Unbelief

Chris Young grew up Roman Catholic, got rushed through the sacraments because doctors didn’t think he’d live long, and still managed to be a skeptic by age six. This episode is a funny, tender, unexpectedly deep conversation about disability, Catholic guilt, “real presence” logic puzzles, and the moment he realized he couldn’t say the creed honestly anymore. Then something surprising happened. A c...

If you grew up in rapture culture, you already know the feeling: one missing family member and your brain goes straight to “did I miss the rapture?” This episode is group therapy, but funny. We talk with Stuart Delony (Snarky Faith) about his new book Tribulation Survival Guide, a satire that reads like a real survival manual for surviving evangelical end-times fearmongering. Antichrist spotting t...

What if the new year isn’t about doing more, but about paying attention? In this guided episode, we explore a New Year version of the Ignatian Examen—reflecting on home, work, relationships, media, and time—to help you see where you’ve been, where you’re headed, and where you actually want to go. No resolutions required. patreon.com/skepticpastor Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.a...

Christians argue fiercely about the literal details of Jesus’ birth—even though the Bible never gives a date and early believers didn’t agree on one. In this episode, we look at how December 25 emerges from theology, symbolism, and later church decisions rather than historical memory, and why our modern obsession with certainty might be the least faithful part of the story. patreon.com/skepticpast...

Turns out the Christmas story you defend like it’s a court transcript doesn’t even work on its own historical terms. In part one, we take apart Nazareth, Bethlehem, and the Roman census Luke uses to move Jesus across the map—spoiler: historians aren’t impressed. In part two, we go underground into caves, kataluma , and the version of Jesus’ birth the early church actually remembered before we swap...

Forget the “it’s pagan” nonsense. The Christmas tree’s story is far wilder: a pope’s missionary memo, a bishop with an axe, medieval theater kids hauling evergreens onstage, and Victorian influencers turning it viral. We dig into how this mash-up of pagans, priests, and actors became the most hopeful ritual of winter. patreon.com/skepticpastor Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adsw...

Forget barcodes, microchips, and rapture charts. Revelation isn’t predicting the end of the world—it’s resisting it. We break down the Beast, 666, the four horsemen of the apocalypse and how this apocalyptic fever dream was really underground political poetry written by oppressed people under Roman rule. patreon.com/skepticpastor Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for in...

Ever been told that if you stop believing one thing, Jesus unfriends you? Yeah… same. In this episode, we unmask the “literalist playing field” that we didn't realize we were playing on, talk about why deconstruction isn’t the spiritual apocalypse your youth pastor warned you about, and even discover that Paul's writings are part pagan. We’ll walk through a real method for choosing beliefs that ar...

This one is equal parts history lesson and how-to. We talk about how to respond to homophobic people and have a big announcement about where you can view the movie. The director, Rocky, breaks down the 1946 “homosexual” mistranslation, the grind of getting the film to actual humans, and the spiritual discipline of not feeding the trolls—while still giving them something to think about. patreon.com...

If you still think the Tower of Babel explains why Spanish exists, this episode might hurt your feelings. Jeremy and linguist Gabby break down how languages actually evolved, why “proper” English is just colonization in disguise, and how Babel’s real message might be about human pride, not divine punishment. Spoiler: God wasn’t mad at skyscrapers. patreon.com/skepticpastor Hosted by Simplecast, an...

If you think church has to happen in a building, brace yourself. There's no need to stream a guy in a guitar and a video of people sitting in pews... because that isn't community. In this podcast the tables are flipped and Jeremy is interviewed on the theology of algorithms, how to deal with social media comments and answers the question, "what is community?" patreon.com/skepticpastor Hosted by Si...

No, we don’t have Jesus’ mugshot from a Roman archive. Also no, that’s not how ancient history works. We track the real markers: Paul’s letters, Gospel tradition layers, two grumpy non-Christians (Josephus and Tacitus) who mention him, and archaeology that matches the story’s stage. Then we run the historian playbook—embarrassment, dissimilarity, coherence, context—and the scorecard lights up. His...

From youth-group exorcisms to YouTube deliverance rabbit holes, we trace how demon talk replaces science—and why that harms real people. We do a text-level audit (Job’s ha-satan , Isaiah’s “morning star,” and the God-of-the-gaps habit), contrast Catholic exorcism rules with charismatic chaos, and ask whether “the devil made me do it” just dodges responsibility. Then we reclaim Halloween with a gra...

