PODCAST · society
UNBOUND
by The Unbound Podcast Network
Ex-evangelicals Spider and Shelle's guide to life after faith: exposing the lies, telling the truth, and helping people everywhere get and stay unbound from evangelical religion.
Episodes
-
Christians Behaving Badly #11 - Where’s My Freedom Edition
Four stories about the progressive breaking down of the separation of church and state round out this week's Christians Behaving Badly, "Were's My Freedom?" edition, plus a special message from Spider.
-
Christians Behaving Badly #10: The Monsters They’re Making Edition
Hatred, bigotry, privilege, and murder. It's just another day in the world of evangelical insanity. From the Nashville school shooting to shaking down your employees for tithes, we bring you Christians Behaving Badly: The Monsters They're Making Edition.
-
Christians Behaving Badly #9 - Permit Me to Say, ”You’re Wrong,” Edition
You, know... for a group of people that is supposed to have this macabre ability to die to themselves, they sure do have some selfish people among their ranks. Don't besmirch our traditions. Don't tell me to be quiet or follow your rules on any level. Don't call that pornography art and fire…
more -
Christians BehavingBadly #8 - Fools in the Rain Edition
Ah, what fools these evangelicals be! It's another four stories that showcase the hubris that defines this religion and people it produces. From copyrighting adjectives and corporal punishment to the war on libraries and the LGBTQ community, we've dubbed this weeks Christians behaving Badly…
more -
Christians Behaving Badly #7 -It’s My life Edition
Four more examples of evangelicals trying to remove the liberty of others in favor of their own. From illegal proselytization to demolishing safe spaces for LGBTQ+ school students, to out and out assault on a minor for not saying the Pledge, it's a volatile and emotional edition of Christians...
-
Christians Behaving Badly #6 - Fifty Shades of WTF Edition
Permission to indoctrinate, fueling the quiverful movement, love thy neighbor (as long as he's straight), and what really happens when a person – a pastor – gets too sexually frustrated and writes a book about sex (it's not pretty, but it IS hilarious) all in this installment of Christians…
more -
Episode 130: An Alliance Upending Freedom: The Cult of Evangelical Homeschooling
It would be bad enough if the worst problems associated with evangelical homeschooling revolved around sub-par education and a lack of healthy social growth, but the problem goes much deeper. In this episode, we pull back the curtain on the people responsible for keeping homeschooling in the U.S....
-
Christians Behaving Badly #5: Blurred Lines of Scrimmage Edition
Sometimes the chaos that evangelicals and their splinter factions cause isn't about Us versus Them. Sometimes it's about THEM versus them. The buffoonery is strong in this weeks collection of chaotic tales from the world of false prophets, "misunderstood" pastors, and hopeless prudes who just…
more -
Christians Behaving Badly #4: The Politics of Enhancing Edition
Our government spends way too much time pandering to the pointless wants of the Christian Right and that is putting it very, very lightly. This week, we have several new stories of American political shenanigans wherein our elected representatives pander to the phobias and prejudices that…
more -
Christians Behaving Badly #3 - Whoah! Just... Whoah Edition
What happens when you're not "pro life enough" for an evangelical politician? What happens when you accidentally rat out your child indoctrination agenda at your Christian school? The answers to these questions (and many more that will surely pop up along the way) can be found in this edition of...
-
Christians Behaving Badly #2: Big Bag of D*cks Edition
Coverups and controversies, murder by prayer, making light of rape victims, and two stories of people who pushed back against the woefully biased agendas of locales that cater to religious freedom (as long as that religion involves Jesus, of course), we bring you Christians Behaving Badly: Big…
more -
Christians Behaving Badly #1 - Beer and Boobs (And Unfortunately More) Edition
Sunday, January 15, 2023: This week, we bring you four stories that we only wish weren't true, fraught with tales of conversion by coercion in Indiana, how to get off with a slap on the wrist for practicing slavery in California, how beer turns men into women in any state, and a guy who likes big...
-
Episode 129: New Year, KNOW You 3.0 - Looking Ahead to 2023
We figured we'd give everyone time to break those silly resolutions and decompress for the holidays, but it's here. Let's take a look ahead together at how we can stay on the path to getting and staying unbound in the upcoming year.
