We had a LOT of fun with this one.

Jeremy Steele is an author, podcaster and progressive pastor who leads Not Church on Discord and whose book How To Not Suck As a Christian offers an alternative vision of inclusion, anti-racism and spirituality without bigotry. He's also a fun guy, as you'll hear during this episode.

Jonty, Laura and Malky talk to Jeremy about coming out of harmful belief systems and embracing a more open and less prescriptive path, how apologetics is garbage and which whisky is a red flag. There's also a moment that should serve as a cautionary tale for those choosing bottle-openers.

You can follow Jeremy on most socials @skeptic.pastor

Beer Christianity is an anti-capitalist, pro-BLM, pro-LGBTQ+, anti-imperialist, post-post-post-evangelical podcast where we drink a bit and talk a lot. Our aim is to be real, helpful and entertaining. To ourselves. But you are also welcome.

We also have a sister magazine called S(h)ibboleth and it takes up most of our time, money and effort. If you have any interest in the intersection of faith and leftist politics, you should subscribe. Issue 5, about work, labour rights and horrible bosses is out soon.

Gianmarco Soresi is Jewish, Italian and, more importantly, a theatre kid.

He's also one of our favourite comedians right now, whose crowd work and online presence blend wit, whimsy observations that are sometimes barbed, usually brilliant. He's a very funny guy, and he walks the line of being politically sound without being a "Political Comedian".

On this episode, Jonty picks Gianmarco's brain on Jewish identity and the expectation of Zionism, whether "comedy is legal now" and other MAGA talking points have any merit, and what his approach to comedy is, creatively and ethically.

Gianmarco Soresi is one of the best comics working today and we're delighted to have been able to speak to him before he gets too huge to talk to shows like us. We're sure you'll enjoy this interview almost as much as we did.

Gianmarco's comedy special, Thief of Joy is out now and if you're in the United States (so sorry), you may still be able to catch him on his Drama King tour.

About Beer Christianity

Beer Christianity is an anti-capitalist, pro-BLM, pro-LGBTQ+, anti-imperialist, post-post-post-evangelical podcast where we drink a bit and talk a lot. Our aim is to be real, helpful and entertaining. To ourselves. But you are also welcome.

You can find it on a better website at beerchristianity.co.uk

Beer Christianity also has a newsletter in which Jonty and guest authors comment on the news, theological issues and stuff that matters. He updates it according to his own wildly inconsistent neurodivergent schedule, but it's a good read. Sign up to the Beer Christianity newsletter on Substack.

We have a sister magazine called S(h)ibboleth and it takes up most of our time. If you have any interest in the intersection of faith and leftist politics, you should subscribe.

We bloody love Greenbelt. We have for years. The UK's best Christian festival is also its best arts festival and justice festival, a place where belief, creativity and working for a better world coalesce in a series of talks, spiritual happenings and cool music, theatre, comedy and craft. And at the 2025 festival, we made our on-stage debut!

In this episode, Laura, Malky and Jonty their Greenbelt 2025 highlights, as well as the Shibboleth Sessions they led in the Hope & Anchor venue. If you were at the sessions, this is your chance to hear what the gang thought about them. If you weren't, it's a chance to catch up on what we've been doing. And if you're not interested in any of that, this episode is your chance to hear about our experience of Greenbelt this year. Everyone's is different, so we would love to hear what yours was like! Send us a voicenote!

If you've never been to Greenbelt before, get your tickets for next year now.

You can listen to Episode 114 anywhere: in a field in Northhamptonshire, in a dry bar where honest conversation leads to deep fellowship, in denial that it's another year to wait before we can meet again, or right here...

Sim Kern is an author and social media creator who sprang to prominence at the beginning of Israel's latest war on the people of Gaza. As they have spoken out, from a Jewish perspective, against zionist justifications for Israel's violence, they have articulated what many within and outside Jewish communities feel about Israel and Zionism.

As a result of their TikToks, they were invited by America's only Palestinian-owned publisher, Interlink, to get some of those helpful thoughts onto paper. The result is Genocide Bad, a book that was denounced by some Israeli pundits before it had been published, and which made the NYT bestseller list.

In this episode, Sim talks to Jonty about why they don't use the word 'antisemitism' anymore, how they have experienced all the attention (positive and very negative), and what Christians and other people concerned about justice can say and do in the face of overwhelming political and media support for Israel's war crimes.

They also talk about finding hope in a bathroom stall. It's pretty cool.

Follow Sim on TikTok @simkern, on Insta @sim_bokstagrams_badly and at simkern.com

Check out Genocide Bad at interlinkbooks.com and find this interview in print (alongside similar voices) in Issue 4 of S(h)ibboleth magazine shibbolethmag.com

You can listen to Episode 113 anywhere: in a pro-Palestinian march, at a Jewish antizionist reading group, in church, or right here…

What if God wasn't all-powerful? What if you already held a theology that the mainstream Church saw as heretical? What are Process Theology and Open and Relational Theology?

Simon Cross and Thomas Oord join us for this episode to talk about a theology that, in a sense, rejects the images of God that don't make sense in the light of God's goodness. One part of that is seeing God as emotional, and not all-powerful.

Jonty and Laura talk to them about their ideas about God, about dealing with people with abhorrent ideas and about the conference Simon and Thomas are contributing to in June 2025.

We don't agree on everything, but we're surprised at how much we do agree on.

You can get tickets to the conference The Uncontrolling Love of God here while stocks last.

If you're interested in whether God is in control or not, and if you want to hear Laura getting increasingly uncomfortable with Jonty arguing with a guest, this one is for you.

