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Published by Dan Koch
Interviews with experts, writers, psychologists and more on the intersection between psychology, religion and spirituality… with a little bit of cussing. dan@religiononthemind.com
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Guests: Josh Gilbert and Kristen Tideman Topics: Therapy vs. coaching (3:48) Licensure and regulation (11:20) Scope of practice (20:47) Actionable plans (38:00) Existential psychology (45:14) Religious landscape expertise (52:00) Trauma and self-diagnosis (58:27) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Guest: Tyler Huckabee | Sojourners, RELEVANT Megazine Tyler's Article | Reckoning With the Youth Group That Raised Us Topics: • Adolescent development (8:36) • Columbine and martyrdom culture (14:45) • Braveheart (25:00) • Youth group as third space (31:44) • Summer camp autonomy (37:45) • Deficit-based views of teenagers (56:55) • Doubt and the exvangelical wilderness (1:02:48) • Trump and belief (1:09:10) __________________________________________ Follow Dan on IG: www.instagram.com/dancoke/ Or Twitter: twitter.com/DanKoch Faith deconstruction resources: www.soyouredeconstructing.com/ Join the Patreon for exclusive episodes (and more) every month: patreon.com/dankoch Email about the "sliding scale" for the Patreon: youhavepermissionpodcast@gmail.com YHP Patron-only FB group: tinyurl.com/ycvbbf98 Website: www.dankochwords.com/yhp.html Join Dan's email list: www.dankochwords.com/ Artwork by Nickryanluevano.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Guest: Tripp Fuller (Homebrewed Christianity) Topics: • Cognitive-existential therapy (11:56) • Self-deception & “ultimate concern” (27:06) • ADHD & embodiment (31:09) Patron Half • “The Hell of the Same” (43:00) • Wasting your life in every era (1:00:45) • Christian bookstore CDs & punk rock (1:20:14) • College Counseling & Young Adults (1:44:31) • The dark magic of rock and roll (1:47:02) __________________________________________ Follow Dan on IG: www.instagram.com/dancoke/ Or Twitter: twitter.com/DanKoch Faith deconstruction resources: www.soyouredeconstructing.com/ Join the Patreon for exclusive episodes (and more) every month: patreon.com/dankoch Email about the "sliding scale" for the Patreon: youhavepermissionpodcast@gmail.com YHP Patron-only FB group: tinyurl.com/ycvbbf98 Website: www.dankochwords.com/yhp.html Join Dan's email list: www.dankochwords.com/ Artwork by Nickryanluevano.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
**Participate in my next Spiritual Abuse Research Study** Guest: Jay Michaelson (Both/And) Topics: Why "spirituality" makes a bad communicator (3:07) Reb Zalman Schachter-Shalomi, and inventing God in our own image (5:04) Psychedelics, myth-making, and religion as "proto peer review" (16:56) The case for spirituality's broadness (32:04) Crystals, gurus, and spotting spiritual abuse (38:07) Peak experiences, Kierkegaard's leap of faith, and the trouble with certainty (59:07) Previous Episode with Jay: Rabbi and Journalist Jay Michaelson (#366) ___________________________________________ Follow Dan on IG: www.instagram.com/dancoke/ Or Twitter: twitter.com/DanKoch Faith deconstruction resources: www.soyouredeconstructing.com/ Join the Patreon for exclusive episodes (and more) every month: patreon.com/dankoch Email about the "sliding scale" for the Patreon: youhavepermissionpodcast@gmail.com YHP Patron-only FB group: tinyurl.com/ycvbbf98 Website: www.dankochwords.com/yhp.html Join Dan's email list: www.dankochwords.com/ Artwork by Nickryanluevano.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Guests: Tony Jones & Josh Gilbert (Generation Gap Culture Hour returns!) Topics: Culture roundup: alliteration bios, Son of Helena, dude lit & Lonesome Dove (1:58) The Odyssey: theater reactions, IMAX chaos & the OCD popcorn guy (14:33) Nolan's rewrite: war, Xenia & the Christianization of the Odyssey (23:11) Patron Half Begins (35:44) Casting choices: Helen, Elliot Page & the "DEI" debate (36:19) Oral tradition, the Emily Wilson controversy & Nolan/Bond rumors (44:27) Agamemnon's sacrifice, Isaac & OCD scrupulosity (54:54) Writing historical fiction: polenta, plums & Constantine's conversion (1:03:22) AI as research assistant: therapy, health & the future of work (1:16:12) ___________________________________________ Follow Dan on IG: www.instagram.com/dancoke/ Or Twitter: twitter.com/DanKoch Faith deconstruction resources: www.soyouredeconstructing.com/ Join the Patreon for exclusive episodes (and more) every month: patreon.com/dankoch Email about the "sliding scale" for the Patreon: youhavepermissionpodcast@gmail.com YHP Patron-only FB group: tinyurl.com/ycvbbf98 Website: www.dankochwords.com/yhp.html Join Dan's email list: www.dankochwords.com/ Artwork by Nickryanluevano.