Snarky Faith

This week on Snarky Faith, Stuart sits down with Rob Zahn, Lutheran pastor and author of LSD to Galilee: Incarnation in the Psychedelic Subculture (https://amzn.to/4hsFyEI), for a conversation about faith, counterculture, psychedelics, and the strange roads that led from acid trips to altar calls.

Rob’s story begins in an unexpected place. He is a pastor, but his father was an international drug smuggler connected to the world of psychedelic counterculture. That family history became the doorway into a much larger question: what if the church has been too quick to decide where God can and cannot show up?

The conversation explores Rob’s idea of “theosemiotics,” or learning to read the signs of divine presence in culture, memory, music, symbols, and experience. From the “God is Dead” moment of the 1960s to the rise of psychedelic spirituality, Rob looks at a period when traditional religion was losing credibility while people were still desperately searching for transcendence.

Stuart and Rob dig into the Brotherhood of Eternal Love, a group that treated LSD not merely as recreation but as a kind of sacramental doorway. That does not make the story clean, safe, or easy. It does make it hard to dismiss. For many in the counterculture, psychedelics became a way to name experiences they understood as divine, even if the church had no category for them beyond panic.

The episode also looks at how the spiritual hunger of the 1960s helped shape the Jesus Movement and eventually Contemporary Christian Music. The church once feared the music, the people, and the questions coming from the margins. Then, as churches tend to do, it eventually borrowed the sound, cleaned up the weird parts, and called it renewal.

This is not an episode about endorsing psychedelics or baptizing every altered experience as holy. It is a conversation about attention. What was the church missing then? What is it missing now? And why does organized religion so often recognize spiritual hunger only after it has been domesticated enough to sell at the merch table?

From acid trips to altar calls, this episode asks where God might be found when people stop looking only in the places religion has already approved.

Learn more about Rob Zahn and LSD to Galilee:
Rob Zahn’s website: https://www.robzahn.com/
Get LSD to Galilee: Incarnation in the Psychedelic Subculture: https://amzn.to/4hsFyEI

Big thanks to these outlets that make the Christian Crazy possible:
• Right Wing Watch
• Christian Nightmares
• Friendly Atheist

For more Snarky Faith:
🎙️ Snarky Faith website: www.snarkyfaith.com
📸 Instagram: @stuartdelony
▶️ YouTube: @snarkyfaith
🩵 Bluesky: @snarkyfaith.bsky.social
📘 Facebook Group: facebook.com/snarkyfaith
☕ Snarky Faith shirts and mugs: https://snarkyfaith.dashery.com/

Read the apocalypse responsibly:
📕 The Tribulation Survival Guide: https://amzn.to/4vnDcMl
🖍️ The Tribulation Survival Guide Coloring Book: https://amzn.to/4ePAk60

Check out other fantastic Quoircast partners:
The Heretic Happy Hour Podcast • Wild Olive • Jonathan Foster • The Church Needs Therapy • Honoring the Journey Podcast • Spiritual Brewpub • Bros Bibles & Beer • Liminal Living • The Social Jesus Project • I Was a Teenage Fundamentalist • The God Squad Pod • Radical Love Live • Second Cup with Keith • Unbelief Podcast • High Minds Collective • Evangelicalish • Beyond the Torch with Todd & Leslie

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In this episode of Snarky Faith, Stuart talks with Gregory T. Smith about bringing the teachings of Jesus into conversation with the wisdom of Lao Tzu.

Gregory is the author of Jesus and Lao Tzu: The Way of Love (https://amzn.to/4AeuraU), a devotional-style exploration of Christianity and Taoism that invites readers to consider where the two traditions resonate without collapsing one into the other. After more than twenty-five years in ordained Christian ministry, Gregory now works in social services in the Pacific Northwest and writes the Breathing Space blog at Patheos.

The conversation begins with Gregory’s long relationship with Taoism, stretching back to a ninth-grade history class and later his discovery of The Tao of Pooh. He explains how Taoist ideas such as humility, trust, non-striving, and going with the flow gave him another way to think about the teachings of Jesus.

Stuart and Gregory discuss what Gregory calls the rise of “muscular Christianity” in North America—a version of the faith increasingly shaped by aggression, dominance, certainty, and political power. Gregory contrasts that with the gentleness and non-coercion he sees in both Jesus and the Tao Te Ching, arguing that Christianity may need voices outside itself to remember what it has lost.

