July 9, 2018
Can you be religious and an atheist? Can you disbelieve in spirits while also defending your religious freedom? We live in a culture that has hard boundaries between these territories, and they are enforced by all sides, atheists and religious alike. The assumption that religion = theism is deeply imbedded in our culture, but it might be blocking progress to a more rational, reasonable, and humane religion.
Greg Stevens of the Satanic Temple joins me to discuss non-theistic religion, the activism of The Satanic Temple, the importance of religion for atheists, and to answer questions from my listeners about The Satanic Temple.
Among the questions asked are:
- Why Satan? Why, of all the deities to worship, do you choose Satan?
- Why degrade Christian symbols that so many Christians deem holy? Isn’t that counter-productive?
- How has the election of Donald Trump effected the Temple?
- Is Satanism purely reactionary to Christianity? What would Satanism look like in other cultures?
July 2, 2018
In this Episode of Sacred Tension, Danielle and I chat about what would make us lose faith in Christianity, what still scars us from our evangelical pasts, our favorite Catholic saints, why we eventually came to affirm gay relationships, and much more.
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June 25, 2018
Matt and I wrap up our conversation with Timothy by discussing, among many other things, Theosis: the spiritual concept that ultimately led Timothy out of the closet. Theosis is the belief that God is working to unite all things to Himself, and what this taught Timothy about his own sexual orientation is profound.
June 18, 2018
Matt and I continue our conversation with Timothy, unpacking his journey of coming out. Timothy discusses the gradual theological transformation that led to his liberation and fundamental shift of worldview.
June 11, 2018
In this episode of Sacred Tension, Matt and I are honored to share our conversation with Timothy, an old friend in the process of coming out of the closet. He shares what life was like as a conservative Christian, the importance of authenticity, the health consequences of the closet, the Gay evangelical ghetto, and much more.
June 4, 2018
In this episode of Sacred Tension, I have a fascinating conversation with cult expert Joseph Laycock. He answers questions from me and my audience about new religious movements, and sheds enormous clarity on our culture in the process. We talk about why we differentiate between cults and religions, the history of the cult wars, new religions that have emerged in the past five years, whether or not cult brain washing is real, whether cults are an American phenomenon, and much more.
May 28, 2018
In this episode of Sacred Tension, I continue my conversation with Satanic Temple spokesperson Greg Stevens about the core seven tenets of the Satanic Temple. Along the way, we talk about freedom of speech, bodily autonomy, the significance of how we treat our neighbor, the importance of science in shaping belief, and much more.
May 21, 2018
In this episode of Sacred Tension, I talk to Greg Stevens, a leader and spokesman of the Satanic Temple. In part one of this interview we discuss nontheistic religion, worship, atheism, the 7th tenent of the Satanic Temple, and much more.
You can find Greg at Gregstevens.com. You can find the Satanic Temple at thesatanictemple.com.
May 14, 2018
In this episode of Sacred Tension, I talk to the hilarious and insightful youtuber Kevin McCreary of Say Goodnight Kevin fame. We discuss his childhood as a Christian homeschooler, his firing from Focus on the Family, and why Christian movies are so gag-inducingly terrible.
Kevin makes a living critiquing terrible Christian movies on youtube. Find his channel at https://www.youtube.com/user/saygoodnightkevin
April 30, 2018
Donald, Danielle and I continue our breakdown of the Danvers Statement. In the process we discuss women in leadership, privilege, the American Evangelical persecution complex, and much more.
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