Tahtianna Fermin (she/her) has many roles, including being an ordained minister, community activist, and founder of Bridges4Life, an organization that helps the Transgender Non-Conforming (TGNC) community—work that is so essential in this current political climate that seeks to restrict care and protections for transgender/non-conforming people. In this refreshingly sunny conversation. Tahtianna talks with Kelly about her spiritual journey from conservative religious patriarchy to radical inclusion and outreach.

We also talk about the need for the work that she and the Bridges4Life community is doing now, and look for some hope for the future. In addition to the qualifications listed above, Tahtianna Fermin is also a public speaker, writer, a member of The National LGBTW Workers Center’s NYC chapter and other community organizations, a practitioner of spiritual healing, and an International Business and Marketing Student.

Find out more about Tahtianna at https://bridges4life.org/our-founder/ and at https://tahtiannasministry.wixsite.com/transgender. Bridges4Life is an organization built on helping the TGNC community and serves the northern New Jersey and New York City metro areas. Bridges4Life provides services for a range of people in need, including children in the foster care system, young adults, and surviving sex workers. The organization is committed to helping teens and young adults on the street and in foster care become responsible, self-sufficient, confident and educated adults. Learn more about Bridges4Life at https://bridges4life.org/.

Tahtianna Fermin
Facebook: @tahttiana.infiniti Instagram: @tahtianna_fermin_
Bridges4Life
Facebook: @Bridges4Life Twitter: @bridges4_life Instagram: @bridges4life_

Find your guides at Quoir Academy! If you’ve ever deconstructed your faith you know it’s not easy. But just imagine if you could have people to guide you through your process? People like, Jim Palmer, Kristin Du Mez, Jennifer Knapp, Brad Jersak, Brian Zahnd, Paul Young, and more? Well, if you head over to Quoir Academy and register for SQUARE 2 using the Promo Code [RAD] you’ll get 10% off the regular registration cost of this awesome course and community just for being a fan of our show. Follow this registration link: https://www.bk2sq1.com/square-2-next-steps-into-reconstruction?coupon=RAD

Leslie Nease, author of "Honoring the Journey: The Deconstruction of Sister Christian," has been on an amazing journey, and we were blessed to be able to talk with her about it. Former Christian Radio Personality? Survivor Contestant? Publicly Celebrating People's Deconstruction Journeys? Life & Faith Transitions Coach? Yep, she is all of those and more.

In Leslie's words: "I was very active in Christian Media and Ministry for about 16 years. I was a Christian Radio Host, Podcaster, Writer, Speaker and I was also a contestant on Survivor China, where I was dubbed “Sister Christian” by my fellow tribe-mates. My journey on Survivor was probably the catalyst that made me begin to question some of my beliefs and theology, but it took awhile for me to fully jump into deconstruction. For the past 7 years, though, I have been deconstructing my beliefs ). Now, I’m speaking out publicly on my podcast, sharing stories of faith and faith transitions, hoping to get people to listen and learn from my guests and encouraging people to share their life and faith journeys.

Website: www.leslieneasecoaching.com
Podcast: https://honoring-the-journey.simplecast.com
Facebook: http://facebook.com/leslieann.nease
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/leslienease
X: https://x.com/leslienease

Find your guides at Quoir Academy! If you’ve ever deconstructed your faith you know it’s not easy. But just imagine if you could have people to guide you through your process? People like, Jim Palmer, Kristin Du Mez, Jennifer Knapp, Brad Jersak, Brian Zahnd, Paul Young, and more? Well, if you head over to Quoir Academy and register for SQUARE 2 using the Promo Code [RAD] you’ll get 10% off the regular registration cost of this awesome course and community just for being a fan of our show. Follow this registration link: https://www.bk2sq1.com/square-2-next-steps-into-reconstruction?coupon=RAD

What is the connection between religion and radicalization? When either one turns into dehumanizing others, there is quite an overlap between the two. This week we talk with online personality The Fallen Ape-Theist (formerly known as the Faithiest Atheist) about his spiritual journey that led him to a kind of faith-friendly-atheism that frustrates believers and non-believers alike (albeit with a great sense of humor), and more seriously, how his military and counter-terrorism experience taught him about the dehumanizing power of radicalization--whether through religion, politics, or any movement that goes to the extremes.

We talk about how our polarized society contributes to extreme views, how social media pours fuel on the fire, the first-hand experiences that he has had facing and disrupting radicalization, and the kind of community he maintains online, where people with differing views can talk with one another without thinking of others as less than human just because they disagree.

