Revisionist History: The Alabama Murders – Part 1: The True Church

Podcast: Revisionist History
Episode: The Alabama Murders – Part 1: The True Church
Host: Malcolm Gladwell
Date: October 2, 2025

Overview

The first episode of The Alabama Murders series sets the stage for a decades-spanning tragedy originating in Florence, Alabama, in 1988. Malcolm Gladwell explores how a seemingly isolated act — a preacher’s affair and a subsequent murder — leads to a cascade of suffering that entangles an entire community, culminating in profound questions about morality, justice, and the failures of systems meant to alleviate pain. The episode especially focuses on the social structures and beliefs of the Church of Christ, introducing listeners to its traditions, insularity, and struggles with grace and forgiveness.

Key Discussion Points and Insights

1. Introducing the Case and Its Ripple Effects

• Gladwell’s Central Question:
  Gladwell opens by asking why, when trying to address pain and suffering, do systems and communities so often make things worse?

  “Why have we created a system that in trying to respond to suffering, all too often makes suffering worse?” (03:30, Malcolm Gladwell)

• Porterfield’s Perspective as a Psychologist:
  Dr. Kate Porterfield shares her experience counseling a man on death row, “Kenny,” who focused on the beauty of his family's love rather than the trauma of his botched execution:

  “He wanted to talk for the first probably two hours of our visit about how beautiful his goodbyes were and the love he received from his family as he was going into the execution.” (02:12, Kate Porterfield)

2. The Shoals and the Church of Christ Social Fabric

• Setting:
  Florence, and neighboring towns in "the Shoals," are painted as isolated and deeply bound by tradition.

  • “There’s no interstate that runs through Florence. There’s no major airport, so it’s a little bit of a closed society almost.” (05:11, Grant Asbel)

• Religious Context:
  The area is a stronghold of the Church of Christ, a conservative Protestant denomination characterized by strict adherence to scripture, a cappella singing, and simplicity.

• Insularity and Social Control:
  The church is described as both loving and potentially suffocating, with a culture where secrets and shame are masked for the sake of appearances.

  “The Church of Christ is a very small world, is a family.” (11:35, Malcolm Gladwell) “When someone says, I'm a member of the Church of Christ, that means ... they are members of the true church that restored New Testament Christianity and everybody else is wrong …” (12:42, Lee Camp)

3. The Rules and Consequences

• Doctrinal Rigidity:

  • Divorce only permitted if infidelity is proven.
  • Women cannot lead services.
  • Strict rules against dancing, “mixed bathing” (i.e., co-ed swimming), and other forms of "temptation."
  • Violators may be "disfellowshipped"—formally and publicly shunned.

  “There’s always the danger that you’ll be kind of cut off. … The church would practice this sort of disfellowshipping ... you couldn’t be a member of good standing in the church.” (14:18, Lee Camp) “If you dance, you’re going to lust. And if you lust, you’re going to go to hell.” (15:57, Lee Camp)

• Shame vs. Grace:
  The environment can produce overwhelming shame, especially in the absence of a church culture that truly embraces grace.

  “There’s a sense of fear … always the danger that you’ll be kind of cut off … unless some sort of public statement of repentance.” (14:18, Lee Camp) “In the absence of grace, there is no relief from transgression.” (28:42, Gladwell)

4. Charles Sennett: The Preacher at the Center

• Background:
  Charles Sennett: Preacher’s son, charismatic, successful church builder, but with severe personal failings.

  • Married Elizabeth Dorlean, had a seemingly ideal church family.
  • Rumors of affairs in previous and current congregations.
  • Fired from a prior church after an affair, fell into depression and was hospitalized.
  • Significant debt and unstable mental health.

  “He was the picture of a preacher’s wife … There are still lots of people in the Shoals who remember the Sennetts.” (17:16, Susan Moseley) “He must have been charismatic. Yes, I would say very charismatic. My mother called him a ladies man.” (20:12, Charlie Bill)

• Community Denial and Secrecy:
  Sennett’s failings were well masked; the church community seemed determined to look away or excuse rumors.

