I want to start a rumor about a place in Minnesota where the people know salvation not by confession or creed but by tomatoes and dirt and the light of the sun and the rhythms of the moon. I want to tell you a story about a village where people of all ages live in relationship with each other, and with the earth and with the river and with the tree…

Deck the halls and make the yuletide gay, my friends! It's time once again for a special holiday edition of the show. A Very Existential Christmas weaves together poems, prayers, and stories in a unique exploration of Christmas without God. We begin by deconstructing the myth of Santa Claus before a brief commercial break and then come back for a p…

In this episode I talk with Jarrod K. Anderson about nature, death, and the universe. Jarrod is a storyteller, poet, and creator of the wildly popular nature podcast The Cryptonaturalist. I found Jarrod through his online poems and his book Field Guide to the Haunted Forest (which is worth purchasing for the title alone.) The language he uses to ma…

When I was a good Christian, I spent a lot of time thinking and talking about my worldview. It was an important part of identity-formation in my Evangelical faith communities. In this episode we revisit the idea of worldview, and talk about the evolution I have experienced as I have sought what is real. We begin with excerpts out of my own Personal…

Pausing at the end of a hot and lonely summer to talk about making meaning, making content, and falling in love with a planet that is bursting into flames.By Micah J. Murray

I catch up with my friend Emily Maynard, a fellow surviver of religious bullshit who is now working to help other people live free and meaningful lives. We talk about growing up in American fundamentalism and purity culture, why therapy matters, what we mean when we talk about God, and the everlasting bullshit of the Gospel Coalition, and why peopl…

In this conversation, I talk with post-theist theologian / writer / educator Maria French about what it means to be a post-Christian person of faith. We share stories from our early years of childlike belief, our struggles to overcome indoctrination and find freedom, and our adventures in theology on the other side of belief in God. I'm so glad I g…

Today I'm talking with Dr. Ursual Goodenough about cells, nature, religion, and God. As a scientist and a religious naturalist, she has so much wisdom and perspective on finding the sacred in the ordinary miracle of biological life. If you are curious about finding a way to think about divinity outside of traditional theistic God constructs, you're…

Seven J is a speaker, a mentor, and artist. In this episode we listen to some tracks off of his latest album "Sunday Mourning" and hear his experience of racism and corruption and spiritual abuse in the name of the church. I’ll give you a warning at the beginning, this is a painful story, and it may be difficult for those of us who have had abuse a…

Today I am very happy to introduce you Dr. Anthony Pinn. Dr Pinn is an author and thinker, a scholar of religion, and leader in the fields of African American Religious Studies as well as Humanist Theology. His writing on African American humanist theology has profoundly shaped my thinking about God over the past two years, and it was an honor to h…

Abby Norman is a pastor, author, and a dear friend. She also happens to be a Christian, which I used to be but am not anymore. In this episode talk about our diverging spiritual paths, and how we each navigate our relationships with religion ... with and without God. Abby also talks about her new book "You Can Talk to God Like That", available May …

In this episode we sit down with Josh Zak (aka New Tycoon) to talk about growing up fundamentalist, losing faith, and finding mystery. We also listen to a few tracks from his absolutely wonderful album "Wholiness", an exploration of shifting belief. This is how Josh describes it: "Wholiness is the acceptance of a long denied truth. It's a sorrowful…

Mason Mennenga is a podcaster, theologian, internet troll extraordinaire, and a fellow seminarian with me at United Theological Seminary. In this episode we start with a few jokes about The Office and the Enneagram, followed by a brief but serious discussion about The Office as a meta-myth with religious potential. Then we turn to the topic of Proc…

John Caputo is a philosopher and theologian who has been talking about existentialism, deconstruction, religion, and God since before most of us were born. In this conversation he shares his extraordinary insight with us about what those words mean. how we relate to the universe, and the future of religion.…

In this episode I talk with Emily Joy Allison about her brand new book #ChurchToo: How Purity Culture Upholds Abuse and How to Find Healing. She tells us how the hashtag she started became part of an international conversation about abuse in the Church, why Christianity enables abusers, and how the death of the Church is probably a good thing. We a…

"It's Ash Wednesday. I'm here to receive ashes and deny Christ." This is what I wrote in my journal at the start of Lent, two years ago. For this special Lent episode I have woven together a collection of poems and prayers and letters and stories I have written over half a dozen years as I have tried to make sense of my relationship with Jesus and …

Today's conversation is with Josh Howard, pastor, podcaster, and author of "Determined to be Desperate". Josh believes that deconstruction is a wicked movement that targets people struggling with their faith, takes advantage of the broken and hurting, and leads them into darkness. And lately he's be asking around for folks in the deconstruction sce…

I am joined by Melissa Greene (who you may know from Avalon back in the day) to talk about loving and leaving church, breaking up with Jesus, finding God after Christianity, and how to love the world. This is one of my favorite conversations I've had yet, and I think you'll love it too.By Micah J. Murray

In this episode I talk with Mike McHargue aka Science Mike aka the Cozy Robot about God and science and brains and belief. He answers questions about religious trauma, ethical frameworks, and making meaning in the absence of belief in God. Check it out!By Micah J. Murray

Pour yourself a hot mug of something delicious and join me for a very special Christmas edition of Existential Happy Hour. This one includes a discussion of Santa and belief, Jesus and Incarnation, and the significance of divinity born from the womb of a virgin.By Micah J. Murray

What does it mean to hope against hope for resurrection when you really, truly believe that God is dead and we killed Him? In this episode, we explore this question in conversation with Nietzsche, the Death of God theologians from the 1960's, feminist philosopher Mary Daly, C.S. Lewis, and Jesus Christ. Includes discussion of galaxies, faith, doubt…

I cannot forgive God for His sins, and they are many. In the first episode of a multi-part series on God, I talk about the problem of pain, the harsh reality of nature, and the slave girl in Pharoah's court. tw: violence, including sexual violence.By Micah J. Murray

In this episode, I talk with Cindy Wang Brandt about deconstruction, deconversion, how to make it through intact, and what life looks like on the other side of it all. We get into religious trauma, choosing your own story, and learning to live a life of authenticity and agency in a world devoid of inherent meaning. Links: Website: CindyWangBrandt.c…

In this special cross-over episode, me and Kevin continue a conversation we began on their podcast (A Tiny Revolution.) We talk about consciously uncoupling from Jesus, leaving church, finding God, and developing spiritual practices from a place of authenticity.By Micah J. Murray

My dear friend Melissa Hawks joins me to talk about magic and mystery. Also: religious gaslighting, reclaiming agency, learning to trust ourselves, unbrainwashing, soul/body dualism, growth and transformation, rocks and sticks and witchy stuff, learning to trust our intuition, and the universe infinite in every direction. Melissa on Instagram: @mel…

In this episode I talk about faith and doubt and that prayer I prayed for so many years: help my unbelief. I talk about why it is is more blessed to be curious than to know. I break down Pascal's wager, and discuss my contingency plan for if I get to heaven and find a God there after all.By Micah J. Murray

In this episode of Existential Happy Hour, I tell the saga of how I started out as a fundamentalist church kid and became an agnostic astronaut drifting in space -- a story in three acts. Act I: what happened to micah. fear of hell. fear of disappointing god. wrestling with doubt. Act II: the evangelism company. the internet. the church with the st…

This is where it all starts. We've got star sounds. We've got swear words. We've got stories. We've got heresies. I'm so glad you're here.By Micah J. Murray