"You can only live with so much cognitive dissonance in your life." - Matthew Pridgen

Matthew Pridgen joins Ken Woodward for a raw, wide-ranging conversation about how questions can crack open denial and move us toward truth, repentance, and reconciliation.

Matthew shares his dramatic journey from addiction and a near-fatal suicide attempt to a decades-long pursuit of faith, justice, and historical honesty. His pivotal moment was when an eight-year-old girl asked, “Why did you take my church down?” after a tent revival in Charleston’s historically Black East Side, which became the question that launched his racial awakening.

Together, they explore how American “mythology” hides the realities of slavery, Jim Crow, and modern dog whistles, and how the Black church has sustained a prophetic witness against oppression.

The episode highlights the personal cost of cognitive dissonance, the freedom of living without lies, and a central challenge for today: are Christians willing to abandon Christian nationalism and follow Jesus’ actual teachings?

Check out Matthew's documentary The Sins of Our Fathers: Race, Religion, and the Rise of Trump on Amazon Prime, and his new Sins of Our Fathers podcast wherever you find your favorite podcasts. (https://www.amazon.com/Sins-our-Fathers-Religion-Trump/dp/B0G1XD7TQT)

This Curated Questions episode can be found on all major platforms and at CuratedQuestions.com.

Be sure to subscribe to the weekly Curated Questions Dispatch newsletter for more fun with questions and curiosity! (https://substack.com/@curatedquestions)

Keep questioning!

Episode Notes

00:00 Introduction to Curated Questions

02:05 Meet Matthew Pridgen: A Story of Redemption

03:38 Matthew's Tent Revival and Racial Awakening

05:02 Confronting Myths and Realities of American History

05:57 The Impact of Systemic Racism

07:19 The Power of Film in Social Change

08:41 Charleston's Unique Racial History

09:13 The Great Migration and Segregation

11:01 The Role of White Supremacy in American History

11:37 Theological Justifications for Racism

When Cognitive Dissonance Breaks Open | Matthew Pridgen #67