Welcome to the inaugural episode of Oh, You Too—a space dedicated to the deconstruction, the reconstruction, and the messy, continued growth of our faith. Our goal is simple: we want to help you love your neighbor a little more deeply, and if you’re not quite there yet, that’s okay. We're all out here just trying to make it.
In this premier episode, Johnny and Eric clear the air, laugh about aging, and lay the absolute groundwork for why this podcast exists. They dive headfirst into their shared past, tracing the cracks in their religious foundations and exploring the beautiful, painful realities of outgrowing the faith you were raised in.
In This Episode:
What’s in a Name? (Oh, You Too?): John and Eric unpack the meaning behind the podcast’s title. They discuss the unique phenomenon of reconnecting with old friends from their youth who organically reveal they don’t go to church anymore, prompting a relieved sigh of, "Oh, you too?" They contrast their Northeast evangelical upbringing with the wild differences of John's current path as an Episcopal priest and Eric’s ongoing spiritual evolution.
The Arrogance of Certainty: Reflecting on the rigid culture of their childhood, the hosts challenge the underlying fear behind evangelical fundamentalism. They dissect the "height of arrogance" it takes for a movement that essentially started in the 1920s to tell ancient church traditions that they’ve been wrong for 2,000 years. Invoking Supreme Court Justice Learned Hand, John shares a mantra that guides his current faith: "The spirit of liberty is the spirit that's not too certain that it's right."
Chanting on the Porch & Forbidden Churches: The hosts reminisce about a summer when they were teenagers and tried to visit a different church every week. They recall a hilarious core memory of visiting a Lutheran church where the pastors chanted the service, leading Eric, John, and their friend Josh to spend the rest of the week chanting mundane camp chores to one another on the porch. They confront how the camp leadership eventually shut the experiment down, choosing control and fear over letting teenagers explore a bigger God.
The Crack in the Foundation: John opens up about the exact moment the foundation of his childhood faith fractured. He recalls a girl at camp sincerely stating that if a high school peer wasn't a Christian, she'd swear he was gay. Paralyzed in the closet at the time, John realized the deep contradiction of being both deeply rooted in Scripture and inherently queer.
The Coming Out Story & Paying Penance: In a raw and deeply moving segment, Eric owns his past mistakes and addresses his initial response when John first came out to him years ago. Falling back on toxic evangelical scripts, Eric originally told John he loved him but asked him "never to talk about it". Eric opens up about the shame he carries from that response and shares a hilarious, mind-blowing story about a time he thought he could "fix" John by taking him to a strip club—only for John to completely subvert his logic.
Life as a Navy Chaplain: John shares his journey of serving as a military and federal prison chaplain, detailing his beautiful time stationed in Crete, Greece. He breaks down what it truly means to be a chaplain to all people—meeting sailors exactly where they are without a hidden agenda to "save souls" or force a specific brand of religion.
Removing Hell from the Equation: The guys wrap up by examining how removing the historical weapon of hell forces the church to stop managing people through fear and instead forces us to finally learn how to love.
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