Uncomfortable Conversations with Josh Szeps

Today we’re sharing a bonus episode from The Moynihan Report.

William Shatner sits down with Michael Moynihan in Los Angeles for a conversation about life, time, and knowledge. They talk about death, God, AI, Blue Origin, The Intruder, and the relentless curiosity that keeps Shatner looking for whatever comes next. Oh yeah, and at 95 years old, he’s releasing a heavy metal album.

Jonathan Haidt is considered one of the world's most influential living psychologists. He joins Josh on this new instalment of Permission To Think - a collaboration with The University of Technology Sydney School of Social Sciences.

This episode is part of The Best Of series and was originally posted on 20th April, 2026. At the time of recording, Jonathan penned a piece for The Atlantic titled ‘Why The Past Ten Years Of American Life Have Been Uniquely Stupid’ that looks at how social media erodes trust, shared narrative and social capital.

What do our modern-day culture wars have to teach us about cult-like thinking, moral puritanism, judgment and compassion?
And if you lose religious faith, how are you left thinking about agnosticism, atheism, the purpose of the cosmos, and the meaning of life? What, if anything, is worth keeping from the Bible?
Megan Phelps-Roper was raised in the Westboro Baptist Church, the fundamentalist cult that picketed soldiers’ funerals with placards saying “God Hates Fags”. She appeared in Louis Theroux’s documentary about the church, as its spokesperson and the granddaughter of its founder.
Megan left the church, lost her family and her faith. Her TED Talk about polarization was viewed tens of millions of times. She hosted a smash-hit audio documentary series, The Witch Trials of J.K. Rowling, about the moral righteousness on both sides of the transgender debate.
Her latest production is Book Keeper, a podcast about returning to the Bible, as an atheist, to figure out what stories are worth keeping.
You can listen to Megan’s first appearance on this show here (https://uncomfortableconversations.substack.com/p/the-witch-trials-of-jk-rowling-with). She returns now to discuss atheism, the internal logic of religion, tribal thinking, social media and the way out of our self-certain culture-war bubbles.

Is there any room left for the political centre, or has it been swallowed by two competing extremes with nothing but contempt for the middle?

Josh chats with comedy writer and author of I Might Be Wrong, Jeff Maurer, for a wide-ranging conversation about the collapse of moderate politics in America. They dig into the strange case of Abdul El-Sayed campaigning with Hasan Piker in the Michigan primary and why that alliance, once worn as a badge of honour, is now something El-Sayed can't stop running from. They also cover Milo Yiannopoulos's deportation, the Democratic Socialists of America's growing foothold in progressive media.

It's a quarter-century since 9/11. What do we need to understand about its legacy, so as to handle the next quarter-century better?
Josh was a college student visiting the World Trade Towers the summer before the September 11th attacks. In this marathon editorial, he reflects on the day itself, the complacency of the 1990s, the "clash of civilisations", popular misconceptions about al Qaeda's motivations, the extraordinary backstory of the Saudi royals and Osama bin Laden, and the moral conundrums of terrorism and war.
Lastly, Josh offers the insight you need to take away from September 11th to avoid being blindsided by the civilisational challenges of today.