Jonathan Haidt, The Righteous Mind: Why Good People Are Divided by Politics and Religion. Haidt's newest book is about one of the hottest topics in the sciences - morality. It’s about how we evolved to live in moral “matrices,” which bind us together around sacred values and then blind us to the truth. It’s about righteousness, moral diversity, politics and religion.
Debbie Shields, Kathy Haga and Ellie Novak-Scoffield, are hospital chaplains for the Mountain States Health Alliance. They speak about the important healing work of hospital chaplains for Pastoral Care Week. Pastoral Care Week gives opportunities for organizations and institutions of all kinds and types to recognize the spiritual caregivers in their midst and the ministry which the caregivers provide.
Eugenie Scott, executive director of the National Center for Science Education will be in Nashville October 27th. The title of her presentation is "Why the Tennessee Academic Freedom Act Matters to YOU." She is my guest on Religion For Life to discuss this legislation, offer history and insights to the evolution/creationism controversy, and promote the teaching of science.
Physicist Lawrence Krauss talks about his new book, A Universe From Nothing: Why There Is Something Rather Than Nothing. The book arose from the response to this Youtube lecture that has received over a million and one half views. He describes the universe without any recourse to "supernatural shenanigans." Join us for a fascinating and lively conversation about the universe as science reveals it!
My guest this week on Religion For Life is Sam Jones who blogs at Tennessee Transitions. She is a community activist and advocate for transitioning our communities and our lives to the post-petroleum reality that is coming. She speaks candidly about the issues that we are facing as well as the importance of living simply.
We are facing some huge issues, Peak Oil, Climate Change, and Environmental Crises, and according to my guest, James Howard Kunstler, we are addressing these events with magical thinking. The author of The Long Emergency speaks engagingly and honestly with me about our future, in his latest book, Too Much Magic: Wishful Thinking, Technology, and the Fate of the Nation. The Independent writes: "If you give a damn, you should read this book." Likewise, you should listen to this interview!
This week on Religion For Life we get the down and dirty on sin. Where did this idea come and from and why and how did it develop? Dr. Paula Fredriksen, The Aurelia Professor of Scripture Emerita at Boston University, is my guest. She talks about her new book, Sin: The Early History of An Idea and traces the development of this idea from Jesus to Augustine.
In this conversation with John Michael Greer we discuss the "apocalypse meme." He is the author of Apocalypse Not: Everything You Know About 2012, Nostradamus, and the Rapture Is Wrong. Why is that human beings predict and even seem to desire an "end"? Join us for this fascinating discussion of apocalyptic movements in history. Almost since the beginning of civilization, an insatiable willingness to believe has driven people to dream of the apocalypse that will replace the world they've got with...
In the late 19th and early 20th centuries between three and five thousand African-Americans were lynched in the South. They were lynched by white Christians. My guest, Dr. James Cone, the Charles Augustus Briggs Distinguished Professor of Systematic Theology at Union Theological Seminary in the City of New York, in his latest book, The Cross and the Lynching Tree makes the connection between the lynching of African-Americans and the execution of Jesus. Listen to this important conversation about...
Dr. Jay Mehta is a board member of the Regional Indian-American Community Center in Kingsport, Tennessee. Dr. Mehta spoke to me about the work of the center and about the tradition of Hinduism. In this engaging conversation on Religion For Life we discuss this intriguing spiritual path and how its vision of peace and tolerance can transform our society for the better.
How should religion be taught in public schools and what resources are available for teachers? Two professors at Appalachian State University have taken on those questions. They researched various religious groups in the United States and decided to present these various traditions through the use of children's literature. Dr. Connie Green and Dr. Sandra Oldendorf are professors of education at Appalachian State University. They have co-authored Religious Diversity and Children's Literature: Str...
This week on Religion For Life I speak with Dr. Joseph Fitsanakis about the connection between the American far right and Christian ideology. We discuss the Aryan Nations, National Alliance, the Creativity Movement, the Klan, and various skinhead and neoconfederate groups. We also discuss Timothy McVeigh and the Oklahoma City bombing in light of homegrown ideological terrorism. Dr. Fitsanakis coordinates the Security and Intelligence Studies program at King College in Bristol, Tennessee, where h...
This week on Religion For Life my guest is Marina Munjal one of "the founding mothers" of the Appalachian Dharma and Meditation Center in Johnson City. She talks about the activities at the center, Buddhism, and the joy of meditation. "Marina grew up in Ohio with a statue of the Buddha in the study and a church home at a Unitarian Fellowship. She is one of the “founding mothers” of the ADMC and began building Buddhist community in the Tri-cities when she helped initiate the Holston Valley Sangha...
Fifty million Americans do not have health insurance. Is health care a human right? Is health care a social justice issue? My two guests, Dr. Garrett Adams and Dr. Arthur Sutherland of Physicians for a National Health Program, were in the Tri-Cities this Spring making the case for Medicare for all. I visited with them on Religion For Life. Here is an article from TriCities.com. (Dr. Garrett Adams left and Dr. Arthur Sutherland right speaking in Bristol, Tennessee. Photo David Crigger/Bristol Her...
Many books are written by clergy about their experiences. Usually these books are written after long careers. Here is a twist. Rev. Andrew Taylor-Troutman is a Presbyterian Minister in New Dublin, Virginia. He is brand new at it. He wrote a book about his first year as a minister. It is called Take My Hand: A Theological Memoir. Join us for a unique perspective on church, life, and ministry from an energetic minister just out of the gate!
