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How do we determine what’s true in a very disorienting time? How do we know what authorities, institutions, or media to believe when the world around us feels untrustworthy? How do we have deep conversations with friends and loved ones when the political landscape is so divisive? It’s a very difficult time to navigate and it’s easy to become cynical or even despairing.

Journalist Bonnie Kristian tackles some of these complicated issues in her fantastic new book Untrustworthy: The Knowledge Crisis Breaking Our Brains, Polluting Our Politics, and Corrupting Christian Community. Bonnie is a mom (of twins!), a graduate of Bethel Seminary, and the author of A Flexible Faith: Rethinking What It Means to Follow Jesus Today. She writes and edits opinion pieces on foreign policy, religion, criminal justice, urbanism, civil liberties, electoral politics, and more. She’s written for Christianity Today, The Week, USA Today, CNN, Politico, and Time, to name a few. She is a great Twitter follow and just an insightful and fascinating voice on our strange political and religious landscape.

In this episode we talk about how to have a healthy relationship with news and media when the odds are stacked against us. We discuss how to love and maintain relationship with friends and loved ones who have accepted extremist ideologies. We explore the nature of the social media beast and how it works against our mental health and our reason. And we try to imagine how we can cultivate real community, truth, and goodness when things look very bleak. It’s a very interesting conversation and Bonnie has such wisdom to share. So grab a cup of tea and enjoy this episode!

Connect with Bonnie:

• Bonnie’s website
• Bonnie’s Twitter

Sponsor

We are thrilled to be sponsored for this episode by Happy Nest Home Goods.

Happy Nest Home Goods celebrates doing small things with great love with their modern Catholic embroidery art, patterns, and kits as well as their line of beautiful sacrifice beads for the whole family. 

Sacrifice Beads are a devotion practiced by St. Therese as a little girl using a string of sliding beads to track small sacrifices made throughout your day. So whenever you do a chore you hate, keep your temper, offer up a disappointment, or give someone else the better leftover from the fridge, just slide a bead towards the crucifix and unite your sacrifice to Christ’s on the cross. This beautiful practice will help foster your ability to see opportunities to offer every moment to God.

You can find a wide variety of sacrifice beads for men, women, and children at happynesthomegoods.com. Sacrifice beads make for a perfect spiritual stocking stuffer or gift for those receiving sacraments this year!

Happy Nest also has adorable beginner-friendly embroidery patterns and kits for every liturgical season, including Advent and Christmas, that are perfect to gift to the crafter in your life OR for you to add a handmade touch to your Christmas gifts this year!

Open-and-go kits are easy enough for total beginners (even kids!) and feature custom designed pre-printed fabric (so you don’t have to transfer the pattern yourself!) The kits also include everything you need from start to finish.

Don’t forget to check out her whole line of gorgeous stickers, jewelry, and needle minders featuring her original artwork!

Grab yours at www.happynesthomegoods.com and use codes FOC10 for 10% off your entire order over $35 or FOC15 for 15% your entire order over $45 through December 10th!

You can also follow @happynesthomegoods on Instagram and Facebook.

Come hang out with us!

Haven’t joined in on the fun with 4,900+ other FoC listeners in our facebook group? It’s your direct line to some fantastic folks who also care about faith, culture, books, and whatever our current masterpiece theatre craze might be! Join in with the link below.

• The Fountains of Carrots Raspberry Cordial Social Club on Facebook (our Facebook group)
• Connect with Haley on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and her blog
• Connect with Christy on Facebook, Instagram, and her blog

You can listen to us on iTunes, and we’d love a quick rating or review. If you have an android device we’re also on Stitcher. And as always, you can find all links, show notes, upcoming guests, and listen to all episodes at Fountains of Carrots.com.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: RSS

Women’s healthcare has been a hot topic for ages, but in a post-Dobbs world, it’s never been more discussed. So we decided to reach out to Leah Jacobson, a women’s health advocate and service provider to discuss the complexities of women’s healthcare, protection for the unborn, and fighting for the care, education, and medical resources that all women deserve.

Leah is the founder and the CEO of The Guiding Star Project, a non-profit organization to meet the practical needs of women through providing health care. She has a Master’s degree in Health and Wellness and she’s an International Board Certified Lactation Consultant. She helps mothers and babies by working at her local WIC office, in the labor and delivery department of her local rural hospital, and in her own private practice that specializes in home and virtual visits. Leah is also the author of a book titled Wholistic Feminism.

In this episode we talk about the ways the healthcare system has let women down and how pathologizing the female body sets us up to fail. Leah imagines a world in which education about women’s health reaches young women before they even start menstruating and we struggle with the challenge of a hyper-politicized pro-life movement and how to navigate conversations about abortion when the issue is so charged. It’s a heavy topic, so grab a good cup of coffee and enjoy the conversation.

Connect with Leah:

• Leah’s website
• Leah’s Instagram

And don’t forget…

Haley’s brand new children’s book series is available from Pauline Books and Media just in time for Christmas!

The Sister Seraphina Mysteries are read-a-loud stories about an order of mouse nuns who run a school under the floorboards of G.K. Chesterton’s home. Each volume involves a child-friendly mystery that is investigated by Sister Seraphina. She is helped by other sisters from her abbey and two of her students, Marigold Mouseweather and Dominic Whiskerbright. Each book contains several chapters with illustrations on each page by the wonderful Betsy Wallin.

Book One: The Pursuit of the Pilfered Cheese

Beneath the floorboards of G. K. Chesterton’s home, a thrilling pursuit is about to unfold. Sister Seraphina was pleased that everything was ready for the school fair. But when the prize cheese goes missing, the Sisters of Our Lady Star of the Sea and their brave students will need all their detective wits to solve the mystery. With a little literary inspiration from their upstairs neighbors, the Chestertons, can they band together to solve the case―and save Saint Wulfhilda’s School?

Book Two: The Curious ChristmasTrail

It’s Christmas Eve, and under the floorboards of G. K. Chesterton’s home, curious clues lie hidden… Sister Seraphina and the other Sisters of Our Lady Star of the Sea are busy with preparations for the Christmas play and long-awaited feast. That’s enough to be getting on with! But where is Sister Dymphna? The elderly nun is nowhere to be found in Saint Wulfhilda’s Abbey. Outside it’s growing dark, and the snow is falling. The brave search party will need all their wits to avoid danger and follow the trail—wherever it leads!

Order for the child in your life today!

Come hang out with us!

Haven’t joined in on the fun with 4,900+ other FoC listeners in our facebook group? It’s your direct line to some fantastic folks who also care about faith, culture, books, and whatever our current masterpiece theatre craze might be! Join in with the link below.

• The Fountains of Carrots Raspberry Cordial Social Club on Facebook (our Facebook group)
• Connect with Haley on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and her blog
• Connect with Christy on Facebook, Instagram, and her blog

You can listen to us on iTunes, and we’d love a quick rating or review. If you have an android device we’re also on Stitcher. And as always, you can find all links, show notes, upcoming guests, and listen to all episodes at Fountains of Carrots.com.