PODCAST · religion
Heathen
by Heathen Podcast
Spiritual community without the shame shit. Heathen is a podcast about how we break up with bad religion, and what we find on the other side. #LessAloneMoreAlive
Episodes
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A Million Ways to Cry in the West
Hi heathens! We're going on tour! And we can't think of a better reason to break our nearly 2-year silence. In this episode, get the inside scoop on TWO new albums full of fantastic music, and then come hear it in person. We can't wait to see you, west coast. CryInTheWest.com SAT 3/18 — SAN…
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066| Drag and Mindf*ck of Misogyny
All four heathens are in the house and we're talking about gender, how to destroy it, and the art of drag. Everyone grows up under the massive pressures of the binary gender, and religious folks usually have a few extra layers weighing us down. Drag is one way to expand, fuck with, and blur the...
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065| Pelayo Alvarez & Melissa Weisz: Bragging Rights
Welcome to the show a couple of our favorite fellow podcast hosts, Pelayo Alvarez and Melissa Weisz. These incredible spacemakers and good friends are building spirituality from scratch after coming out of a Hasidic Jewish upbringing in Brooklyn (Melissa) and a Catholic upbringing in Northern...
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064| Brenda Marie Davies: The Spirit of Jezebel
We doubt we’re the first to introduce you to the phenom behind the very popular, very powerful platform God Is Grey, but if this does happen to be your first time encountering Brenda Marie Davies, we’re excited for you. Brenda is, in her own words, a sex-positive, LGBT+ affirming,...
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063| Suandria Hall: Mistakes Make Us
We've been massive fans of Suandria Hall since we first started following her on Instagram @mychoicemypowercounseling. Based in Denver, CO, Suandria is a life transitions and religious trauma coach—dolls, meet our absolute favorite certified Heathen counselor! Anissa and Karyn sat down with...
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062| Westerlight: The Old Magic
Westerlight is an Indie-Americana duo made up of Oklahoma singer-songwriters Rachel and Jonny Hupp. We talk with them about their shift from being worship leaders, how they quit church on accident, and what it’s been like to make music during a pandemic. You’ll love this deconstruction…
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061| Erin Burnett: The Bible Belt of Europe
Erin Burnett is an absolute delight of a human—her perspective, her incredible 21-year-old wisdom, and the ease of her laugh. Before reaching legal US drinking age, she’d taken a deep dive into fundamentalist Calvinism, published an Evangelical young adult novel, tumbled into a deconstruction arc...
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060| Raising Hell: Parenting After Religious Deconstruction
Welcome to the first episode of our new series we're wink-nudge calling Raising Hell!* Anissa and Karyn are taking on the complicated work of parenting through and beyond religious deconstruction. In Raising Hell episodes, we'll connect with experts, good books, and each other about what's…
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059| Blair: Talk Purity to Me
You've probably seen her Instagram or TikTok accounts. Meet Blair, the internet phenom who is shaming purity culture and helping us all have the sex life we want. She's using social media to skillfully expose the damage purity culture does, dismantling it one deluded, destructive lie at a time....
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058| Be Mad, But Maybe Not Forever (Season 5 Premiere)
Welcome back, heathens! There are four of us now. Meet your two new hosts, Anissa Nishira and Ben Grace, as they join Karyn and Flamy (formerly Matthew!) for a rousing round of catch up, sneak peek, and reflections on where we are a few years into this journey of deconstruction. Support Heathen:...
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057| Tess Meissner: Aliens, Bro
Look, here's the thing: maybe Jesus was an alien. Lots of folks say he was God incarnate and the savior of the world. But maybe he was an alien. It's worth a conversation, and if Heathen isn't the place for that conversation, we don't know what is. Tess Meissner, hypnotherapist and Heathen fan...
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056| The Many: Love > Fear
Three members of the band The Many—Leslie Michele, Darren Calhoun, and Lenora Rand—are here with a declaration: love is greater than fear. Drawing on indie pop and gospel influences, The Many is a liturgically-grounded new kind of worship band, an intentionally diverse collective making music for...