-
Episode 128: What Would Pa Otter Do? - Spider and Shelle Review Emmet Otter’s Jug Band Christmas
When faced with difficult choices, we have a few ways we can approach them. We can weigh the options and choose the best and most prudent of them, we can be hasty and make bad decisions, or we can defer to someone else's way of thinking - or how we interpret what they think about things. In this...
-
Episode 127: This Old Hoax - Spider and Shelle Review ”The Amityville Horror (1979)”
It was a hoax worthy of the Satanic Panic and a testament to the power of the phrase "a true story." This week, Spider and Shelle review one of the most pervasive stories of its era, the Amityville Horror. still maintains an audience that believes implicitly that a suburban family in the mid…
more -
Episode 126: The Satan Sellers Hall of Shame - Grifters of the Satanic Panic
Mike Warnke, Bob Larson, The Peters Brothers... these are just a few of the shameless grifters who poured gasoline on the fires of the Satanic panic and used their influence to spread fear, especially among the young in the 80s and 90s. We look at their stories and more in this week's edition of...
-
Episode 125: No Happy Medium - Psychics and the Grift of Grief
Psychic mediums prey on people's insecurities and fears and grief is a huge market that many successfully tap into. In this episode, we look at the who and the how of what these people do and shed light on the things they do to manipulate people who are grieving into thinking they have the…
more -
EPISODE 124: Are Ghosts Real? - Confessions of a Former Ghost Hunter
During his Wicca period, Spider went through a brief, but very enthusiastic, ghost hunting phase. This episode is inspired by his experiences (or, in some cases, the total lack thereof) and the things he's learned about them since in this year's first entry for Unbound October. Shelle delivers...
-
Episode 123: Healing Hands and Hardened Hearts - Spider and Shelle Review ”Resurrection (1980)”
This week, we look at the 1980 cult classic "Resurrection' and give it our usual spin. When a young woman has a near death experience, she returns with the power to heal, but her refusal to "give God the glory" raises the hackles of some of the people in her rural Kansas town. Why are Christians…
more -
Episode 122: The Power Vested in YOU: The Pros and Cons of Getting Married
There are many reasons why people still want to get married and some are not just valid, but also very smart. There are also many more reasons that getting married is an overall bad idea. We're going to look at both sides of the argument and compare all the pros and cons so YOU can decide if...
-
Episode 121: Feelings, Voices, and Difficult Choices - Understanding Bereavement Hallucinations
An astonishing number of people, across all religious and non-religious lines, believe that deceased loved ones are still playing a role in their lives. While that will always be true in the case of memory and reflection, what happens when our brains start feeding us data that suggests that these...
-
Episode 120: Take Your Luggage With You - Spider and Shelle Review Joe vs. the Volcano
Life is full of problems. We face new ones every day. But some people never learn that you can't just dump your problems on someone else and let them handle them. But that's precisely what one man tries to do in this multi-layered comedy that makes a few serious, and accurate, points about how…
more -
Episode 119: Twelve Step Programs: Let’s Admit They Have a Problem
The effectiveness of 12-step problems is a lot smaller than any of the organizations that fall under their cover would ever want to admit. Around here, we don't have that problem. We're going to have a frank conversation about 12-step programs, why they rarely work, and how they try to hide their...
-
Episode 118: ”The Way They Should Go...” - The Effects of Toxic Christian Parenting
What happens when child rearing turns deadly? And what about the ones who survive? There is so much toxicity in the messaging about Christian parenting that, in some cases, discipline has turned to murder. In lesser cases, toxic parenting can have lifelong effects on a person's mental and…
more -
Episode 117: Vacation Bible School - Adventures in Child Indoctrination
With its colorful signs, aggressive recruitment campaigns, and promises of Summer fun for kids, Vacation Bible School (or VBS) is nothing more than a front for using five days to aggressively indoctrinate children with Christian doctrine. Spider and Shelle take listeners on a tour of this…
more -
EPISODE 116: Where Too Many Have Gone Before: Spider and Shelle Review Star Trek V
What DOES God need with a starship? And if God needs a starship, what do we need with God? We MADE the starship, right? We're finally back and excited to deliver to you our review of Star Trek V: The Final frontier, a few stardates late, but well worth the wait. Christians behaving badly steers…
more -
Episode 115: So You Want to Be a Pastor? Here’s What You Can Expect
So your youth pastor has convinced you to go to bible college and pursue a life of full-time ministry. Well, as the saying goes: misery loves company. Does someone else have the right, the room, or the authority to tell you to do any such thing? And what can you expect after four years prostrate…
more -
Episode 114: Patriotism Vs. Nationalism - What Makes Them Different?
