Julianna Glasse: This Is What Happens When Women Read

‘This is what happens when women read!’ That is what Julianna Glasse’s husband screamed at her when he discovered the secret stash of books she had been hiding under their bed.

Until then, Julianna had been a pop star, an exemplary wife and mother, and one half of a Christian power couple. Her husband was a Major League Baseball star, and together they led Bible studies for his teammates and their wives. Julianna even sang at President Trump’s first National Prayer Breakfast.

Then she started reading.

Plato’s Republic. Simone de Beauvoir’s The Second Sex. The poetry of Dickinson, Rumi and Rilke. Slowly, the books opened up a world beyond the one she had been taught to accept, and Julianna began questioning beliefs she had previously regarded as absolute truths. Questions she knew her strict religious community would not welcome.

When her husband berated her for the crime of reading, something broke. Julianna made the extraordinary decision to publicly leave both her marriage and her church.

What followed was a process of educating herself, rebuilding her life and ultimately working to reach other women living without agency inside restrictive religious communities.

Join us as Julianna recounts her riveting journey from Christian power couple to outspoken advocate, and explores the continuing fight for women’s freedom, education and agency within religious communities around the world.