I found a better, more beautiful purpose in life when I left Christianity - Ve Marié

*Apologies for the audio issues toward the beginning of the interview _________________________________________ Today I spoke with Ve Marié, who grew up in a Baptist Christian environment and placed her faith in Jesus at an early age, but ultimately deconverted as the truth claims of Christianity fell apart. We touched on many topics, including: • As a child, looking up to her grandparents who were strongly dedicated to sharing the Gospel and helping the poor. • Basing her worldview of god in part on how she viewed her perfectionistic mother. • Having a very vivid imagination regarding Satan and demons wanting to attack her. • Struggling with people-pleasing in her Christian life. • Hearing altar calls where congregants were invited to make a decision for god. • Getting involved in the music ministry on a major level in her church. • Facing intense purity culture messages at church but, fortunately, hearing a balanced perspective on it at home. • Getting shaken up when she was exposed to very authoritarian gender roles at church. • Being very surprised as she learned about other mythologies and folklores in the world and starting to question why those other religious stories had to be seen as false while the Bible's stories had to be seen as correct and divinely inspired. • Going through an intense season of prayer and angst as she faced overwhelming medical concerns. • Beginning to question whether the Bible were really from god, and eventually concluding that it was just a man-made book. • Giving herself the freedom to explore other religions and ask hard questions. • After deconversion, being able to stop judging others and starting to study the psyche more than ever in an effort to understand how religion affects the human journey. • The importance of crafting a new sense of purpose after deconversion. Thanks to Ve for sharing her story and insights! _________________________________________ Check out the other projects I'm working on and find other ways to connect with me: https://linktr.ee/harmonicatheist Tim may be reached on FB (preferred) at: harmonictim Or by email at: [email protected] _________________________________________ Your support for my channel, Harmonic Atheist, is very needed and appreciated! One-time donations: PayPal: paypal.me/harmonictim Venmo: @harmonicatheist Zelle email: [email protected] GoFundMe: https://www.gofundme.com/f/help-tim-stay-full-time-on-harmonic-atheist Monthly donations: https://www.patreon.com/harmonicatheist Thanks! --Tim _________________________________________ Ending music by Kazuya / Eyal Raz, "Friends" https://artlist.io/royalty-free-music/song/friends/2825 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4qbqNO6DdAQ _________________________________________ If you are facing emotional distress, please call 911 or the National Suicide Hotline 1-800-273-8255.