The Sacred Slope

71. The Religious Left Isn't New. The Spotlight Is. | Rev. Joseph Yoo (Episcopal) After the 2026 midterms, Ezra Klein described the “return of a religious left,” while Vox and NPR have explored progressive Christianity's role in politics. Welcome! We're thrilled this conversation is happening, and we'd love to introduce you to the bigger story. The religious left isn't new. For generations, pastor...

Send us Fan Mail 70. Can Christians Vote Democrat? Rethinking MAGA, Evangelicalism & Faith | Carter Brown, Leigh Larson & Alexis Rice How fun is this? We were on Leigh Larson's Podcast, Follow the Leighder! Can you be a faithful Christian and vote Democrat? What happens when your conscience no longer agrees with the politics you were taught were Christian? Former MAGA supporter Carter...

Send us Fan Mail 69. Robert G. Callahan II (Christian, Former Evangelical) | Fire in the Whole: Righteous Anger & Reclaiming Faith What if your anger at the Christianity you inherited isn't evidence that you've lost your faith, but evidence that you still care about what Jesus taught? Can you reject harmful Christianity without rejecting Jesus? Attorney, author, and Christian advocat...

Send us Fan Mail Introducing The Sacred Slope Highlights! 🎙️ We're launching our new Highlights series with the most popular episode in The Sacred Slope's history! Our conversation with historian and New York Times bestselling author Kristin Kobes Du Mez (@kkdumez) is resonating with more of you than any other episode. And now, here is the snackable edition. Some of you love an hour-plus...

Send us Fan Mail 68. Dr. Robert P. Jones (PRRI) | Backslide: Christian Nationalism, Trump & America's Moral Reckoning What happens when Christians are taught that one political party speaks for God? What happens to democracy when faith becomes a tool for political power? And how do we reclaim our moral conscience? Just before the 2026 U.S. midterm elections, Dr. Robert P. Jones (Robby), f...

Send us Fan Mail 67. Tracy E. Gilchrist | Holding Space in Hollywood: Queer Media, Advocacy & the Power of Human Connection What does it take to make some of Hollywood's biggest stars feel truly seen? For Tracy E. Gilchrist, it starts with a simple question, genuine curiosity, and the willingness to hold space for another human being. The longtime LGBTQ+ entertainment journalist and forme...

Send us Fan Mail 66. Meghan Tschanz (Exvangelical) | How Purity Culture Fuels **pe Culture & Silences Women What happens when Christianity teaches girls that their bodies are dangerous—and men's behavior is their responsibility? What if purity culture doesn't protect women, but helps create the conditions for abuse? And what happens when Christian women finally trust their own voices...

Send us Fan Mail 65. Rev. Darrell Hamilton II (Baptist) | Healing Religious Trauma: Tending to Open Wounds What happens when the Christianity that was supposed to heal you is what wounded you? What if questioning your faith isn't a slippery slope to hell, but the beginning of liberation? And what if the image of God you inherited shapes how you see women, LGBTQ+ people, race, and power? Rev....

Send us Fan Mail 64. Healing After Evangelicalism & Finding a Beautiful Faith | Diana Butler Bass (Methodist → Evangelical → Episcopal) What if the Christianity you were taught was never the only Christianity that existed? What if leaving evangelicalism didn't mean leaving Jesus? And what if the people best positioned to help heal Christianity are those who understand more than one Christ...

Send us Fan Mail 63. The Vote is Sacred: Faith, Christian Nationalism & the Fight for Democracy | Rev. Paul Brandeis Raushenbush What happens when a form of Christianity is used to decide who belongs in America? Christian nationalism. Religious freedom. A democracy under extraordinary strain. And Christians, Jews, Muslims, Sikhs, Buddhists, Hindus, people of many faiths and people of no faith...

Send us Fan Mail 62. Kathy Baldock (Evangelical) | The 1946 Bible Mistranslation Behind Anti-Gay Theology What if one of Christianity’s most consequential teachings about LGBTQ people was built on a translation mistake? Plant sex. A bizarre U.S. Navy sting operation. Nazis burning decades of sexuality research. And a Bible translation decision in 1946 that would reverberate for generations. What c...

Send us Fan Mail 61. Lisa Sharon Harper (Episcopal) | White Supremacy, Evangelicalism & Decolonizing Christianity What if the Christianity many Americans are deconstructing isn’t Christianity itself-but a version shaped by whiteness, empire, and power? Lisa Sharon Harper is a public theologian, author, activist, playwright, founder and president of FreedomRoad, and is currently discerning ordi...

Send us Fan Mail 59. Theology Beer Camp Preview (Ilia Delio, Tripp Fuller, Sarah Heath & Josh Patterson) | We Shocked a Theologian With What We Were Taught About Christianity What happens when you tell a theologian what millions of American evangelicals were taught they had to believe in order to be Christian? Ilia Delio was shocked. She's not the only one. I have done this exercise with...

