Christian Underhistory

In August of 2017 the Roman Catholic Archbishop of Melbourne, Australia said that he would rather go to jail than report sexual abuse against a child. Join us today as we explore the archbishop's statements and the context in which those statements were made. 

In 2014 Uganda's legislature passed a law further criminalizing homosexuality. LGBTQ people in Uganda saw a 1000% increase in violence against their communities after the law passed. Join us today for the story of how American Christians and their money were behind Uganda's anti-gay laws. 

Mark Driscoll was a hotshot fundamentalist Southern Baptist megachurch pastor with thousands of congregants and some harsh things to say about gay and lesbian people and women. Join us today for the story of how his first megachurch Mars Hill fell from grace.

On Easter Day in 1960 Texas school teacher Irene Garza was murdered. Join us today for the story of how her murderer got away with it for almost sixty years.

Rev Danny Ray Johnson was an independent minister elected to the Kentucky legislature in 2017. He sometimes referred to himself as Pope. Join us for the story of his life.

The Holy Roman Empire was undoing monumental religious and spiritual shifts in the early 1500s. Join us today for the story of a prophetic religious movement that took a German city by force.

Daisy Douglas Barr was one of the first ordained woman ministers in the USA. Join us for the story of how she went from advocating for women's suffrage, prohibition of alcohol, and the ability of women to have careers outside of the home to being an Imperial Empress of the Klu Klux Klan

This week we explore the story of Australia's most famous cult leader, Anne Hamilton-Byrne who claimed to be the reincarnation of Jesus and who stole and abused numerous children.

Join us for the story of trans girl Roman Elegabalus who claimed the throne at 14 and used the power of being emperor to come out as a woman. She was also the first monotheist Roman Emperor, and may have engaged in human sacrifice.  

In late 1100s southern France a man named Peter Waldo had a religious experience in which he came to believe that G-d wanted people to live simply, help the poor, swear no oaths, that all people should preach the Gospel, and that neither the Church nor the State should have the power execute people. Because of these beliefs he and his followers the Waldensians were declared heretics. After Waldo's death, one of his disciples Durand of Huesca would try to escape the oppression by joining in the oppressors. Hear the story. 

The 1920s were a time of deep institutional white supremacy. Today we explore the story of a Methodist minister who murdered a Catholic priest in Alabama. 

In the 700s Irene of Athens became the first woman to be sole ruler of the Roman Empire. To become emperor in her own right, she had to commit a terrible crime. Today we explore that story. 

The story of how Jim and Tammy Faye Bakker became the most successful televangelists of all time, and how their empire came crashing down. 

 In this episode we explore the history of the Samaritans people and their religion. Famous for the parable in the New Testament, where are the Samaritans today? We go from the time of Moses to the time of David to the time of Jesus to time of Christian Roman Emperors to find out, what happened to the Samaritans?

How the self-appointed "America's #1 Christian Comedian" convinced millions of Americans that witches and Satanists were commonly ritually abusing children, and how the moral panic that set off left innocent people in prison for decades

In this week's episode we explore the life of Joan of Arc and go through her trial transcript at the hand of the Inquisition. Turns out there a lot of great Joan of Arc quotes in the transcript, listen and hear them!

The story of how Warren Jeffs rose to power as the prophet of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints and what he did to the women and girls of his community with that power.

The story of how self-proclaimed prophet Lee Kaplan took control over the ex-communicated former Amish Stolzfus family by giving them money and a place to live, and the horror of what Kaplan asked for in return. 

On Oct 30th 2012 the body of 27 year old Bethany Deaton was found by a lake. On Nov 9th 2012 her friend and fellow International House of Prayer small group member Micah Moore confessed to her murder. Was it murder or suicide? What was going on in that small group? In this episode we explore the International House Of Prayer's "bridegroom theology" theology where believers are taught to imagine Jesus as a lover as we try to piece together what happened to Bethany Deaton. 

How the Episcopal Bishop of Louisiana became the second highest ranking Confederate general and how he attempted to form the Protestant Episcopal Church of the Confederate States of America.

The story of how a 13th century saint led a crusade of siege warfare in southern France against a heterodox community of siege warfare and burnings against peace loving, gender rejecting believers who chose to live in holy poverty.

In 1992 unfathomable news broke in Massachusetts, that Roman Catholic priests had been sexually abusing children. Today we explore the story of Fr James Porter, the first major abusive priest to end up in the national media.  

How a socialist, anti-racist preacher went as bad as possible