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Episode #370 | Trusting Yourself After Religious Change *Original Description * To Trust Your Experience (Dustin Kensrue) (#38) Is experience potentially a direct pathway to the God of the universe? Or is it simply “the heart [being] deceitful above all things”? Can we trust our spiritual experience, and if so, which experiences are trustworthy? This topic was recommended by my guest Dustin Kensrue (singer/songwriter of the band Thrice, former worship director at Mars Hill Church in Seattle), and I jumped at it. In today’s episode, we go through Dustin’s own story, from young Christian punk rocker, to prominent Neo-Calvinist, to church scandal whistleblower (sort of), to reconstructed liberal Christian, all the while considering the role of experience in that journey. ___________________________________________ Follow Dan on IG: www.instagram.com/dancoke/ Or Twitter: twitter.com/DanKoch Faith deconstruction resources: www.soyouredeconstructing.com/ Join the Patreon for exclusive episodes (and more) every month: patreon.com/dankoch Email about the "sliding scale" for the Patreon: youhavepermissionpodcast@gmail.com YHP Patron-only FB group: tinyurl.com/ycvbbf98 Website: www.dankochwords.com/yhp.html Join Dan's email list: www.dankochwords.com/ Artwork by Nickryanluevano.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
**Participate in my next Spiritual Abuse Research Study** Guest: Jenn Mason (WinkWink Boutique) Topics: Growing up Jewish in a small rural town and rediscovering Judaism as an adult (1:43) National media attention, antisemitic harassment, and finding a spiritual framework (6:26) Why read the Gospels: side-eye toward Christianity and swimming in a Christian culture (10:57) Softness, disability, and getting "off template" (24:53) First impressions of Matthew: the Sermon on the Mount and Jesus at the center (34:23) Anti-Pharisee texts, the Great Commission, and the religion of Jesus vs. Christianity (43:32) Jenn on Instagram | @jenniferidamason ___________________________________________ Follow Dan on IG: www.instagram.com/dancoke/ Or Twitter: twitter.com/DanKoch Faith deconstruction resources: www.soyouredeconstructing.com/ Join the Patreon for exclusive episodes (and more) every month: patreon.com/dankoch Email about the "sliding scale" for the Patreon: youhavepermissionpodcast@gmail.com YHP Patron-only FB group: tinyurl.com/ycvbbf98 Website: www.dankochwords.com/yhp.html Join Dan's email list: www.dankochwords.com/ Artwork by Nickryanluevano.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
**Participate in my next Spiritual Abuse Research Study** Guest: Valerie Martin (Gaia Center / But For Real Podcast) Topics: Tarot, astrology, and Valerie's path into new age spirituality (4:57) Wellness coaching, MLM culture, and spiritual bypassing (10:53) Cialdini's Influence: social proof and identity enmeshment (24:03) Money, ethics, and the "Wild West" of spiritual coaching (31:24) Patron Break The Telepathy Tapes: facilitated communication and the case for and against (43:51) Near-death experiences, psi phenomena, and the limits of a materialist brain (1:00:53) Follow Valerie / the Gaia Center: Gaiacenter.co But For Real podcast: But For Real___________________________________________ Follow Dan on IG: www.instagram.com/dancoke/ Or Twitter: twitter.com/DanKoch Faith deconstruction resources: www.soyouredeconstructing.com/ Join the Patreon for exclusive episodes (and more) every month: patreon.com/dankoch Email about the "sliding scale" for the Patreon: youhavepermissionpodcast@gmail.com YHP Patron-only FB group: tinyurl.com/ycvbbf98 Website: www.dankochwords.com/yhp.html Join Dan's email list: www.dankochwords.com/ Artwork by Nickryanluevano.