We live in a world that rewards certainty, outrage, and being absolutely convinced that the other side is wrong. But what if faithfulness looks a little less like winning an argument and a little more like admitting we might not have all the answers? Kate talks with former Tennessee Governor Bill Haslam about the complicated work of public service, the difference between using faith and being shaped by it, and why humility might be one of the most underrated qualities in a leader. Together, they ask what it means to love our neighbors when we disagree with them—and how to resist the contempt that makes it so hard to listen.

SHOW NOTES:

• Faithful Presence: The Promise and the Peril of Faith in the Public Square by Bill Haslam
• You Might Be Right — A podcast hosted by former Tennessee Governors Bill Haslam (Republican) and Phil Bredesen (Democrat), exploring difficult policy questions across political differences. 
• Howard H. Baker Jr. School of Public Policy and Public Affairs at The University of Tennessee
• Kate Bowler's Newsletter (Substack)
• Kate Bowler on Instagram
• Kate Bowler on YouTube

Is religion in America disappearing—or are we secretly in the middle of a revival? Sociologist Mark Chaves has spent decades studying what Americans actually believe and how our religious lives are changing. He joins Kate to separate the headlines from the data: why religious decline is real but slow, what we misunderstand about young people and faith, why megachurches keep getting bigger, and what we might lose when our institutions disappear.

Show Notes

• American Religion: Contemporary Trends, Second Edition — Mark Chaves’s book on changing patterns in American religious belief and practice.
• National Congregations Study — The long-running study of American congregations directed by Mark Chaves.
• Why Conservative Churches Are Growing — Dean M. Kelley’s 1972 book, discussed in the episode in relation to the idea that stricter churches are stronger.
• Kate Bowler on Substack — More blessings and reflections from Kate.
• Kate Bowler on YouTube — Watch full episodes of Everything Happens.

Something strange has happened to American religion. More people are checking “none” when asked about religious affiliation—but that doesn’t necessarily mean they’ve stopped believing in God, looking for meaning, or longing for community.

Historian Diana Butler Bass helps us understand how we got here. Kate and Diana trace the transformation of American evangelicalism from Jimmy Carter to the Religious Right, why Christianity became increasingly entangled with political identity, and what happens when people leave religious institutions but still find themselves reaching for something sacred. Perhaps losing a religious label isn’t always the same thing as losing faith. And perhaps the question isn’t only why people left—but what they’re still hungry for.

Show Notes: 

• Learn more about Diana Butler Bass
• Subscribe to Diana’s newsletter, The Cottage
• Explore Pew Research Center’s Religious Landscape Study
• Learn more about America’s religiously unaffiliated (“nones”)
• Explore the data on spirituality and religious identity
• Join Kate on Substack
  

Who are the people who have made you who you are?

Kate sits down with novelist Andrew O’Hagan for a funny and tender conversation about friendship: the childhood friends we swear we’ll love forever, the unexpected people who become essential, and the friends who know how to stay when life gets frightening.

Together, they wonder what makes someone a good friend, why some friendships deepen while others fade, and how love sometimes looks less like having the right words and more like simply keeping pace.

Show Notes

• On Friendship — Andrew O’Hagan
• Mayflies — Andrew O’Hagan
• Caledonian Road — Andrew O’Hagan
• The Illuminations — Andrew O’Hagan
• Andrew O’Hagan — London Review of Books
• Edna O’Brien — RTÉ Archives
• Sam’s Cafe — Primrose Hill
• Dignitas
  

Jennifer Garner joins Kate Bowler for a conversation about happiness, joy, and the particular ache that shows up somewhere around midlife when the disappointments start to outnumber the wins, and you’re still not who you thought you’d be by now.

They talk about what actually separates happiness from joy (hint: one requires everything to go right, the other doesn’t), the strange gift of a copperhead snake bite, why Jennifer went paragliding after her cancer diagnosis despite being terrified of heights, and what it means to be a “witness” instead of just a friend. 

Plus: religious upbringing and how it shapes how we experience joy, letting-go rituals, raising teenagers, and why older women deserve more credit for staying vivid, capable, and alive.

If you’ve ever felt like your life was supposed to add up by now and it just hasn’t, this one’s for you.

