After two full episodes of A God We Could Believe In we take stock and address some of your comments and questions on sex, relationships and the Church. Should we be affirming the “traditional” view of marriage and are we just making excuses to justify our own wants and desires?

Content warning: This series covers issues of sexual relationships, abuse, gender and identity, so listener discretion is advised. Please look after yourselves.

There’s a vanishingly short section answering the question “What’s the best advice we’ve been given by a church or vicar?”. Then, to prefigure a major theme in our next few episodes, we examine what the recent news of Bishop Sarah Mullally’s appointment as the next Archbishop of Canterbury means for the centuries-old patriarchal juggernaut, the Church of England.

Coming up

Episode 3 – Marriage in the Bible is a binfire – is released on 27 October, where resident our biblical scholar Dr Charlotte Naylor Davis takes us on a whistle stop tour through the Bible, as we go hunting for the mythical model of a good Christian marriage.

Our next Q&A episode is on 10 November, so if you’d like to ask a question on anything you’ve heard from the podcast so far, then make sure you get your question to us by Friday 7 November to feature. Contact us via email, social media or our Substack page. You can also leave a comment anonymously, using this form.

About A God We Could Believe In:

A frank and honest look at Christianity as we find it today. We’re examining the things the church says and does that are embarrassing, confusing or even downright offensive. In other religious contexts, your questions might be forbidden but not here. So whether you’re a lifelong churchgoer with the scars to prove it, or you’ve never entered a church and are just interested in the debate, this is a safe space for you.

New episodes are released every other Monday.

Support the project by sharing it widely and join our Substack community for bonus episodes and reflections at agodwecouldbelievein.substack.com.

Stay in touchEmail: agodwecouldbelievein@gmail.comFacebook: www.facebook.com/agodwecouldbelieveinInstagram: www.instagram.com/agodwecouldbelievein

So what does the church actually teach about sex? We unpick the widely held view within Christianity that sex is only morally acceptable when it takes place within a marriage, and how this view is reinforced.

Content warning: This series covers issues of sexual relationships, abuse, gender and identity, so listener discretion is advised. Please look after yourselves.

We discuss how, for all the church’s squeamishness when it comes to sex and pleasure, society hasn’t necessarily served us any better. Power, purity and gender roles all come under the microscope and the role of shame in policing behaviour is explored.

We ask what we would do differently when it comes to talking about sex and relationships. We begin to outline a more positive and holistic framing and at one point, Simon even explores the implications of thinking about Jesus during sex.

Coming up

Our first Q&A episode is on 13 October, so if you’d like to ask a question on anything you’ve heard from the podcast so far, then make sure you get your question to us by Friday 3 October to feature. Contact us via email, social media or our Substack page.

Episode 3 – Marriage in the Bible is a binfire – is released on 27 October, where resident our biblical scholar Dr Charlotte Naylor Davis takes us on a whistle stop tour through the Bible, as we go hunting for the mythical model of a good Christian marriage.

Stay in touchEmail: agodwecouldbelievein@gmail.comFacebook: www.facebook.com/agodwecouldbelieveinInstagram: www.instagram.com/agodwecouldbelievein

In this episode, we share what we remember of church teaching on sex and what that meant for us in our earliest relationships.

Content warning: This series covers issues of sexual relationships, abuse, gender and identity, including some references to sexual violence in this episode at around 34 minutes in, so listener discretion is advised. Please look after yourselves.

We dig up memories of vivid youth group purity exercises designed to embed fear and shame. We unpick the unbalanced messaging that portrays male sexuality as something uncontrollable and female sexuality as something to be guarded, at the expense of desire, autonomy and consent.

We also share how our perspectives have changed. Simon reflects on growing up in a sexually open but chaotic environment before becoming a Christian and gradually moving beyond rigid moral rules. Charlotte recounts her struggle with sexual violence and the absence of support or empowerment in church settings. Rachel describes navigating a Christian upbringing, her bisexuality, and the decision to embrace intimacy with her partner.

Coming up

The next episode is released on 29 September, where we go even further into the world of church teaching on sex and explore the outworkings of that messaging further. Our first Q&A episode is on 13 October, so if you’d like to ask a question on anything you’ve heard from the podcast, then make sure you get your question to us by Friday 3 October to feature.

Stay in touch

Email: agodwecouldbelievein@gmail.com

Facebook: www.facebook.com/agodwecouldbelievein

Instagram: www.instagram.com/agodwecouldbelievein