Rift and Redemption: Cait West’s Escape from Christian Patriarchy

A Little Bit Culty

Sarah Edmondson & Anthony “Nippy” Ames

True Crime, Society & Culture, Education

4.6 • 2.7K Ratings

🗓️ 30 December 2024

⏱️ 71 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

What’s it like to grow up in a world where your life’s only purpose is to serve the men around you? Cait West knows firsthand. Raised in a household steeped in Christian patriarchy—a radical movement that places men in absolute control over their families—Cait was homeschooled, groomed to be an obedient wife and mother, and forbidden from pursuing a career or formal education. By the time she escaped at 25, she had no driver’s license, no real job experience, and few resources to navigate life outside the confines of her upbringing.

Despite all of that, Cait built a new life for herself. She’s now a writer, podcaster, and the author of Rift: A Memoir of Breaking Away from Christian Patriarchy. She also co-hosts the podcast Survivors Discuss and serves on the editorial board of Tears of Eden, a nonprofit supporting survivors of spiritual abuse.

In this episode, Cait shares her journey out of Christian patriarchy, unpacks the disturbing ideologies at its core, and talks about how she reclaimed her independence and sense of self. Be advised: this episode includes discussions of religious trauma, sexual trauma, and the movement’s toxic views on race and gender.

Cait’s resilience is inspiring, and her story sheds light on the often-hidden realities of religious abuse. Don’t miss this fascinating and deeply important conversation.

Also… let it be known that:

The views and opinions expressed on A Little Bit Culty do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the podcast. Any content provided by our guests, bloggers, sponsors or authors are of their opinion and are not intended to malign any religion, group, club, organization, business individual, anyone or anything. Nobody’s mad at you, just don’t be a culty fuckwad.

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CREDITS:

Executive Producers: Sarah Edmondson & Anthony Ames

Production Partner: Amphibian.Media

Writer & Co-Creator: Jess Tardy

Associate producers: Emma Diehl and Matt Stroud of Amphibian.Media

Audio production: Red Caiman Studios

Theme Song: “Cultivated” by Jon Bryant co-written with Nygel Asselin

Transcript

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0:00.0	Once upon a time, Amazon Music met audiobooks and listeners everywhere rejoiced.
0:05.8	Oh yeah.
0:06.6	Because now they could listen to one audiobook title a month from an enormous library of popular audiobook titles, including romanticity,
0:15.3	autobiographies, true crime, and more.
0:19.3	Suddenly listeners didn't mind sitting in traffic or even missing their
0:22.6	flight. Amazon Music Unlimited now includes Audible. No way. Download the Amazon Music app now to start
0:28.4	listening. Terms apply. This podcast is for informational purposes only and should not be considered
0:33.3	legal, medical, or mental health advice. The views and opinions expressed do not necessarily reflect
0:37.8	the official policy or position of the podcast and are not intended to malign any religion
0:41.8	group, club, organization, business, individual, anyone, or anything. I'm Sarah Edmondson.
0:56.1	And I'm Anthony Nippy Ames.
0:57.9	And this is A Little Bit Calti.
1:00.7	Cults are commonplace now.
1:02.1	From fandums to fads, we're examining them all.
1:04.6	We look at what happens when things that seem like a great thing at first go bad.
1:08.9	Every week we chat with survivors, experts, and whistleblowers for real culty stories told
1:13.6	directly by the people who lived through them, because we want you to learn a few things
1:17.7	that we've had to learn the hard way.
1:20.1	For example, if you think you're too smart to get sucked into something culty, you might
1:23.9	be prime recruitment material, and who knows, you could already be in a cult.
1:28.3	If you're not aware of your programming, you're probably being programmed.
1:31.5	So keep listening to find out.
	...

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