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, because he has plenty to share, both through his music and in this rollicking, powerful conversation about his path toward wholeness.
Read MoreA 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.
Read MoreDon’t confuse him with Jacob from the Bible. Jake Wesley Rogers is a Nashville-based musician, songwriter, and performer who recently released a new EP called Spiritual. He’s doing the incredible work of queering religious iconography, translating his spiritual experience to soul-shaking songs, and reminding us that intuition is divine.
Read More"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.
Read MoreAmber 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 help other queer folks from conservative religious communities live unashamed lives.
Read MoreBen 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.
Read MoreMathew 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!
Read MoreHiatus 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! ♥
Read MoreHi, 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 is just a "we love you" voicemail to remind you that you are so, so not alone. When Uncle Pat puts on his MAGA hat, pop in your earbuds and spend a few minutes with us on a park bench. Here's to the heathens.
Read MoreSeason 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 possible to navigate through impossible circumstances. Thanks for traveling with us, heathens. We have big plans for season 3 and beyond, and we'll be dropping a few hints and surprises for our Patreon supporters until we hit the air again next year. Here's to the heathens.
Heathen will return mid-January 2019.
Read MoreMegan 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.
Read MoreIt'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 our own bodies and souls.
Read MoreSexy 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 guest, Debra Alison. Together, they rip through more prudish notions and specifically call out everything that can make a little racy photo session so affirming, empowering, and maybe even a little bit... sacred.
Read MoreSay 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 powerful, poignant, playful conversation about their chasm-wide differences, starting a church when their marriage was on the rocks, and the incredible good that has come from the friction that they have learned to value over the years.
Read MoreBy 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 this conversation with Jennifer Knapp.
Read MoreThis 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 stories were rewritten in real time as we shared and learned new information about major moments in each other's lives that we didn't know until they were said out loud on this recording. It was simply a gift, and there is so much here to give anyone with religious pain and trauma hope and a guidepost on the path toward healing.
Read MoreIn 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 own bodies, and the ethical way to have sex, no matter whether you choose monogamy or something more open. Ready to stretch a little, heathens? Let's get sexy.
Read MoreSometimes 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 practice. But the resources out there weren't willing hear her pitch. So, she became a resource herself. Founder of OurBibleApp and host of her own podcast called Lord Have Mercy—which deals with God, sex, and the Bible—Crystal is someone you need to know about, and we're happy to make the introduction.
Read MoreCarly 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.
Read More"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 what's been one of the harder weeks in a long season of hard weeks here in America, we invite you to join us for an hour of meditation on good things. It helped us; we hope it will you, too.
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