What Happens When *This* Many Women Leave the Church?
What Happens When *This* Many Women Leave the Church?  
Podcast: Culture Study Podcast
Published On: Wed Nov 11 2026
Description: If you've ever attended a Christian church, you know that place might be led by men — but it's run by women. Women making the coffee hour cookies. Women making the felt banners that hang at Easter. Women showing up, tithing, and singing in the choir. Women are the core constituency of the Christian church — and for the first time in history, young women are leaving the church at higher rates than men.Journalist Sarah Stankorb has spent years talking to women about all the reasons they've left the church. Some left because of how their leaders handled the pandemic. Others left because of Trump, or the refusal to grapple with sexual abuse in the church, or Black Lives Matter — or a dozen reasons that come together into a loss of faith, either in God or the institution of which they'd been a part. For this episode, we explore those reasons for leaving, but also ask: what's the future of the Christian church in America? What becomes of these spaces when and if women are no longer there to organize and keep them running? And if these women are leaving their churches... where, exactly, are they going? Thanks to the sponsors of today's episode:Go to  curehydration.com/CULTURE and get 20% off your first order with promo code CULTURE.Machine washable rugs, made better. For a limited time only, our listeners get 10% off + free shipping at tumbleliving.com/CULTURE.Use code CULTURE at jonesroadbeauty.com to get a free gift with your first purchase!Blueland’s biggest sale of the year is here! Save up to 30% when you go to Blueland.com/CULTURE.Show Notes:Go buy Damned If She Does here!Find more of Sarah's excellent work hereThe Pew study that Sarah repeatedly references can be found hereSarah's recent Slate piece on trad wives leaving the church (including the original 'stay-at-home daughters')We're currently looking for your questions on the following topics:SIMPLE COOKING WITH YOTAM OTTOLENGHI! We're talking about his new cookbook, Simple Too, and want to talk about the entire concept of "simple cooking" — but you can also ask for tips, specific recipes for specific situations that hew to "simple," or any other questions you have for one of the most renowned cookbook authors of our time.FANCY JOURNAL / PLANNER CULTURE with Alex Sujong Laughlin — what fantasy of self are we chasing? What works, what pisses you off, what feels like pandering?WTF IS GOING ON WITH TELEVISION RIGHT NOW with Phil Maciak and Kathryn VanArendonk — podcasts-as-television, Netflix's Second Season Problem, what the networks aren't learning from Widow's Bay, ask us more!VENMO CULTURE: People who won't let you treat, people who say they're gonna Venmo you after you put a big dinner on your card and then don't, the utility (and annoyance) of Splitwise, Venmo-ing for a $4 coffee... convince Melody that there's an episode hereLOW KEY SUPER RICH PEOPLE — ever since I read this piece on 'American Gentry' I've wanted to do a big episode about how the real (diffuse) wealth in this country is people who own car dealerships, HVAC companies, and other "pass-through" S-Corps. How does that wealth persist, what power does it wield, why do they vote the way they do, WHO ARE THEY, REALLY? (We're talking with some economists who've really crunched the numbers on this, so it's gonna be fascinating)Anything you need advice for/want musings about for the AAA segment. You can ask about anything — it’s literally the name of the segment. Join the ranks of paid subscribers and get bonus content, access to the discussion threads, ad-free episodes, and the knowledge that you're supporting an indie pod trying to make its way in the world.Got a question to submit, a prompt for Ask Anne Anything, or an idea for a future episode? Tell us here.Catch up on everything else happening in the Culture Study universe here.Transcripts will be available here within 24 hours of publishing. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.