Hopelessly Religious & Moving to the Country (#372)

Hopelessly Religious & Moving to the Country (#372)

Author: Dan Koch January 8, 2026 Duration: 37:18
I reconnect with my friend Brian Hall to explore his family's move from Portland to rural Oregon—driven by their kids' special needs, exhaustion with sociopolitical polarization, and Brian's ongoing “reconstruction” of his spirituality. We discuss the tension between liberal values and individual family choices as Brian deliberately exposes himself to conservative religious spaces. I push back on his embrace of Trump-supporting communities while acknowledging my own growing interest in center-right perspectives, and we wrestle with questions about schooling, how to teach kids about systemic injustice and related issues, and whether spiritual practice requires suspending judgment. Brian describes finding unexpected vitality in charismatic worship with older Black Pentecostals and why Portland's progressive culture started feeling like a fundamentalist Bible study. We're both tired of performative resistance, yet neither wants to abandon genuine insights. This leaves us in the messy middle, trying to be present for our kids while staying intellectually honest. In the Patron-only second half of the episode, we discuss the therapeutic wisdom of Brian's approach, his specific reasons for leaving Portland's school system, attempted nuanced takes on gender ideology and trans issues, and Brian’s experience with improvisational worship music services. Brian's Album | Reconstruction in C Major Spotify Link Previous Episode with Brian | Still Christian & Spiritual: Brian Hall (#244) ___________________________________________ Follow Dan on IG: www.instagram.com/dancoke/ Or Twitter: twitter.com/DanKoch Faith deconstruction resources: www.soyouredeconstructing.com/ Join the Patreon for exclusive episodes (and more) every month: patreon.com/dankoch Email about the "sliding scale" for the Patreon: youhavepermissionpodcast@gmail.com YHP Patron-only FB group: tinyurl.com/ycvbbf98 Website: www.dankochwords.com/yhp.html Join Dan's email list: www.dankochwords.com/ Artwork by sprungle.co/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Hosted by Dan Koch, Religion on the Mind digs into the messy, fascinating, and deeply personal space where our inner lives meet our search for meaning. This isn't a sermon or a debate; it's a series of conversations that feel more like late-night talks with curious friends. Each episode brings in a different voice-psychologists, scholars, writers, and other experts-to explore how our beliefs, doubts, rituals, and spiritual yearnings are intertwined with the workings of the human mind. We get into the psychology behind religious experience, the spirituality that emerges outside traditional structures, and the very real ways these forces shape identity, community, and coping. The tone is thoughtful but unvarnished, embracing complexity without pretension. You'll hear genuine curiosity, nuanced perspectives, and, yes, the occasional bit of cussing when the topic calls for it. The goal is to offer a space for reflection on how these fundamental aspects of being human collide and coexist. If you've ever wondered about the psychological roots of faith, the spirituality of non-belief, or just how our brains make sense of the profound, this podcast provides a grounded, accessible entry point to those questions.
Author: Language: English Episodes: 50

Religion on the Mind
Podcast Episodes
Study Hall: Nature v. Nurture (#398) [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 34:29
The nature vs. nurture debate is largely settled (spoiler alert: it's both), but the implications for how and when religious identity forms are striking. The research points to a surprisingly early window for faith forma…
Parenting After Faith Deconstruction with Meredith Miller (#397) [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 1:25:44
Meredith Miller returns to talk about something many of us have been navigating in our personal lives: how do you raise kids with a meaningful faith after your own deconstruction? We cover the real reasons to consider ch…
Eclectic Therapy: Mind, Body & John Wesley with Brad Strawn (#396) [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 1:43:06
Brad Strawn of Fuller Seminary returns to unpack the four clinical and theological influences that shape his work as a therapist, pastor, and professor (Wesleyan theology, relational psychoanalysis, 4E cognition, and ter…
Sh*tty Minister’s Club with Lillian Daniel (#394) [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 1:22:12
Lillian Daniel returns after five years to discuss her new book Defrocked: Good News from a Bad Pastor for a Better Church — a candid, often funny, and deeply human account of the misconduct process she underwent in the…
Facing Anxious Times Together, Part 5 (#393) [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 44:34
This is the fifth and final installment of the Anxious Times series, and we're bringing it home by exploring what existential psychology has to say about community, belonging, and civic engagement. I’m joined by returnin…
Naming Your Limits As a Tool For Hope: Anxious Times, Part 4 (#391) [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 30:54
Co-host Kristen Tideman and I work through the final two legs of Emmy van Dersen's triad — the impossible and the desirable — using Kristen's new motherhood, MS diagnosis, and ongoing religious change as real, lived test…
Western Psychology, Eastern Spirituality with Jeffrey Rubin (#390) [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 1:07:57
I sit down with clinical psychologist and author Dr. Jeffrey Rubin to explore his concept of meditative psychotherapy — a genuinely reciprocal integration of Western psychoanalysis and Eastern contemplative practice that…
How to Accept What You Cannot Change: Anxious Times, Part 3 (#389) [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 32:06
I'm joined by my co-host Kristen Tideman for the third installment of the Anxious Times series. We dig into Emmy van Dersen's concept of "the necessary" — the hard limits baked into existence that we can't change, only a…