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All four heathens are in the house and we're talking about gender, how to destroy it, and the art of drag. Everyone grows up under the massive pressures of the binary gender, and religious folks usually have a few extra layers weighing us down. Drag is one way to expand, fuck with, and blur the boundaries of the binary and help us find a little big of wiggle room—freedom, even—in the clothes that constrain us. It's also having a cultural moment like never before, and there are parts of it that are problematic AF. We go there, too. If you love Heathen, consider supporting us with a small monthly gift on Patreon. You'll find all kinds of exclusive goodies, including a portion of this conversation you can only hear on Patreon.

Welcome to the show a couple of our favorite fellow podcast hosts, Pelayo Alvarez and Melissa Weisz. These incredible spacemakers and good friends are building spirituality from scratch after coming out of a Hasidic Jewish upbringing in Brooklyn (Melissa) and a Catholic upbringing in Northern Spain. Now, they explore what it means to be queer and spiritual on their fantastic show, The Forbidden Apple Podcast. Support Heathen on Patreon HeathenPodcast.com

We doubt we’re the first to introduce you to the phenom behind the very popular, very powerful platform God Is Grey, but if this does happen to be your first time encountering Brenda Marie Davies, we’re excited for you. Brenda is, in her own words, a sex-positive, LGBT+ affirming, science-believing, intellectual Christian. She’s also an author and YouTube personality and what we like to call a shame destroyer. Brenda has taken a strong stand on holding the church accountable when it comes to purity culture, inclusion, and more. Her new book, On Her Knees: Memoir of a Prayerful Jezebel, chronicles a decade of her spiritual journey in LA through marriage, divorce, unlikely friendship, and sexual exploration. It’s an honor to have Brenda on Heathen. Want to watch instead of listen? This conversation is on YouTube. Pre-Order On Her Knees God Is Grey on YouTube @GodIsGrey on Instagram and TikTok

We've been massive fans of Suandria Hall since we first started following her on Instagram @mychoicemypowercounseling. Based in Denver, CO, Suandria is a life transitions and religious trauma coach—dolls, meet our absolute favorite certified Heathen counselor! Anissa and Karyn sat down with Suandria to talk about deconstructing as cis het females, what it looked like to untangle that mess of purity rings on our fingers, finding a new sexual ethic, marriage, divorce, and raising daughters. Get your coffee, tea, or favorite red and come vent, hope, and heal with us. Support Heathen on Patreon.

Westerlight is an Indie-Americana duo made up of Oklahoma singer-songwriters Rachel and Jonny Hupp. We talk with them about their shift from being worship leaders, how they quit church on accident, and what it’s been like to make music  during a pandemic. You’ll love this deconstruction conversation with Westerlight (and your two newest co-hosts, Anissa & Ben!). Westerlight’s songs capture the modern ache of existence by directing an unflinching eye towards themes of hard-won love, frustrated faith, and unlikely hope in the midst of it all. In spite of their penchant for contemplative themes, Westerlight brings an electric charge to their folk stylings. After years of writing songs together, the husband and wife pair have crafted a sound that is as fresh as it is familiar and as graceful as it is gritty. Listen to Westerlight’s album Sunday Best on Spotify.  Watch their performance of “Bad Influence” here (and subscribe for more awesome YouTube content). westerlightmusic.com Support Heathen on Patreon.

Erin Burnett is an absolute delight of a human—her perspective, her incredible 21-year-old wisdom, and the ease of her laugh. Before reaching legal US drinking age, she’d taken a deep dive into fundamentalist Calvinism, published an Evangelical young adult novel, tumbled into a deconstruction arc she tried to curb by enrolling in seminary, started speaking in tongues, and studied her way into agnosticism. Her perspective on the way her autism informs her spiritual journey is an absolute must-listen—don’t miss this one! erinburnettauthor.co.uk Correction: Erin reached out to us to clarify that Bishop Holloway identifies himself as agnostic, not an atheist. Check out the Heathen Haberdashery for all your heretical merch needs! Support Heathen on Patreon.

Welcome to the first episode of our new series we're wink-nudge calling Raising Hell!* Anissa and Karyn are taking on the complicated work of parenting through and beyond religious deconstruction. In Raising Hell episodes, we'll connect with experts, good books, and each other about what's working (and what isn't) for raising our little ones outside of fundamentalism, the Ten Commandments, and Sunday School. This first episode is a grab-your-coffee, pull up a chair, and vent/celebrate/troubleshoot-with-your-besties chat. It's long, and winding, and VERY us. Because this parenting in 2021 gig is MUCH. At least we're all in it together. *our kids are great, we promise. The best ones. Legit fantastic. Learn more about Re:Hope Listen to "Quarantine Hymn" Support Heathen on Patreon

You've probably seen her Instagram or TikTok accounts. Meet Blair, the internet phenom who is shaming purity culture and helping us all have the sex life we want. She's using social media to skillfully expose the damage purity culture does, dismantling it one deluded, destructive lie at a time. Follow Talk Purity to Me on Instagram and TikTok. Here's that specific (hilarious) TikTok video we mentioned. Support Heathen on Patreon. To join the private Facebook group Heathen Huddle, send us an email at askheathen@gmail.com.

