🎙️ 51. Same Faith. Different Beliefs. Still Christian. (Part 2) – Rev. Gerlyn Henry (Anglican, Canada), Pastor Paul Drees (ELCA Lutheran, USA) & Pastor Joe Smith (Post-Evangelical, USA)
What were you taught you had to believe in order to be a Christian?
And what happened when you started asking questions?
In Part 2 of this conversation, Alexis Rice returns with Rev. Gerlyn Henry, Pastor Paul Drees, and Pastor Joe Smith to finish the viral “Put Your Finger Down: Christian Edition” experiment that revealed just how differently Christians can be formed—even while following the same Jesus.
This time, the questions move into some of the places where faith, politics, identity, and fear collide.
Together they explore:
• Abortion, reproductive rights & whether there is one “Christian” position
• Evolution, creation & science
• The assumption that Christians should vote Republican
• Christian nationalism, political power & the American Church
• Biblical literalism, inerrancy & how seminaries teach Scripture
• What happens when questioning theology costs you relationships
• Why doubt may not be the opposite of faith
• Purity culture, shame & sexuality
• What Christians from different traditions can learn from one another
Joe shares what happened when he began publicly questioning biblical inerrancy—and friendships with people he had loved for years simply disappeared.
Paul talks about discovering ideas that challenged his politics not by abandoning the Bible, but by reading it more deeply.
And Gerlyn offers another framework entirely: faith was never meant to mean certainty. Doubt, mystery, wrestling, trust, and seeking understanding can all belong inside a faithful Christian life.
The conversation ends with a challenge that may be more important than debating what someone believes today:
Ask what they were taught.
What was church like when they were a child?
What were they told they had to believe?
What were they afraid to question?
What happened if they did?
Because if we want to understand the divisions inside Christianity—and the rise of Christian nationalism—we need to understand how people were formed.
⛪ Guests
• Rev. Gerlyn Henry — Anglican Church of Canada | IG: @gerlynhenry
• Pastor Paul Drees — ELCA Lutheran | IG: @pastorpauldrees
• Pastor Joe Smith — Post-Evangelical / Disciples of Christ | IG: @therealjoe.smith
📚 People & Resources Mentioned
• Andrew Whitehead — American Idolatry | IG: @andrewwhitehead
• John Fugelsang | IG: @johnfugelsang
• C.S. Lewis
• Luther Seminary
• Columbia Theological Seminary
And yes—if you stay until the end, the pastors reveal their celebrity crushes. 😂
A huge thank you to Pastor Paul Drees, Pastor Joe Smith, and Rev. Gerlyn Henry for the vulnerability, humor, pastoral care, and generosity they brought to this two-part conversation.
May we become more curious about one another’s formation—and a little less certain that our version of Christianity is the only one.
#Christianity #Deconstruction #ProgressiveChristianity #ChristianNationalism #Faith #ReligiousTrauma #Bible
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About The Sacred Slope
Where the slippery slope becomes sacred ground.
For the spiritually tender—raised in or rooted in Christianity.
Come explore our global, diverse, inclusive Christian faith, deconstruction, and spiritual identity in a rapidly changing world. Through conversations with clergy, scholars, and cultural voices, the show creates space for people navigating faith after certainty, church harm, or political co-option of religion.
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