FreedHearts

FreedHearts

"Deconstructing religious baggage with laughter and love! Changing the conversation on love and inclusion." Susan Cottrell is the Mom of two LGBTQ children; the founder of FreedHearts; an international speaker with a viral TEDx talk; a pastor and theologian; an acclaimed author; and a fierce advocate and ally. In her unique tender, relatable style, Susan is a prominent voice of unconditional love and lavish inclusion. Powerful, authentic, and relevant in today’s society, Susan has a lot to say. The Advocate calls her their “Favorite Affirming Matriarch.” OutSmart magazine calls her "The Mother of all MamaBears!" Reverend Ashley Harness from Auburn Seminary says, “Susan has this fierce, loving, don’t mess with me, Mom vibe.” If you have been excluded, or if someone close to you has been excluded because of who they are or who they love - or maybe you have been the one doing the excluding - the FreedHearts podcast is for you. Join Susan, along with her husband Rob, on the journey. You are not alone. Welcome home!

Episodes

July 24, 2024 22 mins

Today, we talk about the Teaching of Contempt for God – and how the church actually teaches us to hate God!!

We may not realize that, amidst the singing of praises, and saying, “Oh God is so good!” but all of it is over a trapdoor of seething contempt for a God who we are taught is capable of some horrible stuff.

That’s our understanding from religion, and it's by design! Why??

So, they can keep you ...

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You only can define God or even think about God in relation to us and the relationship with us.

So, it’s important to know who are we.

Today, we talk about the church’s teaching of contempt for YOU. How the church actually teaches us to hate ourselves!

We talk about who we are, and how God, the Universe, Spirit, really truly feels about us.

In the midst of all the hate and attack out there, wow ...

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July 10, 2024 30 mins

Let's have some fun with sloth and gluttony!

Have you been told you’re not working hard enough, that you just want things handed to you while you sit around and do nothing? Isn’t that the trope? That you just need to work harder, and that if you’re not making it, it’s your fault!

Mohamad Safa says, “People aren’t going hungry because we cannot feed the poor. People are going hungry because we cannot satisfy t...

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July 3, 2024 26 mins

Today, we talk about envy and wrath. Yikes, scary!

Breathe. We are all okay. That’s why we are deconstructing this -- to free our hearts from this fear.

People in power often accuse and shame us in the very things they do!

It’s all about projecting. They project onto us their sins, their crimes. That sleight of hand, that narrative keeps us focusing on our own hearts, and not on theirs.

Our goal ...

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We’ve been deconstructing the so-called "7 Deadly Sins" — and today we talk about LUST!

The non-affirming church makes rules telling you that you’re lustful—your beautiful relationships are demeaned and reduced to being about lust—because there is no room in the church to affirm you.

And we ask: Why the heck does it matter what religious leaders say? Why do people’s lives turn on the approval or non-appr...

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June 19, 2024 35 mins

Have you ever wondered why the conservative nonaffirming rules-based church is so upside-down? They focus downline, shaming and threatening regular people who are just trying to live.

Meanwhile, these leaders are hiding rampant child sexual abuse and promoting teachings that are racist, misogynistic, queerphobic, especially transphobic.

We’ve been talking about how the teachings of religion are Teachings of Contem...

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June is Pride Month—a time dedicated not just to parades and rainbow flags but to profound affirmation and resistance against discrimination.

The skewed Christian view of pride involves a self-centered attitude, placing oneself above others and, most critically, above God. But the LGBTQ+ community is not declaring themselves above anyone else.

Pride Month was born from a necessity to stand against oppression and c...

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We have all heard it: "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand."
 
Actually, this is one of the worst translated passages in all the Bible – and one of the most harmful because of that.

What if what Jesus REALLY said was, “Deconstruct, for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand.”  Would that change things?  Would it have eliminated a lot of the shame and guilt and harm?
 
In this powerful episode,...

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Today we deconstruct one of the most insane ideas in Christianity: The alleged fall of humanity, when one person ate forbidden fruit, and now, there is not one shred of goodness in us, not a spark, unless we have asked Jesus to be our Savior.

That’s the story.