They also explore Christianity’s grasp for power and the temptation to prioritize cultural influence over the way of love. Gregory connects that impulse to the temptation of Jesus in the wilderness and argues that much of the modern church has become more interested in winning than following the example of Jesus.

The conversation turns toward certainty, truth, and humility. Gregory argues that certainty can become a barrier to genuine conversation when being right matters more than listening, learning, or encountering another person honestly. As he puts it, the opposite of certainty is not uncertainty—it is humility.

They also discuss interfaith dialogue and what it looks like for Christians to learn from another religious tradition without trying to convert, absorb, or claim ownership of it. For Gregory, encountering Taoism is not about replacing Christianity, but allowing another wisdom tradition to hold up a mirror to it.

Topics include:

• Christianity and Taoism
• Jesus and Lao Tzu
• The Tao Te Ching
• Muscular Christianity
• Christianity and political power
• Humility versus certainty
• Nonviolence and non-coercion
• Interfaith dialogue
• Spiritual control and religious power
• The Tao of Pooh
• Rediscovering the teachings of Jesus
• Choosing love over domination

About Gregory:

Gregory T. Smith is the author of Jesus and Lao Tzu: The Way of Love, coming September 22 from Quoir Publishing. He spent more than twenty-five years in ordained Christian ministry and now works in social services in the Pacific Northwest. His book brings the teachings of Jesus into conversation with the Tao Te Ching and has been endorsed by Wm. Paul Young, Rabbi Rami Shapiro, and Brad Jersak. Gregory also writes the Breathing Space blog at Patheos.

Big thanks to these outlets that make the Christian Crazy possible:
• Right Wing Watch
• Christian Nightmares
• Friendly Atheist

For more Snarky Faith:
🎙️ Snarky Faith website
📸 Instagram: @stuartdelony
▶️ YouTube: @snarkyfaith
🩵 Bluesky: @snarkyfaith.bsky.social
📘 Facebook Group: facebook.com/snarkyfaith
☕ Snarky Faith shirts and mugs: https://snarkyfaith.dashery.com/

Read the apocalypse responsibly:
📕 The Tribulation Survival Guide: https://amzn.to/4vnDcMl
🖍️ The Tribulation Survival Guide Coloring Book: https://amzn.to/4ePAk60

Check out other fantastic Quoircast partners:
The Heretic Happy Hour Podcast • Wild Olive • Jonathan Foster • The Church Needs Therapy • Honoring the Journey Podcast • Spiritual Brewpub • Bros Bibles & Beer • Liminal Living • The Social Jesus Project • I Was a Teenage Fundamentalist • The God Squad Pod • Radical Love Live • Second Cup with Keith • Unbelief Podcast • High Minds Collective • Evangelicalish • Beyond the Torch with Todd & Leslie

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Trigger Warning: This episode contains discussions of religious trauma, spiritual abuse, toxic shame, and sexual abuse.

In this episode of Snarky Faith, Stuart talks with Rev. Heather Foy about the hidden costs of shame-based religion and the long road toward healing.

Heather is a Reverend, writer, and podcast host who ministers to the unchurched, questioning, and deconstructing. Drawing from her own experiences and the stories shared by guests on her podcast, she explores how deeply religious messaging can shape a person's understanding of themselves, their worth, and their place in the world.

The conversation begins with Heather's own background in religious spaces and the experiences that eventually led her into therapy and deconstruction. She reflects on the impact of being taught that humans are inherently broken, how those messages became woven into her identity, and the difficult work of untangling faith from shame.

Stuart and Heather discuss the survival mechanisms many people develop in religious environments, the moment when questioning church culture becomes questioning theology itself, and the challenges of rebuilding a sense of self after leaving high-control belief systems behind.

They also explore common themes that emerge from conversations with survivors of religious trauma, including recurring doctrines, harmful teachings, and the lasting effects of spiritual conditioning. Heather shares what people outside these experiences often misunderstand and why so many individuals struggle to trust themselves after years of being taught to distrust their own thoughts, emotions, and instincts.

The conversation ultimately turns toward hope, healing, and recovery. What happens when people stop defining themselves as broken? How do they learn to reconnect with themselves? And what possibilities emerge when spirituality is no longer built on shame?

Topics include:

• Religious trauma and spiritual abuse

About Heather:

Heather Foy is a Reverend, writer, and podcast host who ministers to the unchurched, questioning, and deconstructing. After decades in religious spaces, she now walks alongside those finding their own way beyond dogma and institutional religion. She writes for The Quollective and co-hosts The Awakening Podcast. 

