Podcast Summary: The Find Out Podcast

Episode: Monte Mader & The Confessions From a Former Alt-Right Christian Nationalist
Date: March 24, 2026
Hosts: Tim, Rich (Find Out Media & Studio71)
Guest: Monty Mater (culture critic, musician, and podcaster)

Episode Overview

This episode features Monty Mater, who shares their powerful journey from being immersed in far-right, Christian nationalist circles to becoming a vocal critic of those ideologies. The conversation explores Monty's upbringing in an ultra-conservative Wyoming family, their gradual process of deconstruction, and sharp insights into the mechanics of Christian nationalism and MAGA extremism in Trump's America.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Monty’s Upbringing and Direct Immersion in Christian Nationalism

• Family Background & Deep Roots

  • Monty grew up in rural Wyoming at the tight intersection of Republican politics and religion.
  • "You cannot be a Christian and vote Democrat. That was a baseline." (02:32, Monty)
  • Entire family heavily enmeshed in GOP politics: father was a state House rep, uncle a Senator, cousin a county commissioner.

• Environmental Control & Indoctrination

  • From stockpiling arms over “Ruby Ridge” paranoia, to strict cultural policing (music, friends, media).
  • Religious schooling, private theology tutoring, and community reinforcement: “You grow up, you think you can trust the adults, and it’s all the adults telling you the same thing.” (03:17)
  • Extreme community insularity: “I graduated high school, had just turned teen, went to Liberty [University]. First real exposure to anyone outside this bubble.” (05:00)

2. Early Seeds of Doubt and Deconstruction

• First Instinct of Rebellion

  • At age 9: Called out the unfair burden placed on girls regarding modesty (09:35–10:23).
  • At 12: Explicitly challenged the “wives submit” doctrine and male authority (11:12)

• Internal Conflict

  • “I recognized it was unfair…but then I’d tell myself, ‘This is my rebellion, my pride. I’m rejecting God’s plan, I need to push it down.’” (11:23, Monty)
  • The cost of dissent: wonders if maybe she’ll just “never get married, so I don’t disobey God.”

3. The Critical “Breaking Point” – Trauma & Truth

• Confronting Sexual Abuse and Reproductive Control

  • At 23, a family tragedy: a 12-year-old girl, pregnant due to molestation, opens Monty’s eyes to how church culture utterly ignores male accountability and focuses solely on shaming/punishing girls (13:00–16:00)
  • “I realized…I had never heard the church, or my dad, call for male accountability.” (14:23, Monty)
  • Shocked by her own ignorance about abortion statistics — “I thought most abortions happened in second and third trimester, and pregnancy from rape never happens. I believed all these things.” (15:02)

• Turning Point:

  • “That was the first time I realized I had been intentionally lied to…That’s when I became pro-choice.” (16:19, Monty)

4. Questioning the System: Power, Not Faith

• Expanding Skepticism & Research

  • “If I was lied to about abortion, what else?” — Dives into church history, US history, homosexuality, and broader social issues.
  • Decision: “I was going to change my mind even if I got disowned by my dad, because I wanted the truth.” (20:09)

• Trump as the Moment of Clarity

  • Watching evangelicals “salivate” over Trump, “a serial adulterer, disgusting, lying, racist piece of shit,” snapped the final tether.
  • “Oh. This was never about loving your neighbor…All of it had been a farce for power.” (21:05–21:54)

5. Personal Fallout & Family Loss (Content Note: Death & Abuse)

• Coming Out—But Never Getting the Chance

  • Monty’s plan to come out to her father about her changed beliefs tragically cut short by his sudden death in 2016.
  • “So I never got a chance to actually talk to him about it.” (24:33–25:07)

• Estrangement and Familial Abuse

  • Details of physical and emotional abuse, parental abandonment, and siblings who remain inside the movement.
  • “I was beat with a bullwhip once. My brother was beat with a chair. Sometimes I’d be bruised from my bra line to my knees.” (28:15)
  • “We moved. We were forced to live in a dark basement for two years…any small infraction, everything was a beating.” (29:20)

6. Indoctrination and Why Leaving Is So Rare

• Community Structure & Fear

  • “It’s all fear-motivated…And people know that if they leave, they lose their church, their community, their family. It’s like a gay kid coming out in a Christian home—knowing they’ll get thrown out.” (32:29–33:22)

• History and Infrastructure of Control

  • Detailed history tracing conservative marriage counseling’s white supremacist roots—Paul Popenoe → James Dobson (“Focus on the Family”).
    • “He taught that white women should never marry outside their race, never take birth control, never leave their husband, even in cases of infidelity or abuse.” (34:22)

