Top Society & Culture Podcasts

The Bible calls us to rejoice in hope and be patient in tribulation (Romans 12:12)—but how can we live this out? The Relentless Hope Podcast shares vulnerable testimonies from the world’s most passionate Christian leaders who overcame extreme trials through God’s faithfulness.

Each episode, hosted by Steve Gatena, founder of Pray.com, gives hope a voice. In a world that can often feel overwhelming, it’s easy to lose sight of the beauty and potential within every one of us. We are divinely created; deep down, we know that anything is possible. That’s why we must hold on to hope.

This podcast uncovers ways to cope with anxiety, heal broken relationships, and battle depression. You will get a close-up look into the experiences and lessons learned that made our guests incredibly influential leaders. Join us as we discover how they overcame vast obstacles and defeated the odds by turning tribulation into success. They’ll remind you that you’re not alone, guide you to lead with purpose, and leave a legacy of helping others.

Following each episode, listen to the summarized daily highlights hosted by Max Bard. These shortened episodes are a great way to keep encouragement in your day, even if you only have a few minutes.

Return to parts unknown... or parts now known, thanks to Anthony Bourdain. Revisit the places he traveled to and explore what’s changed since he last visited, as told by his friends. Join food industry vets Emily Fedner (@foodloversdiary) and Fabrizio Villalpando (@theemoodyfoody) each week as they catch up with the friends of Anthony Bourdain. Follow along @friendsofanthonybourdain.

This is the story of a modern-day Erin Brockovich, set on the Mississippi River in an area known as “Cancer Alley." Her name is Sharon Lavigne, her community is St. James Parish in Louisiana, and her fight is to keep out one of the largest plastic manufacturing companies in the world.

In this investigative four-part series, hosted by Emmy award-winning journalist Gloria Riviera, we discover how our plastic world came to be. Because plastic is everywhere - it has advanced our world, but it has damaged our environment and our health. So what do we do? We look at what’s next for all of us, and how we can learn from communities like St. James to make a difference in our own backyards.

This series is presented in partnership with Only One, the action platform for the planet. Only One is on a mission to restore ocean health and tackle the climate crisis in this generation — with your help. Visit only.one to learn more and get involved.

Alphabet Boys reveals the secret investigations of the FBI, DEA, ATF, and other alphabet agencies. Hosted by journalist Trevor Aaronson, Alphabet Boys exposes secret undercover recordings that the government never wanted the public to hear. We explore cases that are both dangerous and absurd in order to ask this question: Are America’s top cops catching criminals -- or creating them?

Season two is “Up In Arms.” An international weapons deal to arm rebels in Colombia tangles up the DEA, the CIA, and the FBI in the same case. But who’s the good guy? And who’s the bad guy? This spy story is not at all what it seems. 

Alphabet Boys is a production of Western Sound.

A personal journey into the heart of a global megachurch.

Noemi Uribe was looking for a church where everyone is welcome and she thought she’d found it in Hillsong. But that was ‘the most expensive mistake I ever made’. Noemi’s story turned into one of rejection, despair, and a fight for justice. Hillsong used to be home, now for Noemi ‘it’s a dumpster fire’

False Profits dives into the Hillsong experience - from Christian rock music, to celebrity pastors and famous fans - tracing its journey from humble beginnings to incredible global status and wealth, and some shocking scandals.

Through personal testimony and evidence that Hillsong never made public, we peel back the layers of a culture of submission, exploitation and discrimination.

The church says it’s changed, but will it face its past and the people who say they’ve been harmed by Hillsong? Noemi Uribe is on a journey seeking justice, and accountability.

Terra Firma is a podcast about the outdoors, the sounds of the natural world and our place in it. Each episode runs about 5-10 minutes and pairs reflections on nature with gorgeous soundscapes captured in wild places.

Terra Firma unites stories and musings by CMarie Fuhrman, a Colorado-born, Indigenous poet and writer, with audio captured by outdoor sound recordist Jacob Job.

In 1967, Joseph Stalin’s daughter braved her way over the Iron Curtain, secret memoir in tow, and landed in America as the Cold War’s most famous defector. At 40 years old, Svetlana had left everything behind for a new life in the West and the chance to finally share her story. What she found instead — a controversial commune in the Arizona desert built by Frank Lloyd Wright, a whirlwind marriage dictated by destiny, and a Montenegrin matriarch with dreams of immortality — was far more complicated. In Svetlana! Svetlana! neurotic playwright Dan Kitrosser unravels the weird and wild life of his greatest muse.

In 1971, President Nixon declared drug abuse ‘public enemy number one’— the first salvo in America’s War on Drugs. Fifty years later, with drug overdoses in the US at a record high, are we any closer to ‘victory’? The War on Drugs has a more profound effect on society than any of us really understands. It is embedded in the fabric of our culture and permeates our daily lives in visible and invisible ways – perhaps the most daunting pandemic we face.

Lava for Good’s The War on Drugs podcast, co-hosted by comedian Clayton English and Greg Glod, senior criminal justice fellow at Americans for Prosperity, examines the true cost of five decades of policy, policing, and persecution. Special guests, including diverse subject matter experts, peel back the surface of this complicated period of US history, showing the ways the War on Drugs has fueled over incarceration, exacerbated addiction and hampered economic progress. By shining a spotlight on how our communities have crumbled under the weight of this so-called ‘war,’ we can explore the politicization of public health policy, institutional racism and classism in the legislation and administration of criminal law, and how decriminalization and other alternatives could bring the fruitless ‘war’ to an end. 

The War on Drugs will be available every Wednesday beginning January 25 wherever you get your podcasts.

The War on Drugs is a production of Lava for Good Podcasts in association with Signal Co. No1

In 1971, President Nixon declared drug abuse ‘public enemy number one’— the first salvo in America’s War on Drugs. Fifty years later, with drug overdoses in the US at a record high, are we any closer to ‘victory’? The War on Drugs has a more profound effect on society than any of us really understands. It is embedded in the fabric of our culture and permeates our daily lives in visible and invisible ways – perhaps the most daunting pandemic we face.

Lava for Good’s The War on Drugs podcast, co-hosted by comedian Clayton English and Greg Glod, senior criminal justice fellow at Americans for Prosperity, examines the true cost of five decades of policy, policing, and persecution. Special guests, including diverse subject matter experts, peel back the surface of this complicated period of US history, showing the ways the War on Drugs has fueled over incarceration, exacerbated addiction and hampered economic progress. By shining a spotlight on how our communities have crumbled under the weight of this so-called ‘war,’ we can explore the politicization of public health policy, institutional racism and classism in the legislation and administration of criminal law, and how decriminalization and other alternatives could bring the fruitless ‘war’ to an end. 

The War on Drugs will be available every Wednesday beginning January 25 wherever you get your podcasts.

The War on Drugs is a production of Lava for Good Podcasts in association with Signal Co. No1

When journalist Danelle Morton’s daughter skips town to hop trains, she follows her into the train yard, and across America. Join Danelle as she travels the country to understand what drew her daughter into the hidden world of the railroads. Her guides are the rail cops, train engineers, and hobos she meets along the way, each of them with their own extraordinary tales of the beauty and brutality of the rails.

A mother/daughter story unfolds across a landscape of vast open spaces and filthy backstreets, as Morton learns how railroads shaped the modern world - from creating our time zones and QR codes, to the first lobbyists and unions.

The story of the rails is the story of America, and through 10 episodes, Morton reckons with our history, and her family history, as she tries what she can to bring her daughter home.