David Hayward, NakedPastor on Art

David Hayward is the NakedPastor www.nakedpastor.com

David is a cartoon artist who uses his art to challenge the status quo, deconstruct dogma, and offer hope for those who struggle and suffer under it.After 30 years in the church, he left the ministry to pursue his passion for art. He holds a Masters in Theological Studies, as well as Diplomas in Religious Studies and Ministry. He is also a writer with several books, and is based out of New Brunswick, Canada.

Maggie asks David how he got started with marking cartoons.

David started a blog back in 2004-5 under the moniker “NakedPastor” because he wanted to be honest as a pastor and talk about the real things that churches experience: conflict, financial struggles, spiritual abuse, doubts and fears. Having been an artist is whole life and really enjoying a good cartoon, he decided to give it a shot for himself. Not only did David enjoyed it but people really liked what he made. So he decided to challenge him: draw one cartoon a day and see how long it would last. He thought maybe it would last a couple of weeks and here he is 16 years later still doing it! He kept doing it because he was getting such a response

“If someone comes along to a 300-500 word blog post, if they are in agreement and they like it, they’re going to read it and maybe comment. But with a cartoon, it happens so fast. It’s like a split second and you can’t unsee it. I love the power and immediacy and the effectiveness of it [cartoons].”

Danielle says she wants to go back and ask how the title “NakedPastor” came to rest on his shoulders.

David says at the time there were shows out like “the naked chef,” “the naked archeologist,” “the naked truth.” He says “naked” just means raw, real, honest, open, vulnerable, no adornments, just the basic. In fact, he says he got the name by accident—someone else owned nakedpastor.com and he decided he would put his name in for whenever it became available. Sure enough, a year later he was notified by via email that he had won the auction for the domain name for $68.

He acknowledged the name has its problems, especially with the pedophilia and sexual abuse within the priesthood. But most people understand the meaning. It’s become a thing and it’s sticking around.

Maggie says he’s doing it—what initially drew her to his art was that it was real and honest, holding nothing back when looking at the church. She asks him what was his experience led him to critiquing the church?

David says he gets from a lot of people that they think he hates the church and wants to see it abolished. “They couldn’t be more wrong!” David grew up in the church; it was his spiritual home. He both loved the church and was harmed by it; both as a member but as a pastor. He says he also participated in the systemic, spiritual abuse that occurs in the church. “I found my cartoons were an effective way to address that, to make it graphic literally, so that people couldn’t deny it or unseen it.”

“I wanted to draw cartoons about of how the church does manipulates and coerce and shame and guilt and terrify and abuse people. And I know, intimately, because I experienced horrible spiritual abuse in the church and I also participated in, like I said, the dehumanization of people that’s just in the air of systems.” He names everything from the DMV, army, education, hospitals… “Wherever there is a system, the gravitational pull is towards the dehumanization of people. And that constantly has to be challenged and corrected. The church isn’t exempt from that, and that’s why I do what I do.”

Maggie says he puts an image to what many experience as wordlessness. When someone experiences spiritual abuse or trauma, they don’t necessarily have the words to put to what has happened to them. Maggie connected with one of his recent post on Instagram because it touched so close to her own experience. The cartoon of a church full of people and a pastor point out the door to a woman outside the church and the caption read “Good riddance! She was so uncontrollable anyway!” In his work he talking about spiritual abuse and patriarchy in a snap shot and for many people, including her, it hits close to home.

“That’s why I love cartoons, this happens all the time” David says. In the picture Maggie mentioned it was about a woman who was tired of being manipulated and dominated, people were trying to control her so she left. “This happens every day. So I draw a picture of it and put words to what’s actually happening.” In his own experiences he has actually heard pastors say, “good riddance” and “they were hard to manage” or “extra grace required.” And maybe it doesn’t happen in a moment like that but in a more gradual way over a lifetime, “but when you put more starkly in a picture, it really drives home the point I hope.”

Danielle says it does drive home the point. She’s been thinking about how art has become an expression and so “you must live really close to your own experience of the pain you’ve experienced or the pain you’ve caused and also the joy you’ve experienced and the joy you’ve been apart of.” Danielle says he must live in a way that keeps shame at bay so as not to take him out.

David says, “I believe in therapy. I think therapy is good.” Through therapy, counseling and coaching he has been able to come to the place of self-awareness and growth so that he can remember his trauma without re-living. “I don’t want to forget what happened but if I do remember, I don’t want to feel it all over again like it’s fresh.”

A lot people will see David’s post and assume he is angry and bitter and resentful; that he just needs to forgive and let go. But David says he doesn’t feel resentful; He doesn’t have anger or bitterness rooted in him. He has forgiven and healed of al