Living On Common Ground
Does it feel like every part of your life is divided? Every scenario? Every environment? Your church, your school, your work, your friends. Left, right. Conservative, liberal. Religious, secular. From parenting styles to school choice, denominational choice to governing preference, it seems you're always being asked to take a side.
This is a conversation between a progressive Christian and a conservative atheist who happen to be great friends. Welcome to Living on Common Ground.
Episodes
51 episodes
Reflections from the Beach
The most dangerous current in your life might not feel like danger at all. Jeff opens a new series, “Reflections from the Beach,” with the story behind the stories: a community tornado that revealed what people can become for each other, a pand...
A Libertarian Congressman Loses
Every part of life can start to feel like a walled-off camp: your work, your church, your friend group, even your news feed. We sit down as a progressive Christian and a conservative atheist who still choose friendship, and we ask a hard questi...
Values Make Friends
Every part of life can start to feel sorted into boxes: conservative or liberal, religious or secular, my people or your people. We push back on that instinct with a simple reality check: we are a progressive Christian and a conservative atheis...
If Humans Need Hardship To Grow What Should We Choose
We step into a topic that might irritate people if it’s handled carelessly, so we try to handle it with precision. We explore an idea drawn from historian Tom Holland’s work on Greek culture: even in societies that appear politically male-domin...
The Loneliness You Keep Avoiding
Life can feel like it’s been chopped into competing categories: church or secular, left or right, friends or enemies, work or rest. We start from that tension and then zoom in on a quieter divide most of us live with every day: the gap between ...
History Is A Story We Keep Editing
Life can feel like it’s been split into rival camps: your job vs your faith, your friends vs your politics, your values vs your tribe. We’re not interested in pretending those differences don’t exist. We’re interested in proving they don’t have...
Jesus Heals A Kid And Then Ruins The Vibe
Every corner of life now feels like a forced choice: left or right, religious or secular, “our side” or “their side.” We don’t buy that those are the only options, and we’re testing that belief the only way we know how: two friends with clashin...
Unlearning Certainty - Revisiting our Conversation with Peter Enns
In August last year we had the opportunity to sit down and have a converation with Peter Enns. Peter's insights regarding certainty have inspired much of Jeff's work. We decided to share that conversation with you again. Enjoy.Every day ...
Who Gets To Decide What A Good Life Looks Like
Life can feel like it’s been chopped into rival zones: work, church, school, online, each one demanding you declare a side. We’re two friends who don’t fit the usual pairing a progressive Christian and a conservative atheist and we keep testing...
Neo Values
Every part of life can feel like it comes with a forced choice: left or right, religious or secular, your people or their people. We sit down as a progressive Christian and a conservative atheist who are also close friends, and we ask a risky q...
What Do You Hear When I Speak
“Steinbeck was a communist.” It’s a throwaway line until you realize how much heat a single label can carry and how fast it can rewrite what we think the other person meant. We’re two friends who disagree for a living, a progressive Christian a...
A Conversation with Steve Ghikadis
It’s hard to stay close to people when every space in your life demands a label and a side. Church, work, family, politics, online life, even your friend group can start to feel like separate worlds with separate rules. We sit down with Steve G...
Awareness Without Understanding Is Not Wisdom
Division sells, but it also shrinks our minds. We sat down—progressive Christian and conservative atheist, still close friends—to ask why outrage feels so good, why it changes so little, and how we can teach our kids to seek depth instead of do...
We Don’t Need To Agree On God To Live Well Together
Feeling stuck between faith and skepticism, reason and ritual? We open the door to a different way through. Two friends—a progressive Christian and a conservative atheist—set aside purity tests to ask a harder, better question: if belief is wha...
Megachurches or Progressive Pews
Feeling squeezed into a side? We are too. This conversation pairs a progressive Christian with a conservative atheist who’ve stayed close friends, even as the world begs us to sort, label, and cancel. We start with a striking claim from a Durha...
Striving, Resentment, And The Path That Keeps Us Human
Feeling forced to pick a side? We chose friendship instead. A progressive Christian and a conservative atheist sit down to make sense of judgment, grace, and the strange way big ideals can both guide and haunt us. Using Jordan Peterson’s Sermon...
How Hanging Out With Everyone Can Save Us
Ever feel like belonging now requires an enemy list? We sat down as longtime friends—a progressive Christian and a conservative atheist—to push back on that reflex and ask a harder question: what would it take to build a community that includes...
When Rules Erode And Armies Obey Men, Republics Learn To Love Kings
What makes a people trade a messy republic for the promise of a single, steady hand? We take you inside Rome’s long unraveling—where unwritten rules cracked, armies switched their loyalties from the state to ambitious men, and everyday citizens...
Can Invitation Beat Outrage As A Path To Change
Feeling squeezed to pick a side? We’re two longtime friends—a progressive Christian and a conservative atheist—who refuse the script and get honest about how change actually happens. Instead of scoring points against “the other,” we explore why...
When Ideas Evolve, Do We?
Start with a simple question: when your world divides you into teams, how do you stay friends across the line? We stress-test that question by putting our own friendship on the table—a progressive Christian and a conservative atheist—and then f...
You Can Debate Politics Without Making Each Other The Enemy
Division sells, but it doesn’t solve much. We sat down—one progressive Christian, one conservative atheist—and stress-tested whether two people who disagree on faith and politics can talk through fear, foreign policy, and identity without turni...
When Do Rights Require Others’ Labor
Feeling squeezed to “pick a side” on every issue? We pull the lens back and ask a deeper question: what is a right, and what do we owe each other to make it real? With Elena joining the table, we test our friendship across belief lines—a progre...
We Don’t Know K‑Pop, But We Know Prime Rib
Feeling tugged to pick a side—left or right, secular or religious, old school or ultra-online? We start the year by stress-testing a simple idea: friendship can thrive across deep differences. On one mic, a progressive Christian. On the other, ...
Energy, Logos, And A Baby In Bethlehem
What if Christmas isn’t magic from far away, but matter aligning with love right here? We open with holiday greetings and step into a reimagined Nativity that holds science and faith together. Starting from the Big Bang and the birth of conscio...
Joy Without Permission; Finding Common Ground At Christmas
Every December, something in us softens. The traffic is still bad and the lines are still long, yet we wait with a little more patience and offer a little more grace. We wanted to understand that shift without scolding or sanctimony, so we sat ...