Dan McClellan is a different kind of biblical scholar. He has a cult following on TikTok, regularly engages with conspiracy and misinformation content to debunk it, and isn't afraid to speak about politics. Many of us have come to welcome Dan's "alright, let's see it" on stitches of lurid and ridiculous pseudo-religion online, and along the way, we've learned a lot about what the Bible is and isn't.

Dan's takes are challenging not just to right-wing conspiracy theorists, but to many traditional Christian assumptions. What's nice is that he recognises that, and that he has no particular agenda aside from presenting data and academic consensus as an alternative to dogma and misinformation.

Jonty caught up with Dan a few months ago to talk about the Bible, its misuses and our misunderstandings about it.

Among other things, Dan shares the best and worst Bible translations, the biblical 'position' (such as it is) on abortion, and how an academic got onto an app for Korean teenagers to troll politicians.

You can find more from Dan McClellan at his blog and also at the Data Over Dogma podcast.

Dan McClellan's new book, The Bible Says So is out in April 2025.

Follow Dan on socials by finding his handle: @maklelan

An edited version of this interview appears in Issue 2 of S(h)ibboleth magazine. It's a good issue. You should buy it.

Find out more about Beer Christianity at beerchristianity.co.uk

What can good church look like? What is 'success' if you're a progressive Christian? Do Christians who aren't conservative have to give up on things like evangelism and outreach?

After a little break, we are delighted to welcome Naomi Nixon, CEO of the Student Christian Movement, which seeks to offer an affirming, progressive space that encourages Christians to put their faith into action. We talk about all these questions and more!

We loved this episode because Naomi is just great, but also because it's cool to meet progressives who have nice things to say about conservatives.

Listen to find out more about SCM's vision and campaigns, as well as a cool discussion about how we live out our faith without exclusively 'defining against' or giving up ground that the self-proclaimed arbiters of holiness have claimed for too long.

Check out SCM at movement.org.uk and check out naomi's bookshelf interview in the upcoming issue of S(h)ibboleth magazine at shibbolethmag.com

To find out more about Beer Christianity, visit beerchristianity.co.uk

What is the true meaning of Christmas? Is there such a thing?

What is the Luigi Mangione situation all about? Do we buy the billionaire and media narrative that he (or whoever The Adjuster is) should not be lionized?

And more importantly than any of that: why did we create S(h)ibboleth magazine, and what can readers expect from it?

A lot of bloody questions being asked by your chaotic friends at Beer Christianity. You may or may not like our answers. But you will hear more interesting takes than almost anywhere else in Christian media. And that ain't nothing.

Tune into this episode for our take on the health insurance CEO who had his claim on life denied, and to find out more about S(h)ibboleth magazine, which launched this week.

Along the way we also discuss what the true meaning of Christmas is and what it means to us. And this fine cup (or C-cup, we guess).

Love ya!

More from Beer Christianity at beerchristianity.co.uk and beerchristianity.substack.com.

Find S(h)ibboleth magazine at shibbolethmag.com.

Tony Campolo, the Baptist preacher, sociologist, Red Letter Christian and ceaseless campaigner for a Christian vision of social justice, has died.

In this episode, we pay tribute to Tony in the best way we know how: by letting him speak for himself. Eventually.

First, we talk about our own memories of him, and his influence on our theology. But once we've done making it about us, we share an interview with Tony from the vaults. In 2012, Tony Campolo was concerned about many of the things that are now even more pressing and horrifying.

The interview feels prophetic in multiple understandings of the word, and Campolo is solid on everything from American militarism and imperialism to the incompatibility of Christian spirituality with right-wing ideological selfishness. His identification of the central problem with evangelical engagement with culture -- the idea that everything gets better if people become Christians -- is expressed particularly poignantly, considering where we are with the Church in the West.

We hope you enjoy hearing from Tony again, and that you remember his family and friends at this time. Full disclosure: we also talk a lot about why we're excited about our new magazine, S(h)ibboleth. We hope it doesn't come across as a sales pitch and more as the genuine excitement we're feeling about connecting more Christians with similar beliefs and making the world better as a result.

Naive? Maybe. Worth a shot? Sure. Fun? Hell yeah.

Find out deets at shibbolethmag.com and beerchristianity.co.uk

The Far Right is on the rise. And, increasingly, fascists and proto-fascists are using Christian language and imagery to justify their position.

What should a Christian response be? Can we really say that our faith is being 'hijacked' by racists and bigots, or is there deeper acknowledgement and repentance to be done in the service of justice? And if fascists are the enemy, what do wee do with the command to love them?

The brilliant Revd Dr Helen Paynter, theologian, Executive Director of the Centre for the Study of Bible and Violence, and Beer Christianity's most regular guest, talks to Jonty and Laura about all this and more.

It's a good one!

Helpful links from the episode

Visit the page for The Church and the far-right claim to Christianity page for a list of events coming up. Specific events on the horizon (at time of publishing) include an event in Birmingham on Englishness and race, a London event on youth radicalisation and a YouTube-based event on the subject with the good people at Modern Church.

You can and should get hold of Helen's books we mentioned (edited and written) at these links:

The Church, the Far Right, and the Claim to Christianity

Blessed are the Peacemakers: A biblical theology of human violence

And you can also check out a discussion of the dissenting traditions here.

ALSO. We are launching a magazine. You're going to love it. It's called S(h)ibboleth, and you can read all about the new left-leaning Christian magazine here.

Find out more about Beer Christianity at beerchristianity.co.uk