
Advertise on podcast: Religion on the Mind
Rating
4.7from
This podcast has
420 episodes
Language
EnglishPublisher
Dan KochExplicit
No
Date created
2018/12/28
Latest episode
2026/04/20
Average duration
67 min.
Release period
4 days
Description
Interviews with experts, writers, psychologists and more on the intersection between psychology, religion and spirituality… with a little bit of cussing. [email protected]
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Check latest episodes from Religion on the Mind podcast
Eclectic Therapy: Mind, Body & John Wesley with Brad Strawn (#396)
2026/04/20
Brad Strawn of Fuller Seminary returns to unpack the four clinical and theological influences that shape his work as a therapist, pastor, and professor (Wesleyan theology, relational psychoanalysis, 4E cognition, and terror management theory), and we get into some genuinely good “inside baseball” about what all of this looks like in the room with actual clients.
Highlights:
Wesleyan theology: feelings first
Relational healing through new experience
4E: embodied, embedded, enacted, extended
AI can't replace human bodies
Terror management → limits → meaning
Cure soul, not just symptoms
___________________________________________
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: [email protected]
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
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Trump as AI Jesus & Hitler Repentance: Religion on the News with Mason Mennenga (#395)
2026/04/15
Things are, objectively, pretty rough right now! But honestly? We can't stop laughing at the "Trump AI Jesus" memes. Religion on the News is back with Mason Mennenga (A People's Theology), and today we're leaning more into the silliness and laughter of it all, with a hearty dose of psychology along the way.
Topics (full list on the full Patron-only episode): Trump/Jesus AI art, the resulting memes and parodies (*chef's kiss*), Riley Gaines, Antichrist/Left Behind stuff, Evangelical art, in-group & partisan psychology, Nazi repentance, high-demand religion psychology, music/film roundup.
___________________________________________
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: [email protected]
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
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Sh*tty Minister’s Club with Lillian Daniel (#394)
2026/04/13
Lillian Daniel returns after five years to discuss her new book Defrocked: Good News from a Bad Pastor for a Better Church — a candid, often funny, and deeply human account of the misconduct process she underwent in the UCC, what it taught her about identity, boundaries, and shame, and how she eventually found her way back to ministry.
Highlights:
Power, process, and accountability
Over-identification with vocation
Boundaries (and the lack thereof)
Shame vs. guilt, done right
Lillian's New Book | Defrocked: Good News from a Bad Pastor for a Better Church
Previous episode with Lillian:
The Most & Least Plausible Christian Claims (#117)
___________________________________________
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: [email protected]
YHP Patron-only FB group: tinyurl.com/ycvbbf98
Website: www.dankochwords.com/yhp.html
Join Dan's email list: www.dankochwords.com/
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Facing Anxious Times Together, Part 5 (#393)
2026/04/09
This is the fifth and final installment of the Anxious Times series, and we're bringing it home by exploring what existential psychology has to say about community, belonging, and civic engagement. I’m joined by returning guest Kristen Tideman and Brian Adoff, founder of Join Philly, a directory and events platform helping Philadelphians connect with each other.
In the Patreon-only second half, we dig into how Kristen's own anxiety triple crown — MS, new motherhood, and ongoing religious change — has been shaped by her distance from the Philly community she helped build, and what it looks like to find connection in a new chapter of life.
Join or Die Film
Anxious Times Episode Part 1
Anxious Times Episode Part 2
Anxious Times Episode Part 3
Anxious Times Episode Part 4
Highlights:
Collective effervescence, good and bad
Bowling alone and belonging
Tech, phones, and the dopamine trap
Participation gaps and on-ramps
___________________________________________
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: [email protected]
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
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Supreme Court & Conversation Therapy, the Manosphere, & Aliens: Religion on the News with Mason Mennenga (#392)
2026/04/06
Religion on the News is back with Mason Mennenga, and today we're tackling some heavy hitters: the Supreme Court's 8-1 ruling striking down Colorado's conversion therapy ban, the rise of the manosphere and what it means for young men, and the latest alien discourse from Obama and beyond.
Highlights:
Supreme Court conversion therapy ruling
First Amendment vs. public health
Evidence base for conversion therapy
Manosphere, masculinity, and religion
Conservative Christian influencer crossover
Aliens, astrobiology, and Obama
___________________________________________
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: [email protected]
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
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Naming Your Limits As a Tool For Hope: Anxious Times, Part 4 (#391)
2026/04/02
Co-host Kristen Tideman and I work through the final two legs of Emmy van Dersen's triad — the impossible and the desirable — using Kristen's new motherhood, MS diagnosis, and ongoing religious change as real, lived test cases for the framework.