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055| Matthias Roberts: Every Prophet Started Off as a Heathen
For those of us who grew up in some form of purity culture, the landscape of shame and its scars is deeply familiar terrain. Author, Licensed Mental Health Counselor Associate, and host of the incomparable Queerology podcast Matthias Roberts’ commitment to the long work of learning to trust our...
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054| Azure Antoinette: So That God Might Remember the Sound of My Voice
Azure Antoinette talks poetry, church, and Motown. We're thrilled to share this conversation about the road to owning your own spirituality. azureantoinette.com @hello_azureantoinette We welcome your support for Heathen at patreon.com/heathenpodcast. Thank you!
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053| Colby Martin: I Don't Know If It's Right, But It's Good
We're quarantined with Colby Martin, AND he has a brand new book out, so—perfect time to record a podcast, right? Be sure to pick up your copy of "The Shift: Surviving and Thriving After Moving from Conservative to Progressive Christianity" today, and watch the incredible livestream book release...
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052| David Wimbish: Leaving Christianity Let Me Love It More
David Wimbish is part of The Collection, a North Carolina band we have fallen in love with. We're betting you will, too. Enjoy this discussion about apostasy, divorce, Sufism, music, and more. @collectionband Listen to The Collection on Spotify
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051| Derek Webb: God Doesn't Get Everything in the Divorce
Welcome back, heathens! It’s the start of season 4, it’s Valentine’s Day, and Derek Webb is back to talk love, relationships, breakups, and so much more. derekwebb.com Support Derek
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050| The Perks of Peaking Early
Merry Christmas and happy holidays, heathens! We're back with our final episode of 2019 and it's just family: Karyn and Matthew sit down to celebrate 50 episodes of Heathen and talk about why we feel old... and why we feel that's a good thing. Categories are: elderhood and mentoring, the freedom...
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049| Stephanie Tait: We Are Walking Theology
Author, speaker, and generally incomparable human Stephanie Tait is here to make the case for suffering and challenge false teachers who oppress, ignore, or avoid the vital theology each one of us brings to the table. Her new book "The View From Rock Bottom" is available now....
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048| Azariah Southworth: Petty Bitches with Power
He was always queer, even when he was hosting a highly-rated Christian TV show for the TBN network. Azariah Southworth met up with us in a library in Oceanside, CA, to talk about growing up Pentecostal, working in the Christian entertainment business, and the hard-won freedom he now embraces as a...
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047| Dustin Ransom: Wholeness Is Jell-O
Nashville singer/songwriter Dustin Ransom is stepping it up. He's a talented multi-instrumentalist who has played with and written for dozens of musicians, from Derek Webb to Jars of Clay to Chely Wright, but with the release of his new album Frontiers, the spotlight is on him. Which is fine,...
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046| Bird Ward: Pussy Prophet (SEXISODE)
A Heathen all-star returns for a second conversation about sex, bodies, menstruation, and all the spiritual underpinnings to our biology. Bird Ward creates space for the frank, honest, safe conversation around sex that is all but nonexistent in conservative Christian circles. Let’s head back to…
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045| Jake Wesley Rogers: The First Gay President
Don’t confuse him with Jacob from the Bible. Jake Wesley Rogers is a Nashville-based musician, songwriter, and performer whose music has been making us weep/fist-pump/belt out loud lately, and we’re so excited he agreed to have a conversation about spirituality with us. He just released a new EP...
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044| Elizabeth Jeffries, PhD: What Your Cells Already Know
"The story you and I experience is echoed down to the cellular level." Elizabeth Jeffries, PhD, is a molecular biologist and science writer whose new book, Through the Kaleidoscope: How Exploring Cell Biology Transforms My Relationship with God, arrives July 14, 2019.
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043| Amber Cantorna: How to Come Out
Amber Cantorna spent her childhood, among other things, as a voice actor on the popular evangelical children's radio program "Adventures in Odyssey." Her own adventures, though, took her on a path out of evangelicalism as she came out, got married, and began working as an author and activist to...
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042| Ben Grace: Naked & Unashamed
Ben Grace doesn't think the world has to get worse before it gets better. Here, this singer-songwriter transplant from Australia shares his story, from growing up in a cult to eating fried chicken naked on a front porch in Texas.
