Flipping Tables Podcast — "Unholy Sh!t with Father Nathan Monk"

Host: Monte Mader
Guest: Father Nathan Monk
Date: December 17, 2025

Episode Overview

In this deep, candid, and often irreverent conversation, Monte Mader interviews Father Nathan Monk—former Orthodox priest, activist, and author—about his journey from conservative evangelical upbringing to outspoken critic of church corruption and homelessness advocate. The discussion traverses Monk’s unstable, poverty-stricken childhood, his nonlinear path through various Christian traditions, his experiences working with marginalized communities, and his eventual break from the church amid controversy. Together, they interrogate the failings of modern American Christianity, the weaponization of faith, the mechanics of poverty, and the challenges and liberation of deconstructing one's faith. Rich with humor and raw honesty, the episode is a resource for anyone wrestling with faith, activism, and belonging.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Nathan Monk’s Origin Story: Poverty and Pentecost (02:08–09:18)

• Childhood in a Struggling Christian Family:

  • Monk’s father, a former musician in the booming Christian music scene, moves the family to Nashville hoping for a breakthrough, only for things to fall apart financially.
  • The family’s descent into poverty is exacerbated by prosperity gospel teaching, intensifying their shame and their need to hide their reality from church peers (05:20–07:30).
  • Early exposure to prosperity gospel: “...this theology of prosperity gospel and if things aren't going right in your life, it's because someone fucked up somewhere, is being permeated right there...” (05:30).

• Purity Culture & Deconstruction:

  • Explains living at the heart of the purity culture boom (“I Kissed Dating Goodbye”) and its impact.
  • Monk’s first “deconstruction” was rejecting Protestant cherry-picking: “...if I want my Jesus to be a little bigoted, I can contort him into that. If I need Jesus to hate dating, even though he's hanging out with prostitutes, I can make him do that. And I'm sitting there and like, I don't like any of this” (08:00).
  • The allure of ancient traditions leads him toward Orthodoxy.

2. Entering Ministry, Homelessness, and Activism (13:35–26:27)

• Bootstrapping a Ministry Amid Collapse:

  • Shares how his family’s crisis and exploitation by the church compelled him to help the homeless through religious channels.
  • Monk’s chaotic journey: "I picked up this homeless guy out front of [a church]... drove this homeless guy down to my parents house and I don't tell him I'm bringing him." (17:14).

• Arrest and Accidental Ordination:

  • Describes being arrested at a protest for countering Bible-thumper street preachers (19:58–20:20).
  • A bishop recognizes his activism, leading to fast-tracked ordination within the Old Catholic and eventually Russian Orthodox Church.
  • Critiques: “...Other priests are getting pissed at me. And I get it to a point now... because I'm not being indoctrinated on the same level. So I'm now at the same rank as them. But I'm starting to look around. I'm going, but why, but why are we doing this?” (22:00).

• Grassroots Food Programs and Marginalized Volunteers:

  • Monk builds a network distributing food to the unhoused, with the most help coming from “queer or strippers” after local churches refused partnership due to Monk’s inclusive approach (25:18).
  • Notable: First major fundraising support came not from churches, but from a strip club owner (28:02).

3. Conflict with Church Structures and Forced Exit (29:38–36:19)

• Communion and Queer Inclusion:

  • Pressure from Orthodox hierarchy during the Pussy Riot protests: “I'm being sent memorandums ...that we're supposed to speak out against this from the pulpit. I'm doing one of those, like, following orders type things. I'm saying what I'm supposed to say... but in my brain, I'm like, this doesn't... this isn't connecting…” (29:37).

• Shaming, Outing, and Suspicion:

  • The church exploits confidential information about Monk’s mental health, resulting in death threats and a coordinated campaign against his credibility, including Russian Orthodox Church involvement (32:08–34:13).
  • “They released my file that I have struggle with depression and suicide. And so I start getting telephone calls in the middle of the night that I should kill myself.” (32:22).

• Isolation and the Birth of Deconstruction Discourse:

  • Left the priesthood and lost community long before "deconstruction" was mainstream: “All the spoiled brats who are listening to your fucking podcast have all these books on deconstruction... That didn't exist. It was me and Derek Webb, like, that's it. And we're both really fucking confused and don't know each other exist.” (35:43).

4. Systemic Poverty, Exploitation, and the Modern Church (42:24–50:22)

• Critique of Church and Political Exploitation:

  • Churches prey on the poor (and foster poverty) through “prosperity gospel” tactics, paralleling gambling addiction: “They need people impoverished. Like, I remember my dad, and we were staying in a hotel... my mom was able to drive to Orlando to go to a conference with all these prophets... driving through Orlando seeing the Mickey Ear telephone lines and not being able to understand... why are we able to do this and not the other?” (46:50).

• Homelessness is Systemic, Not Personal:

  • “Homelessness is the easiest fucking problem to fix on the planet. ...We put people in houses. It’s that simple.” (47:22, 47:55).
  • “Everything is easy to fix. It’s a will, right? And again, the church controls that narrative. ...They are no different than the gambling industry.” (54:28).

