Sin isn’t a rulebook. It isn’t about all the don’ts. At its core, sin is love lost — not loving God, not loving others. And if the church misses that, it’s missing the whole point. Let’s talk about it in this week’s episode. Listen now.

🎉 Episode 71! We’ve laughed, we’ve cried, and now we’re getting real. This week: James Dobson—yes, the “good Christian advice” guy who… wasn’t. 😬

We’re breaking down his problematic takes on women, feminism, parenting, and the LGBTQ+ community and asking: how did this advice shape culture—and why are we still talking about it?

If you’ve ever wondered how “faith + advice” can go wrong, or why some church teachings hurt more than help, this episode is one you don’t want to miss.

This week’s episode starts with polls, Dora the Explorer flashbacks, and Gilmore Girls references (because obviously). But then we buckle up for something way less fun: Doug Wilson. He calls himself a pastor, but his so-called “good news” is Christian nationalism, repealing women’s right to vote, and household “headship” that looks a lot like oppression. We’re calling it what it is: Doug’s ‘Good News’ Enslaves Women.

This week, we’re diving into Season 2 of Shiny Happy People. It takes us inside Teen Mania—boot camp–style weekends, fear tactics, and nonstop manipulation disguised as discipleship. We’re talking cult vibes, political power grabs, and how it left a generation of students picking up the pieces while pretending everything was shiny and happy.

This week we’re doing what we do best—scrolling, judging, and calling out the nonsense. From savage memes to shutdown phrases like “That sounds hurtful—was that your intention?”, we’re bringing the sass and the side-eye. We talk sensitive leaders, boundary-setting like a boss, and why you should absolutely make him uncomfortable. Come for the chaos, stay for the mason jar full of hydration, rest, and refusing to touch grass.

Some faiths hand out tracts. Others hand out casseroles. And some actually hand out kindness. This week, we’re talking about how Protestants love to say “it’s not about works”—then use that as an excuse to be rude, judgmental, and lazy about loving people well. If grace is real (and it is), it should make us nicer. Not meaner.

This week we're asking "What in the Hallelujah?"—because our guest Heather Frazier is here! Author of "Mom Got Jesus Wrong, Hallelujah!" and full-time slayer of religious BS, Heather walks us through her wild ride of unlearning everything from fear-based faith to misogynistic theology. She’s hilarious, unfiltered, and somehow still full of grace. Come for the deconstruction, stay for the snark, and maybe grab a drink—it’s that kind of episode.

This week on The Church and the Restless, we’re decentering men—spiritually, socially, and scripturally. From Deborah the war-leading prophet, to St. Brigid who founded monasteries, to Margaret Towner—the first woman ordained in the Presbyterian Church, to Rachel Held Evans who made evangelical Twitter sweat—we’re reclaiming the pulpit. Women preaching isn’t some radical new doctrine; it’s been canon since Judges 4. And if patriarchy thinks it wrote the altar call, we’re here to remind them—women have been main characters in the pews, the pulpits, and the plot since day one.