Hi friends, we have a special announcement.

A last minute double occupancy spot has just opened up for the upcoming Latter-day Struggles trip to Italy,

hosted with Casey McFarland, and once it's filled, the trip will officially be sold out again.

This experience includes meaningful connection with our group of seven couples,

incredible food, beautiful historic sites, and the opportunity to travel in

community with others who resonate with Valerie's work and her approach to healing, spirituality,

and growth. If you've been craving adventure, connection, and a truly unforgettable experience,

we hope you'll join us in Italy this September. To learn more about the itinerary and claim this

final spot, visit the link in show notes before it's taken.

Hello, everyone. Welcome to Latter-day Struggles. This is your host, Valerie, pleased and delighted to be with you all again here today on episode five of a many-part series. I think it's going to be seven parts. So we have a couple more here. We are really enjoying this conversation, at least with each other. So hopefully you're getting something out of it. Hello, Nathan. Hello. Hello, beautiful. Hi. So today we are going to be talking about the

intersection between religion and politics, how these are both two systems negotiating the exact same

human issues. Now, if you were anything like me, back in the day,

I was one that would have agreed wholeheartedly that there were certain things that

were political and religion didn't have anything to do with them or that were religious

and politics did not have anything to do with whatever that issue was.

That they're separate realms, that government is about power,

well, that politics are about government and power,

and that faith is about spirituality.

Okay, so, but as you have probably noticed in the case that we have been building in these last few conversations,

these two topics, not only just like they don't just kind of overlap.

They very much overlap because both are systems that are negotiating how to organize, protect, and value human life

at any given place in any society.

...