Aging is a privilege — but perimenopause and menopause can still blindside you. Kate Bowler sits down with Dr. Mary Claire Haver, board-certified OB-GYN and bestselling author of The New Menopause and The New Perimenopause, to explain what’s actually happening in the body during perimenopause and menopause, why symptoms like brain fog, frozen shoulder, and anxiety get dismissed or misdiagnosed, and what the evidence really says about hormone replacement therapy after the 2002 Women’s Health Initiative study derailed women’s care for two decades.

They also cover practical, low-cost tools for this stage of life — bone density screening, strength training, protein and fiber, cardio guidelines — and why replacing shame with information changes everything.

This conversation was recorded on location at the Aspen Ideas Festival: Health.

What if becoming the parent you want to be requires unlearning some of what you were taught?

Author and creator Libby Ward joins Kate to talk about breaking generational cycles, people-pleasing, parental burnout, and the complicated work of becoming the parent you didn’t have. Libby shares how motherhood forced her to confront her own limits—and reconsider the impossible standards she’d absorbed about what makes a “good mom.”

Together, they talk about boundaries, trusting your own needs, and letting go of the exhausting work of looking like a good parent so you can focus on what actually helps your children feel safe and loved.

Show Notes:

• Watch the conversation on YouTube.

• Follow Libby on Instagram. 

• Read Libby’s book, Honest Motherhood.

Loneliness is more than just a feeling—it shapes how we see ourselves and the world around us. It can make us withdraw, hesitate to reach out, or convince us that connection is for other people. But Dr. Vivek Murthy has spent years reminding us of what is most true: we are meant to hold each other up.

As U.S. Surgeon General (twice!), Vivek confronted some of the biggest public health challenges of our time—addiction, youth mental health, the opioid crisis. But at the heart of it all was something deeply human: our need for each other. In this conversation, Kate and Vivek talk about what actually makes a life full—not perfect, not endlessly productive, but anchored in love and belonging. 

Together, they discuss:

• The quiet ache of loneliness and why so many of us feel it

• Why relationships, purpose, and service are the real building blocks of a fulfilled life

• Small, practical ways to reach out, even when it feels awkward

• How asking for help might bring us closer, not pull us apart.

This episode originally aired February 2025

Historian and Canadian politician Michael Ignatieff explores the cracks in our seamless worldviews… or at least the worldviews we thought were seamless until we’re faced with tragedies of all kinds. In this wide-ranging exploration, Kate and Michael probe humanity's enduring attempt to console ourselves and construct meaning from our pain.

In this conversation, Kate and Michael discuss:

• Why truth and trust are so important when it comes to finding meaning in our pain
• The difference between comfort and consolation 
• The limits of stoicism and hyper-futurism 
• What it means to be hopeful
• The importance of community through pain and suffering

Michael does not denigrate anyone’s attempt for comfort, but asks us to look carefully at the consolation that lasts. He asks: What is consolation? And why do we all crave that practice of meaning-making?

This episode originally aired March 2023.

How do you live knowing life can just come undone at a moment’s notice? In the span of a few months, Tig Notaro received three life-threatening illnesses, unexpectedly lost her mom, and went through a breakup. Tig is a brilliant comedian whose real life informs her comedy and has a lot to teach us about living honestly in the face of reality. 

In this conversation, Kate and Tig discuss: 

• Tig’s “hands-off” parents and her journey of self-discovery, eventually uncovering her talents in the entertainment industry and making her a respected figure in comedy
• How Tig Notaro's family of “real characters,” served as an abundant source of comedic inspiration in her life (including the best graveyard story ever)
• How to live alongside fear of what you know could actually happen?

 This episode originally aired June 2023.

Don’t Waste Your Life. Savor Every Moment. Live in the Present. 

Culture has a lot of prescriptions for how to live a good life. But what if we don’t know where to start? Writer and researcher Catherine Price started to notice how much time she was spending on her phone and how the habit was sucking joy from her life. Instead, she wanted to learn how to have fun again. What is fun? How do you have it? Can you become a more fun person? Catherine debunks the myths around what it means to have fun—especially when we think we’re too tired, too careworn, or too old—and gives us a little homework to start today. 

In this conversation, Kate and Catherine discuss: 

• How to break up with your phone (and why we turn to our phones in the first place)
• How to create more opportunities for fun in the midst of regular days and too-full lives
• The simple practice Catherine uses to bring more joy to her days

This episode originally aired November 2023.