MJ: Dissident Daughters

This week’s guest is MJ, the heart and mind behind the Instagram account, @dissident_daughtersMJ grew up in a conservative evangelical home where Focus on the Family reigned and her whole world consisted of family, church friends, and a few Christian homeschooling families. She believed wholeheartedly, feeling all the existential pressure as a child to “save” everyone around her.As a young woman, MJ was surrounded by social workers while in college, and these colleagues were curious. They didn’t ask theological questions; they asked political questions, but for MJ it was all connected. She went to her pastor and was dismissed again and again.“I started asking myself, What are the criteria? What are [church leaders] really looking for? They’re looking for somebody who doesn’t question, doesn’t challenge the status quo, doesn’t have a viewpoint that encompasses anything that includes the world along with Christianity.”Now MJ uses her love of books and art to encourage others to hear different perspectives—one’s inner life, relationships, systemic injustices, religion, and spirituality. Besides lengthening Arline’s personal To-Be-Read list, MJ’s Instagram has shown her that whatever one is convinced is true, there are other possible ways to view it.LinksInstagramhttps://www.instagram.com/dissident_daughtersInteractFor quotes, recommendations, transcripts and more see the full episode show noteshttps://gracefulatheist.com/2023/08/20/mj-dissident-daughters/Join the Deconversion Anonymous Facebook grouphttps://www.facebook.com/groups/deconversionGraceful Atheist Podcast Merch!https://www.teepublic.com/user/gracefulatheistpodcastSupport the podcast on Patreonhttps://www.patreon.com/gracefulatheistSecular Gracehttps://gracefulatheist.com/2016/10/21/secular-grace/Deconversionhttps://gracefulatheist.com/2017/12/03/deconversion-how-to/Deconstructionhttps://gracefulatheist.com/2017/12/03/deconversion-how-to/#deconstruction/Attribution"Waves" track written and produced by Makaih Beatshttps://makaihbeats.net/