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041| Mathew Mitchell: The Bass Note of Selfhood
Mathew Mitchell is here to free you from the plagues of basic-ass struggle. It's a new season of Heathen and we're diving in headfirst with some talk about meditation and more. Includes some ACTUAL meditative practice you can do with us—wow!
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Coming (Very) Soon: Season 3 of Heathen
Hiatus is officially over, Heathens. We're back in action and can't wait to bring you a new season of godless spirituality. We wanted to pop into your feeds to do a quick catch up before we release the first conversation of Season 3 in just a few days. Here's to the Heathens! ♥
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Minisode| Thanksgiving Thoughts from a Park Bench
Hi, heathens! Even though we're in-between seasons right now, we wanted to send you some quick love at Thanksgiving. We know that with Thanksgiving often comes family, and with family—when you're a heathen—often comes a lot of discomfort, awkwardness, and downright difficult situations. So this…
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038| There Will Be Beauty and Pain
Season 2 finale. We can't believe it's been a year since Heathen started. In today's closer to season 2, we're reflecting on how we've changed and the things we learned along the way. There will be beauty, and there will be pain. Knowing and accepting this is part of our journey, and makes it...
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037| Megan Posner: Therapy & Jewish Prayers
Megan Posner grew up in a Jew-"ish" household. She shared with us stories of leading the congregation at her own bat mitzvah, birthright trips to the Holy Land, and experiences with depression and learning to care for her own mental health.
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036| Tess Meissner: A Shamanic Drum Journey to Meet Your Power Animal
It's time to slide down another slippery slope here at Heathen. Meet Tess Meissner, certified clinical hypnotherapist and shamanic practitioner. Settle in for an enlightening conversation about how Tess helps people heal through ancient shamanic practices, breaking trances, and reconnecting with...
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035| Boudoir Photography with Debra Alison (SEXISODE)
Sexy selfies and provocative pictures: not something our conservative religious upbringings looked too kindly upon. But there is some magic we've missed out on in being closed-off to sensual self-admiration, as Karyn discovered when she decided to book a boudoir photography session with today's...
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034| Kate & Colby: It Takes Friction to Make a Spark
Say hi to the heathenest pastors you'll find: ours. Kate Christensen-Martin and Colby Martin are co-founders of Sojourn Grace Collective, a podcast called The Kate and Colby Show, and four fantastic boys, among other things. They are also some of our dearest friends—dearer still after this...
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033| Jennifer Knapp: No Redemption Without Memory
By the time she was 25, Jennifer Knapp had gone about as high as you could go in the 1990s Christian music industry. Three records and nearly a million album sales in, she walked away. When she came back seven years later, she was ready to tell more of her story. We're so excited to bring you…
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032| I Was More Loved Than I Dared to Know: A Conversation with My Siblings
This week, meet Amy Canton and Clark Williams, my (Matthew's) sister and brother. I couldn't be prouder of them, or more excited for you to hear about our shared history and their own personal journeys out of religious trauma. The conversation took some very unexpected turns: parts of our own...
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031| James Johansen: Maybe Genitals Aren't Sacred (SEXISODE)
In our ongoing commitment to explore *all* the territory religious fundamentalism won't, it's time for a new Sexisode! Welcome James Johansen, a sex therapist with a special interest in polyamory and non-monogamy. This conversation is about understanding eroticism vs. intimacy, agency over our…
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030| Crystal Cheatham: The Bible Came Back To Me
Sometimes you can't find the thing you need, so you have to make it yourself. After years of deconstruction and reshaping of her faith, Crystal Cheatham found herself wanting a place to find inclusive, queer-affirming, non-gendered writings—and Bibles—that she could use in her own spiritual...
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029| Carly Gelsinger: My Deconstruction Happened on the Floor of a Bar
Carly Gelsinger is the author of the upcoming memoir "Once You Go In," a powerful story of shipwrecked faith. We got the early scoop and are excited to bring you this conversation with a former Pentecostal who is finding a new way.
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028| A Meditation on Good Things
"Success is making a good thing in a vile time." This thought from Myles E. Johnson was part of the inspiration for this week's episode, which is a collection of good things. Words we love, music and poetry to give perspective, comedy specials on Netflix that help us bear the unbearable. After...
