Pod Only Knows

Until last summer, June Joplin had been serving as pastor at Lorne Park Baptist Church in Toronto. Then she delivered a sermon that would change her life. In the months since, she has been interviewed by the New York Times, Vox, and the CBC, and her story has been featured in major news outlets far and wide. She spoke to John about what led to her wanting to be a pastor, what led to her coming out, and her hopes for Christianity and herself as she considers what comes next.

You can find more about her at her website, PastorJune.com

She is on Twitter @beloved_june

You can contribute to her GoFundMe here. 

Hard to Believe #019 - Emmy Nominee Liza Richardson 

Long admired in the television and movie world, Liza Richardson developed a loyal fan following when she served as the music supervisor for The Leftovers, and this year she was nominated for an Emmy for her work on Watchmen. Joey Lewandowski - whose favorite show of all time is The Leftovers - joins John for the first time since our debut episode to talk to Liza about her work, her life, and how she helped make The Leftovers what Joey calls "the best show about religion that's not about religion" ever.

Find Liza on Instagram and Spotify, where she puts together ridiculously great playlists. 

Hard to Believe #018 – Greg Garrett - Cultural Theologian

Cultural theologian Greg Garrett is the author of more than 20 books, including 2009's We Get to Carry Each Other, the Gospel According to U2, 2017’s Living with Living Dead, an exploration of the theological and human insights of the zombie apocalypse trope, and A Long, Long Way: Hollywood's Unfinished Journey from Racism to Reconciliation, which was published in May of this year.

Greg teaches English at Baylor University in Texas. He joined John to discuss U2, zombies, race and racism in Hollywood, and the people who continue to teach and inspire him.

He can be found on Twitter at @Greg1Garrett

Mandisa Thomas is the founder of Black Nonbelievers – a nonprofit that connects Black Americans and their allies who are living free of religion and might otherwise be shunned by family and friends in a caring, friendly, and informative environment. The group now has chapters in 14 major cities across the country. 

Mandisa serves on the board of directors for the American Humanist Association, and has been recognized as the Unitarian Universalist Humanist Association’s 2018 Person of the Year, the Freedom From Religion Foundation’s Freethought Heroine for 2019, and the Secular Student Alliance’s 2019 Backbone Award winner.

She talked to John about why she believes Christianity can't be unlinked from white supremacy, why she took on the role of helping other Black atheists come out of the closet, and the importance of putting people first and keeping the momentum of this moment alive. 

Kevin S. Decker is a professor of philosophy at Eastern Washington University in Spokane, WA. In his classes, he works from science fiction, comic books, and other popular culture reference points to explore and explain concepts of philosophy to his students. He has also contributed to and edited a number of books from the "...and Philosophy" series, including Alien and Philosophy, Star Wars and Philosophy, Star Trek and Philosophy: The Wrath of Kant, and Terminator and Philosophy: I'll Be Back, Therefore I Am. He is also a devoted Doctor Who fan, and the author of Who is Who, an exploration of philosophy in Doctor Who.

For this episode, John is joined by Nico Vasilo, from CageClub podcasts .html and X is for Podcast. 

Hard to Believe #015– Lovecraft biographer S.T. Joshi

S.T. Joshi is an author, researcher, and scholar based in Seattle, Washington. Since the age of 13, he has immersed himself in studying and chronicling the life and works of the enigmatic and highly influential American author H.P. Lovecraft. Since this month sees the release of HBO's adaptation of Matt Ruff's novel Lovecraft Country, John asked Joshi to speak to him about the author's complex legacy on literature, philosophy, and atheism and how we should think about his problematic views on race.

Joshi, who proudly describes himself as "technologically inept", can be found here: http://stjoshi.org/

He is the author of the superb biography I Am Providence

JW Rinzler is the prolific author of numerous "making of" books, including his acclaimed The Making of Alien. He spent 15 years working as Lucasfilm's resident historian, and in July he released his first novel, All Up, which chronicles the rise of the Space Age with a mixture of fact, humor, and fantasy. Juhi Khemani joins John to talk to Rinzler about his work, Star Wars, Alien, why we should take the idea of (actual) aliens seriously, and how great science fiction can define a generation, reveal our humanity, and inspire us to get to space. 

Rinzler on Twitter: @JWRinzler

Juhi on Twitter: @juhikhemani

Rinzler's Website: www.jwrinzler.com

In an effort to bring some levity after a string of more “serious” episodes, John decided to investigate the history of the role cats have played in religion. Surely that would be an adorable story! Things got dark quick. Jess Collins makes her second appearance to hear all the delightful cat stories.

Since 1995, journalist Tony Ortega has spilled more ink than perhaps any living person on the topic of the Church of Scientology. He joins us this week to discuss Scientology's past, present, and - now mired in even more scandals than usual - uncertain future. He also explains the whole "Lord Xenu" thing. As a bonus, Mike Manzi, fresh off the conclusion of #CruiseClub, takes a seat in the HtB co-host chair for the first time!

76 years ago, an audacious and high-risk plot nearly killed Hitler and took down the Third Reich from within. Historian Roger Moorhouse joins me to discuss Operation Valkyrie and other conspiracies to take down Hitler that he covers in his outstanding book Killing Hitler. Moorhouse has an MA in history and politics from the University of London and is a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society.