If you've left the church, this made-in-London, Ont., podcast may be for you

It took Josiah Mahonof London, Ont., a long time to finally leavethe church.

Mahon, now 32, first began questioning his evangelical Christian belief system after he moved to London, long after attendinga Baptist churchin northern Ontariowhere his father was the minister.

"I realized that a lot of my own beliefs were just regurgitated from what I had been taught by the community, and I didn't actually have any support for them," said Mahon, who was homeschooled throughout his childhood.

"I wasn't allowed to listen to music with drums, for example," he said. "I was told that drums originated and this is absolutely racist and wrong but that theyoriginated in African tribes and used for sexual rituals,and that the beats startawakening people sexuallyand you should flee from that kind of sin."

When Mahon was 10, hisfamily moved to Sarniain southwestern Ontario where his father led a congregation at a much bigger evangelical church.

Both church communities were demanding, controlling and insular, said Mahon, and questioning your faith or anything else within the churchmeant you were ostracized.

During those years, Mahon wasa firm believer in creationism and that the world was 6,000 years old, so when hewent on to study biology through correspondence at Athabasca University, he had ulterior motives.

"I went to university to get a degree in biology to infiltrate the evolutionists from the inside, learn their ways and come back and be kind of like a great teacher of creationism, using their own methods against them," he said.

"It didn't quite pan out that way."

When Mahonwas in his 20s, he abruptly left a Baptist church in Londonwhere he'd become a member, after he pointed to evidence the minister's sermonswere plagiarized. That, he said, was the motivation he needed to start questioning everything he knew.

Today, he calls himself an agnostic atheist and in his new podcast, SlowTrain to Heck,he talks to people who share similar stories about leaving what he calls 'toxic religious groups.'

"There is a real systemic problem here in Canada," Mahon said. "People are trapped in these isolated, insular systems thinking that they are alone because they don't have any interaction with people outside of those community."

He is still in touch with his family;they just don't talk about his new beliefs.

"They know I'm doing the podcast. I don't think they're happy about it, but these systems are causing real damage to people, and if I can be a voice that help people know that they're not alone,I think it's worth me taking a little bit of heat."

Priest believes in 'encouraging questions'

Kevin George, a London priest from St. Aidan's Anglican Church in London, was contactedby CBC to comment on Mahon's podcast concept.

"I believe strongly that what we need to be doing is encouraging questions. People who are certain frighten the heck out of me," saidGeorge.

"We've had people come back to the church who have been given room to ask those questions and live in that space of uncertainty. For me, the whole business of doubt, and question and uncertainty is a part of the continuum of faith.

"It's not the opposite of faith as some people think," added George who runs his own podcast, The Vicars' Crossing: Where faith enters the public square.

Mahon called his series Slow Train to Heckand not "hell"soevangelicals might also tune in.

"Hell is a bad word," he laughed. "It's a swear word." And he doesn't think they would listen if there was a swear word in the title.

"Maybe it will help some people realize that there is something wrong in my community."