Cult-Proofing 101: Julie Bogart on Critical Thinking

Episode • Nov 13, 2023 • 1h 15m

Today’s episode is sponsored by BetterHelp.

Julie Bogart homeschooled her five children for seventeen years and participated in a Cincinnati homeschool co-op of 100 families with over 300 youngsters. But it wasn’t merely homeschoolers that were a little bit culty in her life. With experiences of missionary evangelical Christianity, the New Thought movement, Scientology, and four years as an e s t devotee, Julie Bogart’s got some culty notches in her belt. Now she’s helping cult-proof parents and their kids by teaching families to think well. In this episode, Julie shares insight into susceptibilities for cult-jumping, our perceptions of “trusted” authority/expertise, and the power of wonder and curiosity.

We’re also reminded of the parental golden rule: seek therapy yourselves before subjecting your kiddos to any kind of psychotherapy. For a deep dive into those waters, rewind to our episode with Meg Appelgate who navigated the Troubled Teen Industry firsthand.

NOTES:

Julie Bogart has devoted her life to the triumvirate of writing, kids, and parents and is known for her common sense parenting and education advice on how to raise critical thinkers. She created Brave Writer, an online writing and language arts program that coaches folks to discover their own original thoughts. She has scores of professional writing credentials including a weekly column for United Press International, Brave Writer's Home Study Courses, and two books, The Brave Learner and Raising Critical Thinkers. Mother of five and grandmother to three, Julie lives in Cincinnati, Ohio.

You can find her on Twitter and Instagram.

Also…

Let it be known far and wide, loud and clear 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.

Switch to the Fountain App

Open in Fountain