Introducing the Matter of Faith newsletter

Trying to untangle the intersection of faith, sex and politics in America? You’ve come to the right place. Subscribe to the Matter of Faith newsletter here to get your weekly breakdown on the blurred lines of the three things you should never discuss at the dinner table.

This newsletter addresses heavy topics like faith, sexuality and politics – all dominating headlines and minds over the last few years.

Major conservative politicians have also aligned themselves with Christian Nationalism and made direct efforts to appeal to Christian voters. Church and politics are tangled in the sheets, and there is a mess to address.

That’s what I’m trying to do here at Matter of Faith: untangle all the ways our deepest identities have become intertwined and introduce you to the people doing the work to make these intersections more life-giving and less stigmatizing for us all.

• We’ll talk about the millennial parents fighting to get more equitable dress code policies.
• We’ll dig into all the ways abstinence-only sex education doesn’t work and talk deeper about the connection between bad sex ed and poor sexual health outcomes.
• Spiritual abuse is bigger than you think. We’ll also be diving headfirst into today’s pastor abuse crisis.
• And how does politics apply to all of this? Let me count the ways. To get started, learn about why purity culture matters at the ballot box and why the author of a 90s purity culture “classic” got divorced and is no longer religious
• If you thought it was “just politics” affected by all this – it’s in our major media too. The Jesus Super Bowl ads and the dialogue around Megan Thee Stallion’s sex life during the Tony Lanez trial are examples.

So much of my introduction to my own sexuality and faith was rooted in fear driven by the purity culture movement of the early 90s. I know personally how those fears seep into our relationships and most personal moments. While the 90s were three decades ago, the political and religious fearmongering around sexuality hasn’t stopped.

This cognitive dissonance created by these fears is confusing and lonely. How are you expected to feel when your body, your beliefs and your elected representatives are at war both physically and spiritually. It’s not a comfy feeling, and it is hard to talk about.

But, baby, we are going to talk about it at Matter of Faith. Avoiding it is costing us our health and our livelihood. There are so many ways we can ease the pain caused by these intersections if we will be willing to let information drive our perspectives.

Drawing the lines between these issues will give us a deeper understanding of how they affect our deepest selves, and what we can do to help others make sense of how it affects the people and institutions that govern us and how we make our daily decisions.

I’m launching this newsletter because I think people need to know about the rhetoric that goes into faith, sex and politics—which is often shrouded in passionate religious speed and political pandering. I do not want our major institutions pulling the wool over your eyes anymore, dear reader.

I’m not afraid to get into the weeds to explain the web of intersections at play here, and I want to hear from you about how these intersections are affecting you. You can find me on Instagram and Twitter @_AnnaBeahm — DM me! You can also send me email at abeahm@reckonmedia.com.

Talking faith, sex and politics gives me life. If you email me, you may see your comments or questions addressed in the newsletter, so y’all don’t be shy. (And please be specific if you DON’T want your thoughts shared.)