Stop Talking, Start Building || Rich Harwood on How Divided Towns Actually Heal

Stop Talking, Start Building || Rich Harwood on How Divided Towns Actually Heal

Author: Scan Media, LLC June 30, 2026 Duration: 1:29:18
A doctor once told Rich Harwood's mother to face it, her son was a lemon. He's spent his life proving no one is disposable, and that even the most divided towns in America can build something together. Two minutes. Real impact. Leave a review:  lovethepodcast.com/politicsandreligion What does it take to heal a divided town? Less talking, says Rich Harwood. After almost 40 years running the Harwood Institute for Public Innovation, he's watched the poorest community in America and some of the most divided places in the country do what most of us have stopped believing is possible: build something together, across every line that's supposed to keep them apart. The conversation runs from Moses and Lincoln to a synagogue firebombing to the three working men who saved his life as a sick kid, and lands on a deceptively simple idea about what we owe one another. A few takeaways: Pull issues out of the political frame and people agree more than they think. Harwood works the reddest and bluest places in the country and says he can't tell who voted for whom. Ask people what they care about instead of who they voted for, and the same concerns surface everywhere: youth, seniors, mental health, belonging. Start small. Big comprehensive plans tend to collapse under their own weight. Real change starts with one modest step that catalyzes a chain reaction, the way practice dinners at a single church spread across an entire county in Reading, Pennsylvania. Turn outward. Sharing space begins with a posture, not a technique. Physically turn toward the other person, choose to see them, and lead with curiosity about what matters to them. About our guest: Rich Harwood is president and founder of the Harwood Institute for Public Innovation and the author of several books, most recently The New Civic Path: Restoring Our Belief in One Another and Our Nation (2024). Find Rich: The Harwood Institute: theharwoodinstitute.org Rich Harwood on LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/richardcharwood ✅ Subscribe to the Substack: coreysnathan.substack.com ✅ Follow @coreysnathan across the platforms ✅ Loved this one? Rate and review: lovethepodcast.com/politicsandreligion Talkin' Politics & Religion Without Killin' Each Other is part of The Democracy Group, a network of podcasts examining what's broken in our democracy and how we can work together to fix it. Rich wants the sequel over a beer. We're holding him to it. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In a world where discussions about faith and government often devolve into shouting matches, Talkin‘ Politics & Religion Without Killin‘ Each Other offers a different space. This podcast from Scan Media, LLC operates on a radical idea: that we can deeply disagree on fundamental beliefs while still respecting each other as people. It’s a show built for those who feel exhausted by the performative outrage and tribal warfare that dominate news and social media, who suspect there’s more nuance to every story than the extreme voices allow. Each episode models the kind of dialogue that seems in short supply-conversations where curiosity replaces condemnation and listening is the first step, not a lost art. You’ll hear explorations of how spiritual values intersect with civic life, examinations of current events without the predictable partisan spin, and genuine attempts to understand perspectives that challenge the hosts' own. The goal isn’t to reach a bland consensus, but to prove that thoughtful, even passionate, debate doesn’t require personal animosity. If you’re looking for a podcast that tackles the subjects we’re told to avoid, but does so with humility and a commitment to civil discourse, this is that rare find. It’s for anyone who believes these conversations are too critical to be left solely to the screamers and who wants to engage with the messy, important intersections of news, religion, and spirituality without leaving their humanity at the door.
Author: Episodes: 50

Talkin‘ Politics & Religion Without Killin‘ Each Other
Podcast Episodes
Yeah, Woke 1 Was Crazy || But That Laugh Will Not Do [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 21:18
"Woke 1 was crazy," AOC said on national TV, and then she laughed. Corey wants to know what that laugh leaves out.This morning, Corey published a new essay on Substack about what the woke era actually cost: friendships,…
Gus Gusentine || A Navy SEAL Commander on Faith, War, and Identity [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 1:15:36
A Navy SEAL commander on identity, faith, and why we fight the wars we fight.Captain Robert "Gus" Gusentine spent nearly 30 years in the Navy, commanding SEAL Team 10 and leading special operations forces from the Philip…