There is a great divide between the mindset and actions of patriotism and those of nationalism. In this episode, we explore the stark contrast between being proud of your country for what it is and being proud of what it isn't. This conversation follows well on the heels of last week's discussion...
-
Episode 113: The Greatest Nation? - Why America Isn’t
With an average of one school shooting a week, the worst-managed healthcare system on the planet and an education system that sets every American student up for failure, it's difficult to see how anyone can look at the United States and think it's the greatest ANYTHING... because it just plain...
-
Episode 112: Scared to God - Spider and Shelle Review ”A Thief in the Night”
When your religion needs to use scare tactics and hyper-emotionalism to sell its product, something MUST be wrong with it. This week, we look at the original Christian horror flick - one that has left many people scarred and afraid, primarily the young. Join us for an in-depth discussion of not...
-
Episode 111: ThePro-Life Fallacy - Why Abortion Needs To Stay Legal
Isn't it amazing just how much more pro-life abortion advocates are than the alleged pro-lifers who are trying to set back women's rights by almost fifty years? It's true and we're going to demonstrate how in this very uncomfortable but very necessary discussion on a subject that, whether "they"...
-
Episode 110: Purity, Delusion, and Death - Toxic Messaging In Christian Music
Evangelicals derive more about doctrine, dogma, and the ins and outs of their faith from the music they listen to than they do sermons or even (or *especially*) the bible. In this episode, we take a look at some of the prevailing toxic themes that have been the undercurrent of Christian music for...
-
Episode 109: Killing In The Name Of... - A Brief History of Christian Violence
It didn't take long for the persecuted church to become the persecutor. This is the story of what happens when you mix politics with a religion already headed by a deity who solves every problem he faces with violence and murder. We look at a few early examples of Christian violence and make some...
-
Episode 108: Through The Illusion (and Into Reality) - Spider and Shelle Review ”The Spirit of Albion”
In our latest dive into our Unbound at the Movies series, we look at a movie that can only be described as Pagan Evangelism: Egotrip Productions' "The Spirit of Albion." All the tactics you see in a typical evangelical church service, youth play, or movie are represented. We take a look at the…
more -
Episode 107: Christians Behaving Badly: XL Edition
The episode that almost wasn't... well, we said we'd be back this week and, well, here we are, doing things a little differently than usual. Four stories from the files of Christians Behaving Badly and a sneak peek at what's coming up next. It's CCB: XL Edition!
-
Episode 106: Can’t Watch That - Understanding the Ethics of Porn
In the most secular of terms, it's not even a question whether consuming porn is moral or ethical. The real question is: what are you consuming? How can you tell the difference between content made with consent and content that isn't? These questions matter and we'll be discussing them and much...
-
Episode 105: The Finger, The Shroud, and the Holy Goat - Church Relics and Enchanted Objects
The notion of objects having religious power is as old as religion itself but no other religion has cornered the market on the marketing of religious relics quite the way Christianity has. We look that how religious relics are used to reinforce the concept of belief and how evangelicalism...
-
Episode 104: Gods in Three Persons - The Ancient Concept of Trinities
The concept of the trinity is far from unique to Christianity. In fact, it dates as far back as human history will go. We look at some of the examples fro throughout history and across religious lines that confirm it: the trinity is just one more thing the Church decided to counterfeit to further...
-
Episode 103: Was Jesus Real? The Problem With Proving a Negative
It's a tough spot to be in - knowing that something isn't real but not having enough proof to back up your position. The truth is, the Jesus of the Bible isn't real, but is it possible that someone like him once lived and stirred things up in Palestine? The answers may surprise you. We tackle…
more -
Episode 102: Protecting Innocence? - Spider and Shelle Review ”The Village”
Everyone experiences grief and loss at some point in their lives and there are constructive ways of dealing with it. But one group of 19th century settlers had a unique way of dealing with theirs. Sorrow, pain, grief... these things follow you everywhere and this is a hard lesson that the elders…
more -
EPISODE 101: Biblical Contradictions - Errors in the Inerrant Word of God
In another instance of "we could do an entire podcast on this..." Spider and Shelle examine a TINY sampling of the ways the Bible contradicts itself and how some of these contradictions have the ability to unravel some of the most important doctrines in evangelical faith. Our Christians Behaving...