  "The viciousness was there, that he could do something like that, I don't know.” (34:00, Community member)
  "He worked very hard to make sure nobody knew outside that tight circle of biological family." (25:37, Rodney Plunkett)

5. Shame, Grace, and the Dynamics of Sin

• No Escape Hatch:
  Sennett is trapped: divorce is unthinkable, scandal must be kept silent, and his role requires a mask of perfection.

  “There’s no viable route to a greater happiness with the other woman because it’s simply not going to be permitted unless you leave the community that you probably think is the community that you have to be a part of if you’re not going to go to hell.” (30:39, Lee Camp)

• Failure Cascade:
  Gladwell draws a historical analogy—a proverb (“For want of a nail, the shoe was lost…”)—to describe how each small failure, compounded by secrecy or shame, leads to disaster.

  “The Alabama Murders is about a classic failure cascade, only ... the ripples were caused not by mechanical or institutional defects, but failures of character, of justice, of compassion.” (33:25, Gladwell)

6. Foreshadowing the Broader Impact

• The episode ends by indicating that this initial tragedy led to more deaths, legal battles, and ethical dilemmas—including botched executions and state-sanctioned punishment—hinting at the systemic failures and personal reckonings still to be examined in future episodes.

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On the spiritual environment:

  “If you fell out of an airplane and you said a cuss word on the way down… then you might, your soul might be lost to damnation for eternity.” (29:06, Grant Asbel)

• On community’s double-edge:

  “Like, I love and hate churches of Christ. You know, I love them and I have hated them.” (14:18, Lee Camp)

• On grace’s absence:

  “I think he was probably her minister… she was probably seeking some counseling from him.” (21:00, Charlie Bill)

• Joking about forgiveness and crime:

  “There was this joke that said it was easier to get forgiveness in the Church of Christ for murdering somebody than it was to be divorced.” (31:25, Lee Camp)

Timeline of Key Segments

| Timestamp | Segment Description | |-----------|----------------------------------------------------------| | 01:40 | Malcolm meets Kate Porterfield and learns of "Kenny" | | 03:04 | Introduction of the botched execution and case relevance | | 05:21 | Grant Asbel describes Florence and its insularity | | 09:43 | Introduction of Lee Camp, Church of Christ theology | | 12:29 | Distinctions of Church of Christ and denominationalism | | 14:18 | Lee Camp reflects on love/hate for the church | | 17:20 | Susan Moseley on Elizabeth Sennett's character | | 21:00 | Hearsay about preacher’s affair in the congregation | | 25:37 | On masking shame and secrets within the church | | 26:53 | Gladwell queries tradition’s role in dysfunction | | 29:06 | Grant Asbel on fear of damnation for small infractions | | 31:25 | “Easier to get forgiveness for murder than divorce” joke | | 33:25 | Gladwell introduces the “failure cascade” metaphor | | 34:00 | Community members questioning how much was known |

Tone & Original Language

Gladwell’s tone is contemplative, empathetic, and slightly wry, engaging multiple local voices and experts to create a detailed, emotionally rich portrait of a tightly bound religious community confronting the consequences of its own rigidity. The episode balances careful analysis with personal anecdotes and genuine curiosity.

Conclusion

Part 1 of The Alabama Murders sets up a complex narrative of faith, secrecy, and the ways in which communal attempts to maintain purity and order can inadvertently set the stage for tragedy. By examining the Church of Christ’s culture of rules and the crushing weight of shame, Gladwell draws listeners into understanding not just the crimes themselves, but the social and spiritual dynamics that made them possible—and why resolving pain sometimes only amplifies it.

Stay tuned for Part 2, as Gladwell continues to unravel how the cascade of suffering spread beyond the original tragedy, implicating not only those involved, but the community and the state itself.