All the leaves are brown and the sky is grey... and we’re back for the second series of Somewhere To Believe In, a podcast by the people who bring you Greenbelt Festival.
Each week we’ll meet brilliant guests and chat to them about their life and work. We want to bring you timely, provocative and funny dollops of hopefulness, to keep us all going in these strange times. This time around we’re celebrating artists that we love and we know you’ll love them too.
We’ll also be digging into our love of fields, festivals and communal gatherings – remember those? – and sharing some of the behind-the-scenes Greenbelt stuff. Importantly, too, we want to hear from YOU, whether you’ve danced in a field with us or not.
Our plan is to release this second series of eight episodes in the run-up to Christmas – with a new episode coming out each Friday. We’ve called it ‘Somewhere to Believe in’, because maybe more than ever, we all need that right now. We really hope you like it.
This episode of Greenbelt’s ‘Somewhere To Believe In’ comes in the form of a one-off Christmas reflection; brought to you by our friend Beloved Sara Zaltash, a ‘non-denominational rabble-rouser and soul-soother for a world in crisis’.
It was our pleasure to welcome Beloved Sara to Greenbelt for the first time this year, along with her heavenly spiritual chants and adaptation of the Islamic Call to Prayer. And now she’s back again, reflecting on Christmas, with personal stories of community, songs of hope and prayers of blessings.
As Beloved Sara says, we hope ‘you gather around these sounds in warmth and with whatever is dear to you, and that these words shine a beacon of friendship into your Christmas season.’
This episode features strong language and references to drugs.
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Late this November, Greenbelt Festival’s Creative Director, Paul Northup, called me with a request to collaborate on something like a podcast, that wasn’t quite a podcast, to be shared with the Greenbelt community this Christmastime.
I wish I could say that the first emotion I experienced was humility. I wish I was that saint! In truth, I was overwhelmed with giddy delight. Was I really being asked to share my thoughts, stories and songs with the Greenbelt community, that vital and gorgeous and exceptionally kind bunch of people that had won my heart this summer when I performed at the festival? In truth, it took a whole afternoon of pinching myself before the thrill of Paul’s request subsided, before I could settle into what was being asked of me. Did Greenbelters really want to hear more from me? What can I give them, poor as I am?
As the start of Advent loomed, Paul and I realised that the task ahead was greater than the time available, and that we needed a different approach. Paul wondered about centering the not-exactly-a-podcast on my voice, seeing as it was my voice that had been received so kindly by Greenbelters at the festival. It was then that I remembered a piece of storytelling I had written for a guest slot at Sunday Assembly East End in December 2016 - a personal story, woven with song, that was Christmassy and yet not-exactly-Christmassy. This story is what we have chosen to share with you this year.
Funnily enough, Sunday Assembly thought that the story was actually too Christian for their congregation. For me, this story abridges my whole life’s experience of sincere acceptance, inclusion and welcome into Christian community, regardless of how I have shown up. This story does not promote any specific belief or doctrine, except perhaps the belief in the redemptive power of song.
That’s what we have to give you; we give our hearts.
Thank you for all of the support and willingness offered by the Greenbelt team and not-quite-podcast contributors. Thank you especially to Abigail Maxwell, a Greenbelter and Quaker who provides us with a sobering prayer of blessing that we can hold alongside the gladness of the season. I pray that our offering greets you in the finest health, that you gather around these sounds in warmth and with whatever is dear to you, and that these words shine a beacon of friendship into your Christmas season.
This episode of Greenbelt’s ‘Somewhere To Believe In’ podcast takes a different form. It’s a one-off.
It knits together 45-minutes of reflection, conversation, music and prayer in the form of a listen-and-share service to mark the festival’s 2021 August Bank Holiday weekend incarnation (its 48th) – when only a fraction of the wider Greenbelt community could actually physically be together at the Prospect Farm pop-up camping gathering.
The hope is that the audio form of the service will give everyone the chance to share and be connected in a unifying act of remembrance – wherever they are. Ideally, the audio is designed to be shared in and listened to at 11am on Sunday 29th August. But, of course, it can be listened to at any time. Again and again.
The podcast takes its title from a wonderful poem by the poet Roger Robinson. It also features music from Soul Sanctuary Gospel Choir and the Wild Goose Resources Group, conversations with activists from Christian Aid, Trussell Trust and Refuweegee and readings and prayers led by Greenbelt’s from all corners of the UK. It is lovingly curated and narrated by Pádraig Ó Tuama – poet, theologian, and conflict mediator. (Pádraig also presents 'Poetry Unbound', a podcast from On Being studios.)
