The fight to make abortion access legal, just like the fight to outlaw abortion, is one replete with religious voices. For this episode, two experts on religion and reproductive rights join us to discuss these issues. First, we chat with Dr. Gillian Frank about religious leaders, like Reverend Elinor Yeo, who helped thousands of people in the U.S. get abortions before and after Roe v. Wade. Then, we chat with Dr. Sophie Bjork-James about pro-life evangelicals and connections between their opposition to abortion and their approach to climate change. – This episode is part of The Revealer’s 2023 special issue on “Religion and Reproductive Rights” that goes live October 4 at therevealer.org.

What is the spiritual birthing movement? Ann Duncan, author of Sacred Pregnancy: Birth, Motherhood, and the Quest for Spiritual Community, joins us to discuss the organizations and businesses that imbue pregnancy with a sense of the sacred. What do these groups offer pregnant people that they aren’t finding in traditional medical settings or traditional religious communities? How do they use spirituality and rituals to help with pregnancy, parenting, and the loss of a child? And what does the presence of these companies reveal about social inequalities among pregnant people throughout the United States today?

Why are some Muslims using female pronouns for God? Hafsa Lodi, author of The Revealer article, “The Muslim Women Using Feminine Pronouns for Allah,” joins us to discuss a growing trend among Muslim women. We explore Islam’s teachings about God’s gender, why Muslims have primarily used male pronouns for Allah, what some believe using female pronouns for God can achieve, and how discussions about pronouns reveal broader issues of gender within Islam, including the place of modest fashion industries around the globe.

What were Ronald Reagan’s religious views, how did they shape his politics, and how did they transform the United States? Diane Winston, author of Righting the American Dream: How the Media Mainstreamed Reagan’s Evangelical Vision, joins us to discuss how the media normalized Reagan’s conservative Christian influence on American politics. We explore how his evangelical ideas about welfare and communism became “normal” American perspectives, how religious rhetoric informed the AIDS epidemic, and what role Reagan played in shaping today’s Republican Party and the interplay of religion and politics in the United States.

How did summer camps become such an important aspect of the American Jewish experience? Sandra Fox, author of The Jews of Summer: Summer Camp and Jewish Culture in Postwar America, joins us to discuss what led to the growth and popularity of sleepaway camps for Jewish adolescents. We explore why Jewish communities invested so heavily in summer camps, the camps’ goals, and why Jewish leaders saw sleepaway camps as key places to protect the future of Jewish life in the United States.

Countless people find Vodou meaningful as a spiritual tradition and as a source of inspiration within a white supremacist world, and yet the tradition remains largely misunderstood. Eziaku Nwokocha, author of Vodou En Vogue: Fashioning Black Divinities in Haiti and the United States, joins us to discuss Vodou practices, especially as they relate to issues of gender, sexuality, and race. We explore how Vodou transcends gender and sexual binaries, how the gods of Vodou inhabit people’s lives and influence their decisions, and how Vodou helps Black Americans and others counter racism today.

Why do so many white evangelicals, despite holding tremendous political power, feel threatened by feminism, LGBTQ progress, and movements for racial justice? Sarah Diefendorf, author of The Holy Vote: Inequality and Anxiety Among White Evangelicals, joins us to discuss how evangelicals’ anxieties shape their political involvement. We explore their image problem among people who are turned off by their reactions to societal changes, how they are recruiting new members to their churches, and how white evangelicals are responding to issues like Black Lives Matter and LGBTQ equality today.

What is the connection between comedy and American Jews? Jennifer Caplan, author of Funny, You Don’t Look Funny: Judaism and Humor from the Silent Generation to Millennials, joins us to discuss the place of humor within American Jewish communities. How did Jews become disproportionately represented in comedy fields like standup and television writing? For what reasons have American Jews developed a reputation as a funny people? How has Jewish humor changed over time? And, as the image of American Jews continues to expand to include more people of color and queer people, how will Jewish humor change in the future?

How did the Federal Bureau of Investigations contribute to the rise of white Christian nationalism? Lerone A. Martin, author of The Gospel of J. Edgar Hoover: How the FBI Aided and Abetted the Rise of White Christian Nationalism, joins us to discuss the place of religion and race at the FBI. Why did J. Edgar Hoover, the FBI’s long-serving director, believe a Christian America was a safer America and what did he do to make that vision a reality? How did the FBI form partnerships with conservative Christian leaders and institutions, and what religious activities took place at the FBI for its special agents? And how does knowing this history about religion and race at the FBI help us make sense of the rise in white Christian nationalism today?

Why are corporations and billionaires like Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos invested in space exploration? Mary-Jane Rubenstein, author of Astrotopia: The Dangerous Religion of the Corporate Space Race, joins us to discuss the corporate space race and its connections to religion. We explore why the corporate space race is so concerning, what religious ideas undergird Americans’ beliefs that we have a right to colonize the cosmos, and how Indigenous religious teachings could help us think differently about our relationship to outer space in ways that could also help our planet.