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Coming Soon: This Is My Story, a special season of Impolite Company, focused on telling the stories of women who have made voting an act of faith.
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\\nTRAILER TRANSCRIPT:
\\nI\\u2019m Amy Sullivan, and you\\u2019re listening to This Is My Story, a special season of Impolite Company.

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In the conservative Baptist church in the Midwest where I grew up, women weren\\u2019t allowed to have roles in Sunday worship, outside of the music ministry. They didn\\u2019t even pass out bulletins as ushers. Although, to be honest, I\\u2019m not sure what biblical authority would have been violated there.

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Instead, once a year, we\\u2019d hold Women\\u2019s Sunday, letting women pretend they were in charge for the day. There was obviously no question of having a woman preach. So instead of a sermon, every year one woman would share her testimony. Because apparently the men of the church decided that was safe. After all, it was just her own story.

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They didn\\u2019t understand the power of stories.

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You see, personal stories are how we relate to one another. More than that, research tells us that the most effective social change happens through storytelling, that people are most persuaded by their peers who have stood where they are. People need to feel understood, and they need to hear that change is possible.

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That\\u2019s why I\\u2019ve left two decades in journalism to launch This Is My Story, a new initiative to help women tell their stories of making voting an act of faith. In each of the twelve weeks between now and Election Day, this special podcast season of the same name will tell the story of a different woman\\u2019s shift in her faith and politics, about what convicted her to see loving her neighbor as a commandment to shape not only how she lives her life, but also how she votes.

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We\\u2019ll talk to women who were once firmly in the conservative Christian world. They include former street-corner evangelists, crisis pregnancy clinic workers, and a surprising number of former missionaries. You\\u2019ll hear how each of them ventured outside the bubbles in which they\\u2019d been raised, and what it was that caused them to embrace a kind of politics that\\u2019s more focused on loving our neighbors than protecting an in-group.

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We would love to have you join us for this special season. Subscribe to Impolite Company wherever you listen to podcasts. And follow us on ThisIsMyStoryProject.com for more conversation, free downloads, and live events. It\\u2019s long past time to use the power of our stories to bring about justice and change.\\xa0