Stealing from Religion Without Losing Your Soul

About this episode

The episode explores the challenges and questions faced by individuals who leave religion but still seek meaning and spirituality.

What happens after you leave religion — but still feel a deep pull toward meaning, ritual, spirituality, or transcendence? In this conversation, Bill Reel and Britt Hartley sit down with religious ethicist and author Liz Bucar to explore what fills the vacuum when traditional faith falls away. From modern wellness culture and yoga to psychedelics, embodiment, and moral pressure, we ask hard questions about where people turn next — and whether those new spaces truly free us or quietly recreate the same dynamics we thought we escaped. Liz shares insights from her work and her book Beyond Wellness, examining how even “spiritual but not religious” communities can reproduce shame, hierarchy, and invisible expectations — often without realizing it. Together, we explore: Why wellness culture increasingly functions like religion How moral pressure sneaks into spiritual spaces What it means to “steal from religion” ethically Why humans still crave ritual and transcendence How authority, identity, and meaning-making persist after deconstruction What secular communities often miss emotionally How embodiment, yoga, and psychedelics can be approached with care rather than dogma This is an…

People in this episode

Hosts: Bill Reel, Britt Hartley

Guest: Liz Bucar

Topics covered

• leaving religion
• spirituality
• wellness culture
• ritual
• transcendence
• moral pressure
• identity

Keywords

• religion
• spirituality
• wellness
• yoga
• psychedelics
• ritual
• transcendence
• moral pressure

Mentioned in this episode

Books & works: Beyond Wellness

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