Megan Phelps-Roper
@meganphelps
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“You're just a human being, my dear, sweet child.” — my mama • UNFOLLOW author 📚 •
Joined August 2008
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Pinned Tweet
Yes!
Enlightenment.
Kindness.
Friendship.
& the love of my life.
All from
@Twitter
.
@michaelianblack
@NewYorker
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I love
@joerogan
. When he had me on his show, I remember feeling kinda sick at the start, when he dove right into the hardest questions — about my family’s protests at soldier’s funerals. But he was graceful, funny, curious, and a wonderful host. That’s why people listen to him.
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Last year
@jk_rowling
responded to a letter I wrote her. I’d asked if she’d be part of a conversation seeking to understand her perspective and those of her critics.
The result is a new audio series from
@thefp
:
THE WITCH TRIALS OF J.K. ROWLING
My essay:
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I spent 4 years spreading some of the most homophobic content on this platform—and the fact that I was able to do that is also what allowed people to argue against me & to show me where I was wrong. Suppressing bad ideas doesn’t stop people from believing them. Persuasion does.
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I’ve been overwhelmed by the outpouring of love and encouragement from the UK the past 24 hours following
@LouisTheroux
’s new documentary—and truly, one of the most moving parts has been the empathy people have expressed for my mom. Thank you for that.❤️
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Finally, finally, finally…it’s out.
*************************
THE WITCH TRIALS OF J.K. ROWLING
Chapter One: Plotted in Darkness
Chapter Two: Burn the Witch
*************************
Listen now:
APPLE:
SPOTIFY:
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We spoke lots on free speech in that ep, & I still believe addressing ideas in public—even ones we vehemently disagree with—is infinitely superior to suppressing them. No single person will always get it right, but
@joerogan
’s transparency & good faith are a damn good foundation.
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So much kindness & love & encouragement from
@joerogan
fans. You’ve sent lots of ?s I’ll try to answer soon, but wanted to say: thank you.💖✨
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I gave a TED talk on the need—& a few ways—to engage people we disagree with. Take a look, if you please.
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Out now:
THE WITCH TRIALS OF J.K. ROWLING
Chapter 7: What If You’re Wrong?
*******
In which I ask J.K. Rowling to respond to pushback from her critics.
*******
We’ll be back in a few weeks with an epilogue!
APPLE:
SPOTIFY:
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At the risk of a flood in my mentions by the
#YangGang
🙃, I am really fascinated by
@AndrewYang
and his ideas/approach to hard questions.
#AskMegan
@meganphelps
@WaterstonesPicc
Hi Megan! I was looking at who else follows people like Tulsi Gabbard, Andrew Yang, and Bernie Sanders, and I noticed you do. Do you plan on voting for one of those for president or somebody else?
#AskMegan
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Wishing there was a Twitter filter for replies from “people who have actually listened to the show.” =)
We want to hear your thoughts! Please subscribe and leave a review, too, if you feel inclined.💙
Finally, finally, finally…it’s out.
*************************
THE WITCH TRIALS OF J.K. ROWLING
Chapter One: Plotted in Darkness
Chapter Two: Burn the Witch
*************************
Listen now:
APPLE:
SPOTIFY:
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Out now:
THE WITCH TRIALS OF J.K. ROWLING
Chapter 4: TERF Wars
**********
An introduction for people who are truly baffled about why JKR would ultimately speak publicly on sex and gender.
**********
Listen now:
APPLE:
SPOTIFY:
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THE WITCH TRIALS OF J.K. ROWLING
Coming Tuesday, February 21
How do you know if you’re standing up for what’s right—or joining a moral panic?
SPOTIFY:
APPLE PODCASTS:
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Out now:
THE WITCH TRIALS OF J.K. ROWLING
Chapter 3: A New Pyre
**********
How the wonders of the internet also unleashed the darker impulses of human nature.
**********
Listen now:
APPLE:
SPOTIFY:
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As someone with deep roots in extremism, rescued by the good will of those who engaged me: I know the value of good-faith conversation in bridging the deepest divides.
Even—and especially—when it feels dangerous.
