John San Nicolas is a writer, researcher, and content creator who likes discussing religion and politics. In 2025, John received his Bachelor's degree in Religious Studies and Philosophy. Now, he writes for his weekly column, Faithful Politics, on Patheos.com. He also works as a researcher for the Institute for Advanced Catholic Studies, using network science to study religious debates on social media. In his free time, John makes videos breaking down often heated and controversial issues about philosophy, religion, and politics. When he's not working on research or writing, John loves spending time with his wife and their dog, catching up with friends, going for walks, and reading westerns, philosophy, and fantasy. You can follow John's work on TikTok, Instagram, Patheos, and Substack!

TikTok: @religionwithjohn
Instagram: @religionwithjohn
Patheos: https://www.patheos.com/blogs/faithfulpolitics/
Substack: religionwithjohn.substack.com (http://religionwithjohn.substack.com/)

Show Notes

16:07 - St. John of the Cross OCD was a Spanish Catholic priest, mystic, and Carmelite friar. He is a major figure of the Counter-Reformation in Spain, and he is one of the 38 Doctors of the Church.

25:46 - Affirming theology is Side A, not Side B

32:14 - Catholicism doesn't necessarily teach that sex without procreative intent is sinful, since Natural Family Planning is permitted. One early example of promoting this form of natural birth control was in 1853, when the Supreme Tribunal of the Apostolic Penitentiary permitted it only if a couple had "grave reasons." Instead, Catholicism holds that is sex is practiced within marriage intentionally without procreative potential, it is sin.

43:27- Emperor Ashoka's Edicts in the 3rd century BCE were written promoting religious tolerance among sects. The 12th Major Rock Edit reads: "whosoever honours his own sect or disparages that of another man, wholly out of devotion to his own, with a view to showing it in a favourable light, harms his own sect even more seriously."

45:42 - Consider for example the evolving slave code. In Exodus 21:3-4, it is stated that a slave who is released in his seventh year of bondage will be sent off alone. If he and his wife were married before entering bondage, the couple leaves together. But if the master gifted his slave with a wife, and if the couple had children, the wife and the children would remain with the master. In Deuteronomy 15:13-14, however, freed slaves are to be sent away with plentiful gifts, although no mention is made of a freed slave's wife.

48:13 - See for example Leviticus 17:10-16, which prohibits both Israelites and sojourners from consuming blood, or Leviticus 20:1-6, which establishes the death penalty for any Israelite or foreigner who worships Molech.

51:01 - Arkansas, Mississippi, North and South Carolina, Tennessee, and Texas are states with constitutions bar persons who do not believe in a supreme being from entering political office. These policies cannot be enforced even though they remain on the books because of Torcaso v. Watkins (1961). In this case, the Supreme Court of the United States ruled religious tests unconstitutional.

1:17:08 - The stories of Mohammed receiving the Quran come from the Hadiths, although Muslims believe that it is the Angel Gabriel/Jibril who tells Muhammad, "Read!" in Surah Al-'Alaq 96.1

This podcast tells the story of the Bride of Christ cult that operated in the United States from the late 1970’s to 2000.It began as a conservative Christian church in Las Vegas, Nevada. Ran by pastor Thomas Clyde Smith Jr. A man guilty of incest and rape, who, upon finding his faith while in a mental institution, began having visions that led him to believe he was a prophet being called by God to start “the true church”.

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