursday Nov 11, 2021
Thursday Nov 11, 2021
Vi La Bianca (Skeptic Generation co-host) joins Brady to deconstruct reason's relationship with mental health, rapture anxiety, being neurodiverse, and how to set boundaries with people AND beliefs.
With Special Intermission Interview Guest, Sherman the Dog from Adventures in Odyssey.
Find Vi's work with Skeptic Generation at SkepticGeneration.com | Follow Vi on Twitter on @AuthorConfusion
Bookended with music by Nightlightr (CDBaby, iTunes, and Spotify) | Find links for The Life After Community (our secret Facebook group), subscribing, rating, and/or reviewing on iTunes here: linkin.bio/thelifeafterorg

Thursday Oct 28, 2021
What Can Be (Queer Theology x Sci-Fi) with Taj M. Smith
Thursday Oct 28, 2021
Thursday Oct 28, 2021
Spiritual and leadership coach Taj M. Smith joins Brady to deconstruct Queer Theology, transitioning, and how his love for sci-fi shapes his outlook of the future. They also discuss the Star Trek Next Generation episode, Darmok.
With Special Intermission Interview Guest, "Angel" from Netflix's Midnight Mass
Find Taj's work here at tajmsmith.com
Bookended with music by Nightlightr (CDBaby, iTunes, and Spotify) | Find links for The Life After Community (our secret Facebook group), subscribing, rating, and/or reviewing on iTunes here: linkin.bio/thelifeafterorg

Thursday Oct 14, 2021
The Wrong Kind of Woman (Outsider x Spiritual Abuse) with Julianne King
Thursday Oct 14, 2021
Thursday Oct 14, 2021
Julianne King (Poet and old friend of Brady) deconstructs her LIFE AFTER spiritual abuse with intensely manipulative church leaders. A major event occurred while in the youth group and another afterward. Also, Julianne shares her theory about how the musical Cats represents Evangelicalism.
Find Julianne's book of poetry, Bible Belt Revolution, on Amazon
Bookended with music by Nightlightr (CDBaby, iTunes, and Spotify) | Find links for The Life After Community (our secret Facebook group), subscribing, rating, and/or reviewing on iTunes here: linkin.bio/thelifeafterorg

Thursday Sep 30, 2021
You Gotta Let It Flow (Courage x Queerness) with Jamar Rogers
Thursday Sep 30, 2021
Thursday Sep 30, 2021
Singer, Activist Jamar Rogers joins Brady to deconstruct his radiant LIFE AFTER repressing his queerness, receiving a positive HIV diagnosis, appearing on American Idol & The Voice, and learning to silence his inner critic so he could return back to himself.
Jamar shares passionate wisdom on how representing real-life experiences does more for the greater good than advertising for "God."
Get Jamar's single Flow wherever you purchase music | Follow Jamar:📷@jamarrogersofficial 🐦@JSuidward 👍@JamarRogersTheVoice
Bookended with music by Nightlightr (CDBaby, iTunes, and Spotify) | Find links for The Life After Community (our secret Facebook group), subscribing, rating, and/or reviewing on iTunes here: linkin.bio/thelifeafterorg

Thursday Sep 23, 2021
Thursday Sep 23, 2021
Sheri invited me to be on her YouTube Channel, FireSide Creators, alongside Catherine Wilcox, who has an M.A. in English Rhetoric and has researched the role of storytelling as a healing and community-building practice for individuals recovering from religious abuse and trauma.
Here's the audio from that conversation as a special bonus before next Thursday's episode!
Find Sheri's website at sheripallas.com and her YouTube channel at youtube.com/FiresideCreators.
Find links for The Life After Community (our secret Facebook group), subscribing, rating, and/or reviewing on iTunes here: linkin.bio/thelifeafterorg

Thursday Sep 16, 2021
Don‘t Be a Dick (Ethics x Real Life) with Rev. Dr. Sheri Pallas
Thursday Sep 16, 2021
Thursday Sep 16, 2021
Rev. Dr. Sheri Pallas (activist, ally) joins the show to discuss "God" (and why she uses quotes), how an injustice done by a church toward her family pushed her to care deeply about religion, and her perspective on Deconstruction Culture as someone who left fundamentalism years ago ("deconstruction legacy," I'm calling it 😉).
Find Sheri's website at sheripallas.com and her YouTube channel at youtube.com/FiresideCreators.
Bookended with music by Nightlightr (CDBaby, iTunes, and Spotify) | Find links for The Life After Community (our secret Facebook group), subscribing, rating, and/or reviewing on iTunes here: linkin.bio/thelifeafterorg

Thursday Sep 02, 2021
The RED Flags of Ted Dekker (Christian Celebrity x Grooming) with Emily Dukes
Thursday Sep 02, 2021
Thursday Sep 02, 2021
Content Warning: This episode includes mentions of sexually predatory behavior and the retelling of a racial, anti-fatness comment
Emily Dukes joins The Life After to tell how her love for Christian fiction put her on the path to be groomed (use of privileged relationships to normalize exploiting a young person's body) by novelist Ted Dekker, what she's discovered about herself, and how she's pushing back.
This episode begins with Brady retelling his experience of being groped by a trusted church friend during the beginning of his deconstruction.
Bookended with music by Nightlightr (CDBaby, iTunes, and Spotify) | Find links for The Life After Community (our secret Facebook group), subscribing, rating, and/or reviewing on iTunes here: linkin.bio/thelifeafterorg