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Out now:
THE WITCH TRIALS OF J.K. ROWLING
Chapter 5: The Tweets
*******
JKR’s tweets on sex and gender ignited a firestorm. We dive into some of the responses—sincere, extreme, and otherwise.
*******
Listen now:
APPLE:
SPOTIFY:
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Honestly, the more I see from
@AndrewYang
, the more I like him. I don’t know nearly enough about politics, though. Curious what you all think.
¿
How weird that this should be a somewhat novel thing to say.
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WITCH TRIALS uses
@jk_rowling
’s personal story as a lens to examine a much larger one. A story about the polarization of public opinion. About the fracturing of public conversation. About the dangers of certainty, and the difficulty of discernment.
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Out now:
THE WITCH TRIALS OF J.K. ROWLING
Chapter 6: Natalie and Noah
*******
Transgender fans of Harry Potter share criticism of J.K. Rowling—and experiences that inform their views.
*******
Listen now:
APPLE:
SPOTIFY:
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The title is ambiguous. Toward the end of our conversations, I spent a long time talking with
@jk_rowling
about discernment. About how a person can ever know if they’re standing up for what’s right—or joining a moral panic. I think you’ll be surprised by the thoughts she shares.
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In which I speak with musicians
@TheVampsJames
&
@TheVampsBrad
about my little sister’s review of an accounting program for law firms (😂❤️):
EPISODE FIVE: leaving the most hated family in America. With
@meganphelps
. Please listen, rate and share!
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My mother-in-law asked me to remind all of you that my interview with Morgan Freeman airs 8 PM TONIGHT on
@NatGeoChannel
’s
#TheStoryOfUs
.💁🏼♀️
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…or rather, some*one* beautiful.
Welcome to the world, little Sølvi Lynne.👶🏼💖✨
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Watching the destruction of Amy Cooper — the “Karen” who called police on a black man in Central Park — I felt a strong echo of Westboro.
I didn’t want to believe that comparison was accurate.
After hearing
@Kmele
’s reporting, I’m convinced that it is.
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My baby girl is one year old today. I feel like crying, but I’m too happy. Parenthood is the absolute best!
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I truly don’t believe my story is unique. We all spend our lives believing things we later come to see as wrong, shortsighted, incomplete, often even shameful or embarrassing. We’re exposed to new information & ideas that change our views, & we change in response. All very human.
@meganphelps
Megan, you broke away, and thank god for that. But you realize you are the exception not the rule right?
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TWELVE YEARS since I met
@LouisTheroux
(!!!).
What a world.❤️
In 2012,
@MeganPhelps
-Roper left the Westboro Baptist Church, an American faith group known for inflammatory hate speech.
12 years after they first met,
@LouisTheroux
finds out how her life has changed since leaving.
#LouisTheroux
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And then today, we met on purpose.🙃
@SamHarrisOrg
So I’m in this restaurant.
A man I’ve never met walks in.
Our mouths drop open.
“Oh, my god,” we both say, & then hug.
@SamHarrisOrg
!!!
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Three years of marriage. One baby girl. The happiest I’ve ever been in my life.
In the foreground, his parents. It’s their anniversary, too. Fifty-four years.
Every one a gift.❤️✨
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On
@ILYAmerica
,
@SarahKSilverman
asked what gives me hope—and these exchanges are part of it. People are SO ready for better conversation.
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If I could add a 5th point to my TED talk, it’d be:
(5) Take heart. You may not be THE one to change a mind…but you can help turn the tide.
I gave a TED talk on the need—& a few ways—to engage people we disagree with. Take a look, if you please.
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At WBC, I blamed storms on God’s wrath.
I also thought the Greeks were foolish for blaming them on the likes of Zeus & Poseidon. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Religions and their sacred texts have a lot to say about floods and catastrophes
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It’s about the distorting effects of fear, and of the internet. Search Twitter for “trans witch hunt,” and you’ll find no shortage of people—both “team trans” and “team TERF”—who see themselves as the object of a moral panic.
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Major toxicity surrounds this conflict, but there are human beings on all sides of it. I spoke with dozens of them. Their stories are important, illuminating, and—in a moment when black-and-white positions abound—essential to understand.
