Welcome to The Girl Next Door.

I'm Kelsey.

And I'm Erica.

In every episode, we bring our different perspectives to candid conversations that feel like chatting with good friends.

We started this show years ago when we were next door neighbors and still haven't run out of things to talk and laugh about yet.

Today's episode is going to be diving

deeper into something we've touched on before, which is me interviewing Erica about her

evangelical Christian upbringing during the 80s and 90s. We've talked about this a bit in our

episode on faith and non-belief, which we will link to, but we thought it would be helpful

and interesting to do a deep dive with Erica.

Many people seem to be deconstructing their faith and sharing about it publicly in recent

years, and it's at the forefront of so many political conversations lately.

This is such a personal topic, so at the top of the episode, I want to first say,

thank you to you, Erica, for being willing to share with us so candidly and to make a note to listeners that, as always, on this show, we share our personal experience and opinions,

but don't intend to tell you what you should think and feel. So thank you for listening

with an open heart and mind.

Okay, let's start here with a general overview of growing up with an evangelical influence.

Can you describe the environment in your home growing up? And what role did evangelical beliefs and practices play in your daily life. Okay.

First of all, I would like to say to my parents who are listening to this, that I am really

nothing but grateful for my upbringing.

So my criticisms that will come across in this episode just know that overall I really,

I had a loving good childhood.

...