Last year – despite our not being together – you gave an incredible £33,000 in response to our service appeal. This year, let’s see if we can top that generosity!
This year, your generous giving will be split 50/50 once again.
Grace with Nadia Bolz-Weber
Season 3 · Episode 8
Friday, July 23, 2021 • Duration 01:04:49
It’s the final episode in series three of our podcast *cries*, and some might say we’ve saved the best ‘til last. We get to it with festival friend and everyone's favourite Lutheran minister, Nadia Bolz-Weber.
With her usual candour, humour and joy Nadia talks about her experiences growing up within a very particular, conservative Christian tradition, her journey away from Christian faith as a young adult and into other spaces that helped her heal, and her return to the fold later on; building a church from the ground-up, based on all the ‘good bits’.
Plus, we have a refreshingly honest chat about religion, sin, struggle and sex. And that time Nadia had a sculpture of a vagina made from melted down purity rings. (You can play along at home by having a drink of your choice every time Nadia says “vagina”.)
Katherine and Paul reflect on a year of podcasting and lockdowns and we respond to some messages from you lovely lot.
Links, resources and episode timestamps (for all you skippers out there) below.
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ABOUT NADIA BOLZ-WEBER
Nadia Bolz-Weber is an ordained Lutheran Pastor, founder of House for All Sinners & Saints in Denver, Co, the creator and host of The Confessional Podcast and the author of three NYT bestselling memoirs: Pastrix; The Cranky, Beautiful Faith Of A Sinner & Saint (Re-released 2021), Accidental Saints; Finding God In All The Wrong People (2015) and SHAMELESS; A Sexual Reformation (2019). She writes and speaks about personal failings, recovery, grace, faith, and really whatever the hell else she wants to. She always sits in the corner with the other weirdos. Read more from Nadia in or connect with her and other spiritual misfits in a pop-up Chapel for conversation, daily prayer, and exclusive content by visiting
Liberation with Danté Stewart
Season 3 · Episode 7
Friday, July 16, 2021 • Duration 58:37
This week – in what may be the best recommendation we’ve ever had – we’re talking to theologian, former American footballer, and probably Rowan Williams' biggest fanboy, Danté Stewart.
With fire in his belly, Danté “takes us to church”, telling us the story of his own faith journey; from his childhood spent learning of Black revolutionary power, to his full immersion into white evangelical culture as a college football star. And, ultimately, his decision to turn his back on white evangelicalism and to re-nourish and re-build his spirituality and identity as a Black man instead.
Plus, all this gets Katherine and Paul asking: what does healthy religion look like? And how can Greenbelt go beyond showcasing diverse performers and do more to create spaces that are designed for everyone?
Links, resources and episode timestamps (for all you skippers out there) below.
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ABOUT DANTÉ STEWART
Danté Stewart is a writer and speaker whose voice has been featured on CNN, The Washington Post, Religion News Service, Christianity Today, Sojourners, The Witness: A Black Christian Collective, Comment Magazine, and more. As an up-and-coming voice, he writes and speaks into the areas of Black literature, embodiment, and theology. He received his B.A. in Sociology from Clemson University. He is currently studying at the Candler School of Theology at Emory University in Atlanta, Ga.
Get your best philosophical hats out for this episode because we’re doing a deep dive into the not-so-holy-trinity of dinner table topics – religion, politics and belief – with Andrew Copson, Chief Executive of Humanists UK.
Andrew gives us the 411 on what it means to be a Humanist. And we wrestle with some meaty questions, like: Where does morality come from? Are religions dying out? Can good ever come from causing offence? And does it really matter what we choose to believe?
Plus, Katherine, Paul and Andrew share in their admiration for Frank Turner, a proud humanist and iconic Greenbelt Festival headliner. And Katherine gives us our first lesson in the history of Anarchism... and it might not be what you expect.
Links, resources and episode timestamps (for all you skippers out there) below.
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ABOUT ANDREW COPSON
Andrew Copson was appointed Chief Executive of Humanists UK in 2009, having previously been its Director of Education and Public Affairs. He is also the current President of Humanists International, a position he’s held since 2015. His books include The Little Book of Humanism (2020) and The Little Book of Humanist Weddings (2021) with Alice Roberts; Secularism: a very short introduction (Oxford University Press, 2019); The Wiley-Blackwell Handbook of Humanism (2015) with A C Grayling. His writing on humanist and secularist issues has appeared in The Guardian, The Independent, The Times and New Statesman as well as in various journals.