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
**Participate in my next Spiritual Abuse Research Study** Guest: Daryl Van Tongeren Returns! (Hope College / "Done") Topics: What is existentialism and existential psychology? (5:25) Does life have a predetermined purpose, or do we make our own? (19:00) Faith and uncertainty (42:21) Objective morality, self-sacrifice, and the doormat problem (54:02) ___________________________________________ Follow Dan on IG: www.instagram.com/dancoke/ Or Twitter: twitter.com/DanKoch Faith deconstruction resources: www.soyouredeconstructing.com/ Join the Patreon for exclusive episodes (and more) every month: patreon.com/dankoch Email about the "sliding scale" for the Patreon: youhavepermissionpodcast@gmail.com YHP Patron-only FB group: tinyurl.com/ycvbbf98 Website: www.dankochwords.com/yhp.html Join Dan's email list: www.dankochwords.com/ Artwork by Nickryanluevano.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
**Participate in my next Spiritual Abuse Research Study** Guests: Victoria Jackson & Terry Shoemaker Topics: Religion, sport, and the sacred — evangelical baggage and finite vs. eternal stakes (7:00) Maradona's "Hand of God" and sport as modern mythology (13:42) Victoria's World Cup travel plans and fan culture on the road (20:36) FIFA corruption, Infantino, and Trump's soccer obsession (36:13) Masculinity, grace, and violence across sports (44:45) Promotion, relegation, and why an MLS club costs more than Bournemouth (56:29) Final predictions: teams to watch (58:00) ___________________________________________ Follow Dan on IG: www.instagram.com/dancoke/ Or Twitter: twitter.com/DanKoch Faith deconstruction resources: www.soyouredeconstructing.com/ Join the Patreon for exclusive episodes (and more) every month: patreon.com/dankoch Email about the "sliding scale" for the Patreon: youhavepermissionpodcast@gmail.com YHP Patron-only FB group: tinyurl.com/ycvbbf98 Website: www.dankochwords.com/yhp.html Join Dan's email list: www.dankochwords.com/ Artwork by Nickryanluevano.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Guests: Tony Jones & Josh Gilbert (Generation Gap Culture Hour returns!) Topics: Culture roundup: All the Pretty Horses, Dave on Hulu, The Strokes (3:28) Streaming piracy & the ethics of stealing (19:58) Dude lit & the book club (30:53) Men and reading (Tony's Substack crossover moment) (36:27) Patron Half Begins (46:55) World Cup (46:30) Down Syndrome screening, disability & ethics of life (1:01:40) Jesus and the just world hypothesis (1:14:54) ___________________________________________ Follow Dan on IG: www.instagram.com/dancoke/ Or Twitter: twitter.com/DanKoch Faith deconstruction resources: www.soyouredeconstructing.com/ Join the Patreon for exclusive episodes (and more) every month: patreon.com/dankoch Email about the "sliding scale" for the Patreon: youhavepermissionpodcast@gmail.com YHP Patron-only FB group: tinyurl.com/ycvbbf98 Website: www.dankochwords.com/yhp.html Join Dan's email list: www.dankochwords.com/ Artwork by Nickryanluevano.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Guest: Daryl Van Tongeren Returns! (Hope College / "Done") Topics: Are most people living in a kind of illusion? (0:00) How people spend their time (17:14) What makes humans special: Christianity and existentialism agree (27:37) The five givens of existence and how Christianity responds to them (32:23) Religious certainty and the road to violence (45:14) It's never too late (48:14) ___________________________________________ Follow Dan on IG: www.instagram.com/dancoke/ Or Twitter: twitter.com/DanKoch Faith deconstruction resources: www.soyouredeconstructing.com/ Join the Patreon for exclusive episodes (and more) every month: patreon.com/dankoch Email about the "sliding scale" for the Patreon: youhavepermissionpodcast@gmail.com YHP Patron-only FB group: tinyurl.com/ycvbbf98 Website: www.dankochwords.com/yhp.html Join Dan's email list: www.dankochwords.com/ Artwork by Nickryanluevano.