Drunk Ex-Pastors

In episode 254 of Drunk Ex-Pastors, after our usual combination of banter, non-sequiturs, and rabbit trails of distraction, we open the floor up to our patrons and other listeners by answering the questions they posed to us online. We discuss the various jobs we have had and which were our favorites, we talk about the best TV show theme songs from the '80s, what we'd do if we won the lottery, as w...

We begin DXP #253 with a discussion about hobbies and why they're not all they're cracked up to be. We get some unsolicited dog-training advice, discuss the time-saving benefits of profiling people in the service industry, and break down the best way to give away millions of dollars. We answer a caller's question about our experiences of God's existence, and then discuss a controversial scene from...

In episode #252 we hear a suggestion about distilling and branding our own liquor, after which we recount our past experiences regarding leaving our former church, Calvary Chapel. We discuss a couple recent Netflix documentaries about women we admire, and then address some charges of racism surrounding people's responses to the Notre Dame fire. We respond to a caller's comments about the God of Ca...

In episode #251 of Drunk Ex-Pastors we spend some time arguing over whether old movies suck or not, as well as over why people get excited about long battle scenes in TV and films. We then turn our attention to the difficulty of spiritual deconstruction done in public, and how responsible we should feel toward those who were members of our former congregations. We then share our biebers, which inv...

In our sestercentennial episode of DXP we tease the audience about what it would take in order for us to start putting out a midweek show (it's well within the real of possibility actually). We then engage a long-time fan's input about having a minority president, after which we discuss a patron's question about the value of history and what it has to teach us. We spend some time discussing anothe...

DXP #249 begins with the introduction of a new addition to the family. We hear from a caller asking for further thoughts on our own spiritual and political deconstruction, and from another who wants to know whether ignorance really was bliss. We discuss the merits of having a girl president (wink), and then launch a new segment titled DXP Confessions which allows our listeners to call in and unbur...

In DXP #248 we briefly debate whether it's OK to dislike the movie "Us" without also being racist, after which we discuss the black inventor of the lightbulb whom you've never heard of because white people always take credit for everything. We revisit the water bottle issue, and then answer a caller's question about how our respective processes of deconstruction affected our friendship. We break d...

In episode #247 of Drunk Ex-Pastors we discuss the origin of various nicknames (as in, how the hell do you get "Peggy from "Margaret" or "Dick" from "Richard"?). We then turn our attention to the differences between Cardi B and Bill Cosby and whether it's okay to drug people in order to just rob rather than rape them. We discuss the developments surrounding the Mueller report and then share our bi...

For some reason, episode #246 of Drunk Ex-Pastors includes a lengthy discussion about masturbation despite the topic appearing nowhere in our outline. We discuss innovation and the recent documentary, The Inventor, and then we answer a caller's question about where our views currently stand on spiritual matters (I think it is fair to say that both of us have undergone a bit of evolution in this ar...

Remember those '80s VSEs ("Very Special Episodes") where a show like Facts of Life or Diff'rent Strokes would delve into some serious, dark territory? The first half of DXP #245 is kind of like that. After discussing death and loss, we turn our attention in the second half to celebrity comeuppance, fair wage policy, and whether the history of America is really just the history of various forms of...

DXP #244 begins with some thoughts about HBO's documentary, Leaving Neverland, which leads into a crazy story involving a certain casino and Ted Bundy. We hear back from a recent caller about the minimum wage, and then discuss how scared we should be of automation (things get a bit meta here). We get a bit of pushback about the whole "white Buddhists" thing, and then hear from another caller who h...

We begin DXP #243 by switching our disparaging remarks about Steven Tyler to a different glamrocker, after which we conclude—we promise—our discussion about scientific materialism and the meaning of life (because such a mundane topic must be so boring for people). We touch briefly upon the Cohen hearing, as well as push back a bit against what we consider to be ridiculous and PC-driven views on ra...

In DXP #242 we debrief a bit about the cruise we just took, after which we hear some pushback we got for being so dishonest (this leads into a discussion about media bias on the left and the right). We discuss a recent hotel-related documentary we watched, prompting a chat about the virtue of wealth. We then spend a fair bit of time fielding the objections we have heard about whether or not scient...

In episode #241 of Drunk Ex-Pastors we talk a bit about Bruce Sanguin's book, Dismantled, discussing the issue of psychedelics and spirituality (prompting an aside about whether Jason has ever really had any true childhood trauma). We take calls from listeners about healthcare and whether minimum wage laws are a good thing, and then turn to our biebers, which are admittedly incredibly "first world...

In this episode of DXP we talk a bit about the various films nominated for Best Picture (one of us has committed to watch them all before the event, the other hasn't heard of any of them. We'll let you guess who's who). We take a dive into the conservative psyche and discuss whether it's true that there are crazy zealots "on both sides" (it's not). Before turning to our biebers—which involve truan...

Episode #239 of DXP begins with a caller's lament over our relative happiness, after which we take another listener's question about the degree (if any) to which we experience "white guilt." We discuss the communal aspect of sports and whether they are a positive part of society or a mere distraction from what matters. Biebers involve doctors and games that supposedly showcase our vocabularies.   ...

Episode #238 of Drunk Ex-Pastors begins with a listener's question about how we'd feel about being undertakers, which then devolves into a self-exploration concerning just how much blatant theft we would be comfortable with (turns out, quite a bit). We discuss Trump and porn a bit (as separate topics, thankfully), and then address the recent Covington Catholic student controversy, bringing a bit o...

DXP #237 begins with a cruel attack on Christian and his obvious speech impediment (words are hard for some people!). We then discuss the recent Gillette ad targeting toxic masculinity, exploring issues like why it is so offensive for certain people to be told there's room for improvement. We turn our attention to a documentary about social media influencers called The American Meme, discussing th...

In DXP #236 we begin with some banter and a shot, after which we turn our attention to the recently leaked audio from Louis CK's new comedy act (which many have criticized for his supposed mocking of school shooting victims and non-binary people), exploring the role of comedy in our current cultural climate. We then discuss firebrand congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and the various controver...

In this episode of Drunk Ex-Pastors we spend some time shooting the breeze as usual, after which we address some of the pushback we received over last week's interview with Mark Gober, revisiting such topics as "Can atheists be good people?", "Is materialist science too limiting?", and "Which kinds of spoons are best for bending with our mind?" As is sometimes the case, the two of us disagreed som...

In this episode #234 of Drunk Ex-Pastors we are challenged by a caller to evaluate our own prejudices concerning people who live in apartments and drink grape soda, after which we chat with author Mark Gober about his new book, An End to Upside-Down Thinking. We explore topics like whether we are really nothing more than our physical, material selves, and what "paranormal" phenomena like ESP, remo...

In this episode of Drunk Ex-Pastors we chat with Cass Midgley, a former youth pastor and current host of the "Everyone's Agnostic" podcast. We discuss issues such as the doctrine of eternal torment in the lake of fire and why such an idea might be a tad destructive (apparently being dangled over the yawning chasm of hell is not the healthiest feeling. Who knew?).      

In this episode of Drunk Ex-Pastors we basically ditch our entire outline in order to address a couple listeners' questions: What would our lives look like now if we had never left our former church (and do we feel regret over the decision at all?) Another caller leaves a voicemail simply to ask how we are doing on a personal level, to which we respond by getting all vulnerable or whatever. Bieber...

In this episode of DXP we discuss a recent study whose findings show that men who suffer from issues with their hairlines and/or wieners are more likely to support Donald Trump. This leads to a discussion of toxic masculinity and Christian dominionism more generally. We weigh in on journalist Jamal Khashoggi's murder and Trump's non-response, and then move on to biebers involving check-out lines a...

This episode of DXP begins with a plea for one of our favorite listeners to recognize his own greatness. We then hear from someone who poses the question of whether people can be genuinely good people as well as supporters of Donald Trump (a true moral dilemma if there ever were one). We revisit drug legalization, and then launch into a discussion about John Chau's death and about martyrdom in gen...