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027| Alisha Jade: Why Can't I Just Take All The Best Parts?
Alisha Jade just wants to know why she can't take the best parts from all religions and make her own? She describes herself as a seeker, and her curiosity has taken her all over the spiritual map. Today we're talking sex, yoga, post-election blues, and privilege with Alisha Jade.
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026| Bird Ward: Toys & Butt Stuff (SEXISODE)
Undoubtedly, sex is one of the most fraught aspects of life for folks coming out of oppressive, conservative, restrictive religion. That's why we're doing Sexisodes: episodes about sex that are here to untangle, unburden, and enlighten us about our bodies, our relationships, and more. In today's...
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Minisode| There Is Love For You
Hi, heathens. It's been a week. We want you to know there is love for you. ♥ If you are well, take care of the family and friends you have. If you are numb or in pain, if you are struggling, if it feels too heavy: know that these podcasting nerds over here at Heathen headquarters love you. If...
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024| Anissa Nishira Cornelius: There's Already A White Version of 'The Wiz'
Anissa Nishira Cornelius joins co-host Karyn Thurston for a conversation from the She Is Called conference in Denver. Join these theatre geeks on a journey from Anissa's Baptist upbringing in San Diego to her role as a birth worker in Oklahoma. Anissa shares her experience growing up black in...
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023| SEXISODE: Sex In A Car
(This conversation centers on sexual assault.) It's our first literally-on-the-road episode. We drove to Hollywood on a whim to be in the audience for the taping of comic/writer/actor/podcast host extraordinaire Cameron Esposito's new special called "Rape Jokes." It was a provocative, hilarious,...
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022| Wendy Holland: If There's No Hell, What's My Faith For?
Wendy Holland is a minister in the Disciples of Christ tradition and came to Heathen to share why she's still ministering after a lifetime of frustration over the direction of the church in America. Her journey has led her to belief in an inclusive gospel, and she's wrestled with—and answered for...
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021| Kristen Cairns: Slippery Slopes & Alcohol
First things first: a trigger warning. We recognize the seriousness of alcohol and its effects in so many of our lives. Today's discussion centers around the cultural stigmas and attitudes towards alcohol in the evangelical systems we were brought up in and includes conversation and stories about...
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020| Eva Cruz Pena: Women Are Dangerous
Eva Cruz Pena is exploring the boundaries of irreverence. In Heathen’s first all-woman episode, we’re following the winding path of her journey from Puerto Rico, where she grew up leading worship and being reminded her voice and questions were a bit “too much” for a good Christian girl, to her...
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019| Listener Letters: Lean Into Your Own Understanding
Today, we're reading through some stories and feedback sent to us by listeners to Heathen, and damn—y'all are amazing. Thank you for sharing your stories, we love hearing them. We started off defining what we mean by "bad Christianity." It's a phrase we use around here that strikes some as...
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018| Derek Webb: Ditch the Hypothetical, Projected, Advertised Beliefs
Today: a real treat. We're delighted to welcome Derek Webb to Heathen. Derek has been a professional musical artist for nearly 25 years, as a founding member of the folk band Caedmon's Call and then as a solo artist. He's held a unique place in the Christian music world, often speaking to the...
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ABOUT THIS SHOW
Spiritual community without the shame shit. Heathen is a podcast about how we break up with bad religion, and what we find on the other side. #LessAloneMoreAlive
HOSTED BY
Heathen Podcast
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Frequently Asked Questions
How many episodes does Heathen have?
Heathen currently has 67 episodes available on PodParley. New episodes are automatically indexed when they're published to the podcast feed.
What is Heathen about?
Spiritual community without the shame shit. Heathen is a podcast about how we break up with bad religion, and what we find on the other side. #LessAloneMoreAlive
How often does Heathen release new episodes?
Heathen has 67 episodes. Check the episode list to see recent publication dates and frequency.
Where can I listen to Heathen?
You can listen to Heathen on PodParley by clicking any episode. We provide an embedded audio player for direct listening, and you can also subscribe via your preferred podcast app using the RSS feed.
Who hosts Heathen?
Heathen is created and hosted by Heathen Podcast.
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