Conventional wisdom holds that religion is among the trinity of topics, along with sex and politics, not meant for polite conversation. But hard conversations about religion need to happen, say the filmmakers behind “Heathens,” a documentary making its world premiere Oct. 24 at the United Nations Association Film Festival. The festival, which showcases films about human rights, opens Oct. 15 in Palo Alto.
Talking openly was a game changer for five “heathens” profiled in the documentary by filmmakers David Cowan and Shawn Hardin, whose Pale Blue Dot Films is based in Redwood City.
The film follows a quintet of people from Christian fundamentalist families who met at a retreat for people who feel they must conceal that they are now questioning or rejecting that faith. The documentary chronicles their support for each other as they tell friends and family about their changed beliefs.
The filmmakers highlight a 2024 study from Cornell University indicating that one in three Americans — or about 80 million people — hides their religious disbelief, fearing repercussions from loved ones and communities.
Being open about religious disbelief as a path to changing minds is something that the filmmakers liken to the approach that helped members of the LGBTQ+ community make political and cultural inroads — pointing out that everyone should be able to live their own lives and be open about who they are.
Cowan and Hardin each come from tech and entrepreneurial backgrounds. The film continues the humanist work that Cowan and Hardin have focused on in filmmaking and other projects.
The name of their production company is drawn from astronomer Carl Sagan’s science documentary series “Cosmos.”
“(Sagan) points out how all the people through history and different places on Earth are sharing this pale blue dot in space, and it’s a very small spaceship we share here,” Cowan said. “We should be thinking about ourselves more humbly that way, and in a much more peaceful, cooperative way than sometimes we do.”
Cowan is an Emmy-nominated filmmaker whose other work includes “Afghan Dreamers,” a documentary about a girls’ robotics team in Afghanistan. He serves as a Board Member of the Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics. Hardin has worked on about 70 films in various roles as a cinematographer, director, producer and editor. He recently founded OnlySky Media, a digital magazine and online platform for religiously unaffiliated Americans.
With “Heathens,” the filmmakers aim to start not only a conversation, but invite people to become part of a larger community through heathens.community, a website that features the film, but also resources and information.
We spoke to Cowan and Hardin ahead of their film’s premiere at UNAFF. This conversation has been edited for length and clarity.
Embarcadero Media: How did “Heathens” come about?
Cowan: I come from a fundamentalist religious background. I grew up in it, and so I experienced the journey of what it’s like to be in the fold, in a strong faith like that, to then lose your faith and then rebuild your beliefs and your values and your understanding of what’s real and not, what’s right and wrong.
So I feel like I have a perspective that other secular people maybe don’t have about some of the challenges of living in these communities and some of the challenges that these communities face to those of us outside them.
Some of the philanthropic work that I’ve done over the years has centered around this notion of promoting scientific method and critical thinking to help people who were in the position I was in. For example, I am a trustee of the Center for Inquiry and the Richard Dawkins Foundation for Science and Reason. We do all kinds of great work in the courts for separation of church and state, and in schools and in all kinds of different venues.
People will default to what’s emotionally comfortable to them, which is what the people around them believe. The only way to change somebody’s mind is to make them uncomfortable with those beliefs.
Embarcadero Media: You talk about how people are motivated to keep this hidden. How did you find people who are willing to talk about this on camera?
Cowan: So if somebody is dealing with this kind of thing and they can’t talk to anybody, one of the things they do is they go on the internet and they go in forums and they talk to people out there in the world to say, “Hey, is there anybody else like me?” What’s so surprising is that the subjects that we met through this movie — they all thought there was something wrong with them and that there weren’t other people like them. But still, they looked.
All these people in the beginning, when we talked to them, they all said, “Well, you can’t show my face on film. I can’t do that.” But once they started talking to us, and they realized, “You’re telling me you’re going to make a film about people like me, and my story might help other people?
All our subjects said, “Count me in. I’ll be part of it.” For all of them, it meant coming out to the world in a way they hadn’t before.
Embarcadero Media: What has been the reaction to the film so far?
Hardin: We have had some private screenings. We had one just about two months ago in upstate New York. One of the people in the open mic at the end said that we hadn’t just made a film about the five participants who are the stars of the film, but rather he felt it was a film about his life, and he actually turned around and asked if anyone else in the audience felt the same way, and about a third of the audience raised their hands.
That was very meaningful to David and myself because, this is the San Francisco Bay Area, right? One of the most progressive areas in the United States. David and I really wanted to take a look at rural and small-town America, that space still in America today is primarily mainstream Protestant evangelical Christianity, and that’s where really all of the heroes in our film came from. Many people who are outside of these progressive bubbles that we live in could identify with that, with the journey that our heroes share in this film.
Cowan: We hope that there’s going to be another big segment of America that sees this, which we haven’t screened to yet, but we hope to, which is the faithful communities in that part of America, because we really believe that we made a film that respects them. It’s not an attack on religion. It’s not an attack on them. It is more of an appeal to them to say: “These are loved ones in your family, in your community. This is what they’re thinking inside. This is what they’re struggling with. How would Jesus treat these heathens? How are you going to treat these heathens?” And try to ask them that question, and challenge them, make them uncomfortable with the idea that heathens have no place in their lives.
Hardin: We want this to be really, really clear: “Heathens” is fully pro-pluralism. Our film, I think, represents the idea of really anyone’s religious expression as a personal choice is very important, but we also believe that state-sanctioned religious privilege is toxic. We reject the premise that religiosity confers any greater moral legitimacy, patriotism, or qualification for citizenship, and we think that’s really poisonous right now in the current political culture.
“Heathens” screens Oct. 24, 3:30 p.m., at the Mitchell Park Community Center, 3700 Middlefield Road, Palo Alto, followed by a panel discussion.
Heathens is one of 60 films from around the globe focusing on human rights that will show at the United Nations Association Film Festival, taking place Oct. 15-25 in Palo Alto, Stanford University, East Palo Alto and San Francisco. The festival opens Oct. 15 with a screening in Palo Alto. For a full schedule, visit unaff.org/2026/schedule.html
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