Episode

Jasper Hoffman, Part 1 - From Atheists to Mennonites

Podcast
Trust Me: Cults, Extreme Belief, and Manipulation
Published
Jul 8, 2026
Duration seconds
3146
Processing state
not_requested
Canonical source
https://omny.fm/shows/trust-me-cults-extreme-belief-and-manipulation/jasper-hoffman-part-1-from-atheists-to-mennonites
Audio
https://podtrac.com/pts/redirect.mp3/traffic.omny.fm/d/clips/e73c998e-6e60-432f-8610-ae210140c5b1/f804eed6-dd2f-4bf9-ba37-b2de011a8b27/30eaa630-9b22-4c62-923b-b4800007d309/audio.mp3?utm_source=Podcast&in_playlist=462fb424-93c4-4e4b-8e00-b2de011a8b44
JSON
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Markdown
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Summary

This week, the girls are joined by Jasper Hoffman, writer, podcaster, and former Mennonite. In part one, she explains how her parents went from a being punk rock atheist and an anthropology major to homesteading, homeschooling, and going to church: first a non-denominational one, and then a Mennonite church that came to town for “Revival Week” when Jasper was a kid. She’ll describe how it then escalated to her family moving to the Midwest, getting rid of all of their material possessions, and committing wholeheartedly to being Mennonites, with redacted encyclopedias and physical punishment in the basement for children who were considered rebellious–and why she was forbidden from going back to school. Plus, stay tuned for part two next week, in which she tells her story of leaving the church. SOURCES The Plain People's Podcast See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.