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😂 Confirmed. Westboro says coronavirus is a punishment from God.
God protects Westboro, though. I can almost hear my mother quoting the verse: “neither shall any plague come nigh thy dwelling.”
But you can bet they’ll be washing their hands like everyone else!
#science
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“Why do we hunt witches?”
I’ve admired all these guests from afar for a long time, and it was a pleasure to finally speak with them!
Many thanks to Tim Urban, Luke Burgis, and Nicholas Christakis for their time and insights!
@waitbutwhy
@lukeburgis
@NAChristakis
We have a society whose members increasingly see their opponents as evil & believe they're in a moral panic.
So today, a conversation with
@meganphelps
,
@NAChristakis
,
@lukeburgis
&
@waitbutwhy
's Tim Urban to try to understand why we hunt witches.
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Talking to young kids about Westboro did not seem like a great idea, but it turned out to be a really beautiful experience. These kids give me hope.❤️
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Clarifying: I don’t believe in heaven or hell. I believe Jesus was probably an actual person who existed, but not in any divine parentage or supernatural abilities. I think some words and principles attributed to him in the Bible are good, and others not.
@meganphelps
When you say you aren’t Christian anymore - what does that mean? You do not believe in Jesus, Heaven, or Hell?
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New parenthood is taking 44 photos of your kid in 3 minutes intending to nix the bad ones, and being unable to delete even one of them.👶🏼💁🏼♀️
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Tonight on PBS—I think this was the most intense interview I’ve done since leaving Westboro.
@MichelMcQMartin
@meganphelps
"There was a very brief moment when I thought, 'Could I pretend to go along with this just so I could keep my family?'"
@meganphelps
tells
@MichelMcQMartin
of leaving Westboro Baptist Church.
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Thank you so kindly,
@ThatKevinSmith
. You are wonderful.
Also, my selfie was better.🙃
We Twitter-battled about religion & faith during Red State. Today, a transformed
@meganphelps
& I recorded an inspirational ep of SModcast.
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My mama.❤️😭💔
Confirmed -
@louistheroux
's brand new doc, Surviving America's Most Hated Family, which sees Louis revisit the infamous Westboro Baptist Church, will air on
@BBCTwo
on Sunday 14 July, at 9pm.
#louistheroux
#mosthatedfamily
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If your ideas are so fragile that they must be protected from logic, questions, doubts—under penalty of death—then you need better ideas.
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@chrislhayes
The 1st Amendment protects protests on *public* land, not at *private* events. There’s no right to take over private property.
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“She weighed the evidence and concluded that Westboro’s doctrines and practices were unscriptural.”
Fixed it.🙂
She weighed options & concluded her life was more important than her eternal state, like 99.9999%+ of humans
#OnlyElectBelieve
#PraiseGod
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So I’m in this restaurant.
A man I’ve never met walks in.
Our mouths drop open.
“Oh, my god,” we both say, & then hug.
@SamHarrisOrg
!!!
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ICYMI: The new
@louistheroux
starts in one hour on
@BBCTwo
in the UK 🇬🇧
We are so excited to watch the new BBC 2
@louistheroux
documentary tonight as he revisits the Westboro Baptist Church & catches up with
@meganphelps
, who left the church in 2012. We publish her memoir,
#Unfollow
, in October & can’t wait for you all to read it.
#HatredtoHope
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Very nice words from
@samharrisorg
. I’ll be back on his podcast in a few weeks, so feel free to send him questions, if you please! (Thanks, Sam!🤗)
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Saw the new Louis Theroux doc on Westboro, and then read this review in the Guardian by
@LucyMangan
.
Interesting article, but I have a different take on the ending. I don’t at all fault
@louistheroux
for breaking the engagement news to me while filming.
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That revelation was painful—a gut-punch—but I’m glad my family will see the reality of how much they still mean to me.
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No disagreement here. But also, it’s easy to feel superior to people like Westboro members. Harder to recognize how lucky you are not to have been similarly indoctrinated—or if you’re like me, to have stumbled on a way out of it. It’s luck, not intelligence, that separates us.
@meganphelps
@rcallimachi
Stupidity and foolishness do not discriminate, nor are they mutually exclusive with level of education.