5. Addiction, “Mouse Park” Study, and Manufactured Need (50:22–53:38)

• Addiction as a Symptom of Discontent:

  • Outlines the “Mouse Park” study from Chasing the Scream, arguing that addiction often stems from a lack of healthy community and connection, a cycle mirrored in organized religion (50:40–52:57).
  • “You create content, healthy, happy, whole people. The church goes away.”

• Visibility, Judgment, and Social Control:

  • “Drug use amongst the unhoused population [is the same as] the housed population. The difference is visibility.” (53:38).

6. Escaping Fundamentalism and Finding New Community (57:26–65:58)

• Leaving Means Loss—and Discovery:

  • “You will lose your family. ...But what they don’t want you to know is there is a space without shame. ...There’s a space where people will just love you as the little weirdo that you are.” (57:53–59:19).

• Certainty vs. Curiosity:

  • Both Monk and Mader reject leaders who offer “all the answers.”
  • “The opposite of faith is certainty. That typically my distrust for people increases exponentially if they are 100% certain they have the answer.” (65:58).
  • “I don’t want you to replicate what I’m doing... I just started just sharing my thoughts. I was very honest about, like, I don’t have an answer.” (63:43–65:30).

• Owning Past Harm and Evolving Beliefs:

  • “What part of fucking used to did you miss in that sentence [‘You used to be a man of God’]?” (68:43).

7. Stormy Daniels, Activism, and New Directions (69:22–79:23)

• Unlikely Friendship and Tour:

  • Details Monk’s collaboration and tour with Stormy Daniels, marked by mutual support, humor, and activism (“...people are really shocked when they come to a show, how little of it is centered around, you know, that asshole [Trump]. You know, because her life, she lived a whole life before that... she’s a world class equestrian.” (75:08–75:43))

• Memorable Banter:

  • Story about a “reverse cowgirl” joke gone wrong at a live show:
    • Monk: “I might be the only guy in the world who's ever denied sleeping with Stormy Daniels.”
    • Daniels: “Actually, you're the second.” (79:11)

8. The Future: Real Change Starts Small and Messy (79:29–89:24)

• Rejecting Hero Narratives and Seeking Incremental Change:
  • “It can't just be that we vote our way out of this... We have to make very conscious decisions of what we want things to look like. What community is going to look like being allowed to love complicated people.” (79:50–81:04)
  • On impact, hope, and building for the future:
    • “... There are people walking back into rubble [in Gaza] with smiles on their faces, with hope in their hearts, believing that they're going to rebuild... they are believing, but they're building towards that future.” (82:24)

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On Deconstructing and Authority:
  • “I deconstructed twice. For me, my first phase of deconstruction was going, whatever. This Protestant idea of this. I can make Jesus fit into whatever little perfect... I don't like any of this.” (08:00)
• On Compassion and Marginality:
  • “The majority of folks who are volunteering are, you know, queer or strippers that we met at the strip club or whatever. But I still think those people are wrong. ...I was putting on the gloves, but I was still putting them in danger.” (42:24)
• On the Real Cause of Homelessness:
  • “What causes homelessness is not having a house. That's it.” (54:49)
• On Leaving Religion:
  • “You will lose your family. ...What they don't tell you is then you go to Never Neverland. Like, then you find like the island of Misfit Toys. ...There is a space without shame.” (57:53)
• On Uncertainty:
  • “The opposite of faith is certainty ...if someone’s like, ‘I have a hundred percent of the answers’? Because none of us do.” (65:58)
• On Not Replicating Leaders:
  • “If I tell you [what I do], you’re going to go put that on the Internet, and then people are going to try and replicate what I’m doing... There’s certain things that I do because they’re good for me.” (63:43)

Book Recommendations (84:10)

1. Where Do We Go from Here by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
2. Chasing the Scream by Johann Hari
3. Detroit: An American Autopsy by Charlie LeDuff

Final Reflections: What Makes a Good Life? (85:45–89:24)

• Curiosity, Teachable Spirit, and Compassion for Self and Others:
  • “What a good life looks like, I think is... remaining curious, remaining teachable, listening. ...Learning to just say, I don't know.” (85:45, 88:25)
• On Pastoring and Leadership:
  • “Everything I just said is entirely bullshit. And don’t try and replicate it, like, you don’t need a pastor... I think if you just shut up and listen to people, you'll learn a whole fuck ton.” (89:10)

Major Timestamps

• 02:08 — Monk’s early life, poverty, and roots of deconstruction
• 13:35 — Journey into ministry, early activism, unorthodox path to priesthood
• 25:05 — Homeless ministry and resistance from institutional church
• 29:37 — Conflicts with the Orthodox Church during Pussy Riot era
• 42:24 — Modern church: poverty, voting against self-interest, “prosperity gospel”
• 50:22 — Addiction, Mouse Park study, manufactured need
• 57:53 — Leaving religion, real cost and new community
• 69:22 — Stormy Daniels partnership, comedy, activism
• 79:29 — How “the way forward” will look—messy, local, community-based
• 84:10 — Book recommendations
• 85:45 — What it means to live a good life

This episode offers a raw, insightful, humor-infused account of spiritual unraveling and rebuilding, centering the power of humility, curiosity, and radical acceptance—both for self and others. A must-listen for anyone questioning the status quo or searching for meaning beyond traditional boundaries.