Trigger warning. This podcast contains descriptions of various abusive situations. Listener discretion is

advised. My name is Eric Skritsky. As a former religious fundamentalist, I'm shedding light on the

dark side of the church, from the pulpit to the pews. But I'm not doing it alone. Each week,

I'm sitting down with survivors,

advocates, authors, and more to uncover the inner workings of these abusive religious groups

to give tactical tips on how to escape and to find out what we can do to take them down.

You're listening to The Bridge Boys podcast. Hey, everybody, welcome back to the Preacher

Boys podcast. Today's episode's going to be a very, very heavy one. If you saw the title,

I think that goes without saying, but I'm going to be covering some of the darkest headlines

that have come out of Baptist churches in the month of March so far.

I'm recording this episode on Wednesday, March 19th, 2025, and all of these stories took

place after March 1st. And so in the last couple of weeks, the headlines have been packed

with incredibly heavy stories of abuse,

involving children, involving other victims, and involving animals, as you read in the title.

And so I cannot stress this enough.

Given the nature of the show, I always have a trigger warning at the beginning of the show,

always have a content warning. the beginning of the show, always have a content warning.

This episode in particular is not going to go, you know, deep, deep, deep into these stories,

but just the information that's on the surface is very heavy. So please take caution,

listening to the episode. If you have an experience of trauma in religious environments, you know, just listen in a way that is best going to serve you.

And this episode really has two purposes.

One, I know for myself, I have just dealt with an incredible sense of overwhelm in the month of March.

...