The Skeptic Pastor Podcast
by Jeremy Steele
Latest episode
Raised in a Single-Family Cult: Stella McCormick on Deliver Us From…
Raised in a Single-Family Cult: Stella McCormick on Deliver Us From…
About this podcast
Join me for a drink and an unpopular opinion, uncomfortable truth, or something pastors probably aren't supposed to say out loud. Expect irreverent humor, unfiltered language, and honest conversations about religion, sex, relationships, culture, and whatever else gets me in trouble.
Episodes
The newest 20 of 131 episodes
- Raised in a Single-Family Cult: Stella McCormick on Deliver Us From Mother · 35 min · Episode 129Stella McCormick talks with Jeremy about being raised in a single family cult, her memoir Deliver Us From Mother, and how she got out.
- Love Is Patient. It Is Also Pissed About Injustice. · 42 min · Episode 1321 Corinthians 13 is probably embroidered on more wedding pillows than any other chapter of the Bible. Which is funny, because Paul was not writing a wedding toast. He was…
- God Told Him to Check the Yellow Pages · 33 min · Episode 131Long before LinkedIn, Indeed, or even Google, John Doyle says a voice told him to go open the Yellow Pages and God would find him a job. Somehow, that ended with a former…
- Horse Manure, Hospital Trips, and Other Youth Group Activities · 46 min · Episode 130Youth ministry was apparently what happened when churches handed a 24-year-old a microphone, a van full of teenagers, and absolutely no adult supervision. Jubilee Dawns from…
- What If Communion Passes the Turing Test? · 42 min · Episode 129Chris' computer-science brain dragged Alan Turing into the Eucharist, and things got weird in the best possible way. Catholics say bread and wine literally become the body and…
- The Rapture, the Closet, and the Organ · 37 min · Episode 128Nothing says “healthy childhood spirituality” quite like waking up from a nap, finding an empty house, and assuming Jesus took everyone except you. Tim Schram grew up as the…
- The Bible's Biggest Skeptic Might Be Its Best Disciple · 22 min · Episode 127Some churches silence doubt. Some shame it. Some hand you a Josh McDowell book and hope you stop asking. This episode looks at the real story of Thomas, why skepticism can be…
- 33 Churches Later... He Actually Wanted to Go Back · 29 min · Episode 126Most people leave church with religious trauma. This guy visited 33 of them on purpose. We talk about why some faith communities become culty, why others become family, what…
- When the Pastor Was the Predator: One Woman's Deconstruction Story · 39 min · Episode 125What happens when the person teaching you about God becomes the source of your deepest wounds? This episode explores the collision of evangelical culture, purity culture, child…
- Conversion Therapy Droupout · 57 min · Episode 124Some churches told queer kids there were only two choices: keep your faith or keep yourself. They were wrong. Author Tim Schraeder Rodriguez joins the podcast to talk about his…
- Sen. Chris Coons on Christian nationalism, China, bipartisan conversations, and clean energy · 30 min · Episode 123What if the loudest Christians in politics aren’t actually the only Christians in politics? Weird idea, I know. Senator Chris Coons joins the podcast to talk about the faith that…
- The Hidden Meanings (and Trauma) Behind Evangelical Church Language · 33 min · Episode 122This is about the weird moment when you leave evangelicalism and suddenly realize half the language you grew up with was coded ideology pretending to be theology. Or when you…
- What If God Shows Up More in Art Than in Sermons? · 27 min · Episode 120If you’ve ever felt more alive listening to a song than sitting through a sermon, you’re not broken—you might just be paying attention. In this conversation, we unpack why art…
- Criminalizing Ejaculation, Tarrifs, Bonhoeffer, The Neverending Story and the new book, Saints Sinners and Clickers · 48 min · Episode 119What do you get when you mix apocalyptic politics, zombie video games, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, and a bill that basically criminalizes ejaculation? Apparently… this episode. We talk…
- The Bible Doesn’t Have One Jesus. It Has Four · 32 min · Episode 118Most of us were handed a “cookie cutter Jesus”—a single, polished version that conveniently fits our theology. The problem? That Jesus doesn’t actually exist in the text. In this…
- The Tea: Queer Pastor Cancelled by a Christian Podcast and Her Story of Coming Out and Getting Ordained · 42 min · Episode 117What happens when a lesbian pastor gets invited onto a Christian podcast? Apparently… they panic, cancel the interview, and call it “opposing views.” In this episode, Jeremy…
- Interviews on Faith from the No Kings Protest in DC · 30 min · Episode 116If you think protests are just angry mobs, you might want to actually listen to the people in them. In this episode, I’m on the ground at the No Kings protest in DC talking to…
- Being "Slain in the Spirit" and the Science Behind It · 42 min · Episode 115Ever watched someone fall over in church in person or on TV and thought, “There’s no way that’s real?” You’re half right—and half very wrong. In this episode, Jeremy tells his…
- Evangelical Camp Drama: How a Spotify Post Became a Faith Crisis · 54 min · Episode 114A teenager posts about a queer artist—and suddenly his faith, his job, and his community are all on the line. That’s not an overreaction. That’s evangelical culture working…
- Brainwashing Techniques Used by Evangelicals to Teach Hell · 35 min · Episode 113Evangelicals did not need to take a masterclass in brainwashing. They just built a culture where fear, shame, and thought-stopping clichés do the job for them. In this episode…
