RISK! Podcast Episode Summary

Episode: Revelations, Revisited

Release Date: October 2, 2025

Host: Kevin Allison
Guest/Storyteller: Scott Whitney

Episode Overview

This episode of RISK! revisits “Revelations,” a powerful and deeply personal story originally told by Scott Whitney in 2013, chronicling his struggle with faith as a Jehovah’s Witness, a pivotal encounter with a man named Paul, and the aftermath of their relationship. The episode is divided into two main segments: a rebroadcast of Scott’s original story and a candid 2025 conversation between Kevin and Scott about how their perspectives—and the story’s resonance—have evolved over more than a decade.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Scott Whitney’s Story: "Revelations" (Begins at 04:25)

• Setting the Scene: Scott, a lifelong Jehovah's Witness in crisis, describes the experience of door-to-door ministry, which he finds uncomfortable and dissonant with his internal doubts.
• Encounter with Paul: On a routine Saturday, Scott knocks on Paul's door in a housing project. Paul is visually scarred from severe burns and lives reclusively due to lifelong mental illness.
• Paul’s Backstory: Paul reveals that, plagued by a voice he identified as Christ, urging him that he was “beyond redemption,” he attempted suicide by grabbing high-tension wires, leaving him physically and emotionally scarred.
• Struggles with Faith: Scott feels hypocrisy and uncertainty as he uses the teachings of a faith he no longer fully believes in to comfort Paul, who finds hope in the message even as Scott feels it to be “vapid and hollow.”
• Turning Point: Over time, Paul grows resistant to Scott’s reassurances. Eventually, Paul leaves a devastating voicemail blaming Scott for further confusing and hurting him:

  “This message is for Scott... everything you’ve been telling me ... has left me more fucked up than I have ever been... please never, never stop here again.” —Paul (16:35)

• Aftermath: The incident marks the end of Scott’s ministry and, more significantly, his sense of obligation to a God he no longer understands:

  “That was the last time I ever went to anybody else's door. And it was the last time that I ever felt like I had any kind of responsibility to a God that I couldn't understand.” –Scott Whitney (17:47)

2. Revisiting the Story: A Candid 2025 Conversation

Shifts in Perspective (Begins at 20:06)

• Scott and Kevin reflect on the gulf between how stories “land” years later versus when first told.
• Scott admits:

  “I think I was struck by how different[ly] the story lands for me now than it did when we workshopped it and when we recorded it... I’m just [coming from] a totally different perspective.” —Scott Whitney (20:06)

• He confesses that much of his initial clarity was superficial:

  “[Back then] I’m telling the story as though I have my shit together... and in retrospect... I didn’t have the clarity that it seemed like I did in the storytelling.” –Scott (21:34)

The Difficulty of Leaving Faith Systems

• The isolation and disorientation after separating from a totalizing belief system:

  “It was such a totalizing faith... How could you possibly have all that sorted out?” –Scott (22:20)

• Comparison to other ideological bubbles or cult-like groups, with Kevin paralleling his own Catholic upbringing and struggle as a gay teen:

  “There was that cognitive dissonance, I guess, of knowing I was gay, but also feeling like, yeah, but I'm not—I don't believe I'm going to hell for this.” –Kevin Allison (25:50)

• Both note that leaving a faith community carries risks of feeling “morally unmoored” and harming others inadvertently:

  “That can be a dangerous time... you're unmoored. You're morally unmoored. I shouldn't say you. I was morally unmoored, psychologically unmoored.” –Scott (27:25)

The Dangers of Persuasion & Storytelling

• Admitting reluctance to proselytize or persuade others after personal experiences with disillusionment:

  “What I knew personally to be true… had come to seem entirely unrelated to the process of persuasion. I did not want any longer to persuade anyone of anything.” —Scott quoting Rachel Cusk, paraphrased (33:44)

• Kevin and Scott both voice wariness about the “confidence” of groups, leaders, or even algorithms feeding narratives to the masses:

  “There is a system, deeply empowered and deeply moneyed, that is feeding you this algorithm... we were taught a certain amount of critical thought, just to the extent where I felt like the ideas were coming from me. And they weren't.” –Scott (37:15)

On the Blurred Line Between Characters and Real People

• Both wrestle with the ethical implications of turning real people (like Paul) or formative experiences into “characters” for stories:

  "I'm exploiting Paul. And then I wrap it in all the Other stuff." –Scott (43:31) “You really created a character here to be a function in a story.” –Kevin (42:48)

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On Certainty and Doubt:

  “The worst have all the confidence and the best lack all surety...” –Kevin paraphrasing Yeats (33:26)

• On Finding Community After Belief:

  “Leaving that religion is so specific... It's a very niche experience and lonely as you try to build up that new belief system, system, morality and all that, all that important stuff.” –Scott (30:48)

• On Storytelling Structure vs. Emotional Truth:

  “The structure of storytelling, like needing to tell a compelling story that lands somewhere... kind of primed the pump... it was an intellectual exercise that I had a lot of emotional work yet to do to internalize.” –Scott (38:49)

• On Group Dynamics:

  “Some of the power exchange and just the way that the collective psyche starts working can very easily start to get culty in any group of people … it’s kind of laying latent in wherever two or more are gathered.” –Kevin (30:48)

Important Timestamps

| Timestamp | Segment Description | |-----------|-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 00:00 | Introduction by Kevin Allison | | 03:14 | Host introduces Scott Whitney and sets up revisiting the story | | 04:25 | Scott Whitney’s original "Revelations" story begins | | 16:35 | Paul’s voicemail to Scott (“more fucked up than I have ever been…”) | | 17:47 | Scott’s realization and final break with religious responsibility | | 18:15 | Host reactions: “Wow, that was extraordinary to hear again.” | | 20:06 | Post-story conversation begins: reflections on changes in perception | | 22:20 | Scott talks about the isolating aftermath of leaving a totalizing faith | | 25:50 | Kevin parallels his Catholic background and experience as a gay teen | | 27:25 | Scott on the danger of being morally unmoored after leaving | | 30:48 | Challenges and pitfalls of finding post-belief community; cult-like group dynamics | | 33:44 | Rachel Cusk on the futility of persuading others; narrator’s current stance | | 37:15 | Scott draws parallels between religious indoctrination and algorithm-driven information | | 42:50 | Kevin and Scott discuss ethics of storytelling using real lives as narrative ‘characters’ | | 45:29 | Frank Zappa quote: “Buddy, we're all wearing uniforms. Don't kid yourself.” | | 47:16 | Unused anecdote: hazard and liminality of leaving a faith described (Scott) |

Tone & Atmosphere

• The episode is reflective, candid, and layered with vulnerability, especially as both host and guest reckon with the long shadows cast by former belief systems.
• There’s a palpable sense of humility, uncertainty, and caution about “knowing too much” or having absolute answers.
• The language remains direct, occasionally irreverent ("Who gives a shit?", “fucked up”), mirroring the show’s uncensored, emotionally raw ethos.

Conclusion

This episode of RISK! is a profound meditation on faith, identity, and the risks inherent in both losing and gaining beliefs. Through Scott Whitney’s original story and the honest re-examination more than a decade later, listeners are invited to reflect on how beliefs shape—and sometimes distort—life choices, relationships, and one’s sense of self. The conversation also serves as a cautionary tale on harming others (even inadvertently) through misplaced certainty or well-intended intervention, and the never-ending work of building meaning and morality after leaving “totalizing” systems.

For those who have experienced seismic shifts in worldview, or who have loved ones navigating the liminal space between belief and doubt, this episode will resonate deeply.