What if the real scandal isn’t doubting hell—it’s discovering Jesus didn’t preach it? We push back on evangelical proof texts, tour the Bible’s vocabulary (Sheol = all the dead, Gehenna = a real valley, Hades = Greek myth), and read John 14:6 without pretending Jesus defined “through me” as “agree to our statement of faith.” Then we talk adult faith: you can love God without pretending Genesis is...

What if youth group wasn’t about dodgeball, purity rings, and trauma bonding over mission trips? In this episode, we talk with Dr. Andrew Zirschky about Progressive Youth Ministry —what it looks like to raise teenagers in a faith that’s inclusive, justice-oriented, and actually reflects Jesus. We unpack the damage done by purity culture, gender roles, and shame-based theology, and talk about how t...

This episode is a checklist of why young adults bounce. We tell the story of a would-be missionary crushed by the hell doctrine, trace early Christian views that weren’t eternal-torment, and drag the hypocrisy of flag-waving “martyr” talk. Finally, we map out how to rebuild—open-handed spirituality, evidence-honoring skepticism, and a supportive digital community that doesn’t pass the plate or pol...

If the Bible were a Netflix show, this episode would come with a “viewer discretion advised” warning. Ruth takes the lead, flips gender roles, and all under the cover of darkness. Turns out the Bible’s big sex scene is also one of its most feminist. It’s possibly the sexiest, most subversive story in Scripture—and it pushes back hard against purity culture’s shame game. This is an episode you don'...

What if you stripped faith down to its essence—no megachurch stage lights, no fear-based sermons, no evangelical gatekeeping? That’s what Brian McLaren does in his new novel set on Mars. We talk about how families fight over religion, why the fight doesn’t have to mean dehumanizing, and how spirituality survives once the institutional scaffolding is gone. patreon.com/skepticpastor Hosted by Simple...

The gospels aren’t journalism—they’re theology. Dr. Helen Bond helps us dig into what the stories of Jesus’ final hours really meant to the earliest Christians. Along the way, we uncover the often-overlooked women who followed Jesus, the strange ending of Mark’s gospel, and what ancient burial customs can tell us about Good Friday. patreon.com/skeptic pastor  New Insights to the New Testament Onli...

The “historical Jesus” isn’t the same as the Sunday school Jesus. Dr. Mark Goodacre shows us why there’s so little hard evidence, how scholarship challenges evangelical readings, and why most pastors never share this from the pulpit. Plus: Jesus as an apocalyptic prophet and the one book you need to make sense of the gospels. patreon.com/skepticpastor New Insights on the New Testament Conference p...

If you grew up thinking Pharisees were hypocrites and Jesus was all about purity culture, buckle up. Dr. Amy Jill-Levine joins us to dismantle the myths: Pharisees were good people, the Bible doesn’t record “what happened,” and the New Testament has space for asexuality, transgender identity, and radical body positivity. patreon.com/skepticpastor New Insights into the New Testament Conference Host...

People aren’t leaving the church because they “hate God.” They’re leaving because the church keeps begging for cash, propping up patriarchy, justifying abusive marriages, and trashing LGBTQ people. In this episode, we talk about the real reasons people walk away and how to stay rooted in spirituality through safe, inclusive community that actually exists. patreon.com/skepticpastor Hosted by Simple...

Virginity isn't real. We unpack how purity culture weaponized the concept of virginity to control women, why the biology doesn’t back it up, and how the shame attached to sex has wrecked entire generations. Bonus: we share some memes that are funnier than your youth pastor’s abstinence sermon. patreon.com/skepticpastor Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information a...

This isn’t your Sunday school Ruth. Naomi sends her in to seduce Boaz and secure a future for them both. It’s raw, risky, and very much not the evangelical “wait until marriage” narrative. We talk about how this story reframes grief, highlights the resources we already have, and smashes the purity-culture lie that sex is the enemy of holiness. patreon.com/skepticpastor Hosted by Simplecast, an Ads...

What happens when theology is weaponized? We talk with someone actually getting a PhD in religious trauma —yes, that’s a thing—and leading a support group for people recovering from it. We unpack how this kind of abuse isn’t “just church hurt” but complex trauma, rooted in communities where doctrine gets twisted into control. And of course, it wouldn’t be evangelical trauma without someone droppin...