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In this episode of Snarky Faith, Stuart talks with author K.D. McCrite (https://amzn.to/4xuMgBe) about faith, creativity, fear, and the complicated process of finding your voice after growing up in a highly religious culture.

Raised in the Ozarks, K.D. spent much of her childhood immersed in a world where obedience, religious expectations, and fear of the End Times shaped daily life. While she always knew she wanted to be a writer, that path often collided with messages about what was acceptable, what was sinful, and what God supposedly wanted from her.

Together, Stuart and K.D. explore the difference between fearing God and fearing religious systems, the emotional impact of growing up under constant warnings about judgment and the Great Tribulation, and how those experiences can shape a person's creativity long into adulthood.

They also discuss the realities of Christian publishing, the challenges of writing authentic characters within highly curated religious markets, and what happens when readers become more concerned with being uncomfortable than with whether a story is honest.

Along the way, they talk about small-town church culture, family expectations, the freedom that comes from writing without permission, and why storytelling can become a powerful tool for reclaiming identity after years of living inside someone else's script.

It's a thoughtful conversation about faith, fear, creativity, and the courage it takes to tell the truth.

Big thanks to these outlets that make the Christian Crazy possible:

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Matthew J. Distefano joins me fresh off his debate with Andrew Wilson on LGBTQ inclusion in the church — a long, combative exchange that quickly became about much more than a handful of clobber passages.

We talk about what Matt expected going into the debate, what surprised him once it started, and what it feels like trying to have a nuanced theological conversation inside an online culture built around winning, domination, and rhetorical takedowns. Because at some point, a debate about LGBTQ people in the church becomes a debate about authority: Who gets to define Christianity? Who gets pushed outside the boundaries? And why are certain Christians so invested in making sure those boundaries stay heavily guarded?

Matt reflects on the role of compassion, the limits of debate as a path toward understanding, and the difference between defending a faith and defending a system. We also dig into scapegoating, mimetic theory, religious certainty, Christian gatekeeping, and the way LGBTQ people continue to be treated as theological problems instead of actual human beings.

Along the way, we wrestle with a larger question hanging over the entire exchange: what happens when Christianity becomes more concerned with power, purity, and winning than with grace, solidarity, and the life of Jesus?

And perhaps the most uncomfortable question of all: if the loudest version of Christianity is defined by exclusion, contempt, and domination, why are Christians still surprised when people walk away?

This is a conversation about debate culture, queer inclusion, power, theology, and the kind of faith we build when being right matters more than being human.

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In this episode of Snarky Faith, Stuart talks with comedian, writer, and SiriusXM host John Fugelsang about his new book Separation of Church and Hate: A Sane Person's Guide to Taking Back the Bible from Fundamentalists, Fascists, and Flock-Fleecing Frauds. https://amzn.to/4b8yKKF

John grew up Catholic, spent years working in comedy and media, and has become one of the most recognizable voices calling out the way religion is used to justify cruelty, nationalism, and political power. In this conversation, he and Stuart dig into the strange marriage between faith and authoritarianism in America, the selective way the Bible gets used by modern fundamentalist movements, and why the loudest voices claiming persecution often hold the most influence.

They also explore the strange cultural divide between Catholic tradition and evangelical apocalypse obsession, why satire and humor can be powerful tools for exposing religious hypocrisy, and where people who genuinely take the teachings of Jesus seriously might still find space today.

It’s a sharp, funny, and thoughtful conversation about faith, power, scripture, and the ongoing fight to separate the teachings of Jesus from the machinery built around them.

Big thanks to these outlets that make the Christian Crazy possible:

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Most people who leave religion do not just leave behind doctrine. They leave behind ritual too.

The prayers. The candles. The songs. The moments that gave shape to grief, fear, celebration, guilt, forgiveness, and change.

In this episode, Stuart talks with Jeremy Steele about his new book, Rituals for Heretics and People Who Aren’t Sure About God (https://amzn.to/4mzdL7R), and why ritual still matters even when belief falls apart.

Jeremy argues that rituals are not just “church things.” They are human things. We already use them all the time, whether we realize it or not. We replay songs after breakups. We light candles when we lose someone. We revisit places that matter to us. We hold onto objects, routines, and small symbolic acts because they help us process what is happening beneath the surface.

The conversation explores what happens when people deconstruct harmful beliefs but never replace the rituals that once gave their lives structure and meaning. Stuart and Jeremy talk about why rituals can still be powerful outside of religion, how they help us process change, and whether modern people are quietly rebuilding new forms of spirituality after rejecting the old ones.

