**Have you pledged to support Kindreds on our Patreon page? You can sign up in less than a minute–and for as little as $1 a month. Thanks for helping us cover the cost of making, producing, and sharing this show**
On this episode Katey talks with writer Cindy Brandt about her shifting faith journey, identifying as a 
feminist, and approaching parenting in an unfundamentalist way. Cindy is the author of an upcoming book on parenting from a progressive Christian perspective. Her website is cindywords.com where she blogs about faith, culture, and parenting. She’s the founder of the Raising Children Unfundamentalist Facebook Group which has over 11K members. She describes herself as “a social justice Christian and a feminist more interested in being evangelized than evangelizing.”
You can find Cindy on her website cindywords.com and on Twitter at @cindy_w_brandt.
What We’re Reading and Listening To
Cindy recently reviewed Raising White Kids: Bringing Up Children in a Racially Unjust America by Jennifer Harvey. As a white mother raising white children, Harvey explores how parents can talk with their white children about race in meaningful, gentle ways that are age-appropriate. In her review of the book Cindy writes that Harvey “demonstrates that power can and and does indeed arise out of softness, as she treats this highly contentious societal toxicity with the utmost empathy for parents—providing a ‘race and justice-conscious schema,’ the term she uses to help parents raise white kids into a healthy self identity.
Katey discusses Fare of the Free Child, a podcast hosted by Akilah Richards. Richards is an advocate for the unschooling movement, which advocates for more unconventional, in the world learning experiences–and for her it’s especially important for children of color who as she says live “in a world that tends to diminish, dehumanize, and disappear them.” Her podcast guests include experts of color from all kinds of fields–doulas, activists, entrepreneurs, healers–all exploring the concept of self-directed education, not only for children but for adults too. You can find more information on her website, AkilahRichards.com.
Bonus: If you’re interested in the unschooling movie, Cindy recommends the movie Captain Fantastic.From IMDB: “In the forests of the Pacific Northwest, a father devoted to raising his six kids with a rigorous physical and intellectual education is forced to leave his paradise and enter the world, challenging his idea of what it means to be a parent.”
Kindreds of the Moment
Our faithful Patreon supporter Sarah M. nominated this episode’s Kindreds of the Moment: the U.S. Women’s Hockey Team! Not only did they win the Olympic gold medal, but they also fought for and won equal treatment to the men’s hockey team. For over a year they’ve been challenging USA Hockey to provide them with the same equipment, staff, per diems, publicity, and travel as their male colleagues–or they threatened to boycott the games entirely. Before this challenge, the women were making $6,000 a year–every FOUR YEARS–to participate in the Olympic games. They fought and won, and they are now promised to receive up to $70,000 EACH YEAR. Way to go!
Resources
- Read about Cindy’s departure from evangelism–and why she now prefers to be evangelized.
- Join the Raising Children Unfundamentalist group on Facebook.
- Learn more about the unschooling movement.
Support Kindreds
Want some fun bonus content like videos, photos, and witty theological banter? Sign up to become a patron on the show on our Patreon page, and get an exclusive invitation to our super-fun, private Facebook group just for Patreon supporters.