Chrissy Stroop

Chrissy Stroop grew up in central Indiana and Colorado Springs, Colorado, attending evangelical schools in both places before going on to earn a BA in history and German from Ball State University in 2003 and a PhD in modern Russian history from Stanford University in 2012. Chrissy lived in Moscow, Russia, and taught at a Russian university from 2012 to 2015, then worked at the University of South Florida in Tampa as a postdoctoral scholar and visiting instructor from 2015 to 2018. The creator of the viral hashtags #EmptyThePews, #ChristianAltFacts, and #ExposeChristianSchools, she currently resides in Portland, Oregon and works full time as a writer, speaker, and advocate for the exvangelical community and movement. Chrissy's writing has appeared in Playboy, Foreign Policy, Religion Dispatches, Political Research Associates, Dame Magazine, the Moscow Times, EurasiaNet, and other outlets. Chrissy's personal blog, Not Your Mission Field, can be found at cstroop.com.

Lauren O Neal is a senior editor at Midnight Breakfast, contributing editor at Catapult, and cohost of the podcast Sunday School Dropouts. Her writing has appeared in publications like Slate, the LA Review of Books, The New Inquiry, Nylon, and more. Originally from San Francisco, she now lives in New York. You can follow her on Twitter at @laureneoneal.