7. How Christian Nationalists Rationalize Trump

• Forgiveness as a Get-Out-of-Jail Card

  • “Well, he made all those decisions as a Democrat and found God. All his sins are forgiven.” (36:32, Monty)
  • “He’s selling Bibles, speaking Christianese, bringing in right-wing groups; they say, ‘See, he’s a believer now.’” (36:50)

• Cognitive Dissonance & Power Above Principle

  • “It all becomes cognitive dissonance…They just choose to turn it off. And then you get sunk cost fallacy: ‘I’ve been tied to this for 10 years.’” (39:02)
  • “It’s about power. It’s always been about power.” (39:14, Rich)

8. The Mechanics of High Control Groups

• Weaponizing Family and Community
  • “It’s not just being thrown out of church—it’s being thrown out of your intimate family…It’s very much used as coercion to keep people trapped.” (41:24, Monty)
  • Stories of people terrified to come out as pro-choice or LGBTQIA; the threat of violence or abandonment is real.

9. Legacies of Hate and Their Personal Impact

• Matthew Shepard, AIDS, and “Divine Punishment”
  • Monty describes growing up near the infamous Matthew Shepard murder and how conservative communities often saw victims as “getting what they deserve.”
  • Her own father wrote a book in the ’80s blaming AIDS on God’s wrath—“He was really ashamed of it later.” (46:12)

10. Breaking the Cycle: How to Get People Out

• Power of Story over Data

  • “Connecting with people on a human level…Data doesn’t matter in the face of story. Narrative matters more.” (51:36)
  • Real-life accounts (like Andrea Smith, a brain-dead woman forced to carry a pregnancy) change hearts, not just statistics.

• Importance of Welcome & Accountability

  • “Don’t expect apologies from people you victimized. But we, as exvangelicals, have to help the people doing the work get out—we’re the ones who understand the brainwashing.” (55:03)

• Who Shoulders the Burden

  • “Queer people and people of color should not have to hold this bucket…This is specifically the work of white folks, especially if you had a religious background.” (55:19)

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On Cognitive Dissonance:
  • “Once they’ve accepted him [Trump], it just becomes cognitive dissonance…It’s the sunk cost fallacy.” (38:46, Monty)
• On Indoctrination:
  • “I remember the hell indoctrination starting very, very young…Being so deathly afraid I’d done it wrong.” (47:55, Monty)
• On Christian Nationalism:
  • “This had all been a farce to just take power…They don’t care who suffers as long as it looks how they want it to look.” (21:54, 43:00)
• On Hope for the Future:
  • “They dropped all the facades, pulled the mask off…So many people are looking at this saying, ‘Whoa, I didn’t know.’ Even conservatives. I do believe we’re in for a rough period of time, but now we see America for what we’ve always been. The system is going to burn down, and we get a chance to build something new.” (59:03–61:14, Monty)

Timestamps for Key Segments

• Monty’s Childhood & Family Structure: 02:24–05:53
• Early Moments of Doubt: 09:07–12:50
• Major Breakthrough/Family Trauma: 12:55–16:19
• The Trump “Rupture” & Power Analysis: 20:09–21:54
• Not Telling Her Father Before His Death: 24:33–25:07
• Physical & Emotional Abuse Details: 27:53–29:20
• Why Leaving Is So Hard / Control Mechanisms: 32:29–35:05
• Christian Nationalists & Trump Justifications: 36:32–39:14
• Indoctrination & Hell as Control: 47:55–48:51
• How to Reach People & Inspire Change: 51:08–53:52
• Hope for the Future: 59:03–62:13

Tone & Language

The conversation is irreverent, darkly humorous, honest, and direct, blending personal narrative and sharp political critique. The hosts and guest candidly use profanity and do not shy away from describing painful or controversial history, always aiming to “separate the signal from the noise” for listeners feeling overwhelmed by the chaos of contemporary U.S. politics.

Conclusion

This episode offers a unique, insider’s perspective into the world of far-right Christian nationalism through Monty’s compelling personal story. It insightfully dissects the movement’s manipulations, the costs of dissent, and the dangerous rationalizations around power and morality—while also laying out a hopeful vision for breaking the cycle and reclaiming a future based on truth, story, and solidarity.

Guest Plug:
Follow Monty Mater on all social channels for more on deconstructing Christian nationalism and supporting those leaving high-control environments.