Welcome back, heathens! There are four of us now. Meet your two new hosts, Anissa Nishira and Ben Grace, as they join Karyn and Flamy (formerly Matthew!) for a rousing round of catch up, sneak peek, and reflections on where we are a few years into this journey of deconstruction. Support Heathen: Patreon.com/HeathenPodcast Instagram • Facebook • Twitter • YouTube

Look, here's the thing: maybe Jesus was an alien. Lots of folks say he was God incarnate and the savior of the world. But maybe he was an alien. It's worth a conversation, and if Heathen isn't the place for that conversation, we don't know what is. Tess Meissner, hypnotherapist and Heathen fan favorite guest from season 2, is back in this long-lost episode recorded in July of 2019, but recently rediscovered buried in a folder under the wrong title. And we're so glad we found it, because it's a hilarious, sincere, beautiful discussion about possibilities. It's hopeful, it's human, and it's our absolute delight to bring Tess back to the Heathen conversation again, because we can't get enough of her. Speaking of, if you can't get enough of her either, you're in luck, because along with this conversation, we also recorded a fantastic hypnotherapy session where Tess takes us (and you, the listener!) on a past life regression. It's available exclusively to our Patreon supporters, and we'd love to have you as a Heathen helper, keeping this podcast going into 2021. Join us for as little as $3/month and get access to our past life regression and conversation with Tess and more exclusive goodies. Find Tess Meissner at infinitetruthhealing.com and on Instagram at @infinitetruthhealing. 

Three members of the band The Many—Leslie Michele, Darren Calhoun, and Lenora Rand—are here with a declaration: love is greater than fear. Drawing on indie pop and gospel influences, The Many is a liturgically-grounded new kind of worship band, an intentionally diverse collective making music for people to sing together to bring more hope, love and beauty into the world. The songs and  experiences they create give voice to faith and doubt, laments and longings, inspire resistance to hatred and exclusion, and always remind us "we are on this earth to love.” themanyarehere.com @themanyarehere

For those of us who grew up in some form of purity culture, the landscape of shame and its scars is deeply familiar terrain. Author, Licensed Mental Health Counselor Associate, and host of the incomparable Queerology podcast Matthias Roberts’ commitment to the long work of learning to trust our bodies, embrace our sexuality, and live fully into our most passionate possibilities is exactly the sort of prophetic heresy we are ALL about. https://matthiasroberts.com/ Beyond Shame: Creating a Healthy Sex Life on Your Own Terms Matthias on Instagram and Twitter

Azure Antoinette talks poetry, church, and Motown. We're thrilled to share this conversation about the road to owning your own spirituality. azureantoinette.com @hello_azureantoinette We welcome your support for Heathen at patreon.com/heathenpodcast. Thank you!

We're quarantined with Colby Martin, AND he has a brand new book out, so—perfect time to record a podcast, right? Be sure to pick up your copy of "The Shift: Surviving and Thriving After Moving from Conservative to Progressive Christianity" today, and watch the incredible livestream book release (which features yours truly) here! https://www.colbymartinonline.com/ @colbymartin Colby on Facebook

David Wimbish is part of The Collection, a North Carolina band we have fallen in love with. We're betting you will, too. Enjoy this discussion about apostasy, divorce, Sufism, music, and more. @collectionband Listen to The Collection on Spotify

Welcome back, heathens! It’s the start of season 4, it’s Valentine’s Day, and Derek Webb is back to talk love, relationships, breakups, and so much more. derekwebb.com Support Derek

Merry Christmas and happy holidays, heathens! We're back with our final episode of 2019 and it's just family: Karyn and Matthew sit down to celebrate 50 episodes of Heathen and talk about why we feel old... and why we feel that's a good thing. Categories are: elderhood and mentoring, the freedom found in failure, and why it's better to experience spirituality than explain it. Check out Belonging by Toko-pa Turner.

Author, speaker, and generally incomparable human Stephanie Tait is here to make the case for suffering and challenge false teachers who oppress, ignore, or avoid the vital theology each one of us brings to the table. Her new book "The View From Rock Bottom" is available now. StephanieTaitWrites.com Instagram • Twitter

He was always queer, even when he was hosting a highly-rated Christian TV show for the TBN network. Azariah Southworth met up with us in a library in Oceanside, CA, to talk about growing up Pentecostal, working in the Christian entertainment business, and the hard-won freedom he now embraces as a queer, Jesus-loving activist who is here to expose and dethrone the two-faced petty bitches who abuse their power in evangelical culture.

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.