I'm joined again by my dear friend Sarah Lane Ritchie, theologian and scholar of science and religion, for the first of three episodes responding to the new season of Amazon's Shiny Happy People docuseries. This season shifts focus from the Duggar family to Teen Mania—arguably the biggest religious youth phenomenon of the late 20th century with a three-tier pipeline: Acquire the Fire stadium events that functioned like teenage Billy Graham crusades, Global Expeditions mission trips where kids raised thousands to evangelize abroad, and the Honor Academy internship program that took on cult-like characteristics. 

Sarah shares her profound personal journey beginning at age 13 at the pivotal "Day One" event with 70,000 attendees at the Pontiac Silverdome just days after Columbine, leading to transformative month-long mission trips to Ghana and Bolivia that shaped her entire academic career. 

We examine the sophisticated psychological mechanisms at play—from Durkheimian collective effervescence to high-stakes eternal damnation theology that made extreme actions feel necessary, the integration of Josh Harris's purity culture teachings that redirected teenage sexuality toward spiritual eroticism, and how the apocalyptic urgency created a manufactured crisis that made everything else seem trivial. 

This episode sets the stage for deeper dives into Global Expeditions and the troubling Honor Academy cult dynamics in our upcoming conversations, illuminating how spiritual technology shapes young lives in ways that are simultaneously transformative and potentially harmful.

Watch Shiny Happy People Season 2

Sarah's Website | ⁠Sarahlaneritchie.net⁠

YHP Episodes on Season 1:

Shiny Happy People: Did Bill Gothard Create Pedophiles? (#198)

Shiny Happy People: Are Children Born Evil? (#200)

Shiny Happy People: Was Bill Gothard A Cult Leader? (#202)

Is "Shiny Happy People" Anti-Religion? (#204)

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Dan kicks off the episode with a new segment, Top of Mind, focused this week on former President Obama’s entry into the discourse around struggles currently faced by men and boys in the US and elsewhere: education, mental health, employment, suicide, overdoses, and identity concerns. He highlights the overlap between main points made by Obama and YHP topics, as well as gender discrepancies in therapy utilization.

Richard Reeves Substack Post⁠

⁠Obama Podcast Appearance⁠

For the main episode, I sit down with Dr. Camden Morgante, licensed psychologist and author of Recovering from Purity Culture, to explore the revolutionary concept of dialectical thinking—finding the "both/and" instead of "either/or"—as an alternative to the black-and-white thinking that dominates evangelical culture, politics, and even purity culture recovery movements.

We dive into practical applications like developing a "values-congruent sexual ethic" that transcends both shame-based purity culture and consent-only frameworks, discuss the real costs of walking the middle path in our polarized world (canceled interviews, lost relationships, professional challenges), and explore how to parent for critical thinking rather than ideological conformity.

This conversation offers essential insights for anyone wrestling with post-evangelical identity, seeking alternatives to political polarization, or curious about how therapeutic wisdom can inform spiritual and ethical development in an age that punishes nuance.

Dr. Camden's Website

Dr. Camden's Book

Dr. Camden on Instagram

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In this special "after hours" episode, I dive deep with my friend Chase Willett into the surprising abundance of religious and spiritual themes running through the New York Times' list of the 100 greatest films of the 21st century. We explore how our relationship with spiritually-charged cinema has transformed over the years—from Chase's evangelical need to connect every movie back to Paul's letters, to my own journey of embracing ambiguity and transcendent moments that don't require tidy theological conclusions.

I share one of the most formative spiritual experiences of my life, involving a chance encounter in Stockholm and Richard Linklater's Boyhood, that reshaped how I understand human dignity and God's perspective.

We also discuss spiritual technologies, the nature of transcendent experiences, and begin examining the first category of our 23-film analysis: "Mythic, Fairy Tale and Fantasy Spiritual Allegories," setting up what promises to be a rich exploration of how cinema grapples with questions of meaning and faith.

In the patron-only second half, we dive deeper into The Lord of the Rings and other films in this category, commit to watching The Tree of Life and Grizzly Man before our next conversation, and hint at how our discussion may inevitably touch on contemporary geopolitical events.

NY Times | 100 Best Movies of the 21st Century

Episode #307 | Disability, the Beatitudes & “Changing the World”

Religious/spiritual movies from the NYT list in no particular order:

Interstellar

Lord of the Rings: Fellowship

Past Lives

The Tree of Life

O Brother, Where Art Thou?

Spotlight

The Master

Lady Bird

A Serious Man

A Prophet

Arrival

Spirited Away

No Country for Old Men

Children of Men

There Will Be Blood

Melancholia

Pan’s Labyrinth

Mulholland Drive

Mad Max: Fury Road

Grizzly Man

Yi Yi

Her

Zone of Interest

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Faith deconstruction resources: www.soyouredeconstructing.com/

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A spiritual sequel of sorts to episode #330 on youth pastors, I’m joined by Casey and Sam from the Growing Up Christian Podcast to explore their experiences as ex-vangelicals and the evolution of their faith and show. They discuss the origins of their podcast, the role of humor in navigating serious topics, and the impact of community on their personal beliefs. The conversation delves into the complexities of identity, the challenges faced by the “faith deconstruction” community, and the importance of perspective in understanding their past.

Growing Up Christian Podcast

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Follow Dan on IG: www.instagram.com/dancoke/

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It’s time for another Generation Gap Culture Hour, where I sit down with Josh Gilbert and Tony Jones to peel back the layers of personal stories, health struggles, and shifting cultural landscapes through a generational and developmental lens. In today’s episode, we kick things off with a candid discussion about living with Lyme disease (sorry Tony).