In the Patron-only second half, We move from naming what we can't have, to excavating the values underneath those wishes, to identifying what we actually can do about it — and end up somewhere more hopeful than either of us expected.
Highlights:
The impossible vs. the merely difficult
Extracting values from unmet wishes
Religious change and lost sense-making
MS diagnosis, grief, and clarified priorities
Spiritual grounding after deconstruction
Anxious Times Episode Part 1
Anxious Times Episode Part 2
Anxious Times Episode Part 3
___________________________________________
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: [email protected]
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
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Western Psychology, Eastern Spirituality with Jeffrey Rubin (#390)
2026/03/30
I sit down with clinical psychologist and author Dr. Jeffrey Rubin to explore his concept of meditative psychotherapy — a genuinely reciprocal integration of Western psychoanalysis and Eastern contemplative practice that goes far deeper than the usual mindfulness-lite approaches. We get into what meditation actually is (hint: not just stress relief), spiritual bypassing, the scandals that keep plaguing Buddhist communities, and why real healing requires both quieting the mind and doing hard psychological work.
Highlights:
Meditation isn't just symptom reduction
East-West integration done poorly vs. well
Spiritual bypassing across traditions
AI, dreams, and idiographic meaning
Three stages of meditative psychotherapy
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How to Accept What You Cannot Change: Anxious Times, Part 3 (#389)
2026/03/26
I'm joined by my co-host Kristen Tideman for the third installment of the Anxious Times series. We dig into Emmy van Dersen's concept of "the necessary" — the hard limits baked into existence that we can't change, only accept — and explore how resisting these limits is one of the biggest drivers of unhealthy anxiety, whether you're navigating religious deconstruction, a new diagnosis, or just being alive in a chaotic world.
In the Patron-only second half, Kristen shares the raw, emotional story of her MS diagnosis as a lived case study in running headfirst into hard limits, and we explore what it looks like to resist or deny the necessary — from anti-aging culture to political utopianism to religious change.
Highlights:
Defining "the necessary" (hard limits)
Mortality, uncertainty, embodiment as givens
Kristen's MS diagnosis and processing
Religious change and false certainty
Acceptance ≠ approval or minimizing
Anxious Times Episode Part 1
Anxious Times Episode Part 2
___________________________________________
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: [email protected]
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
Epstein, Conspiracy Theories & Evangelicalism with Jared Stacy (#388)
2026/03/23
I sit down with theologian and ethicist Dr. Jared Stacey to unpack his new book Reality in Ruins: How Conspiracy Theory Became an Evangelical Crisis, exploring what actually distinguishes a conspiracy theory from a real conspiracy — and why the answer matters more than ever in the wake of the Epstein file releases.
Jared on IG | @Jaredmstacy
Highlights:
Psychology of conspiratorial thinking
Modernity, agency panic, capitalism
Boundary situations and anxiety
Shared reality and relationship limits
Hope for repentance and change
Other Conspiracy Theories Episodes:
#207 | Christianity & Conspiracy Theories
#100 | A History of Conspiracy Theories & Evangelicals
#74 | Conspiracy Theories, Evangelicals, Media & More
___________________________________________
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: [email protected]
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
When Old Systems Stop Working: Anxious Times, Part 2 (#387)
2026/03/16
We're not just individually stressed — we're living through a historic collision of crises that existential psychology has a name for. In this second episode of our Anxious Times series, Kristen Tideman and I explore why the anxiety so many of us feel right now isn't a personal failing, but an honest response to the world we've actually inherited. We explore things like:
What a "boundary situation" really is
Three overlapping crises reshaping modern life
Why shared reality is fracturing (and hurting)
The surprising upside of hitting your limits
Therapy tools for navigating the uncontrollable
Anxious Times Episode Part 1
___________________________________________
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: [email protected]
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
Skeptical Belief with Harper’s Editor Christopher Beha (#386)
2026/03/12
In this episode, I sit down with Harper’s Magazine Editor Christopher Beha to explore why neither scientific materialism nor romantic idealism fully satisfies — and what a third path might look like. We ask questions like:
Does materialism account for consciousness?
Is hard determinism therapeutically dangerous?
Can we rationally care about others?
What breaks down in "radical authenticity"?
In the Patron-only second half, we land on skeptical belief itself — and why love might be the best epistemology we have.
___________________________________________
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: [email protected]
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
Healthy vs. Unhealthy Anxiety: Anxious Times, Part 1 (#385)
2026/03/09
Introducing a NEW five-part series called Anxious Times, focused on practical insights from existential psychology for navigating intense periods like the one we’re living through, both collectively and individually.