Send us Fan Mail 60. Raised Pentecostal vs. United Methodist | Deconstruction, Doubt & Finding God Again with Colten Barnaby & Rev. Dr. S.C. Williams What happens when two Christians grow up in almost completely different versions of Christianity? Colten Barnaby grew up in a strict Oneness Holiness Pentecostal world, speaking in tongues at five years old and believing other Christians stil...

Send us Fan Mail 59. Theology Beer Camp Preview (Ilia Delio, Tripp Fuller, Sarah Heath & Josh Patterson) | We Shocked a Theologian With What We Were Taught About Christianity What happens when you tell a theologian what millions of American evangelicals were taught they had to believe in order to be Christian? Ilia Delio was shocked. She's not the only one. I have done this exercise with...

Send us Fan Mail 58. Interfaith Comedy (Yasmin Elhady, Carmiya Weinraub & PT Bratton) | A Muslim, a Jew, and Two Christians Walk Into a Podcast Comedians Yasmin Elhady, Carmiya Weinraub, and P. T. Bratton join Alexis Rice for an interfaith conversation about faith, comedy, stereotypes, friendship, and the questions people are often too nervous to ask out loud. Together, they are part of Interf...

Send us Fan Mail 57. Matthew Boedy (Baptist) | The Seven Mountains Mandate: Exposing the Dangerous Plan to Christianize America and Destroy Democracy What if something many Christians dismiss as fringe is actually an organized framework for changing American culture? Religion. Family. Education. Government and military. Media. Arts and entertainment. Business. These are the Seven Mountains. Dr. Ma...

Send us Fan Mail 56. Kristin Kobes Du Mez (Christian) | Live Laugh Love: The Secret History of White Christian Women and the World They Made What if the Christianity you were taught was never the only way to be Christian? For millions of women raised in American evangelicalism, the rules felt inseparable from the faith itself. Be pure. Submit. Don’t question authority. Stay inside the lines. Follo...

Send us Fan Mail 55. Birdy Mae (Southern Baptist) — When Evangelical Christianity Stops Feeling Like Home Birdy Mae knew how to be a good Southern Baptist woman. Know the Bible. Serve constantly. Believe the right things. Raise your kids the right way. And be certain. “I was desperate to be like her. Because I thought she knew Jesus.” Eventually, Birdy became her. Then the certainty started cracki...

Send us Fan Mail 54. Father Dan Storrs (Old Roman Catholic) When Following Jesus Makes You the 'Wrong Kind of Christian' What happens when a gay Catholic priest keeps following Jesus - even after Christians tell him he doesn’t belong? Father Dan Storrs is an Old Roman Catholic priest whose journey has taken him through the Assemblies of God, the Baptist church, Eastern Orthodoxy, and eve...

Send us Fan Mail 53. Dr. Samantha Bise (Lutheran, ELCA)  Tongue in Church , a Liberating Primer on Christian Vocabulary What if the Christian words you have heard your entire life do not mean exactly what you were taught? Dr. Samantha Bise joins Alexis Rice to unpack the history, translation, culture, and power hiding inside familiar words like virgin, salvation, gospel, Savior, and born again . A...

Send us Fan Mail 52. A Different Side of Miss Peppermint: Growing Up in Church, Activism & Christian Nationalism’s Impact on the Trans Community What changes when we simply listen? In this moment in history, listening and empathy are essential. Miss Peppermint joins Alexis Rice for a joyful, vulnerable conversation about faith, storytelling, tea, Christian nationalism, and what the trans commu...

Send us Fan Mail 🎙️ 51. Same Faith. Different Beliefs. Still Christian. (Part 2) – Rev. Gerlyn Henry (Anglican, Canada), Pastor Paul Drees (ELCA Lutheran, USA) & Pastor Joe Smith (Post-Evangelical, USA) What were you taught you had to believe in order to be a Christian? And what happened when you started asking questions? In Part 2 of this conversation, Alexis Rice returns with Rev. Gerlyn Hen...

Send us Fan Mail 50. Same Faith. Different Beliefs. Still Christian. (Part 1) – Rev. Gerlyn Henry (Anglican, Canada), Pastor Paul Drees (ELCA Lutheran, USA) & Pastor Joe Smith (Raised Evangelical, USA) What if something you were taught you had to believe to be Christian was something millions of other Christians were never taught at all? That question exploded after a Sacred Slope “Put Your Fi...

Send us Fan Mail 49. Matthew Paul Turner – (Author, When I Thank God) Giving Our Kids a Faith They Don’t Have to Heal From New York Times bestselling children’s author Matthew Paul Turner joins The Sacred Slope for a conversation about the stories we tell children about God—and the ones many adults are still learning to tell themselves. Alexis and Matthew explore why children don’t get to choose t...