This episode's guest is James Admans (they/them) also known as Marge Erin Johnson (she/her), a minister, activist, and drag queen residing on the occupied homelands of the Wappinger and Paugusett Nations. They are a Member In Discernment and ordained pending call in the United Church of Christ. James is a graduate of Union Theological Seminary in the City of New York (unceded homelands of the Lenape Nation) where they received their Master of Divinity degree in interdisciplinary Biblical studies, social ethics, and queer theology.

In their last year in seminary, James was the recipient of the prestigious Malcolm Boyd Veritas Award for their advocacy and social justice work on behalf of the queer and trans community. They are the editor of the recently published Beyond Worship: Meditations on Queer Worship, Liturgy, & Theology, a queer worship anthology featuring thirty-three contributions by LGBTQIA2S+ theologians, which was the recipient of a 2023 Independent Publishers Bronze Medal in the religion category. James leads a vibrant drag ministry, preaches, and leads worship as their drag alter-ego, Marge Erin Johnson (she/her).

In this episode, James shares with us their spiritual journey as a Christian and a practitioner of tarot and mediumship, explains why Christians should take spiritualist practices like mediumship seriously, and offers hope for trans and queer people amidst this moment in which anti-trans legislation and drag bans are weaponized for oppression by American empire. James inspires me to hold in tandem deep warmth for the queer community and all oppressed communities while remaining unwaveringly critical of empire, capitalism, and corruption. Their courageous ministry as a drag theologian is more important now than ever, and I'm grateful to James for taking time to sit with and to hold us in this fragile moment.

For a closer look at how James applies their tarot skills, head on over to Instagram @calledtobemultiplepodcast to watch their full tarot reading with me!

Guest's Links:

Instagram: @theology.queen

Website: theologyqueen.com

Book: Beyond Worship: Meditations on Queer Worship, Liturgy, & Theology

Resources Mentioned:

• Wesleyan quadrilateral (sources for theology)
• Witch Talk podcast
• Rev. Irene Monroe
• Real Good Church: How Our Church Came Back from the Dead, and Yours Can, Too by Molly Phinney Baskette
• Additional information about spiritual traditions mentioned in this episode:
  • Episode with Nova Sturrup about divination (tarot)
  • Spiritualism & Mediumship
  • Tarot
  • New Age

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We honor the Adena and Monongahela peoples on whose ancestral lands this podcast is produced.

Written & produced by Addie Pazzynski

This episode's guest is interfaith family expert Susan Katz Miller (she/her). Susan is the author of two books for interfaith families: Being Both: Embracing Two Religions in One Interfaith Family and The Interfaith Family Journal. She is a former Newsweek correspondent and her writing has appeared in the New York Times, The Washington Post, The Christian Science Monitor, and many other publications.

Susan has spoken on interfaith families at Harvard Divinity School, Union Theological Seminary, Rabbis Without Borders, The Parliament of the World's Religions, and many other conferences, seminaries, universities and colleges, and religious communities, as well as on numerous podcasts. She is the founder of the Network of Interfaith Family Groups. She provides coaching and workshops supporting clergy, teachers, social workers, interfaith couples, and interfaith family members.

In this episode, Susan shares her story as the child of a Jewish-Christian interfaith home and as an interfaith parent herself, her research on Jewish-Christian interfaith families, and the beauty and benefits that interfaith people bring to the world. I’m especially excited for you to hear how Susan connects being interfaith to other marginalized identities and how being religiously “nonbinary” might help us transform the world.

I am also excited to share this episode with you because multiple guests on the podcast have mentioned Susan’s work as important resources in their journeys to understanding their identities as interfaith folks and members of interfaith families. Susan's work stands as some of the most enriching and thought-provoking perspective into the lived realities of people who grow up in and create interfaith homes, and it was truly my honor to have the opportunity to speak with her. This episode was recorded in August of 2022. I’m thrilled to finally share it with you.

Guest's Links:

Website: susankatzmiller.com

Twitter: @susankatzmiller

Facebook: Author Page

Resources Mentioned:

• Being Both: Embracing Two Religions in One Interfaith Family
• The Interfaith Family Journal
• Network of Interfaith Families Group (NIFG)
• Muslim Christian Interfaith Families (MCIF)

Support Called to Be Multiple Podcast:

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We honor the Adena and Monongahela peoples on whose ancestral lands this podcast is produced.

Written & produced by Addie Pazzynski

This episode's guest is Stuart Getty (they/them). Stuart is a writer and brand strategist with 15 years of experience leading teams and storytelling. With a love for strategic communication and branding, Stuart is also a filmmaker who leads with an emphasis on authentic storytelling and emotional connection. Their best work is centered in the heart, but also in the laugh. Stuart loves play, and believes freedom and imagination are the best fuels for the most innovative design and ideation. Stuart is also driven by the concept of access, and crafting work that everyone in the room can understand. Belonging, inclusion, and equity are at the heart of their design and leadership philosophy.

Stuart is also the author of the book How to They/Them: A Visual Guide to Nonbinary Pronouns and the World of Gender Fluidity, with illustrations by Brooke Thyng. After reading their book and noticing that Stuart seems theologically engaged, I wanted to ask Stuart about how their spiritual journey as a witch connects to their gender story as a gender fluid person. I also wanted to know how we might think about Stuart’s work as theologically uplifting, even though it’s not what we’d call theology in a traditional sense.

Throughout this episode, I have interwoven Stuart’s story with the work of lesbian theologian Carter Heyward. An Episcopal priest, professor, theologian, activist, and writer, Heyward was an early leader of feminist liberation theology and the theology of sexuality. As a young feminist, Heyward supported racial and gender justice initiatives like the Equal Rights Amendment and women’s ordination in the Episocopal Church. She went on to get her PhD in Systematic Theology from Union Theological Seminary and is the author of eleven books.

As the LGBTQ Religious Archives Network writes about Heyward, “She transformed consciousness, proclaimed the possibilities for women to be priests, for lesbians to be theological, and made way for new approaches to connecting the divine to the erotic, justice, and activism.” Heyward is one of the first theologians to move away from an apologetics framework to articulate a lesbian feminist theology of liberation.

Now, Heyward became an activist for gay and lesbian justice in the 1970s when mainstream terminology for the movement was not as inclusive as it is today, but I think her work absolutely applies to the experiences of queer and gender nonconforming folx like Stuart. And while Heyward writes from an explicitly Christian perspective, it’s possible to extend her work to folks of all spiritual/religious identities. This episode is an exploration of some of the possibilities of how Heyward’s work magnifies Stuart’s story.

Guest's Links:

Website

How to They/Them: A Visual Guide to Nonbinary Pronouns and the World of Gender Fluidity by Stuart Getty, illustrations by Brooke Thyng

Resources Mentioned:

Touching Our Strength: The Erotic as Power and the Love of God by Carter Heyward

Support Called to Be Multiple Podcast:

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We honor the Adena and Monongahela peoples on whose ancestral lands this podcast is produced.

Written & produced by Addie Pazzynski