We’re feeling humbled and full of love this week as we chat to artist, speaker, writer and priest, Mpho Tutu van Furth.
Mpho tells us about her experiences living under apartheid as a young girl and the freedom and justice that so many South Africans, including her family, fought for.
We also hear about Mpho’s journey into priesthood and how she reluctantly handed her license back to the church after their (unfortunately unsurprising) reaction to her ‘lovely can of worms’ – AKA falling in love with a woman. Perhaps most importantly, Mpho reminds us how interconnected and interdependent we all are, and that showing a little bit of care can do a whole lot of good.
Plus, Katherine and Paul reflect on some similarities they see between Mpho’s apartheid memories and life in modern-day Palestine. Like the rest of us, Paul and Katherine jump on the football bandwagon, and Katherine officially joins the #FreeBritney movement.
Links, resources and episode timestamps (for all you skippers out there) below.
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ABOUT MPHO TUTU VAN FURTH
The Reverend Canon Mpho Tutu van Furth is an episcopal priest, an artist, an author, an accomplished public speaker and retreat facilitator. She has had many roles in non-profit leadership. She was the founding executive director of the Desmond & Leah Tutu Legacy Foundation. She continues to work for environmental justice, human rights and equal access to opportunity for all people without regard to race, class or gender. With her wife, Marceline, she has established and is Executive Director of the Tutu Teach Foundation to enhance access to opportunity for women and girls. Ms. Tutu van Furth and her wife live in the Netherlands. They have four children and two (amazing) grandchildren.
This week we bask in the warmth of Rabbi Herschel Gluck – an incredible Orthodox Jewish leader – whose entire life seems to be one big act of love.
Aside from being in awe of Rabbi Gluck’s gentle soul and kind nature, we talk about his life-long dedication to his community, his outlook on the good that could come from the pandemic and his belief that we can work together to create a better future; without losing sight of our own traditions, cultures and values.
Rabbi Gluck also shares how he still struggles to grasp the effect that the Holocaust had on his family, and speaks of the continuous trauma generations of Jewish communities still experience because of it.
Plus, Katherine and Paul update us on the plans for Prospect Farm and get an unexpected visit from our new podcast sponsors, Hello Fresh.
Promo code: JustKidding.
Links, resources and episode timestamps (for all you skippers out there) below.
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ABOUT RABBI HERSCHEL GLUCK
Rabbi Herschel Gluck OBE is a British Rabbi based in Stamford Hill in North East London. Born in London and based in the city for most of his life, he is a committed member of a wider ‘global village’, having studied at Yeshivos in France, Canada and the USA and working with communities across the world. Rabbi Gluck was appointed an OBE in the 2013 New Year Honours for services to interfaith understanding. In the past year he has been quoted in British Parliament for his lifetime commitment to inter-communal understanding and his work countering Anti-Semitism in the UK.
This week on the podcast it’s our absolute privilege to chat with Yvonne Ridley, a journalist and activist who has one of the most fascinating life stories we think you’ll ever hear. Plus, her very enthusiastic peacocks have their say, too.
We talk about Yvonne’s experience as a prisoner of the Taliban in Afghanistan in 2001, the promise she made to her captors to study Islam and read the Quran if they released her, and her unexpected faith journey thereafter, as she decided to leave the Christian faith and embrace Islam.
Plus, as well as talking about her decades of work to combat harmful Muslim stereotypes, we dig into her relentless activism for issues as wide-ranging as Scottish independence, peace in Gaza, justice for Rohingya Muslims, and more generally, what it means to be a ‘radical’.
Meanwhile, Katherine and Paul reflect on one year of podcasting – no, we can’t believe it either – and their potential new careers as daytime TV hosts.
Links, resources and episode timestamps (for all you skippers out there) below.
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ABOUT SISTER YVONNE RIDLEY
British journalist Yvonne Ridley made global headlines when she was captured by the Taliban in 2001. Since then she has moved from London to Scotland, becoming active in the independence movement. She has published a number of books including her harrowing experience with the Taliban and another on the Rise of the Prophet Muhammad. She worked as a senior editor to establish Al Jazeera's English website in Qatar before returning to the UK to play central roles in the start up TV projects Islam Channel and Press TV. When she's not working as a journalist in humanitarian and conflict zones she writes historical fiction from her remote farm in the Scottish Borders. She was nominated for a Nobel peace prize in 2019 for humanitarian work involving Syrian women prisoners and helping Rohingya refugees compile evidence of war crimes.