They also wrestle with bigger questions:

If you have ever left church but still felt like you lost something important along with it, this conversation is for you.

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What happens when faith stops chasing certainty and starts making room for mystery?

In this conversation, Stuart is joined by editor and foreword writer Keith Giles, along with contributors Mo Thomas and Nish Dubashia, to discuss Volume One of Quantum Theology (https://amzn.to/4ctuHYv).

The conversation explores the strange overlap between spirituality, mysticism, and ideas found in quantum physics. Instead of seeing the world through the usual religious binaries of right and wrong, saved and unsaved, insider and outsider, the group asks whether reality is actually far more interconnected than we have been taught.

Keith talks about why he wanted to create Quantum Theology and gather different voices to explore these ideas. Nish unpacks his idea of “diamond Christianity,” which pushes back against the fragmented, dualistic thinking often found in modern faith. Mo reflects on the difference between ego and the true self, and how mystical experiences changed the way he understands identity, consciousness, and purpose.

Throughout the discussion, the group wrestles with themes of wholeness, mystery, consciousness, deconstruction, and what it means to build a faith that leaves room for doubt instead of pretending to have every answer.

If you have ever felt boxed in by rigid theology, exhausted by certainty, or curious about how science and spirituality might overlap, this conversation will give you a lot to think about.

Big thanks to these outlets that make the Christian Crazy possible:

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Most versions of faith are built to keep things stable, predictable, and controlled. That’s kind of the problem.

In this episode, Stuart sits down with Jeremy Jernigan to talk about his book The Edge of the Inside (https://amzn.to/4dFlzlQ) and the idea that real spiritual growth doesn’t happen in the center of organized religion—it happens out on the edges, where things are less certain and a lot more honest.

Jeremy draws from Richard Rohr’s concept of “the edge of the inside” to describe a space many people are finding themselves in: not fully “in,” not fully “out,” but somewhere in between. It’s a place where inherited beliefs start to crack, questions get louder, and the pressure to perform certainty finally gives way.

They get into why so many people are stepping away from church structures—not because they’ve lost faith, but because they’re trying to salvage something real from it. Deconstruction comes up, not as a collapse, but as a necessary step toward something more grounded and less performative. It’s less about tearing things down for the sake of it, and more about refusing to pretend something works when it clearly doesn’t.

A key thread in the conversation is the difference between fragile faith and what Jeremy calls anti-fragile faith. Fragile faith needs everything to stay intact—no tension, no contradiction, no hard questions. Anti-fragile faith does the opposite. It actually grows under pressure. It expects disruption. It can handle doubt without falling apart.

They also reframe the cross—not as a neat theological answer, but as a pattern. What looks like failure, loss, or collapse can actually be the beginning of something more honest and durable. That shift matters, especially for people who feel like their faith has “failed” them.

There’s also a practical side to this conversation. What do you do when your old community doesn’t fit anymore? How do you find people who won’t try to fix you or pull you back into certainty? And how do you keep moving forward without needing everything nailed down?

If you’ve been sitting in that in-between space—too aware to go back, not sure where you’re going next—this episode names that experience without trying to clean it up.

Big thanks to these outlets that make the Christian Crazy possible:

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This week on Snarky Faith, Stuart talks with Chris Jones, host of the Spiritual Hot Sauce podcast, about a question a lot of people are quietly asking right now: what if Jesus and the religion built around him aren’t the same thing?

Chris approaches faith from the other side of deconstruction — not trying to rebuild the same structure, but trying to strip it down. He makes a distinction between worship and discipleship, arguing that it’s possible to admire Jesus without actually living the way he taught. For Chris, the real work isn’t about belief as much as it is about embodiment.

The conversation moves through the ways religious systems can shape — and sometimes distort — how people read scripture, and what happens when someone approaches those texts without the usual filters. They also get into suffering, not as something to avoid or explain away, but as something that can reshape a person depending on how it’s navigated.

Chris shares parts of his own background, including growing up in a pastor’s family and eventually stepping outside that expected path. That shift becomes part of a larger theme in the episode: how people rebuild identity after stepping away from inherited beliefs, and what it looks like to pursue something more personal, and less controlled, on the other side.

This isn’t a conversation about abandoning faith. It’s about what remains when the structure cracks — and whether something more honest can take its place.

Big thanks to these outlets that make the Christian Crazy possible:

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