From there, we trade work-related stories about hustle culture, what work-life balance actually means today, what “baby blue collar” work looks like, and how different age groups think about job loyalty and purpose.

Naturally, we can’t help but wander into the messiness of modern politics — exploring how our personal lives and political identities intertwine, and why nuance and community support feel more crucial than ever.

In the patron-only second half of the episode, starting with an announcement from Josh’s personal life, we go even deeper: discussing the fine line between personal ambition and collective responsibility, the importance of honest conversations in bridging generational divides, and how we can show up for each other in a world that often feels more polarized by the day.

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Faith deconstruction resources: www.soyouredeconstructing.com/

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I chat with journalist Julia Hotz about her book The Connection Cure: The Prescriptive Power of Movement, Nature, Art, Service, and Belonging. Julia introduces me to the fascinating world of "social prescribing," where healthcare providers actually prescribe specific social activities (like circus classes, if you're into that sort of thing) rather than just pills or therapy sessions. 

We dive into why intrinsic motivation makes all the difference — whether you're there because you genuinely want to be or because someone's making you show up — and how religious spaces naturally deliver many of the connection benefits we're all seeking. The conversation gets particularly interesting when we discuss my social anxiety therapy groups, where I've witnessed firsthand how group therapy can actually outperform individual therapy for certain conditions (and costs a fraction of the price, which should probably be shouted from the rooftops). We explore how 80% of our health outcomes are determined by environmental factors rather than clinical care alone.

By the end, we map out practical ways anyone can create their own social prescriptions — whether it's hitting nature for attention restoration, moving your body for mood boosts, or finding your tribe through shared interests and values.

Julia's Book | The Connection Cure: The Prescriptive Power of Movement, Nature, Art, Service, and Belonging

Julia on Instagram | @Hotzthoughts

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Follow Dan on IG: www.instagram.com/dancoke/

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I'm joined by David Zahl, returning YHP guest and editor-in-chief of Mockingbird's online magazine. David is also a massive Beach Boys/Brian Wilson fan like myself, so I knew he would be perfect to talk with about what we know about Brian Wilson's personal faith and spirituality. We also celebrate what his music has meant to us personally, playing a lot of song clips along the way. This is a dual-feed episode on both the You Have Permission and Pretty Good Vibrations feeds because the content feels like it fits in both places. Brian Wilson passed away on June 11th.

Although my attempt to have a strong line between the first half of the episode (more focused on his faith) and the second (mostly just focused on the music), things got a little blended up. Nonetheless, if you'd like to skip most of the faith/theology stuff, a good place to start listening is around the 60 min mark.

David's piece on Brian

Playlist for today's episode

Beach Boys Mega Tournament PGV episode Part 1

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Follow Dan on IG: www.instagram.com/dancoke/

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Last week I hosted a Q&A session for You Have Permission Patreon subscribers, and we had a great time! Topics included:

We had a great time and plan to do more of these in the future. Enjoy the recording and stay tuned for the next!

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Faith deconstruction resources: www.soyouredeconstructing.com/

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Joy Vetterlein joins me at the top of the episode to discuss the latest round of allegations against Michael Tait, and our evolving reactions and perspectives through this ongoing story.

After that update, David Zahl joins me to discuss his new book The Big Relief and his take on grace as Christianity's most radical contribution to the world. We dig into the Lutheran distinction between law and grace, connecting it to Carl Rogers' unconditional positive regard and examining how contemporary culture often delivers moral instruction without the container of acceptance that makes change possible. Dave argues that whether it's progressive activism or conservative piety, we're often just "shouting at people to change and then resenting them when they don't," while true transformation happens when people feel safe enough to be vulnerable. 

We explore evidence for divine grace through romantic love, recovery programs, and those surprising moments when someone sees us at our worst and chooses to stay. We also get beautifully sidetracked by our mutual obsession with Brian Wilson and the Beach Boys as examples of pure gift. 

In the end, we're all just looking to be accepted exactly as we are.

www.christchurchcville.org/david-zahl

Highlights

35:58 The Role of Therapy in Grace

44:47 The Absence of Grace in Socio-Political Discourse

51:49 The Concept of Divine Acceptance

1:05:57 The Burden of Performance and Conditionality

1:10:47 Experiencing Belonging and Grace

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In this episode of You Have Permission, I'm checking in with youth pastors to see how they're really doing—and the answer is, “Not great.” My guest Joel Foster, who serves at University Church on Pepperdine's campus, argues that today's youth ministers are working with the most anxious and depressed generation of teenagers ever, but lack the tools and training to handle what they're facing. We explore uncomfortable questions about who's entering the field and why, the psychological toll of carrying students' crises without proper support systems, and whether traditional youth ministry approaches still work for today's kids. Joel opens up about late-night crisis calls, the gap between what this emotionally intensive work requires and what people are actually trained for, and the creative solutions he's developed to support fellow youth ministers. 

Whether you're in youth ministry, have teenagers in your life, or are curious about how we're caring for the next generation, this conversation offers crucial insights into a field under pressure and what young people actually need from the adults in their lives.

Highlights

05:46 Stereotypes of Youth Ministers

15:05 Mental Health and Youth Ministry

30:56 Understanding Adolescent Development

47:21 Challenges Faced by Youth Ministers

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Edited by Josh Gilbert (⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠joshgilbertmedia.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ -- he is accepting more work!)

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