Bonus Episode: Shiny Happy People: Teenage Holy War

Leaving Eden Podcast

Leaving Eden LLC

True Crime, Cult, History, Survivor, Theology, Exfundie, Religion, Lgbtq, Christianity, Exvangelical, Documentary, Fundamentalism, Baptist, Religion & Spirituality, Society & Culture, Deconstruction, Inspirational Women, Duggars, Inspirational

4.5 • 709 Ratings

🗓️ 27 July 2025

⏱️ 96 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

In this episode, we discuss the streaming documentary Shiny Happy People: Teenage Holy War, which is available for streaming on Amazon Prime. In this episode we discuss the stories of abuse told by the documentary's contributors, the concept of martyrdom, and the ultimate failure of Ron Luce's "Acquire the Fire," "Teenage Mania," and "Battle Cry" ministries to achieve their goal of winning young people to Jesus. We also read a letter from a listener who attended "Day One," a large youth conference put on by Ron Luce's ministries in 1999. This event was historically significant because it coincided with the Columbine shootings, and was a catalyst for the prevalence of teenage martyrdom messaging within evangelical youth culture.

We originally planned on having a guest on this episode, but that fell through. We hope you guys like what we had to say about it!

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Hey, listeners, it's Gavi here. There is a new Jesus simulator video game out, that you heard
0:07.1	that right, a Jesus simulator video game. And I'm going to be doing a play-through live stream
0:12.4	on the Patreon this Wednesday, July 30th, 2025 at 9 p.m. Eastern, 6 p.m. Pacific.
0:19.1	I've never done a play-through live stream before. I've never
0:22.6	done game streaming before. It should be a ton of fun. You'll be able to find it at patreon.com
0:28.2	slash leaving Eden podcast. I hope to see you guys there. I can't wait to play this Jesus
0:33.3	simulator game. It should be fun. Hello, I'm Fern Cotton from Happy Place, which is currently sponsored by British Airways Holidays.
0:42.3	Now, British Airways Holidays are all about getting people to take their holidays seriously.
0:48.3	It might look different for each of us, but for me, that means planning my holiday read in advance. A really great holiday
0:55.3	requires a very good book as far as I'm concerned. What about you? Whatever the reason you
1:00.6	choose to get away, British Airways Holidays can help you take it more seriously. British
1:05.5	Airways holidays are at all protected, offer a 24-hour holiday helpline, and allow you to book with a low deposit.
1:12.2	All holidays include a generous baggage allowance per person.
1:15.5	Go to BA.com slash holidays to find out more.
1:22.1	Roll, rolling river of time,
1:28.3	You've healed me in too many days.
1:34.3	No regrets, no confusion, there'll be no pollution.
1:43.3	I'm so thankful I've decided to change my ways.
1:51.3	Welcome back to the Leaving Eden podcast.
1:53.8	Welcome, welcome, welcome in.
1:55.1	We are your hosts.
1:56.1	Sadie Carpenter is her name.
	...

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