‘Canceled Christian’ shares her story of changing her pro-life beliefs

By Emma Dunn via SWNS

A “canceled Christian” who grew up believing in pro-life and anti-abortion has changed her stance after “deconstructing” her faith.

Cherie Transeau, 26, was brought up as a fundamentalist Christian – which she describes as believing in “no errors in the bible” and taking it as a “literal interpretation”.

She says she was taught about “extreme beliefs on women” – and says she didn't think a woman could be a president or take a leadership role within the church.

Cherie says she was told abortion was “worse than the Holocaust” and protested from the age of eight with her church – something she now feels “ashamed” of.

When Cherie started at a Christian college, she began to question her beliefs and claimed the people surrounding her had “no mercy” or “empathy”.

She began to research her stance on pro-life and realized the bible verses "didn’t match up to a view of anti-abortion".

Cherie stopped going to church during lockdown and said it “deprogrammed” her and she now no longer believes in fundamentalism and supports pro-choice.

She still has her faith and refers to herself as a “progressive Christian” or a “canceled Christian”.

Cherie, a property manager owner, from Alexandria, Virginia, US, said: “If you questioned anything you were going to hell.

“Every Friday the churches and I would go around protesting against abortion.

“I’m so ashamed of it now.

“I was told abortion was worse than the Holocaust.

“I was told a woman should close their legs.

“I was told they were mostly late-term abortions.

“Most people don’t question it.

“Women should be able to have sex if they want to.

"I was taught it's bad, bad, bad but when you're ok it's ok.

"I didn't get a proper sex education.

"I was told women are there to keep their husbands from stop cheating.

"it was very hard to go from it's bad to ok this is good."

Cherie grew up believing the LGBTQ+ community was a “lie” and women “didn’t have a huge role in society”.

She said fundamentalists "really want to have an influence in politics to push their beliefs further".

Cherie said pro-life views were driven into her from a young age and she protested from the age of eight.

Cherie said: “I didn’t really like being pro-life.

“I heard the stories from pro-choice supporters – such as rape.

“I didn’t love my stance.

“But I thought 'it’s a baby – they are murdering babies'.”

Cherie says she was always seen as a “rebellious child” as she didn’t want children and believed in democratic laws instead of republican - which fundamentalists support.

She first started properly questioning her beliefs in college – after not liking the fellow believers she was surrounded by.

Cherie started to deconstruct the idea she was taught that women couldn’t get a divorce – even if they were being abused.

She said: “They had misinterpreted the Bible to put men above women.

“It felt so wrong.”

Cherie researched her pro-life stance to show her way of thinking – despite this not being encouraged.

She said: “There are not many verses for pro-life as there is for pro-choice.”

It took Cherie a few years to unpack everything she believed but she detached herself from fundamentalism in early 2020 – as did her husband, Landon, 27, an administrator.

She said after not being able to go to church because of the lockdown the “brainwashing stopped” and she became “deprogrammed”.

When Cherie first told Landon that she wasn’t sure of her beliefs she says he was scared.

She said: “He was scared his wife was going to hell.

“But after a lot of conversations he said ‘you’re right’.”

Landon claims he grew up with even stricter beliefs – such as not being able to watch any films and women not being allowed to wear trousers.

After deconstructing her fundamentalist beliefs, Cherie had an “identity crisis” as it was all she had ever known.

She said: “Even now I’ll get a sudden fear I’m going to hell.

“It was really cemented in me.”

Cherie now “hates” the term Christian but still believes in God and the Bible but not in a literal interpretation.

She hopes by sharing her story she can help others to question beliefs to find out what they truly believe.

She said: “I’m encouraging people to question their beliefs.”