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“…a pathway to a nobler life is within reach.”
This profile of
@jordanbpeterson
is so worth reading.
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I think of the DO NOT IRON CLOTHES ON BODY warning at least once a month and laugh myself to tears.
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UK friends asking about my book tour for UNFOLLOW: here’s the first event!
@LouisTheroux
and I will be at St. James Church in London on November 12. Join us!🥳
Tickets here:
Unfollow,
@meganphelps
's journey 'from hatred to hope', is set to become one of the most talked-about memoirs of 2019. To mark its release, Megan will be in conversation with
@louistheroux
at a special event in Central London this November. Tickets here:
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Mine began 3 years ago. Sad, exultant, overwhelmed both by gratitude & depression.
Seems human.
#anniversary
👧🏻❤️👩🏻
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We can’t get married in Norway without affirmatively declaring that we’ll respect the equal rights of men & women.😍
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Tonight! On
@SarahKSilverman
’s new show, we talk about civil dialogue, extremism, and hope. Tonight on
@hulu
!
Check out what’s coming up on the premiere of
#ILYAmerica
, and watch tomorrow night, only on
@Hulu
!
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This is huge. The epigraph of my book references this idea: the need to see people as being on a journey, not as static and unchanging. We *know* how much we ourselves have changed over time, but it’s often a lot more difficult to see others in that light.
@meganphelps
I used to believe a person was either good or evil and wasn’t capable of change, but you’ve definitely changed my perspective and I thank you xo
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When religious people tell me, “Don’t throw the baby out with the bath water!”, my response is that I haven’t.
For me, the “baby” of the religious milieu is ideas like grace, hope, mercy.
The “bath water” is exclusion, certainty, an inability to change based on new evidence.
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If you’re gonna interrupt your dad’s live BBC interview, you better be (1) dancing, and (2) cute AF.
THIS KID DELIVERS.😅
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Halsnøy Island.
August 15, 2016.
Day 1 of forever.🇳🇴
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No, I’m not Christian anymore—but ironically, I am far more committed to the admonition of Jesus to “love your enemies” than I ever was as a Christian.
That’s basically the message of my TED talk—and major part of my life philosophy—in a nutshell.
@meganphelps
hi Megan, are you still Christian? Sorry if this is obvious info, I only know the Louis docs.
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@EnglishUnionist
@BettyWBC
No—they’re classed as a hate group because they (we) spent many years engaging in a campaign of deliberate provocation & cruelty, including praying for the deaths of children & enemies, *in direct violation* of Jesus’s command to love & bless & pray for our enemies. Mt. 5:43-48.
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@JarredH
Vox had a similar claim, and has issued a correction. If you listen to the episode, she says she is fighting a movement that attempts to silence women via “threats of loss of livelihood and threats to their personal safety”—not trans people writ large, as is claimed.
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“Do you think that God hurts people when they don’t do what he says?”
10-year-old Fletcher, epic side-eye: “I don’t think God’s that bad of a person.”
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This was a really lovely conversation. Thanks so much to Dax and Monica and Rob!🎉
Listen on Spotify:
Really wonderful guest today on Expert on Experts.
@meganphelps
, host of The Witch Trials of JK Rowling podcast and former member of the Westboro Baptist Church, chats with us about her time in the church and the critical elements that led her out.
@spotifypodcasts
🍒
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When I look back at the worst parts of my upbringing—filled with judgment and almost inhuman cruelty—I can empathize with a spirit I see more and more often these days: the desire to define the present by an ugly past, and to burn it all down.
My essay here explains why I don’t:
"Nine years have passed since I rejected my family’s beliefs and lost everyone who kept them—which is to say, almost everyone I’d ever loved."
Read
@meganphelps
on rebuilding family, ritual, and meaning after Westboro.
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I love comparing notes with other ex-fundamentalists, but this tour will bring a new dimension to it all. Join us!
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Seriously, though, thanks for having me! And to
@louistheroux
, whose work continues to introduce me to so many lovely people.✨
EPISODE FIVE: leaving the most hated family in America. With
@meganphelps
. Please listen, rate and share!
