Valerie Tarico is the author of The Dark Side: How Evangelical Teachings Corrupt Love and Truth. Raised in a staunch fundamentalist family, Valerie attended Wheaton College, where the Billy Graham Center houses a museum dedicated to the history of Evangelism in North America. She obtained a Ph.D. in Counseling Psychology from the University of Iowa before completing postdoctoral studies at the University of Washington. She subsequently joined the staff of Children's Hospital Medical Center, Seattle and ran Children's Behavior and Learning Clinic in Bellevue, Washington, before moving on to a private clinic.

For years Valerie maintained a psychotherapy practice and practiced "don't ask, don't tell" about matters of faith. But as it became clear that George Bush and Evangelicals were opening a public conversation about Christianity, she decided to join the fray. She shrunk her practice and began writing and speaking about fundamentalism, American style. She currently writes for exChristian.net and hosts a monthly series on Moral Politics Television in Seattle. Only one of her brothers thinks that she is actually channeling Satan.

Not satisfied with spending her life energy critiquing all-too-familiar orthodoxies, Valerie is actively engaged in interspiritual dialogue that aims to find common ground in humanity's shared moral core. She speaks regionally to churches and secular groups about topics such as moral development, the psychology of belief, and wisdom convergence as well as the dark side of orthodox dogmas. She is a founder of WisdomCommons.org, an interactive site that allows users to find and discuss information about virtues that emerge repeatedly across secular and religious wisdom traditions.
Valerie Tarico's essays can be found at www.spaces.live.com/awaypoint.

Blog Entries by Valerie Tarico

Christian Belief Through the Lens of Cognitive Science: Part 5 of 6

Posted June 29, 2009 | 11:18 AM (EST)


How Viral Ideas Hook Us

Did you know that Temple Baptist Church was built on land that sold for 57 cents, the amount saved by a little girl that had been turned away from her Sunday school? Did you hear about the guy who died in his sleep, killed by...

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Christian Belief Through the Lens of Cognitive Science: Part 4 of 6

113 Comments | Posted June 17, 2009 | 01:01 PM (EST)


IV. The Born Again Experience.

I prayed harder and just then I felt like everything I was saying was being sucked into a vacuum. When I stood up, I felt like thin air; I had to brace myself. I felt this energy, it was a kind of an ecstasy."...

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Christian Belief Through the Lens of Cognitive Science: Part 3 of 6

350 Comments | Posted June 10, 2009 | 06:50 PM (EST)


I Know Because I Know

On a warm afternoon in June, two men have appointments with a psychiatrist. The first has been dragged to the office by his wife, much to his irritation. He is a biologist who suffers from schizophrenia, and the wife insists that his meds are...

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My Abortion Baby

87 Comments | Posted June 4, 2009 | 06:26 PM (EST)


George Tiller--physician, abortion provider, Lutheran, husband, father, grandfather-- was shot and killed Sunday in the lobby of his church. He was killed after years of harassment and threats, bombing of his clinic, even being shot in both arms. And yet he continued doing what he did because he believed it...

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Christian Belief Through the Lens of Cognitive Science: Part 2 of 6

88 Comments | Posted May 30, 2009 | 12:28 PM (EST)


Why God has a Human Mind

Jesus was a human, fathered by a god and born to a virgin. He died for three days and was resurrected. His death was a sacrifice, an offering or propitiation. It brings favor for humans. He lives now in a realm where other supernatural...

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Christian Belief Through The Lens of Cognitive Science, Part 1 of 6

76 Comments | Posted May 26, 2009 | 10:38 AM (EST)


My father died in a climbing accident when he was 59 and I was in my mid thirties. In one of our last deep conversations before his 300 meter misstep, he expressed his abiding hope that I would "get right with God." Dad was the son of Italian immigrants, all...

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Be Good for Goodness Sake

12 Comments | Posted May 14, 2009 | 10:49 AM (EST)


For years atheists, agnostics, and other freethinkers have been saying that you don't need a god to be good. Recently, they even tried to say it on the side of an Indiana bus. More and more, they are finding ways to show it.

Kiva.org is a...

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Bibles in Afghanistan: A Tribute to the Power of Belief

9 Comments | Posted May 11, 2009 | 11:52 AM (EST)


Evangelism in the halls of the Pentagon. Personalized Bible studies for foreign diplomats. Passion of the Christ advertisers next to plates in the Air Force Academy mess hall. Officers Christian Fellowship buses from military bases to revival meetings. A Southern Baptist fundamentalist at the head of the Chaplain Corps....

