Good Faith

Why Are We So Lonely Even When We're Not Alone?
 
Host Curtis Chang talks with psychologist and podcaster Dr. Alison Cook about why America's loneliness epidemic can't be solved by simply adding more people to our lives. They explore how attachment wounds, anxiety, distraction, and modern life leave us disconnected—and how solitude and honest prayer can become paths toward healing. Dr. Cook offers a practice for loneliness: "recognize and return"—name what you feel, then remember, "I am loved even here."
 
02:46 - Why Do We Minimize Loneliness?
05:12 - What Is Attachment Theory?
10:31 - Childhood Wounds and Cultural Context
13:42 - Where God Enters the Healing Process
16:14 - The Inner Dialogue with God
20:44 - The Importance of Solitude
27:20 - The Modern Epidemic of Loneliness
35:16 - Loneliness as a Holy Longing
39:22 - Spiritual Practices for a Healthy Inner Life
 
To give to Good Faith: https://goodfaith.org/donate
 
Mentioned in This Episode:
Dr. Cook's The Secure Soul: Finding Inner Strength and Connection When Trust Doesn't Come Easy
The U.S. Surgeon General's report: Our Epidemic of Loneliness and Isolation
Professor Irvin D. Yalom's Existential Psychotherapy
Dietrich Bonhoeffer's Life Together
 
Scriptures:
Psalm 42 (ESV)
Psalm 131 (ESV)
Psalm 139 (ESV)
Genesis 2 (ESV)
Romans 8 (ESV)
 
More From Alison Cook:
Dr. Alison Cook's Website
Dr. Alison Cook's The Best of You podcast
 
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The Good Faith Podcast is a production of a 501(c)(3) nonpartisan organization that does not engage in any political campaign activity to support or oppose any candidate for public office. Any views and opinions expressed by any guests on this program are solely those of the individuals and do not necessarily reflect the views or positions of Good Faith.

Do friction, struggle, and silence make you fully human?
 
AI can generate an answer, but it cannot suffer with you, worship, love a neighbor, or become wise. Host Curtis Chang and Andy Crouch, the partner for theology and culture at Praxis, explore how AI may weaken our minds, distort relationships, and tempt us to outsource the very experiences that form wisdom, wonder, and sacrificial love. From chatbot "companionship" and AI-assisted grief to medicine, spiritual counsel, and the loss of silence, Curtis and Andy ask whether convenience is quietly creating a kind of cognitive metabolic syndrome and what we can do about it.
 
00:01:22 - Introduction to AI's Impact on Our Minds.
00:04:35 - Lessons from Social Media's Evolution
00:08:26 - Cognitive Metabolic Syndrome
00:18:45 - What Is the Purpose of the Human Mind?
00:25:23 - Wonder vs. Power
00:26:49 - Love Requires Suffering and Friction
00:34:38 - The Limits of AI in Healthcare
00:40:53 - The Danger of Outsourcing Life's Hardships
00:51:23 - The Loss of Silence
00:58:11 - The AI Forced Conversation on Being Human
01:01:03 - Practical Ways to Protect Our Humanity
 
To give to Good Faith: https://goodfaith.org/donate
 
Mentioned in This Episode:
Andrew Briggs and Roger Wagner's The Penultimate Curiosity: How Science Swims in the Slipstream of Ultimate Questions
Thomas Fuchs' In Defence of the Human Being 
Victor Hugo's Les Misérables
Tristan Harris on How AI Worsens Ills Caused by Social Media (The Economist)
Explore the work of The Future of Life Institute
Emma Pearson's I'd Rather Risk Cancer Than See AI Move This Fast (The Atlantic)
 
Scriptures:
Mark 12:30–31 (ESV)
Matthew 22:37–39 (ESV)
Deuteronomy 6:5 (ESV)
Luke 10:27 (ESV)
 
More From Andy Crouch:
Check out Andy's website
Check out Andy's work at Praxis
Read Andy's book: The Life We're Looking For
Read Andy's book The Tech-Wise Family: Everyday Steps for Putting Technology in Its Proper Place 
 
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The Good Faith Podcast is a production of a 501(c)(3) nonpartisan organization that does not engage in any political campaign activity to support or oppose any candidate for public office. Any views and opinions expressed by any guests on this program are solely those of the individuals and do not necessarily reflect the views or positions of Good Faith.

How Does Therapy Culture Undermine True Healing?
 
Host Curtis Chang talks with physician and author Matthew Loftus about how therapeutic language can distort ordinary suffering, turn disagreement into "gaslighting," and leave people feeling less capable of changing their lives. They examine the overmedicalization of grief and anxiety, the rise of mental health culture in schools, and why churches risk losing their purpose when pastors start acting like therapists.
**This is not an attack on therapy or psychiatric medication. It is a provocative conversation about when mental health care becomes a worldview—and whether our relentless focus on feeling better is actually making us sicker.
 
02:10 - Therapy Practice vs. Therapy Culture
03:52 - The Importance of Personal Experience
06:34 - The Three Elements of Therapy Culture
10:09 - The Problem with Focusing on Mental Health
13:22 - The Suggestive Power of Diagnosis
15:30 - A Christian Understanding of Suffering
17:57 - Finding Solace in the Midst of Suffering
21:40 - The Role of Medication in Mental Health
25:49 - Knowing When Therapy Becomes Unhelpful
28:30 - The Unique, Healing Functions of the Church 
32:21 - How Parents Can Counter Therapy Culture in Schools
35:01 - A Final Word of Encouragement
 
To give to Good Faith: https://goodfaith.org/donate
 
 
Mentioned in This Episode:
Matthew Loftus's Resisting Therapy Culture
Curtis Chang's Anxiety Opportunity
Kathryn Greene-McCreight's Darkness Is My Only Companion
What is Cognitive Behavioral Therapy?
 