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MASSIVE thanks to
@LouisTheroux
and
@WaterstonesPicc
(and 450 of our closest friends 😂❤️) for a most incredible evening. I cannot wait to do this again (and again, and again…🙃) in Australia and New Zealand in January!
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In my mind I call him “Zee-Zap” and think of him as his profile photo from a decade ago: a 10-year-old with huge curly hair in a sombrero.😂❤️
IRL, Pearce Delphin is a smart and thoughtful (adult!) human. He helped return some of my humanity to me. Thank you, my friend.✨
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Many arguing in my mentions:
“If only Amy didn’t X!”
“If only Christian didn’t Y!”
Trying to find who deserves empathy, & who, judgment.
*Both* acted in ways vulnerable to criticism. That’s part of the point.
Life is messy.
Not angels & demons.
Humans.
Let’s tread lightly.
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Day 366, and I’m ever more convinced that we will never have enough.
#firstanniversary
Halsnøy Island.
August 15, 2016.
Day 1 of forever.🇳🇴
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@Irish_Atheist
“Cash in on” is a strange way to describe years of labor trying to do justice to life inside a high-control religious group that I was born into, indoctrinated from birth into believing had a monopoly on Truth, and cost nearly all and everyone I held dear for me to leave.
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Hate to chide my beloved Twitter—but while it seems good to make tweeting easier, the last thing we need is to think LESS about our words!
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“Trust and obey” was a common saying at Westboro. Only in hindsight did I realize how thoughtless that requires a person to be.😕
@meganphelps
Reminds me that Jehovah's Witnesses started singing a new song a few years ago called "Listen, Obey, And Be Blessed."
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The subtitle of
@Lawrence_Wright
’s book on Scientology references “the prison of belief,” and that mental prison is as real as one with actual bars and walls and fences. I know firsthand that breaking them down takes time, patience, and gentle engagement—but it *is* possible.
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That was, I think, the one place I disagreed with Louis: his calling my mom a “self-created victim.” Like every human, she is a product of her genetics and her environment—and she grew up in an environment that was, in certain respects, even more extreme than mine.
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I also think people underestimate the massive joy in discovering you’ve been very wrong—the freedom to examine ideas and evidence without an ideological narrative constraining everything. It can be terrifying to explore that territory, but also mind-blowing in the best way.
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Ending 2019 with another deep dive into music from
@BlindPilot
—this time with a curly-haired baby girl dancing and singing along.
What a decade.
I am happy.
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I *love* reading aloud. I used to do it daily, during my family’s Bible studies, and I miss it so much. Many thanks to
@audible_com
for giving me the chance to read for hours on end this week!
The audiobook for UNFOLLOW is up for preorder now:
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Favorite book tour memory so far: the moment Babe Sølvi became profligate with her kisses and started blowing them thither and yon!
@HenryMcEric
😍
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I just recorded a new podcast with
@SamHarrisOrg
! Should be out in the next couple of days.🎙💁🏼♀️
@meganphelps
Super excited for you. I’ve wanted to read your story in greater detail ever since the
@SamHarrisOrg
podcast a few years ago!
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Craziness continues: Just finished my book, and now
@RWitherspoon
@MarcW
@NickHornby
&
@CNE
are working on a film!🎥
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I’ll try not to be annoying with RTs, but this is the first comment I’ve seen from someone I don’t personally know who’s read my book.😭
Might be cos I’m getting old but I’ve not been as emotionally affected as this by a book for maybe ever. Should be required reading at every school. Congrats
@meganphelps
👏👏👏👏
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So
@Amazon
picked my book as the best debut of October and now I don’t need caffeine for the rest of the year HOLY HELL THANK YOU!
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Take 2!
Welcome to our snuggly Tor Bjørn, the sweetest thunder bear in all the land.🐻
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This is incredible.
As a Kinsa thermometer user, this made me say wow:
"A company that makes internet-connected thermometers has followed the flu more closely than the C.D.C. can. Now the devices may be turning up cases of Covid-19," NYT's Donald G. McNeil Jr. reports
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There is nothing I consume as eagerly and consistently as
@SamHarrisOrg
’s Waking Up podcast—fascinating guests on thought-provoking topics.
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