-
Episode 100: Suffering For Jesus? The Evangelical Persecution Complex
"Talk about suffering here below..." and you MUST be talking about something other than Christians in America. The sense of entitlement that evangelicals in America possess is truly next level and their definition of persecution just goes to prove that they have no idea what being persecuted is....
-
Episode 99: Snake Handlers - Biblical Literalism and ”The Signs”
There are real dangers in taking everything the Bible says literally. Snake handlers really believe that theirs is a necessary element to fulfilling the word of God, based solely on a single controversial passage in the Gospel of Mark. What makes people hop on this particular bandwagon KNOWING…
more -
Episode 98: The Better Story? - Spider and Shelle Review ”Life of Pi”
"Don't let the stories and pretty lights fool you. Religion is darkness." If only this was the message of this movie and not just a fleeting counterpoint... While Life of Pi is an exciting tale of survival against impossible odds, it also presents messaging about religion that we think needs to…
more -
Episode 97: Azusa Street Part 2 - Understanding the Bandwagon Effect
This week, we steer away from the history of Azusa Street and take a look at the psychology behind the movement and how this sort of thing is actually typical in many areas of life. The Bandwagon Effect has strong influences over everything from religion to pop culture and even smart…
more -
Episode 96: Azusa Street: The Dawn of a New Error
Take a walk with Spider and Shelle through the story of the birth of the modern pentecostal movement. Not needing proof of something being real has been a running thread through all religions, but in this instance, even we have to be amazed at how WIlliam Seymour managed to convince so many…
more -
Episode 95: Will We Survive 1.5? - A Conversation About Climate Change
If we don't do something about global warming soon, it could very well be too late, but conservative politics and bad messaging about climate change are successfully driving errant thoughts and misconceptions, especially among evangelicals. This is our conversation for episode 95 along with three...
-
Episode 94: ”It’s All A Grey Area” - Spider and Shelle review ”Saved!”
Class is in at American Eagles Christian High School and Spider and Shelle have a lot to say about the goings on in and around its walls. In this episode, we look at the 2004 teen comedy "Saved" and how many things it gets right about the seldom-charmed life of the Christian teenager. Our...
-
Episode 93: New Year, Know You 2.0 - Living Unbound in 2022
We know... new year's resolutions are a bit cliché. But what if you had a good framework that allowed you to develop workable, plausible, meaningful, and substantive resolutions based on what you know (or want to learn) about yourself? We look at that question and more in this episode. Christians...
-
Episode 92: We Three Kings of Orient... Aren‘t - Everything Wrong With the Nativity Story
How could a story so fraught with contradictions and disagreements among its tellers, literally from its first verses, ever be taken seriously enough to spur on a global religion that goes on for more than two thousand years? It's a true mystery that isn't about to be solved anytime soon. What do...
We're indexing this podcast's transcripts for the first time — this can take a minute or two. We'll show results as soon as they're ready.
No matches for "" in this podcast's transcripts.
No topics indexed yet for this podcast.
Loading reviews...
ABOUT THIS SHOW
Ex-evangelicals Spider and Shelle's guide to life after faith: exposing the lies, telling the truth, and helping people everywhere get and stay unbound from evangelical religion.
HOSTED BY
The Unbound Podcast Network
CATEGORIES
Loading similar podcasts...
Frequently Asked Questions
How many episodes does UNBOUND have?
UNBOUND currently has 100 episodes available on PodParley. New episodes are automatically indexed when they're published to the podcast feed.
What is UNBOUND about?
Ex-evangelicals Spider and Shelle's guide to life after faith: exposing the lies, telling the truth, and helping people everywhere get and stay unbound from evangelical religion.
How often does UNBOUND release new episodes?
UNBOUND has 100 episodes. Check the episode list to see recent publication dates and frequency.
Where can I listen to UNBOUND?
You can listen to UNBOUND on PodParley by clicking any episode. We provide an embedded audio player for direct listening, and you can also subscribe via your preferred podcast app using the RSS feed.
Who hosts UNBOUND?
UNBOUND is created and hosted by The Unbound Podcast Network.
URL copied to clipboard!