I feel free for the first time in my life - Layne Yancey

T/W: Sexual assault content ______________________________________ Today I spoke with Layne Yancey, who grew up in an extremely legalistic, fundamentalist Baptist church, but eventually deconverted as she did a deep dive into both current Christianity as well as its origins. We touched on many topics, including: • The influence of the IBLP (Institute for Basic Life Principles) on her family. • How Christianity preys on parents' fears for their children's welfare and sexual purity. • How the church controls congregants' lives. • Being overwhelmed nonstop with messages of the Gospel and purity culture, in the larger context of being extremely sheltered. • How "I Kissed Dating Goodbye" by Joshua Harris negatively affected her mentality toward herself and her sexuality. • How purity culture teaches you to suppress all of your sexual thoughts and desires, and to feel shame if you think or do anything sexual. • How the church often ignores social justice issues. • Being told that everyone who was not a Christian was a sinner bound for hell. • Sensing that the Devil was constantly trying to influence and tempt her away from the Yahweh character. • How people's identities get wrapped up in their purity, and once they lose it or have it taken from them, they feel like they have lost their identity. • Being traumatized from the "AWANA" children's church group. • Being taught that she was born wicked, and how that idea implanted in her worldview. • Being taught to not trust oneself, but to instead only trust the Yahweh character. • Realizing, after deconversion, that she had been living in a mental prison her whole life. • Dealing with the anger of how the Christian worldview "stole" our younger years. • Healing from spiritual abuse, especially how we were taught to hate ourselves, during our time in Christianity. • Seeing the dark side of church and realizing how cultish it is, and ultimately concluding that Christianity as a whole is a cult. Many thanks to Layne for sharing her story and heart with us today! _________________________________________ Connect with Layne on TikTok: @bighairdontcareheadbands _________________________________________ Your support for my channel, Harmonic Atheist, is very appreciated. Monthly https://www.patreon.com/harmonicatheist One time PayPal: https://paypal.me/harmonicatheist Venmo: @harmonicatheist The more support I receive, the sooner I can do this full time! --Tim _________________________________________ Ending music by Eyal Raz, "Friends" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4qbqNO6DdAQ _________________________________________