In his latest book, America: The Farewell Tour, Chris Hedges shows how the effects of America’s decline and decay affects its citizenry. As America sinks further into poverty and despotism, and as corporations and the military-industrial-media complex pirate the remaining assets of a nation that has lost its industry save weapons manufacturing, human beings suffer from gambling addiction, hatred, and violence in the streets. Hedges announces a spiritual call to resist. Chris Hedges is a Pulitzer...
Aug 27, 2018•53 min
His Eminence the 7th Kyabje Yongzin Ling Rinpoche is on a teaching visit through the West Coast, August 15th through September 19th (See Schedule). He will be in Portland, September 7th through the 10th at the following venues: Gala for Tibet: An Evening with HE Kyabje Yonzin Ling Rinpoche Fundraiser for Sunday Tibetan School Friday, September 7th | 6 - 10 PM NWTCA Lemelson Auditorium Limited seating. Public Talk: Kindness & Compassion Target Audience: Youth Saturday, September 8th | 10:30 A...
Aug 25, 2018•1 hr 59 min
Parker J. Palmer, Founder and Senior Partner Emeritus of the Center for Courage & Renewal, is a world-renowned writer, speaker and activist who focuses on issues in education, community, leadership, spirituality and social change. He has reached millions worldwide through his nine books, including Let Your Life Speak, The Courage to Teach, A Hidden Wholeness, and Healing the Heart of Democracy. He is collaborating with singer/songwriter, Carrie Newcomer, in a project called The Growing Edge....
Aug 21, 2018•53 min
Matthew Fox. Silenced by the Vatican for his views, left the Catholic priesthood in the early 1980s. Matthew Fox is a theologian and activist who has written over 30 books. He has introduced millions of people to Creation Spirituality. In 2016 he published A Way to God: Thomas Merton’s Creation Spirituality Journey. According to Fox, