The Revealer

What are the limits of today’s wellness culture and how might thinking about the religious roots of wellness trends give them more meaning? Liz Bucar, author of Beyond Wellness: How Restoring the Religious Roots of Spiritual Practices Can Heal Us, joins us to discuss today’s wellness industry. How might things like yoga and fitness classes offer more if we think about religion? How might religion...

What is the history of evangelical queer activism? William Stell, author of Born Again Queer: A History of Evangelical Gay Activism and the Making of Antigay Christianity, joins us to discuss what gay evangelical activists set out to achieve. Who were some of the most prominent evangelical gay activists and what were their goals? How did evangelical leaders and institutions respond to this activis...

How is vaccine hesitancy in America like a religion? Kira Ganga Kieffer, author of Unvaccinated Under God: Religion and Vaccine Hesitancy in Modern America, joins us to discuss connections between vaccine hesitancy and religion. What factors contributed to large numbers of people expressing skepticism at pharmaceutical companies and medical authorities? What led to an alliance between vaccine-hesi...

What is contributing to the number of Puerto Ricans converting to Islam, and what is the longer history of Latino Muslims in the Americas? Ken Chitwood, author of Borícua Muslims: Everyday Cosmopolitanism among Puerto Rican Converts to Islam, joins us to discuss Puerto Rican Muslims. How do Puerto Rican Muslims navigate life as a religious minority in Puerto Rico and throughout the United States?...

What was life like in Gaza before October 7, 2023, and what has it been like since the ceasefire at the end of 2025? Gilbert Achcar, author of Gaza Catastrophe: The Genocide in World-Historical Perspective, joins us to discuss Gaza today and historically. How do the Palestinians in Gaza view Hamas? Why did it become politically complicated to call the mass death and destruction in Gaza a genocide?...

Why do so many white evangelicals, the religious group with the highest gun ownership rates in the country, believe they have a “God-given right” to possess firearms? William Kole, author of In Guns We Trust: The Unholy Trinity of White Evangelicals, Politics, and Firearms, joins us to discuss evangelicals’ fixation with gun access. Why don’t mass shootings, even in schools, provoke more than “tho...

What does it mean to be intersex, and how have religious communities responded to the presence of intersex people? M. Wolff, author of Body Problems: What Intersex Priest Sally Gross Teaches Us about Embodiment, Justice, and Belonging, joins us to discuss intersex activism. What do intersex activists want from the medical field, religious communities, and the broader society? How did the Catholic...

Why turn to the Bible to look for insights on transgender people and gender variation, especially when so many anti-trans people use the Bible to justify bigotry? Joseph Marchal and Melissa Harl Sellew, two editors of the book Trans Biblical: New Approaches to Interpretation and Embodiment in Scripture, join us to discuss what it means to do a trans interpretation of the Bible. What does the Bible...

How are some religious communities working to support and protect undocumented immigrants in the United States? Barbara Sostaita, author of Sanctuary Everywhere: The Fugitive Sacred in the Sonoran Desert, joins us to discuss why some religious people believe it is their duty to help migrants. What specific things are religious communities able to do for undocumented immigrants? What is life like f...

What is the history of Black Catholics in the United States, and what are the most pressing issues facing Black Catholics today? Tia Noelle Pratt, author of Black and Catholic: Racism, Identity, and Religion, joins us to discuss Black Catholics and racism in the Catholic Church. In what ways does the U.S. Catholic Church perpetuate systemic racism? How have Black Catholics tried to combat this rac...

Why have sex scandals been such a common feature of Protestant leadership in the United States? Suzanna Krivulskaya, author of Disgraced: How Sex Scandals Transformed American Protestantism, joins us to discuss the history of public sex scandals among Protestant pastors. What do these scandals say about the culture? How have disgraced ministers tried to rehabilitate their careers following scandal...

What factors are contributing to the rightwing momentum among adolescent males in the United States? Angela Denker, author of Disciples of White Jesus: The Radicalization of American Boyhood, joins us to discuss the rightward movement of white Christian boys and young men. What messages are teen boys receiving from social media influencers, youth pastors, and politicians about masculinity? What ar...

What are the connections between borders, immigration, and religion? Elizabeth Shakman Hurd, author of Heaven Has a Wall: Religion, Borders, and the Global United States, joins us to discuss the United States’ deep investment in and fixation on national borders. What legal rights does anyone have within 100 miles of any of America’s national borders? How does a country that promotes religious free...

What exactly was the Black Panther Party, what did it set out to achieve, and what parallels exist between today and when the Black Panthers first started? Mary Frances Phillips, author of Black Panther Woman: The Political and Spiritual Life of Ericka Huggins, joins us to talk about a prominent member of the Black Panthers, the spiritual practices she developed while incarcerated, how her spiritu...

Given the amount of police and prisons in the United States, why is there still so much crime and what does that say about the effectiveness, or lack thereof, of policing and incarceration? Andrew Krinks, author of White Property, Black Trespass: Racial Capitalism and the Religious Function of Mass Criminalization, joins us to discuss the reasons police and prisons exist and if they actually make...

Who are the organizations, people, religious communities, and think tanks that are working to erode America’s democracy and push the country to authoritarianism? Acclaimed investigative journalist Katherine Stewart, author of Money, Lies, and God: Inside the Movement to Destroy American Democracy, joins us to discuss these groups, how they’re funded, and the power of their propaganda. How do thing...

What are the countless insidious ways religion manifests in our culture, in our politics, and in our daily lives even if we ourselves are not religious people? Megan Goodwin and Ilyse Morgenstein Fuerst, authors of Religion Is Not Done with You: Or, the Hidden Power of Religion on Race, Maps, Bodies, and Law, join us to discuss how religion shapes everything from our calendars to our healthcare sy...

Why does our culture celebrate forgiveness and how can the pressures to forgive cause harm to people who have already been wronged? What role does Christianity play in this cultural pressure, and what are common Christian message about forgiveness? Kaya Oakes, author of Not So Sorry: Abusers, False Apologies, and the Limits of Forgiveness, joins us to discuss the potential problems with forgivenes...

What exactly happened following the Supreme Court’s decisions outlawing prayer and devotional Bible readings in public schools, as well as the outlawing of racial segregation? Leslie Beth Ribovich, author of Without a Prayer: Religion and Race in New York City Public Schools, joins us to discuss public school secularization and desegregation, and the legacies of these monumental Supreme Court deci...

For the past few decades, several Black Christian denominations have seen a significant decline in religious affiliation and church attendance. Jason Shelton, author of The Contemporary Black Church: The New Dynamics of African American Religion, joins us to discuss what has contributed to these changes and how the Black church’s decline is altering Black life more broadly in the United States. Ho...

What role did the substantial movement of Charismatic Christians play in January 6, and how are they shaping today’s Christian nationalism? Matthew D. Taylor, author of The Violent Take It by Force: The Christian Movement That is Threatening Our Democracy, joins us to discuss Charismatic Christianity, its prominent growth, and its place in the Republican Party. How have Charismatic Christians move...

For our 50th episode, we’re discussing American Jews who participate in activism to support justice for Palestinians. What has taken place over the past decade or so that has pushed many American Jews, especially younger Jews, to criticize Israel and to express solidarity with Palestinians? Oren Kroll-Zeldin, author of Unsettled: American Jews and the Movement for Justice in Palestine, joins us to...

For what reasons do some people express shock when they learn that celebrities like Zac Efron and Drake are Jewish? What does their surprise say about people’s assumptions about Jewish identity and race? Jonathan Branfman, author of Millennial Jewish Stars: Navigating Racial Antisemitism, Masculinity, and White Supremacy, joins us to discuss stereotypes of Jews in the media and how some celebritie...

Elisabeth Elliot was a longtime leader and icon within evangelical Christian communities who taught about marriage, sexuality, and gender roles. Liz Charlotte Grant, author of The Revealer article “Elisabeth Elliot, Flawed Queen of Purity Culture, and Her Disturbing Third Marriage” joins us to discuss her article about Elliot that went viral as soon as we published it. What were Elliot’s teachings...

With workplace raids, family separation, detention centers, and deportations, how are religious communities responding to issues facing Latinos in the United States? Gina Pérez, author of Sanctuary People: Faith-Based Organizing in Latina/o Communities, joins us to discuss faith-based activism within Latino communities and the New Sanctuary Movement. We discuss the religious roots of the sanctuary...