Raised in a conservative, fundamentalist Christian environment, Monte Mader later publicly deconstructed those beliefs and now focuses on challenging dogma and exploring cultural and historical topics. Her home life was filled with being forced to memorize Bible verses or risk extreme corporal pun*shment. Her mom left the family of 6 chiIdren early in Monte’s chiIdhood and was replaced by a sad*stic stepmother who kept her and her brother in the basement for 2 years along with other harsh pun*shments. Even though Monte was being bred to be a housewife with strict gender roles, once her father recognized her off-the-charts intelligence, he quickly switched gears and wanted her to become a Supreme Court Justice to enact and even overturn policy for the agenda of extreme fundamentalist ideology. After a tumultuous engagement that ended in betrayal and disaster, Monte continued to deconstruct when she realized she had been lied to about what the Bible actually says from a Scholastic POV. Now she uses her platform with millions of followers to debate against those who try to use the Bible’s words to harm and oppress others. Watch our follow up LIVE with Monte on the bible: https://www.youtube.com/live/_PxXCDZySJQ?si=WJ7WQxEtit2AV9Bp Find Monte Mader on social media! IG: https://www.instagram.com/montemader/ Website: https://montemader.com/ https://linktr.ee/MonteMader Subscribe to our C2C "CLIPS" Channel! https://www.youtube.com/@CultstoConsciousnessClips Support C2C - Any donations are welcome and appreciated to support the making of this podcast. Find our FULL (uncensored) merch store here! https://cults-to-consciousness-shop.fourthwall.com/en-usd Patreon https://www.patreon.com/cultstoconsciousness Venmo @sheliseann Find us on Social media! Instagram @cultstoconsciousness https://www.instagram.com/cultstoconsciousness Host Instagram @sheliseann https://www.instagram.com/sheliseann/ Co Producer / Host @jonathan.rosales_ https://www.instagram.com/jonathan.rosales_ TikTok @cults.to.consciousness https://www.tiktok.com/@cults.to.consciousness Twitter @cultstocon https://twitter.com/cultstocon Chapter Marks 00:04:10 Monte's chiIdhood & her mom leaving 00:09:04 Recognizing the poor treatment of women 00:14:30 CW: CA, Coping with her father's ab*se 00:17:49 CW: CA, Pun*shments as a chiId & Monte's Stepmother 00:23:32 Struggling with body image issues 00:30:12 Recognizing the dark side of marriage and motherhood 00:35:08 The impacts of purity culture on dating and relationships 00:42:40 S*x ed 00:49:10 Learning consent 00:54:40 Monte's relationship with her fiancé 01:06:38 How purity culture gets women in abus*ve situations 01:10:28 Monte's intelligence and her dad's support 01:16:38 Seeking information & discovering she had been lied to 01:24:13 Embracing her identity & using fashion 01:30:05 Overcoming shame 01:34:26 Using the Bible in debates 01:37:52 Loving the work 01:41:42 Final thoughts and Linda listen **Disclaimer: Thanks for joining us at Cults to Consciousness. This storytelling podcast is meant to be for entertainment purposes only and does not substitute for medical advice. We may discuss triggering topics and we ask that you make your personal mental health a priority. This podcast provides a platform for guests to share their personal experiences and opinions. The views expressed are solely those of the guest and do not necessarily reflect the views of the hosts or producers. Any allegations discussed are unverified and represent personal accounts only. All individuals mentioned are presumed innocent unless proven otherwise. The podcast assumes no legal responsibility for statements made by guests.**