Drawing on thinkers like Karl Jaspers, Rollo May, and Emmy van Deurzen, existential psychology provides actionable tools to help you engage with (and not just avoid or manage symptoms of) the realities of our sociopolitical moment, challenging personal circumstances, and the disorienting anxiety of religious or worldview change.
My co-host for the series is Kristen Tideman, a longtime friend who is navigating what we’re calling the “Triple Crown” of anxiety after having a baby, being diagnosed with MS, and continuing in her own journey of religious change all in the last year.
In this first episode, we’ll look at a few introductory concepts to help us conceive of anxiety in a more productive way.
Hope you enjoy and find it helpful.
___________________________________________
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: [email protected]
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
GGCH: Josh Had a Baby… in THIS Economy?! (#384)
2026/03/05
…In this sociopolitical economy, that is. I’m joined in today’s Generation Gap Culture Hour by regulars Josh Gilbert, Tony Jones, and we hear all about the newest generation to our experiment — Josh’s brand new baby! A rewatch of Last of the Mohicans has me seriously considering learning a new hobby, and Tony's 6% confidence in me is, frankly, offensive. We close out the first half of the episode sizing up the US-Israel strike on Iran and why the story is far more complicated than your Instagram feed is letting on.
In the Patron only second-half, Tony shares a close-to-home run-in with conspiracy rabbit holes that pulls us into the psychology of misinformation and eroding shared reality, before we land on who should and shouldn't be writing books about polyamory or psychedelics.___________________________________________
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: [email protected]
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
Self-aware Christianity with Tim Burnette (#383)
2026/03/02
In this episode, I sit down with Tim Burnette — founder of The Way Collective in Santa Barbara — to explore what it looks like to build a psychologically astute, contemplative Christianity for our fractured moment. We dig into the inner critic, anxiety, and how therapeutic practices like IFS, CBT, and acceptance and commitment therapy share a surprisingly deep resonance with contemplative traditions around the true self and nonviolence. Tim shares his own journey through panic attacks and cancer scares, and we trace how learning to attend to anxious thoughts — rather than fight or flee from them — might just be both good therapy and good spirituality.
If you've ever wondered whether your therapist and your mystic are secretly after the same thing, this one's for you.
___________________________________________
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: [email protected]
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
Religious “Nones” and “Dones” with Ryan Burge (#382)
2026/02/23
In this conversation, Ryan Burge joins me to explore the evolving landscape of religion in America, focusing on the concepts of “nones” and “dones”—those who identify as non-religious or have distanced themselves from organized religion—and how we see these concepts playing out across society.
Highlights
05:36 The State of American Christianity
11:29 The Impact of Partisanship on Religion
14:28 Self-Worth and Life Satisfaction in Religious Contexts
54:35 The Evolution of Gender Identity Awareness
01:08:51 Navigating the Complexities of Trans Issues
___________________________________________
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: [email protected]
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
Podcast reviews
Read Religion on the Mind podcast reviews
RobbieRambles 2025/10/28
Please make it about the Guest
I’m giving it a 5-star because I like what you’re doing and I want it to be successful, but dude, we get it…you were in an emo band and are a dr now. ...
t1u2r3t4 2026/01/14
Interviewing skills
I want to like this show, great guests, but the interviewer interrupts often and uses his questions mostly as a springboard to discuss his own thought...
Krombein 2025/12/04
Secular humanist navel gazing
Don’t be fooled. Dan presents himself has a “liberal Christian.” It’s important to note that “liberal Christians” don’t exist. Dan is nothing short of...
mjdtjd 2024/05/18
Keep it going!
Loved the first episode about the Chosen. Have many people in my life wanting me to watch that and probably get me saved again. I am always intrigued...
Sage7414 2025/04/25
Good content, but…
The show would be better if Dan didn’t interrupt guests and make their stories about him. I was a subscriber for a couple of years, but had to let thi...
Emeraldman 2025/01/14
Intellectually curious, maybe, but…
… I’m done. The episode on libertarianism was a dealbreaker for me. Buying into the 60 years of lies from megalomaniacal billionaires and corporations...
Acpacpacp 2024/08/17
Hit and miss
Meh
bGuiles 2024/08/13
Unacceptably offensive episode title
Really? 🙄
As a Christian not represented by anti-LGBTQ Christian fascists, I request that you re-title your most recent episode from “Why Are Christi...
CharlotteDaSpider 2023/10/16
The best
Of all the deconstructionist podcasts I listen to, this one is the best. Dan has a thoughtful and wide-ranging choice of guests and topics and he is a...
rozelynn20 2023/08/03
Thoughtful
Appreciate the conversations - insightful and well designed
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