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Guest: Daryl Van Tongeren Returns! (Hope College / "Done") Topics: What is existentialism and existential psychology? (5:25) Does life have a predetermined purpose, or do we make our own? (19:00) Faith and uncertainty (42:21) Objective morality, self-sacrifice, and the doormat problem (54:02) ___________________________________________ Follow Dan on IG: www.instagram.com/dancoke/ Or Twitter: twitter.com/DanKoch Faith deconstruction resources: www.soyouredeconstructing.com/ Join the Patreon for exclusive episodes (and more) every month: patreon.com/dankoch Email about the "sliding scale" for the Patreon: youhavepermissionpodcast@gmail.com YHP Patron-only FB group: tinyurl.com/ycvbbf98 Website: www.dankochwords.com/yhp.html Join Dan's email list: www.dankochwords.com/ Artwork by Nickryanluevano.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Guest: Barrabas! (Tim Burnette returns) Topics: • Religion after religion (7:04) • In-group Religion (10:58) • Is there moral and spiritual progress? (25:04) • Haidt's Rider & Elephant (32:51) • Collective effervescence & human bonding (38:37) • Out-groups & non-duality (42:27) • Moral foundations theory (1:05:33) • Christian nationalism & the remnant (1:17:34) Previous Episode with Tim: Self-aware Christianity with Tim Bunette (#383) ___________________________________________ Follow Dan on IG: www.instagram.com/dancoke/ Or Twitter: twitter.com/DanKoch Faith deconstruction resources: www.soyouredeconstructing.com/ Join the Patreon for exclusive episodes (and more) every month: patreon.com/dankoch Email about the "sliding scale" for the Patreon: youhavepermissionpodcast@gmail.com YHP Patron-only FB group: tinyurl.com/ycvbbf98 Website: www.dankochwords.com/yhp.html Join Dan's email list: www.dankochwords.com/ Artwork by Nickryanluevano.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Sex drive, religious formation, and the stubborn residue of purity culture — welcome back to Study Hall, where I bring you along as I cram for my licensure exam and connect to the psychology of religion along the way. Today we're staying in developmental psychology but moving into territory that, let's just say, came up a lot in my Christian high school years. Religious adolescents start later — but skip contraception The gender gap in sexual activity widens with age Purity culture hits women harder, and the shame sticks longer Religious residue shapes your sex life even after you leave the faith Gay couples have the most sex. Lesbians the least. Straight couples, middle. Married religious couples report higher sexual satisfaction — here's why ___________________________________________ Follow Dan on IG: www.instagram.com/dancoke/ Or Twitter: twitter.com/DanKoch Faith deconstruction resources: www.soyouredeconstructing.com/ Join the Patreon for exclusive episodes (and more) every month: patreon.com/dankoch Email about the "sliding scale" for the Patreon: youhavepermissionpodcast@gmail.com YHP Patron-only FB group: tinyurl.com/ycvbbf98 Website: www.dankochwords.com/yhp.html Join Dan's email list: www.dankochwords.com/ Artwork by Nickryanluevano.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Licensed therapist and trauma specialist Ryan Kuja joins me to examine the surprising parallels between Christian fundamentalism and new age spirituality — particularly how both can enable spiritual bypassing, discourage authentic questioning, and ultimately fail to hold space for the full complexity of human pain and experience. Ryan's Link Tree ___________________________________________ Follow Dan on IG: www.instagram.com/dancoke/ Or Twitter: twitter.com/DanKoch Faith deconstruction resources: www.soyouredeconstructing.com/ Join the Patreon for exclusive episodes (and more) every month: patreon.com/dankoch Email about the "sliding scale" for the Patreon: youhavepermissionpodcast@gmail.com YHP Patron-only FB group: tinyurl.com/ycvbbf98 Website: www.dankochwords.com/yhp.html Join Dan's email list: www.dankochwords.com/ Artwork by Nickryanluevano.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
In this episode, comedian and podcaster Jordan Morris describes growing up as a youth group kid in Orange County, and how those experiences informed his new graphic novel Youth Group, which treats its faith-filled characters with nuance and genuine affection rather than cheap satire. In the Patron-only second half, we get into the DIY ethos that both church basements and punk rock scenes share, the appeal of making the supernatural literal in his storytelling, and his ongoing creative collaborations with Rhett and Link of Good Mythical Morning. Jordan's Link Tree ___________________________________________ Follow Dan on IG: www.instagram.com/dancoke/ Or Twitter: twitter.com/DanKoch Faith deconstruction resources: www.soyouredeconstructing.com/ Join the Patreon for exclusive episodes (and more) every month: patreon.com/dankoch Email about the "sliding scale" for the Patreon: youhavepermissionpodcast@gmail.com YHP Patron-only FB group: tinyurl.com/ycvbbf98 Website: www.dankochwords.com/yhp.html Join Dan's email list: www.dankochwords.com/ Artwork by Nickryanluevano.