This week, Phill hears a personal story of how one woman’s relationship to religion changed (for the better!) after her decision to have an abortion. As a young Hindu woman in a pro-life group at her Catholic school, Shivana Jorawar panicked when she found out she was pregnant. What happened next brought her a feminist approach to Hinduism that she carries with her today. For a transcript of this episode, please visit crooked.com/unholierthanthou ....
Sep 11, 2020•27 min
This week, Phill dives into the most religiously fraught political battlefield of our time: Abortion. To better understand the fight for abortion access nationwide, he first talks to Monica Simpson, the executive director at Sister Song, a reproductive justice organization led by women of color. Monica breaks down the ways reproductive care becomes politicized, and what’s at stake for bodily autonomy should Trump win re-election. Then, Phill talks to Reverend Amanda Hambrick Ashcraft—a pro-choic...
Sep 04, 2020•35 min
This week, Phill starts by discussing Jerry Falwell Jr’s resignation from the evangelical Liberty University amidst news of an alleged sex scandal. Joining Phill is the Lutheran pastor Nadia Bolz-Weber, who helps to unpack the pitfalls of purity culture. Then, Phill takes a deep dive into a story that made headlines last week: an ICE facility in Miami is currently serving rotten halal meals to its Muslim detainees, with their only other choice being pork, a meat that’s considered haram. Phill ta...
Aug 28, 2020•35 min
This week at the first ever socially distant DNC, leaders from the party were invited to give speeches and remarks in support of the Biden/Harris ticket. Included in those invitations were a number of faith leaders speaking out against Trump in an unprecedented manner. One such leader is Bishop Mariann Budde, who speaks to Phill about her decision to lead the benediction at this year’s convention—and how her faith helped her make the decision. We also hear from Guthrie Graves-Fitzsimmons, a fell...
Aug 21, 2020•29 min
Reverend Raphael Warnock’s name has been in the news a lot lately as the Senate race heats up in Georgia. Just last week, WNBA players—alongside Stacey Abrams and Elizabeth Warren—endorsed Rev. Warnock’s bid to replace Senator Kelly Loeffler, an anti-Black Lives Matter conservative, in November. Phill talked to Reverend Warnock about what called him to the church—and now, to politics—and how faith has influenced his policy choices from reproductive justice to voting rights. For a transcript of t...
Aug 14, 2020•30 min
Transgender people are currently fighting for their lives against an administration and a religious right that seems hellbent on denying their existence and equality. For many leaders of the movement, this is irony at its finest, because transgender people were once considered sacred in many pre-colonized societies. This week, we talk to advocate and model Geena Rocero about the gender non-conforming spiritual history of the Philippines to illustrate how trans people were once accepted and rever...
Aug 07, 2020•39 min
In the years following the election of Donald Trump, Anti-Semitism has been on the rise in America, marked by an increase in hate speech and violence against Jewish people. This past month, some of that hate speech happens to come from the mouths of a select few notable Black people. Nonetheless, the conversation in the media was: Do Black people have an anti-Semitism problem? To help expose the intrinsic racism of this question, we spoke to three individuals who have gone underrepresented in th...
Jul 31, 2020•39 min
This week, Phill talks to Soma Snakeoil, a Buddhism teacher and a professional dominatrix. Together, they chat about the intrinsic link between the sexual and the spiritual—and what happens when we are allowed to show up as our full, freaky selves to our faith. For a transcript of this show, please visit crooked.com/unholierthanthou .
Jul 24, 2020•31 min
A history of pain and controversy lies beneath the ashes of San Gabriel Mission, which caught fire last weekend. Phil talks to Alan Salazar, a Native storyteller, activist, and Chumash and Tataviam elder about the history of the Indigenous people whose hands built the church — and who were abused by its founding father. Phil also hears from Remy Tran who started a GoFundMe for the restoration of the church. Remy’s experience is one of belonging, as the church served as a second home when he immi...
Jul 17, 2020•30 min
2020 has been a hell of a year. Every month we read a new headline that makes it seem like the apocalypse might be nigh. While there's no "how to" guide for the end times, there's one text that might be able to help: The Book of Revelations. Phil talks to Timothy Beal, professor of Religion at Case Western Reserve University about what our obsession with predicting the end of the world actually reveals about us; and how really, the end of one world could mean the creation of a new one....
Jul 10, 2020•30 min
Protests in response to the murder of George Floyd at the end of May have sparked nationwide rallies that continue all across the country today. To understand how this moment became a movement, Phil talks with artist, filmmaker and activist Tourmaline. Tourmaline shares a tarot card reading with Phil, and they speak about the role spirituality plays in attempting to dismantle power structures. For a transcript of this episode, please visit crooked.com/unholierthanthou ....
Jul 03, 2020•29 min
Pride month during the pandemic has one thing in common with years past -- protest. Phil has a conversation with Ann Northrop, activist and organizer with Act Up, about their 1989 Stop the Church action and the parallels she draws between the AIDS crisis and our battle with Covid-19. For a transcript of this episode, please visit crooked.com/unholiderthanthou .
Jun 26, 2020•24 min
No one could have predicted the chaos that is 2020… or could they? Phil speaks to astrologer Chani Nicholas about how the present day has parallels with years past, and her predictions for the upcoming months, including the election. For a transcript of this episode, please visit crooked.com/unholierthanthou .
Jun 19, 2020•21 min
Recently, President Trump received massive condemnation when law enforcement officials used gas and flash bombs to remove peaceful protestors … all so that he could be pictured in front of a church. Phil Picardi will speak to the Reverend Gini Gerbasi, the Rector of St. John's Episcopal Church, who was there at the time, about the incident, and how religion is used by politicians. For a transcript of this episode, please visit crooked.com/unholierthanthou ....
Jun 12, 2020•29 min
Phil introduces the podcast by talking about one of the reasons he began re-evaluating his relationship with God: finding love. He’ll talk to his fiancé, Dr. Darien Sutton, who happens to be an emergency room doctor, battling on the front lines of the COVID outbreak, while still maintaining a strong belief in the power of faith and the situations where he’s witnessed miracles. For a transcript of this show, please visit crooked.com/unholierthanthou ....
Jun 12, 2020•29 min
Award-winning journalist and editor Phillip Picardi is on a quest to better understand his relationship with spirituality by learning how faith plays a role in other people’s lives in Crooked Media’s new podcast, Unholier Than Thou. With the help of the spiritual, religious, and agnostic, he’ll guide listeners through the ethereal and worldly problems of the day, informed by his own on-and-off relationship with God. Through lenses both saintly and secular, Picardi will take a look at everything ...
May 29, 2020•1 min
