Godcast —Conversations About Religion, Spirituality, and Being: Recent Episodes
Danielle Isbell
Godcast exists to share our stories about the presence or absence of religion in our lives. Each episode focuses on a particular issue or experience in the hopes of acknowledging that we are in a continued conversation with the religion/ worldview with which we were raised—whether that conversation happens from a place of reception or rejection. Here at Godcast, we believe that religion and spirituality should be a part of the public conversation; we recognize, however, that religion can be polarizing. In light of this, we hope to foster a space where we can listen attentively to other people’s religious experiences in order to learn and to uplift the multiplicity of ways that religion can play out in our lives.
Alex Cook is a painter, muralist, and musician. His art brings messages of hope, assurance, and beauty in unexpected places.
You can find more of Alex's work at stonebalancer.com and youarelovedmurals.com
You can see Danielle and Alex dissect some of Alex's murals by clicking the links below:
- The Things We Need Are So Close
- Tree of Life
- Father and Daughter Behold the Holy City
Alex Cook is a painter, muralist, and musician. His art brings messages of hope, assurance, and beauty in unexpected places.
You can find more of Alex's work at stonebalancer.com and youarelovedmurals.com
You can see Danielle and Alex dissect some of Alex's murals by clicking the links below:
- The Things We Need Are So Close
- Tree of Life
- Father and Daughter Behold the Holy City
In this episode, Danielle sits down with two of her childhood friends: Kendall and Kristina. These sisters grew up in the same house, in the same private christian school, and both endured losing their dad before finishing elementary school. Despite all these common experiences, their beliefs and approaches to the world are vastly different. Find out how they navigated these differences, where they've found common ground, and what it has taken for Kendall and Kristina to heal their relationship.
Danielle and Larry Torres talk about what it means to Larry to be an evangelical christian. Danielle presses Larry about his belief in Hell, what the Bible says about "homosexual acts," and the recent death the of the missionary who tried to evangelize North Sentinel Island. It's deep, refreshing, and truly dialogical conversation—one in which Larry embodies conviction, honesty, and humility (the whole point of Godcast). If you're tired of hearing the same conversation about evangelicals, this is the perfect conversation for you.
Danielle asks Caitlyn to clear up some basic information about Mormonism. They cover the mission, polygamy, the temple, church structure, peace building, sacrament, + many other common queries (and are interrupted by a over-zealous dog). Caitlyn moves more deeply into her own experiences of breaking with both cultural norms and mandates in mormonism while still remaining in communication with her Creator and with what is at the heart of mormonism for her. They touch on eating disorders, gender roles, and why so many of your favorite instagrammers are mormon. Thanks for tuning in!
Allure Article on Mormon Beauty Bloggers: https://www.allure.com/story/why-so-many-beauty-bloggers-are-mormon
Danielle and Raleigh chat about Raleigh’s experience growing up in small town Tennessee. Raleigh talks about growing up without a religious tradition in an environment where different expressions of Christianity dictated cultural norms and groups. Danielle asks Raleigh about her choice to study religion in college and how her dad’s death effected her spiritual life and beliefs. Raleigh asks Danielle about what it’s like to date someone who doesn’t share her faith.
From Danielle--
A collection of sounds and poems (written by me) from my trip to Israel and Palestine March of 2018. The recording begins with one of our tour guides singing in a cistern at Masada, moves to the refugee camp in Bethlehem, and from there consists of a combination of sounds from Yad Vashem, Jerusalem, Hebron, Mahane Yehuda Market, and several other locations throughout Israel and Palestine. For the full artist's statement, see https://danielleisbell.wordpress.com/2018/06/23/israel-and-palestine-soundscape/
Nathan and Danielle take a deep dive into the intersection of catholic and queer identity in Nathan's life. Nathan illuminates the ways that the Catholic church acted as a beard throughout their childhood and adolescent life. This careful coexistence of queer and religious identity became more complicated when Archbishop Sartain (the Archbishop of Seattle) took a vested interest in shutting down Nathan's attempts to create an LGBTQ+ inclusive Catholic ministry. In this episode, Danielle and Nathan also have a Gender and Sexuality 101 moment, talk military ban, and discuss what Nathan sees as the most crucial cultural shifts that need to happen for trans people to feel/be fully accepted into society. SHOW NOTES: -"Confessions of an Uneducated Queer" by Lauren Zuniga: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bGCXJqn6DRg
[unedited version of episode 4] In this episode, Nathan Bakken illuminates the ways that the Catholic church acted as a beard throughout their childhood and adolescent life. This cautious coexistence of queer and religious identity became more complicated when Archbishop Sartain (the Archbishop of Seattle) took a vested interest in shutting down Nathan's attempts to create an LGBTQ+ inclusive Catholic ministry. Danielle and Nathan also have a Gender and Sexuality 101 moment, talk military ban, and discuss what Nathan sees as the most crucial cultural shifts that need to happen for trans people to feel/be fully accepted into society.
Episode 3 is a continuation of Danielle's conversation with Tim Hopkins—but this time we are focusing on the unique qualities of Jewish Faith and the way that Judaism has been contextualized in the Western tradition. We also delve into what its like to be in a dynamic relationship with the religious tradition of your childhood.
In this episode, we dive into various perspectives on the increasing numbers of interfaith marriages and ask around about students' experience of religion at Boston University. Danielle invites Tim Hopkins onto the show to talk about his experience of being raised in an interfaith home, and the conversation moves right onto the topic of Hell. Talk about putting a guest in the hot seat. Follow us on Twitter @GODCAST_PODCAST and Facebook @TheGodcastPodcast
In the first ever episode of Godcast, Danielle asks Sarah about her first teachings on sex, and they get into a pretty passionate conversation about objectification, sexual pleasure, and the ways that the church forms men and women to think about (or not think about) bodies.