The second conversation in our ‘Keeping the faith’ series is with Sister Teresa Forcades who – with good reason – has been dubbed ‘Europe’s most radical nun’.
Sister Teresa joins us from her Monastery on the mountain of Montserrat, near Barcelona in Catalonia, where she lives with thirty Catholic Benedictine sisters. We discuss her open criticism of the very Catholic Church she serves, her feminism, her politics, her general mission to speak out in order to create a more loving and fair society, and her experiences of being silenced for doing so.
Plus, as a physician and expert in public health, it would have been rude not to ask Sister Teresa for her professional thoughts on the pandemic, the vaccination programme and the role of big pharmaceutical companies. Which, as you may have guessed already, she has a lot of alternative (some would say ‘controversial’) things to say about.
Katherine and Paul reflect on the conversation with Sister Teresa and Katherine, in particular, is taken aback by how refreshing Sister Teresa’s views are in comparison with her Catholic schooling. And Paul is reminded by Sister Teresa about just how important it is to be made to look more closely and think again.
Links, resources and episode timestamps (for all you skippers out there) below.
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ABOUT SISTER TERESA FORCADES
Teresa Forcades i Vila (1966) is a physician, theologian and Benedictine nun in the mountain monastery of Sant Benet de Montserrat (Catalonia, Spain). Master of Divinity (Harvard, 1997), doctor in Medicine (U. Barcelona, 2004) and doctor in Sacred Theology (Facultat de Teologia de Catalunya, 2007). From 2015-18 she took a leave of absence from her monastery (exclaustration) to become politically active in the Catalan movement for independence. Since 2017 she has been the director of the journal of Christian critical thought Iglesia Viva and hosts a weekly radio program on Catalan radio. She is also the principal of the Sinclètica Monastic School of theology.
Service with Leroy Logan
Season 3 · Episode 1
Friday, June 4, 2021 • Duration 01:03:35
Welcome back to Somewhere To Believe In! We’re calling this series ‘Keeping the faith’ because this time around we’re having no-holds-barred conversations with people who get stuck in BECAUSE of what they believe.
Arguably, no one has done more to keep the faith than our first guest; former superintendent in the Met police, man-on-a-mission to change a racist police system from within, subject of one of Steve McQueen’s Small Axe films and general truth-to-power-speaker, Leroy Logan.
We talk about Leroy’s incredible life. From some of his formative years being spent as a young boy in Jamaica seeing Black people in positions of power to his short career in science and his ultimate ‘calling’ to the police force – a decision which resulted in him joining the ranks of the officers who beat-up his father, and a decades-long mission to call out toxic police culture and replace it with love, respect, service and care.
Plus, a lot has happened since we last had a podcast chat, so Katherine and Paul get us up-to-date on all things Greenbelt Festival, Prospect Farm and – most importantly – which lockdown hobbies have stuck and which haven’t.
Links, resources and episode timestamps (for all you skippers out there) below.
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ABOUT LEROY LOGAN
Dr Leroy Logan MBE is a former superintendent in the Metropolitan police. He retired in 2013 after 30 years' service. He is also a former chair and founding member of the Black Police Association. Leroy is one of the UK’s most highly decorated and well known black police officers. A highly respected and well regarded commentator on policing in black communities, he believes that there is still much work to do in creating a more equitable and fair criminal justice system.
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50% will go towards the vital work that our partners Christian Aid and Trussell Trust do to challenge, advocate, develop and support – globally and domestically.
And 50% will stay with us here at Greenbelt as we work to make sure the festival remains sustainable in these most challenging of times. So we can be back in the fields at Boughton House for a fully-fledged festival in 2022 – and beyond.
20:40 - Nadia on founding House for All Sinners and Saints
29:14 - Nadia on struggle and optimism
33:00 - Nadia on sex
36:54 - Nadia on negative feedback
39:49 - Nadia on grace
41:10 - Nadia on insults
44:33 - Katherine and Paul reflect on the conversation with Nadia
01:02:04 - How to get in touch with us
01:02:39 - Thank you’s
01:03:28 - Hidden tracks
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A huge thanks to the Greenbelt Volunteer Talks Team for all their hard work on editing this episode. Our podcast music is ‘I Can Change’ by Lee Bains III & The Glory Fires.
43:08 - Katherine and Paul reflect on the conversation with Danté
55:35 - Next week on the podcast
56:32 - How to get in touch with us
57:10 - Thank you’s
58:00 - Hidden track
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A huge thanks to the Greenbelt Volunteer Talks Team for all their hard work on editing this episode. Our podcast music is ‘I Can Change’ by Lee Bains III & The Glory Fires.
