Santa Claus is coming, Wheaton College is in hot water and Jerry Falwell Jr. is packing heat! Just another culture wars Christmas in America!

Racial justice, protest, and the role of the church. Chicago pastor Charlie Dates joins Phil and the gang to talk about race and the church!

Phil and Skye react to the Planned Parenthood shooting and protests against police violence in Chicago, plus the age-old question of “What is a religion?” has one women successfully wearing a spaghetti strainer on her head for her driver’s license picture! This week on the podcast!

Everybody’s outraged! Trump is mad at Starbucks for those darn cups! Liberals are mad at Raven-Symoné for eating a sandwich! Students are mad at their schools for… well, for just about everything! And Skye says what we really need is a little more “grit.” This week on the podcast!

Phil and the gang react to the attacks in Paris, plus theories about the relationship between violence and religion, and a new - yet very old - religion is becoming the "religion of choice" for white supremacists.

Boycotting Starbucks and "buycotting" Chick-fil-A ... plus a new study shows that religious kids are cruel, heartless jerks and we should all be atheists. This week on the podcast!

Which age group is most concerned about religious freedom in America? How many Americans want Judeo-Christian values favored above other views? Barna Research president David Kinnaman joins the gang to discuss the surprising findings of his latest study!

Halloween gets thrown out of school, presidential candidates get invited to church, and Oprah makes a show to promote her version of "faith." (And tries to explain it to Stephen Colbert!)

New examples of religious people behaving poorly in not one but THREE major faiths! Gallup looks at the future of religion in America, and Skye thinks the church needs help thinking about work! This week on the podcast!

Audio only podcast ... Listener feedback from last week’s show, plus who are the happiest parents? And is your Christian school filled with Muslim students? You must be in the UK!

Muslim imams and evangelical pastors camping together on a dude ranch in Texas?? Some kind of bizarre reality show coming to cable this Fall? Nope! It’s the real life work of Texas megachurch pastor Bob Roberts - who joins us on the podcast to describe his unlikely and somewhat controversial role as a bridge between conservative Christian leaders and their Muslim counterparts.

We’ve all heard the stats about kids leaving the faith when they head for college - but why? And what would have made their faith more “sticky?” Has anyone done any actual research on this? Kara Powell has! Fuller Youth Institute Executive Director Kara Powell joins the gang to discuss her research and her book - Sticky Faith!

Drew Dyck is back in town and joins Phil and Skye for a lively discussion about presidential debates (crazy), theology in Christian movies (weak) and beer in church (sinful?). And absolutely ZERO conversation about toplessness! (Amen!)

Several news stories drag Phil and the gang back into discussions of male and female toplessness YET AGAIN. (Thanks, Time Magazine and French feminists!) Then attentions are turned to topics of science! Should all scientists be “militant athiests?” Does faith in science fill the same emotional needs as religious faith? This week on the podcast!

After two weeks of modesty mayhem, Phil attempts to wrap-up the discussion once and for all with some thoughts that hit him while he was (immodestly) taking a shower. Plus - that lady in Kentucky who is in jail for… you know… “the gays.” This week on the podcast!

Listeners get to chime in! Last week's stories led to lots of interesting conversation about modesty, mega-pastors and Muslim prayer rooms, so Phil reads your comments and the gang discusses! What fun!

Gender "neutrality" on display in the streets of New York and the aisles of Target ... Christian hospitality put to the test at Orlando International Airport ... John Oliver "discovers" shady televangelists in America! What does it all mean??? Is it the END OF ... (well, you know.)

Phil and the gang are joined by Sam Larson, the son of a regular listener and one of two finalists on the History Channel survival show "Alone." Sam talks about his experience on the show and the spiritual impact of 40+ days in the wilderness alone.

Can an atheist play football? Can a Christian back Donald Trump? Can Rob Bell still hold our attention? Plus, Skye riles up some listeners! This week on the podcast!

Skye and Phil are joined by legal expert (and Phil’s brother) Rob Vischer, and singer/songwriter Jimmy Needham for an audio-only episode recorded in Arnold’s Park, Iowa. Law! Politics! Religion! Live music! This week on the podcast!

Do all dogs really go to heaven? Why is there a 2000 pound, 9 foot tall Baphomet in Detroit? And does our reliance on laws to control behavior spell - THE END OF WESTERN CIVILIZATION AS WE KNOW IT???

Greece is a mess! China is in trouble! Disney sacrifices it's values! Franklin Graham is at it again! And don't get us started about Donald Trump! It's a mad, mad, mad world!

Dr. John Walton returns to the show to continue our prior conversation (#146) about Adam and Eve, based on his new book, “The Lost World of Adam and Eve!”

Big news! Big news! Skye Jethani actually went to see some movies! Oh yeah - and the Supreme Court made a decision about something or other. Much discussion ensues, this week on the podcast!

