Bringing her journalistic eye to a sociological problem, Pamela Prickett gives listeners insight into a growing American issue: thousands of bodies are going unclaimed by relatives after death—up to 150,000 each year. Prickett unpacks the why behind the issue, as well as the ways that religion is being used to craft rituals and communities of care so that people do not go unremembered or unmourned.

The Religion Unmuted season 3 hosts, Elaine Howard Ecklund and Rachel Schneider, reveal the new, expanded vision for this season of the podcast. They also get a bit personal, sharing how their own identities and work have had an impact on Religion Unmuted and its vision.

In this episode, Religion Unmuted takes a historical look at Christianity and in particular how patriarchy was fundamental in the religion’s founding. Our guest April DeConick also brings attention to the ways in which women did have specific roles in early Christianity and how that can be honored today.

The 2016 election shone a bright light on the entanglement of politics and faith for white evangelical Christians. Historian and author Kristin Kobes Du Mez talks the past, present, and future of evangelicalism in America as well as the role of women in this cultural and religious movement that is here to stay.

The work of a chaplain involves providing spiritual care to individuals outside of a congregational setting, work that can be difficult and varied. According to our guest, sociologist Wendy Cadge, a chaplain can be witness to a person’s whole pain as well as recognize and discuss death, all in ways that can be difficult for family, healthcare workers, and even society at large to do. In this episode she tells some of the stories of chaplains gleaned from her years of research, including the ways that politics, gender, and a global pandemic can affect a chaplain’s work.

Elaina Ramsey provides a practitioner’s perspective on reproductive justice and religion in this episode of Religion Unmuted. As director of Faith Choice Ohio, she works to promote and advance reproductive justice as a holistic movement, and she explains why her faith is so integral to her fight for reproductive justice.

Let’s start with the definition: Xochitl Alvizo has not one but two favorite definitions of feminism. We ask the religious studies scholar first to define the term in this episode of Religion Unmuted; then we move to unpacking the many layers behind feminism and feminist thought, including the importance of context, intersectionality, and in particular interactions with theology, religious practice, and religious trauma.

Juanita Rasmus is an author, speaker, spiritual director, and co-pastor of a large Methodist church in downtown Houston. She joins Religion Unmuted to share her personal mental health journey as well as how listening and noticing can lead to spiritual and emotional healing.