Graceful Atheist Podcast

Author Stella McCormick has written a powerful memoir, Deliver Us From Mother: Faith, Fear, and the Family Cult That Broke Me. The story she tells in the book and shares with us on the podcast is one of surviving a single family cult, purity culture, sexual assault and desconstruction.
Stella is more than a survivor. She has thrived. Today she is a sexual assault advocate for the Army where she helps other victims of sexual assault process their experience.
Links
Stella on TikTok
https://www.tiktok.com/@stella_mccormick
Amazon Paid Links
As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.
Amazon Commissions Earned:
Deliver Us From Mother: Faith, Fear, and the Family Cult That Broke Me
https://amzn.to/4yzxb0Y
Interact
Show Notes
https://gracefulatheist.com/2026/09/14/stella-mccormick-surviving-a-single-family-cult/
Join the Deconversion Anonymous Facebook group!
Support the podcast
Patreon https://www.patreon.com/gracefulatheist
Paypal: paypal.me/gracefulatheist
Deconversion
https://gracefulatheist.com/2017/12/03/deconversion-how-to/
Secular Grace
https://gracefulatheist.com/2016/10/21/secular-grace/

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Karis Burkowski and ​David Fitzgerald have written an amazing book called Clearly Written by Boys: A Woman’s Guide to the Bible. The book takes this question seriously:
What if women mattered, really mattered, to the authors that wrote our Bible? Not just the queens and concubines, harlots and handmaidens, and barren women in need of a son’s miraculous birth; not just the unnamed mothers, wives and daughters; but all women?Clearly Written for Boys is a book about the Bible, and Christianity, and the problematic relationship both have had with women throughout their histories. Karis and David come from Christian backgrounds and are “cleaning up their own house.”
Join me in hearing from these two amazing authors and the critical message they have about women in Biblical history and for women of today.
Links
https://www.clearlywrittenbyboys.com
Amazon Paid Links
As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.
Amazon Commissions Earned:
Clearly Written By Boys: A Women's Guide to the Bible
https://amzn.to/4wf8NAk
Interact
Show Notes
https://gracefulatheist.com/2026/07/20/steve-ghikadis-humanism-from-the-heart/
Join the Deconversion Anonymous Facebook group!
Support the podcast
Patreon https://www.patreon.com/gracefulatheist
Paypal: paypal.me/gracefulatheist
Deconversion
https://gracefulatheist.com/2017/12/03/deconversion-how-to/
Secular Grace
https://gracefulatheist.com/2016/10/21/secular-grace/

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Steve Ghikadis is the author of Humanism From the Heart: Building Bridges Beyond Belief.
Steve Ghikadis is a Humanist Officiant, who conducts secular marriages, memorials, and many more meaningful life-affirming celebrations.
Raised as a freethinker, Steve has been married to a Christian for over a decade. He and his wife, Cindy, believe in the importance of bridging the gap between believers and non-believers. Their two young children are being raised in an interfaith household and are free to choose their own path.
He serves as an Ambassador for Humanist Canada, Recovering from Religion, and Sunday Assembly.
Links
Website: 
https://steveghikadis.com
Facebook profile:
https://www.facebook.com/share/14bX5omASis/?mibextid=wwXIfr
Amazon Paid Links
As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.
Amazon #CommissionsEarned:
Humanism From the Heart: Building Bridges Beyond Belief
https://amzn.to/3RLmMQ2
Interact
Show Notes
https://gracefulatheist.com/2026/07/20/steve-ghikadis-humanism-from-the-heart/
Join the Deconversion Anonymous Facebook group!
Support the podcast
Patreon https://www.patreon.com/gracefulatheist
Paypal: paypal.me/gracefulatheist
Deconversion
https://gracefulatheist.com/2017/12/03/deconversion-how-to/
Secular Grace
https://gracefulatheist.com/2016/10/21/secular-grace/

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Julia tells her story of deconstructing the Jehovah's Witnesses and the expected life of suburbia.
Julia was torn between two grandmothers: an evangelical and a Jehovah's Witness. She became a Jehovah's Witness and was all in. She got married and had kids and supported her husband who was an elder. That is when the boredom set it. She wanted more, she wanted to travel and be a need-greater. Before they were to leave to Ecuador, her husband tragically died of cancer refusing blood transfusions along the way.
Julia's life became messy as she started a long process of deconstruction. This included low-lights like having her children tell on her to the elders. And highlights going out on her own to travel and meet people's needs with out dogma.
Today Julia is free. She kayaks, bikes and travels internationally. She says "I wake up every day thinking, 'I love this world, and I love this life.'"
Interact
Show Notes
https://gracefulatheist.com/2026/06/29/julia-deconstructing-jws-and-suburbia/
Join the Deconversion Anonymous Facebook group!
Support the podcast
Patreon https://www.patreon.com/gracefulatheist
Paypal: paypal.me/gracefulatheist
Deconversion
https://gracefulatheist.com/2017/12/03/deconversion-how-to/
Secular Grace
https://gracefulatheist.com/2016/10/21/secular-grace/

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The Consciousness Delusion
In this solo episode I discuss Artificial Intelligence. Should we agree with Richard Dawkins that Claude is conscious? Probably not, for several reasons. I talk about how LLMs work, why I don't think they are conscious and how a humanist should respond.
Topics:
(Semi) Technical description of how Large Language Models work
LLMs are trained on the sum total of human hopes and fears
Why all the intelligence in AI systems is from human sources
Why I do not believe LLMs can be conscious in principle
The Hype problem
The Humanistic response to AI
Links
Show notes
https://gracefulatheist.com/2026/06/07/humanism-and-ai/
Here are several source material links from my research for this episode:
When Dawkins met Claude Could this AI be conscious?
https://unherd.com/2026/05/is-ai-the-next-phase-of-evolution/?edition=us
ELIZA and the missing secretary
https://theconversation.com/my-search-for-the-mysterious-missing-secretary-who-shaped-chatbot-history-225602
Alan Turing and the Turing test
https://academic.oup.com/mind/article/LIX/236/433/986238?login=false
Metaphors for how the brain works
https://mechanism.ucsd.edu/bill/teaching/w14/phil151/metaphorsandconceptionsofbrain.pdf
Alison Gopnik on Sean Carroll’s pdocast
https://www.preposterousuniverse.com/podcast/2025/03/17/308-alison-gopnik-on-children-ai-and-modes-of-thinking/
Neil deGrasse Tyson on the Late Show with Steven Colbert
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Qon72VKH30
AI as normal technology
https://knightcolumbia.org/content/ai-as-normal-technology
Counter points to my argumetns on LLMs:
Are LLMs conscious?
https://preposterousuniverse.com/podcast/2026/08/10/363-chandra-sripada-on-how-llms-and-humans-are-cognitive-cousins/
Do LLMs plan?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=locKEKxG3os
Interact
Join the Deconversion Anonymous Facebook group!
Support the podcast
Patreon https://www.patreon.com/gracefulatheist
Paypal: paypal.me/gracefulatheist
Deconversion
https://gracefulatheist.com/2017/12/03/deconversion-how-to/
Secular Grace
https://gracefulatheist.com/2016/10/21/secular-grace/

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