What do Franklin Graham, Tony Campolo, Tim Keller and the nation of Ireland have in common? They’ve all taken bold stands on same-sex marriage in the last month. From wholeheartedly embrace to all-out boycott, Phil and the gang talk through wildly varied responses to the same question.

Christian’s back from France! And dinosaurs stomp the box office, leading Phil to speculate about the growing influence of China on Hollywood blockbusters and how Hollywood, once the biggest proponent of “the American Way,” must cater more and more to sensitivities - and censors - of the the world’s fastest growing film market.

Phil and Skye are joined by Mississippi geometry teacher and atheist blogger Neil Carter ("Godless in Dixie") to hear his journey from evangelical to atheist and his experience rejecting faith in the heart of the "Christian South."

Tomorrowland and Mad Max and feminism and gender-neutral underwear. Need we say more??

Listener feedback on “modesty.” Is Phil a voice of reason? Or just another crabby old white guy pining for the past?? Plus Phil and Skye discuss the decline in self-identifying “Christians” in America.  Bad? Good? Indifferent? This week on the podcast!

Phil finds connections between events in Waco, TX and the Billboard Music Awards, then guest Jim Walton joins the gang to discuss observations from 35 years in youth ministry plus his new work as an online apologist at the3rdchoice.org!

Is modern worship music contrived? Formulaic? Manipulative? NYC worship leader and indie/alt/liturgical artist David Gungor (The Brilliance) joins the gang for a lively discussion about the state of corporate worship in America!

Are Christians leaving the faith “in droves?” Should Christians provoke? And the gang discusses Nate Fleming’s “40 days of nothing but Christian media” experiment!

"You say you want a Reformation ... " Is Islam in need of a reformation? Or is that exactly what is happening right now? How is ISIS similar to the Protestant Reformation? Plus listener questions!

Do robots need Jesus? Does Tennessee like the Bible a little TOO much? And more thoughts about wedding cakes and religious freedom!

Author/musician/entrepreneur John Thompson joins Phil and Skye to talk about his colorful history in Christian music, his new book Jesus, Bread & Chocolate and the artisanal movement and its impact on the church. 

Mayhem in Indiana! Gay rights and religious freedom and PIZZA! What’s it all mean?? Phil’s brother and legal expert Rob Vischer joins the gang to discuss the implications of a strange couple of weeks in the Hoosier state.

Old Testament scholar and friend of the show Dr. John Walton joins the gang to discuss his new book - "The Lost World of Adam and Eve." Were Adam and Eve real people? Were they created immortal? And what's with that crazy "No really - God made you from my rib" story? Sure to be a conversation starter!

Last week’s show received so much feedback that Phil and the gang dip into the mailbag to share and discuss some of your thoughts about the role of Christianity in America, and what the phrase “Christian nation” may or may not actually mean. Hang on for some fun as listeners drive the agenda this week!

Is there "magic" in the Bible? Plus, a new book suggests that "Christian America" is not just a modern idea, but a modern idea invented by corporate America! This week on the podcast!

Is the Bible A) as messed up as Newsweek says it is and B) responsible for the popularity of 50 Shades of Grey in middle America? Plus, Phil finds a popular movie very disturbing, but it isn't the one you think! 

Oscars, Islam, and listener comments with Drew Dyck joining Phil and Skye on this week's podcast!

Half of Protestant pastors say the Islamic State is “true Islam.” While Muslims are being killed by Christians in central Africa and atheists in North Carolina, Iceland says, “To heck with it all! We’re going back to worshipping Thor!” Plus, an audacious claim that lynchings in the South were “religious rituals” practiced by Christians. It’s a mad, mad, mad world…

What do the Dalai Lama and Skye Jethani have in common? They were both at the National Prayer Breakfast last week! Stories from the prayer breakfast, plus Katy Perry hears from God and Ken Ham won't be taking a cruise anytime soon. At least not a Carnival Cruise.

Super Bowl ads make men cry, subverted fairy tales annoy Phil, and “Christianophobia” is now a real term with a new book to back it up! Drew Dyck joins Phil and Skye to discuss manly stuff like football, moral relativism and puppies!

What exactly is an evangelical? What does it take to turn a Newsboy into an atheist? And why can't the Germans figure out how to pee?? This week on the podcast!

French websites hacked and comedians arrested! Muslim prayers at Duke University and no pigs at Oxford Press! It’s post-Charlie Hebdo madness, dear listeners! Plus, the gang responds to your mail… all on the podcast this week!

2015 is off to a questionable start as the Charlie Hebdo tragedy in Paris inspires much hand-wringing in the media (think Bill Maher) and a lively discussion on the podcast about secularism, its Christian roots, and its shaky future in an increasingly Muslim Europe.

Welcome to 2015! Skye, Christian and Phil are back talking about movies, worldviews and, you guessed it, the end of western civilization. Plus our friends at Barna Research give their top 10 trends of 2014!