The actual theory and false teaching is that because Eve and Adam sinned, the rest of us are born utterly depraved, beyond redemption.

Wow.

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May 15, 2024 26 mins

Rules, laws, shoulds, shouldn’ts... the Bible is full of them. And the church has even added more to that list!

The religious leaders approached Jesus and asked, “Hey Jesus, Uh, lot’s of rules here, lots of laws, what are the ones that are the most important?”

And Jesus deconstructed ALL the law, ALL of those rules, ALL of the rules the church adds to it and answered… “Love. Love God, love others – and those two a...

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We’ve been wanting to talk for a while about how the conservative evangelical church traps people. It is deliberate.

They draw you in, telling you: God loves you just as you are — yes you’re a sinner, we’re all sinners, duh. But God loves you — just some minor tweaking here and there, and you’ll be good as new.

They dismantle you, making you an enemy of your own heart, mind, body, and spirit - making you doubt you...

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Today, we talk about how the church teaches us to have contempt for our own free will. 

And, in particular, how we have contempt for, interact with, and treat our children.

This may sound harsh, but, based on their teachings and beliefs, it’s the truth: The religious, rules-based, behavior-focused, conservative church hates its children!

One of the biggest brainwashing con jobs from the church is that ou...

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April 17, 2024 33 mins

We have started to ask the question: Who is God?

It’s certainly NOT the old white man in the sky, with all the feminine aspects ripped out.

Something has been stolen from us. Our sacred interior has been ransacked and we have lost the understanding of God who loves us, delights in us.

This is vital because when we know God feels this way about us — we are free to feel this way about ourselves — and we we...

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April 10, 2024 21 mins

Today, we talk all about an example of how gender plays out in real life. How masculinity and femininity are perceived and received, and the impact it has.

When you reduce the feminine, you reduce all the feminine traits: of caring, healing, listening, loving—which are indispensable as a balance to the masculine.

What happens when you do that is toxic masculinity—when masculinity is not balanced by the feminine, ...

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April 3, 2024 25 mins

What is masculine and what is feminine? What is our understanding of what they mean? Why does it matter? And why is the culture, and especially the church, holding so hard to traditional definitions?

Gender has been turned into a false binary that has assigned roles based on gender with very little tolerance for crossover—even though all of us have masculine and feminine in us, and both are necessary for balance.

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Here we go! We begin our deep-dive into deconstruction by talking about the core of the false teachings coming from the ultra-religious, non-affirming, conditional-love church. It is the root of our racism, queerphobia, xenophobia, misogyny—so much of our problems and issues today.

What is it? It is the Teaching of Contempt. Us versus them.

So, what is contempt? Contempt means to view someone, a particular group,...

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It’s important to deconstruct – especially when your faith has been rattled by religious abuse. You likely know exactly what I am talking about.

If we do not deconstruct, we can be left with a lot of baggage. It’s vital to separate the God of Religion from the truth of God. 

Today we have some fun – and we pose a pretty big question.

Beloved, gather round for Bible Story Time! We share with you the stor...

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Sometimes, when people attack deconstruction, they talk about it like it’s an attack on Christianity. Actually, it’s just the opposite. Deconstruction is tearing down false religious teaching that goes against the message and life of Jesus. That message has been perverted by much of the Christian religion.

Beloved, there is one thing that scares this non-affirming, fundamentalist, legalistic, rules-based, conditional love...

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Have you been called a Prodigal, and told that if you just repent all will be forgiven?

Perhaps you’ve been told that, “Sure, you’re saying you’re gay or transgender—or that you are affirming your LGBTQ+ child--or whatever it is—but one day you’ll repent and then we will “graciously” let you back in the fold!”

Uh yeah, no thank you. 

Few stories are as misused and misunderstood as the Prodigal.

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The story of the prodigal has been misunderstood and abused to harm and shame people.

In this very special, powerful episode, we give you a profound, eye-opening retelling of this classic Biblical story about the prodigal – but this time as a transgender woman

And she is certainly not the one who repents.

This will forever change how you view this story!

Send us a private message. *Note: INCLUDE YOUR EMAIL...

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