HeyJaredBeyond Belief: Tales of Religious Exodus
Beyond Belief: Tales of Religious Exodus is a podcast by Freidom Fighter that aims to explore the personal journeys and experiences of people who have left fundamentalist religions.
- Indexed episodes, last 90 days
- 7
- Latest publication
- Sep 13, 2026
- Audience
- Checking…
- Earliest in this view
- Jul 14, 2026
Latest episodes
Daniel: Former Religious Zionist (opens the original)
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Daniel grew up deeply embedded in the religious Zionist world, raised in Efrat and moving through religious schools, yeshiva, a pre-military academy, and service as a tank commander. Yet from childhood, he remembers noticing cracks in the systems around him - from his early fear of breaking Shabbat to questions about theology, authority, conformity, and the pressure to maintain an acceptable external identity. What followed was not one dramatic break, but a decades-long process of questioning Ju
Sara: Former Orthodox Jewish (opens the original)
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What does it mean to build a spiritual life grounded in the body rather than in fear? Sara joins Shalom to explore her journey through an Orthodox upbringing, marriage and divorce, trauma recovery, and an evolving relationship with Jewish practice. Together, they examine how communities shaped by anxiety can disconnect people from their own needs, instincts, and inner knowing. Sara shares how therapy, IFS, movement, art, nature, and emotionally safe relationships helped her reconnect with hersel
Bonus Episode: Zionism, Tribalism, and the Stories We Tell Ourselves (opens the original)
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In this bonus episode, Shalom sits down again with his brother Mike for a wide-ranging conversation about Zionism, Hasbara, and the psychological mechanisms that can make political narratives difficult to question. Rather than systematically fact-checking every talking point, they focus on the patterns underneath them: tribal essentialism, denial, exceptionalism, whataboutism, double standards, and the tendency to assume good intentions from one’s own group while interpreting an opposing group v
Suri: Former Orthodox Jewish (opens the original)
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Suri Robinson grew up in an Orthodox Jewish community in Baltimore, where she learned to suppress her needs, protect her family’s image, and strive for religious perfection. After seminary, she married at 20, moved to Lakewood, raised five children, became a therapist, and helped build a Bais Yaakov school focused on children’s emotional wellbeing. From inside the community’s institutions, however, she witnessed rigid expectations, concealed abuse, political pressure, discrimination, and what sh
Chantal: Exposing Abuse in the Episcopal Church (opens the original)
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In this episode of Beyond Belief: Tales of Religious Exodus, host Shalom interviews Chantal, an Episcopal priest from North Carolina who grew up with both traditional church life and expansive spirituality, felt a clear call to priesthood, and was ordained at 24. While serving in an affluent parish, she experienced sexual harassment by a senior rector and, after reporting it with email evidence, faced a traumatizing canonical process that shamed her, led to PTSD, and involved repeated psychologi
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