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Church-Going and Torture Approval -- What's the Connection?

16 Comments | Posted May 6, 2009 | 04:43 PM (EST)


The circles I run in include a fair number of recovering fundies -- people who were raised on the notion that morality comes from Jesus. In fact, the former Calvinists among us were taught that anyone who is not "washed in the blood" is utterly depraved. For real. A...

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Liberal Anti-Semitism

288 Comments | Posted April 27, 2009 | 12:14 PM (EST)


"you fucking piece of shit jew and your stinking jew woman and inbred jew childrun and jew-lover traiter daughterinlaw deserve to torture die you filth jew liberil america hating jesus hating basterd Lord willing none of us will have to wait long america is too good for dirty jew scum...

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If the Bible Were Law, Would You Qualify for the Death Penalty?

18 Comments | Posted April 24, 2009 | 12:40 PM (EST)


This week the Supreme Court declined to review a Texas murder case in which a juror brought a Bible into the sentencing process -- showing that the Bible recommends death for anyone who kills another person with an iron rod (Numbers 35:16).

Let me say for the record that...

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Does Evangelical Giving Do the World Good?

52 Comments | Posted April 16, 2009 | 04:07 PM (EST)


This week, Barack Obama is expected to sign into law the GIVE Act, which aims to increase volunteering. It gives young people a way to pay for education with public service. Some right wingers have been squawking because the plan excludes religious activities like church attendance and outreach from...

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Ancient Sumerian Origins of the Easter Story

43 Comments | Posted April 10, 2009 | 11:28 AM (EST)


Evangelicals across the political spectrum, from Pat Robertson to Jim Wallis, seek to shape our government and life-ways by appealing to the authority of the Christian Bible. It is virtually impossible to understand American politics without understanding the book that drives their priorities. Given that three quarters of Americans are...

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Open Season on Christians?

Posted April 9, 2009 | 05:56 PM (EST)


When Cory Doctorow at Boingboing recently posted a video of deadpanned quotes from fundamentalists, one moderate person of faith lamented that it seems lately like open season on Christians.

Is it?

Across the web, in bookstores, and recently the theater, criticism of religion broadly and Christianity specifically...

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Religion Linked to More Aggressive End of Life Care

Posted March 26, 2009 | 04:02 PM (EST)


Are more social ills associated with religion or a lack thereof?

If you're honest, your answer to this question probably maps to your belief status. After all, most of us like to think we're on the side of the elves, not the orcs-- that we and our kind are making...

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Losing Your Religion? How to Talk to Your Kids

Posted March 25, 2009 | 04:30 PM (EST)


Sometimes I get letters from former Christians -- the evangelical/fundamentalist type -- who are also parents. "What do I say to my kids?" they ask. "I raised them to believe that without the blood of Jesus they are evil sinners. What a horrible thing for them to think! I feel...

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Godless? Come Out and Mess with a Stereotype or Two

Posted February 26, 2009 | 03:44 PM (EST)


My brother, David, is gay. You can't tell by how he walks or talks or dresses. You wouldn't know who he loves and why unless you know him. The only clue, maybe, is that he happens to be nicer than the rest of my mother's offspring, including me. Several years...

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Praise the Lord for Fred Phelps and Nadya Suleman

Posted February 16, 2009 | 01:45 PM (EST)


Every once in a while someone comes along who makes us see ourselves in a new way. Through their behavior, they hold up a mirror to our own impulses. For many of us, Barack Obama, through his words and actions, calls to the surface yearnings and energy we thought had...

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What Should Obama Ask of Us, the American People?

Posted February 13, 2009 | 03:00 PM (EST)


Barack Obama's campaign wasn't a campaign to get elected. Yes, that was front and center in most of our minds and, I'm sure, his for the last year plus. But he said from the beginning that the end goal of this campaign was to create a movement for change. That...

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Darwin and Lincoln: Two Peas in a Pod

Posted February 12, 2009 | 06:32 PM (EST)


What did Abraham Lincoln and Charles Darwin have in common besides their February 12, 1809 birthday? Both men transcended the self-centered thinking so characteristic of our kind, allowing them to see the unity of life in a new way. By self-centered, I don't mean selfish. I mean our incredible...

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