Find the Fallen Ape Theist at:

Twitter @TheApe_Theist
Threads @thefallenape_theist
Instagram @thefallenape_theist
TikTok @thefallenape.theist
YouTube https://youtube.com/@thefallenape-theist?si=9WkQRfmG47pbU6za

Find your guides at Quoir Academy! If you’ve ever deconstructed your faith you know it’s not easy. But just imagine if you could have people to guide you through your process? People like, Jim Palmer, Kristin Du Mez, Jennifer Knapp, Brad Jersak, Brian Zahnd, Paul Young, and more? Well, if you head over to Quoir Academy and register for SQUARE 2 using the Promo Code [RAD] you’ll get 10% off the regular registration cost of this awesome course and community just for being a fan of our show. Follow this registration link: https://www.bk2sq1.com/square-2-next-steps-into-reconstruction?coupon=RAD

How do we talk with the people with whom we disagree the most? Especially in today's toxic social, religious, and political environment, where disagreement is seen as treason and we're all on the edge of being canceled? This week, we had our eyes opened when Justin Lee gave us some practical advice for how to communicate with those across the aisle--and why our old arguments have always failed so miserably. Justin first appeared on our radar in the early 2000s, when the "Great Debate" on his blog about LGBTQ+ inclusion in the church broke new ground in showing that there is such a thing as a committed, faithful, gay Christian, and arguing that the Bible may not say exactly what we think it does about all queer relationships through all time and circumstances. That conversation turned into the popular book "Torn: Rescuing the Gospel from the Gays-vs.-Christians Debate," which was recently updated in a 2024 edition. Justin has now turned his attention to an even bigger picture, focusing on the many ways that we disagree across different aspects of our society, and dives deep into the causes of our disagreements, why our old ways of arguing with one another often backfire and make the divine even wider, and practical tools and methods of having productive conversations with the people who disagree with us the most. His essential book on this topic is called "Talking Across the Divide: How to Communicate with People You Disagree with and Maybe Even Change the World" Bio: Justin Lee has been successfully bridging cultural divides for 25 years. He first developed his strategic dialogue techniques while working at the difficult intersection of faith and LGBTQ issues, where he became internationally known for helping heal family and community rifts. His book on that subject, Torn, is now one of the most widely read in the field. Justin’s latest book, Talking Across the Divide: How to Communicate with People You Disagree With—and Maybe Even Change the World, draws on scientific research and real-world examples to apply these same techniques to today’s political and social conflicts. Follow Justin’s work at GeekyJustin.com.

Justin Lee Website: https://geekyjustin.com/ Facebook: @geekyjustin Instagram: @geekyjustinlee Twitter/X: @geekyjustinlee

Find your guides at Quoir Academy! If you’ve ever deconstructed your faith you know it’s not easy. But just imagine if you could have people to guide you through your process? People like, Jim Palmer, Kristin Du Mez, Jennifer Knapp, Brad Jersak, Brian Zahnd, Paul Young, and more? Well, if you head over to Quoir Academy and register for SQUARE 2 using the Promo Code [RAD] you’ll get 10% off the regular registration cost of this awesome course and community just for being a fan of our show. Follow this registration link: https://www.bk2sq1.com/square-2-next-steps-into-reconstruction?coupon=RAD

Jennifer Bird,PhD, knows a lot about the Christian Bible--including what's in it and also what isn't in it. This eye-opening conversation covers both ends of that spectrum, using Bird's book "Permission Granted: Take the Bible Into Your Own Hands" as a launching off point about what she discovered about the Bible, how our reading of the Bible impacts so many aspects of our culture, and why Biblical literacy is so important. We also dig in deeper on the subjects of "Biblical marriage" and women in Christianity, two subjects about which she is passionate, which she addresses head-on in her most recent book, "Marriage in the Bible: What DO the Texts Say?"

From her bio at JenniferGraceBird.com: Her background within the United Methodist Church, education in a Presbyterian affiliated institution, more than a decade spent in several ministerial contexts, six years of graduate work in biblical studies, and more than 25 years of teaching in classrooms of all kinds all inform her approach to having quite honest, and sometimes difficult, conversations about what is actually to be found in the scriptures of the Christian Bible. You can also hear Jennifer regularly on the Wild Olive podcast (with Jeanne Petrolle,) as well as many other podcasts, lectures, videos, and more!

Find Jennifer at:
https://www.jennifergracebird.com/
https://www.instagram.com/moxieprof/
https://www.facebook.com/jennifer.grace.bird
https://www.youtube.com/@JenniferBirdPhD
https://www.tiktok.com/@jbird.moxieprof

Find your guides at Quoir Academy! If you’ve ever deconstructed your faith you know it’s not easy. But just imagine if you could have people to guide you through your process? People like, Jim Palmer, Kristin Du Mez, Jennifer Knapp, Brad Jersak, Brian Zahnd, Paul Young, and more? Well, if you head over to Quoir Academy and register for SQUARE 2 using the Promo Code [RAD] you’ll get 10% off the regular registration cost of this awesome course and community just for being a fan of our show. Follow this registration link: https://www.bk2sq1.com/square-2-next-steps-into-reconstruction?coupon=RAD