49:05 - Katherine and Paul reflect on the conversation with Andrew
01:06:05 - Next week on the podcast
01:07:05 - How to get in touch with us
01:07:38 - Thank you’s
01:08:24 - Hidden track
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A huge thanks to the Greenbelt Volunteer Talks Team for all their hard work on editing this episode. Our podcast music is ‘I Can Change’ by Lee Bains III & The Glory Fires.
48:13 - Katherine and Paul reflect on the conversation with Mpho
01:01:20 - Next week on the podcast
01:01:58 - How to get in touch with us
01:02:35 - Thank you’s
01:03:24 - Hidden track
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A huge thanks to the Greenbelt Volunteer Talks Team for all their hard work on editing this episode. Our podcast music is ‘I Can Change’ by Lee Bains III & The Glory Fires.
20:30 - Rabbi Gluck on generations of Jewish experience
23:50 - Rabbi Gluck on change
27:00 - Rabbi Gluck on Greenbelt Festival
28:10 - Rabbi Gluck on being interfaith and refugees
34:00 - Rabbi Gluck on charity
36:50 - Rabbi Gluck on being humble
38:08 - Rabbi Gluck on art as connection
40:57 - Katherine and Paul reflect on the conversation with Rabbi Gluck
57:54 - Next week on the podcast
58:41 - How to get in touch with us
59:30 - Thank you’s
01:00:19 - Hidden track
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A huge thanks to the Greenbelt Volunteer Talks Team for all their hard work on editing this episode. Our podcast music is ‘I Can Change’ by Lee Bains III & The Glory Fires.
17:37 - Yvonne on the movement against the Iraq War
20:38 - Yvonne on ISIS and religious extremism
22:04 - Yvonne on media accountability
25:50 - Yvonne on radicalism
28:32 - Yvonne on grassroots politics
32:28 - Yvonne on activism in Gaza
36:10 - Yvonne on Zionism
38:40 - Yvonne on being hopeful
43:55 - Katherine and Paul reflect on the conversation with Yvonne
58:30 - Next week on the podcast
59:21 - How to get in touch with us
59:58 - Thank you’s
01:00:48 - Hidden track
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A huge thanks to the Greenbelt Volunteer Talks Team for all their hard work on editing this episode. Our podcast music is ‘I Can Change’ by Lee Bains III & The Glory Fires.
07:24 - Sister Teresa on young women wanting to become nuns
12:19 - Sister Teresa on feminism, misogyny and sexuality
22:00 - Sister Teresa on vaccines and public health
31:14 - Sister Teresa on being silenced
33:40 - Sister Teresa on politics and democracy
39:00 - Sister Teresa on church and politics
45:08 - Katherine and Paul reflect on the conversation with Sister Teresa
1:00:40 - How to get in touch with us
1:01:25 - Thank you’s
1:02:10 - Hidden track
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A huge thanks to the Greenbelt Volunteer Talks Team for all their hard work on editing this episode. Our podcast music is ‘I Can Change’ by Lee Bains III & The Glory Fires.
04:25 - Katherine and Paul on cancelling Greenbelt Festival (again)
07:10 - Katherine and Paul on Prospect Farm
08:45 - Katherine and Paul on why we’re not doing a digital festival this year
09:44 - Introducing Leroy Logan
11:39 - Leroy joins the conversation
12:37 - Leroy on East London
13:16 - Leroy on moving to Jamaica
15:59 - Leroy on growing up
16:30 - Leroy on faith and policing
19:40 - Leroy on feeling called to join the police
22:30 - Leroy on hostile environments and standing up to make a difference
25:46 - Leroy on racist and toxic police culture
31:30 - Leroy on George Floyd and Derek Chauvin
37:48 - Leroy on reflecting, learning and improving
42:40 - Leroy on Steve McQueen’s Small Axe series
46:35 - Leroy on speaking for those who don’t have a voice
48:56 - Leroy on police and protest
53:03 - Katherine and Paul reflect on the conversation with Leroy
59:52 - Katherine and Paul on protecting your right to protest
1:01:40 - Next week on the podcast
1:02:27 - How to get in touch with us
1:03:05 - Thank you’s
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A huge thanks to the Greenbelt Volunteer Talks Team for all their hard work on editing this episode. Our podcast music is ‘I Can Change’ by Lee Bains III & The Glory Fires.
