Who do we trust—and why?

This week on She’s Smart, Maria sits down with Dr. Kira Ganga Kieffer, a scholar, writer, and professor of religious studies at Fairfield University whose work explores the intersection of religion, health, medicine, and belief.

Kira’s first book, Unvaccinated Under God: Religion and Vaccine Hesitancy in Modern America, opens the door to a much bigger conversation: How do we decide what—or whom—to believe?

Maria and Kira talk about the tension between expert authority and personal experience, the rise of “trust your gut” parenting, religion and alternative spirituality, wellness culture, medical authority, and what happens when we begin to question an institution we once trusted. They also unpack the idea of “myth”—and why it means something very different to a religious scholar than simply something that isn’t true.

This isn’t a conversation about telling you what to believe. It’s about getting curious about where our beliefs come from, how our experiences shape them, and why trust is far more complicated than we might think.