From May 17th through June 18th on Religion For Life I am broadcasting a four-part series on the historical Jesus. It is called “Will the Real Jesus Please Rise?” For four weeks, I interview four of the most prolific and provocative scholars in the United States, Bishop John Shelby Spong, Dr. Bart Ehrman, Dr. Robert M. Price, and Dr. John Dominic Crossan. My final guest in this series is Dr. John Dominic Crossan. He is the current president of the Society of Biblical Literature. He along with Ro...
From May 17th through June 18th on Religion For Life I am broadcasting a four-part series on the historical Jesus. It is called “Will the Real Jesus Please Rise?” For four weeks, I interview four of the most prolific and provocative scholars in the United States, Bishop John Shelby Spong, Dr. Bart Ehrman, Dr. Robert M. Price, and Dr. John Dominic Crossan. Dr. Robert M. Price is my third guest. He is a fellow of the Jesus Seminar, a scholarly think tank that during the 1980s and 1990s evaluated a...
From May 17th through June 18th on Religion For Life I am broadcasting a four-part series on the historical Jesus. It is called “Will the Real Jesus Please Rise?” For four weeks, I interview four of the most prolific and provocative scholars in the United States, Bishop John Shelby Spong, Dr. Bart Ehrman, Dr. Robert M. Price, and Dr. John Dominic Crossan. The second interview in the series is with Dr. Bart Ehrman. Dr. Ehrman teaches religion at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He...
This week on Religion For Life I begin my four-part series on the historical Jesus, “Will the Real Jesus Please Rise?” For four weeks, I will interview four of the most prolific and provocative scholars in the United States, Bishop John Shelby Spong, Dr. Bart Ehrman, Dr. Robert M. Price, and Dr. John Dominic Crossan. The series begins with Bishop John Shelby Spong. The retired Episcopal Bishop who has written over twenty books on religion, with such titles as Why Christianity Must Change Or Die,...
I continue my conversation with Rabbi Rob Cabelli of Congregation Beth Israel in Asheville, NC. We discuss afterlife, Jesus, and justice in the Jewish tradition.
This is the first of a two part conversation with Rabbi Rob Cabelli of Congregation Beth Israel in Asheville, North Carolina. Rabbi Cabelli made the drive over the mountain to speak with me about Judaism in general, science and faith, Torah, and being Jewish in Appalachia.
My guests on Religion For Life are Nancy Ellen Abrams and Joel Primack, authors of a new book, The New Universe and the Human Future: How a Shared Cosmology Could Transform the World. Dr. Primack is professor of physics at the University of California at Santa Cruz and Nancy Ellen Abrams is a cultural philosopher. Together they find a way of integrating our cosmology with meaning and offer a hopeful vision for our human future on Earth.
In 2008, during that period of time when same-gender marriage was legal in California, Presbyterian Church (USA) minister, Rev. Jane Adams Spahr, officiated at 16 same-gender weddings. She was taken to church court and accused of violating her ordination vows. The case finally ended up before the General Assembly Permanent Judicial Commission, the "supreme court" of the PC(USA). By an 8-6 vote she was found guilty. Marriage is officially one man and one woman in the PC(USA) regardless of state l...
Singer, songwriter, guitar player, and poet, Andrew McKnight is my guest. He performed a benefit concert for us a few months ago to raise awareness against mountain top removal mining. He sings about the people, places, and passions of Appalachia: Since permanently leaving his corporate environmental engineering career in 1996, award-winning folk and Americana artist Andrew McKnight's musical journey has traced over half a million miles of blue highways, and earned him a wealth of critical accla...
Rev. Landon Whitsitt is the Vice Moderator of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) He is the author of Open Source Church: Making Room for the Wisdom of All. Drawing his metaphor from open source software, he suggests the church of the future would do well to consider being "open source" regarding welcoming new people and new ideas. He was the Theologian In Residence at Tusculum College in February 2012. He graciously agreed to visit the WETS studio and talk with me on Religion For Life. He blogs at...
Cultural anthropologist, Carol Delaney, returns to Religion For Life to discuss her latest book, Columbus and the Quest for Jerusalem. We know the children's rhyme: "In 1492 Columbus sailed the ocean blue." But why? Because he wanted to find gold in order to start a crusade to conquer Jerusalem for the Christians so that Christ would return. Professor Delaney takes us into the medieval mindset and helps us understand Columbus in his time and place. I discussed her book in a recent sermon and you...
Professor Thomas Hill is clinical assistant professor at the Center for Global Affairs at NYU. He is a peacebuilding practitioner and researcher with a decade of experience focusing on Iraq. Since 2003, he has made more than 20 visits to Iraq and has overseen the design, development, and implementation of a series of interrelated research and educational projects focused on the development of sustainable peace in Iraq. We discuss the crucial work of peacebuilding on Religion For Life.
On the next Religion For Life, I speak with Dr. Carol Landis, the president of the board of directors of the Green Interfaith Network. The Green Interfaith Network (GINI) seeks to "build a network of cool congregations" in our area. Carol speaks with me about the work of GINI including its advocacy for Tennessee's mountains.
Cultural anthropologist, Dr. Carol Delaney, talks about her book, Abraham On Trial: The Social Legacy of Biblical Myth, on the next Religion For Life. Dr. Delaney explores the roots of patriarchy by asking the question, what gave Abraham the right to sacrifice (murder) Isaac? What is the legacy of this myth on the way we regard children today?
Sandy Westin served as the North American Regional Coordinator of the The United Religions Initiative or URI from July 2009 through December 2011. The United Religions Initiative seeks "to promote enduring, daily interfaith cooperation, to end religiously motivated violence and to create cultures of peace, justice and healing for the Earth and all living beings." A chapter or cooperation circle of URI is active in the Tri-Cities. Ms. Westin talks with me about the United Religion Initiative's wo...