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Psychologist Dr. Pamela Epstein King returns to explore how religious systems provide purpose, calling, and meaning — and what happens to those foundations when people go through significant religious change. Pam's Faculty Page Episodes Mentioned: Trusting Yourself After Religious Change | #370 The Six Facets of Spiritual Health | #285 ___________________________________________ Follow Dan on IG: www.instagram.com/dancoke/ Or Twitter: twitter.com/DanKoch Faith deconstruction resources: www.soyouredeconstructing.com/ Join the Patreon for exclusive episodes (and more) every month: patreon.com/dankoch Email about the "sliding scale" for the Patreon: youhavepermissionpodcast@gmail.com YHP Patron-only FB group: tinyurl.com/ycvbbf98 Website: www.dankochwords.com/yhp.html Join Dan's email list: www.dankochwords.com/ Artwork by Nickryanluevano.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
I sit down with Rabbi Dr. Simcha Raphael and learn about his remarkably wide-ranging spiritual journey. From a traditional Montreal Hebrew education through India, the San Francisco counterculture, and ultimately into the Jewish Renewal Movement as a scholar of death, afterlife, and the inner life of Judaism, his story mirrors what so many of us are navigating in our own religious explorations. In the Patreon-only second half, we explore what Judaism's rich tradition on death and the afterlife offers to the dying, the grieving, and anyone trying to build a vibrant spiritual life beyond the boundaries of where they started. Highlights: Montreal Jewish upbringing India, gurus, and culture shock Jewish Renewal and Reb Zalman Ecstatic vs. contemplative spirituality Death, grief, and felt presence Judaism's afterlife teachings ___________________________________________ Follow Dan on IG: www.instagram.com/dancoke/ Or Twitter: twitter.com/DanKoch Faith deconstruction resources: www.soyouredeconstructing.com/ Join the Patreon for exclusive episodes (and more) every month: patreon.com/dankoch Email about the "sliding scale" for the Patreon: youhavepermissionpodcast@gmail.com YHP Patron-only FB group: tinyurl.com/ycvbbf98 Website: www.dankochwords.com/yhp.html Join Dan's email list: www.dankochwords.com/ Artwork by Nickryanluevano.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
The nature vs. nurture debate is largely settled (spoiler alert: it's both), but the implications for how and when religious identity forms are striking. The research points to a surprisingly early window for faith formation, and what happens inside that window matters far more than most parents realize. Join me for what I'm calling Study Hall, where I bring you along as I study for my licensure exam and connect the concepts to religion along the way. Religious formation peaks ages 3–7 Parents trump youth group, always "Let them choose" backfires Baby brains resemble psilocybin trips Trauma may reopen learning windows Warmth beats doctrine, every time Episodes Mentioned: "God Concept" (#159) Christian Heavy Music: Theology, Attachment, Power (#139) Helping Kids Know God in Healthy Ways (#174) ___________________________________________ Follow Dan on IG: www.instagram.com/dancoke/ Or Twitter: twitter.com/DanKoch Faith deconstruction resources: www.soyouredeconstructing.com/ Join the Patreon for exclusive episodes (and more) every month: patreon.com/dankoch Email about the "sliding scale" for the Patreon: youhavepermissionpodcast@gmail.com YHP Patron-only FB group: tinyurl.com/ycvbbf98 Website: www.dankochwords.com/yhp.html Join Dan's email list: www.dankochwords.com/ Artwork by Nickryanluevano.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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Observed September 20, 2026.
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