 
Further Reading:
DSM5 and the Medicalization of Grief: Two Perspectives (article)
Matter over mind: How mental health symptom presentations shape diagnostic outcomes
Effectiveness of school-based mental health programs on mental health among adolescents
 
 
Scriptures:
Romans 8:38–39 (ESV)
 
More From Matthew Loftus:
Matthew's website
Matthew's writing at Mere Orthodoxy
Matthew's articles at Plough
 
 
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The Good Faith Podcast is a production of a 501(c)(3) nonpartisan organization that does not engage in any political campaign activity to support or oppose any candidate for public office. Any views and opinions expressed by any guests on this program are solely those of the individuals and do not necessarily reflect the views or positions of Good Faith.

Bridging Two Worlds: An American Immigrant's Story of Faith, Anxiety, and Political Calling
 
Today, we are sharing a conversation between Curtis Chang and Lee C. Camp on the Signal Award-winning and 2026 Ambie Award-nominated podcast No Small Endeavor. Hosted by award-winning teacher and Professor of Theology and Ethics Lee C. Camp, No Small Endeavor explores what it means to live a good life through conversations about culture, ideas, and the habits that help people flourish.
 
In this episode, you'll hear from Curtis Chang as he reflects on his experience as a Chinese American immigrant, former pastor, and public theologian, and argues that anxiety sits at the root of America's political crisis. Chang explains how anxiety is rooted in a fear of future loss, and offers actionable ways to name, face, and move through that anxiety with compassion rather than avoidance.
 
You'll also hear Chang and Camp dig into how institutions are made up of people rather than systems, why that means they're capable of being healed rather than torn down, and why refocusing on the how of politics rather than just the what is essential to moving beyond our current moment of division.
 
Follow and listen to more episodes of No Small Endeavor
 
00:00:19 - Introducing You to No Small Endeavor
00:04:07 - What Is Curtis Chang's Earliest Memory?
00:05:26 - Immigrant Curtis and Cultural Displacement
00:07:24 - The Subtle Art of Bridge Building
00:11:44 - Henry Kissinger and Harvard
00:16:32 - Reconciliation Work in South Africa
00:20:20 - Is Anxiety an Opportunity?
00:27:54 - Anxiety in American Politics
00:39:20 - Are Institutions Multipliers of Humanity?
00:43:44 - The "How" vs. The "What" of Politics
00:50:21 - Curtis Navigates Cynicism
00:54:23 - Pessimism, Hope, and the Resurrection
00:59:40 - The Practice of Contemplative Prayer
 
 
Mentioned in This Episode:
Listen to episodes and follow No Small Endeavor
Lee C. Camp's Scandalous Witness: A Little Political Manifesto for Christians 
Curtis Chang & Nancy French's The After Party: Toward Better Christian Politics 
Curtis Chang's The Anxiety Opportunity: How Worry Is the Doorway to Your Best Self 
 
Projects and Courses:
Video Course: The After Party
Video Course: The Anxiety Opportunity
 
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The Good Faith Podcast is a production of a 501(c)(3) nonpartisan organization that does not engage in any political campaign activity to support or oppose any candidate for public office. Any views and opinions expressed by any guests on this program are solely those of the individuals and do not necessarily reflect the views or positions of Good Faith.

What Does the Confederacy's Legacy Mean for the Modern South and Christian America?
 
Host Curtis Chang and New York Times columnist, and Good Faith podcast "founding friend," David French confront the enduring power of the Confederate myth. David reflects on growing up as a white Southerner in a culture shaped by Confederate symbols, revisionist history, racial injustice, and a deeply rooted shame-and-honor code. Curtis, a Chinese American immigrant, brings an outsider's perspective that challenges familiar assumptions about heritage, memory, and belonging. Together, they examine Confederate monuments, the theological defenses of slavery, the meaning of "heritage, not hate," and whether honest historical reckoning can lead to redemption and reconciliation.
 
02:51 - Curtis Congratulates David on the Birth of His Latest Grandchild
05:54 - Why Does the Confederacy Still Matter?
10:12 - The South's Distinct Cultural Cohesion
22:19 - "Heritage, Not Hate": A White Southern Perspective
29:52 - Race, Religion, and Revisionism in the South
42:13 - The Resurgence of Explicit Racism
47:20 - What to Do with Confederate Memorials
56:32 - Repenting of Southern Shame-Honor Culture
01:01:32 - Institutions Founded on Injustice Can Carry Spiritual Darkness
 
Sign up for The After Party Informational Webinars
Sign up for The Good List
 
Mentioned in This Episode:
Learn about the Tulsa Race Massacre
Learn about The Great Migration
Watch MLK50 Conference (video)
More about General George H. Thomas
More about the Southern Baptist Convention and slavery
What is Kinism
More about the South's resistance to Reconstruction
Read the Civil Rights Act of 1964
Watch: Selma and the Voting Rights Act of 1965 (video)
 
Scriptures:
Ephesians 6:12 (ESV)
Colossians 2:15 (ESV)
Luke 10:25–37 (ESV)
Matthew 20:16 (ESV)
Matthew 10:39 (ESV)
 
More From David French:
David French's New York Times pieces HERE
Follow David French on Threads
 
Follow Us:
Good Faith on Instagram
Good Faith on X (formerly Twitter)
Good Faith on Facebook
 
The Good Faith Podcast is a production of a 501(c)(3) nonpartisan organization that does not engage in any political campaign activity to support or oppose any candidate for public office. Any views and opinions expressed by any guests on this program are solely those of the individuals and do not necessarily reflect the views or positions of Good Faith.