The Dismantling Doctrine Podcast

Jan 15 2025 100 ep. 58 mins 421

The Dismantling Doctrine Podcast artwork

Join your host, Dr Clint Heacock, along the journey of both deconstruction and reconstruction post-religion, or post-cults. Every 2 weeks we'll explore topics around religion, spirituality, the cults, and how you can begin to form a new identity post-religion.

Religion & Spirituality

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Holy Terror Classic Edition: Catching up with Conway & Siegelman - A MindShift Sequel

Jan 15 2025 69 mins

Welcome to the first episode of The Dismantling Doctrine Podcast for 2025! This inaugural episode features a catch-up conversation with two old friends, Flo Conway and Jim Siegelman. They are the authors of the classic 1978 work on cults and mind control entitled Snapping: America's Epidemic of Sudden Personality Change. Their research into cult psychology and tactics led them, in

Interspirituality: Ten Words To Make The World A Better Place (with Lauryn Axelrod)

Dec 11 2024 50 mins

For this final podcast of 2024, I recently connected with Lauryn Axelrod--she's an interfaith/interspiritual minister, chaplain, spiritual director, and teacher out of Vermont. This is an especially poignant interview, as I've talked to several people this year about concepts of spirituality. Lauryn's suggestion that incorporating "Ten Words" into your life, as guiding principles o

Rift: Breaking Away From Christian Patriarchy (with Cait West)

Nov 27 2024 46 mins

I recently caught up with returning guest Cait West, who has just come out with a great book entitled Rift: A Memoir of Breaking Away From Christian Patriarchy. Cait grew up in what is called the "stay-at-home-daughters" movement, which is a version of Christian patriarchy that, while seemingly extreme, is gaining traction in a lot of Christian homes. Driven by the teachings of men

Blue Jellyfish Syndrome: Mental Health After Leaving Religion and an Abusive Marriage (with Karen Unrue)

Nov 13 2024 54 mins

This week's guest features author Karen Unrue, whose book Blue Jellyfish Syndrome: How To Break Free From Stigma and Maintain Hope While Living With a Mental Illness is a great resource for those who have left either controlling religion or abusive relationships behind. But simply escaping is far from the end of the story. We can still be triggered by intrusive thoughts from our pa

Bonus Episode! The Violent Take It By Force: Christian Nationalism is a Threat to American Democracy (with Matthew D Taylor)

Nov 03 2024 61 mins

In this special election special bonus episode, I reached out to returning guest Matthew D Taylor, who has just come out with a brand-new book called The Violent Take it by Force: The Christian Movement that is Threatening Our Democracy. For those who are still undecided about their vote in the upcoming election, this is a must-listen. Given the fact that so much of the Trump MAGA

Paradise Undone: A Novel of Jonestown (with Annie Dawid)

Oct 30 2024 47 mins

This week's episode takes an in-depth look at the tragic murder/suicide that took place in Jonestown, Guyana, in 1978. Cult leader Jim Jones was responsible for not only controlling and manipulating his numerous dedicated followers, in the end, he forced nearly 1000 of them to commit suicide or be murdered. In the wake of this tragedy that occurred decades ago, Annie Dawid's book--

Breaking! Updates to Project 2025 and the Cult of Trump (with Chris Shelton)

Oct 16 2024 58 mins

If you've been following the storyline of what's happening to Project 2025, The Heritage Foundation, and Trump's presidential campaign, then you'll be familiar with some of what Chris Shelton and I discuss in this episode. There have been a number of important developments in this ongoing narrative, as Project 2025 began to be increasingly exposed by shows just like this one as wel

The Way: Meaningful Spirituality for a Modern World (with Larry Jordan)

Oct 02 2024 46 mins

How many of us have left religious beliefs behind, but have not entertained the idea that we might be able to find an aspect of spirituality that is truly meaningful? For those of us who've left controlling religions, it can be incredibly difficult even to entertain the notion that there might even be any aspect of spirituality that is appealing to us. But we might be closing ourse

Tim Sledge Interviews Me About My New Book "Not So Shiny Not So Happy People!"

Sep 18 2024 50 mins

For the first time ever, my show has been hijacked! My very good friend Tim Sledge, who is the editor and publisher of my new book, Not So Shiny Not So Happy People: How Bill Gothard, Church, and Family Taught Me Christianity Doesn't Work interviewed me recently about my book. Aside from me, there is nobody else on Earth who knows more about my book, as we have been working closely

Not So Shiny Not So Happy People: "The Terror of an Empty House" Chapter Reading

Sep 11 2024 25 mins

I'm excited to announce that my new book, Not So Shiny Not So Happy People: How Bill Gothard, Church, and Family Taught Me Christianity Doesn't Work is now available as of today!! The book is available as a paperback, Kindle EBook, and Audible Virtual Voice versions now. In this special episode, I'm reading the Preface chapter to the book, which is called "The Terror of an Empty Ho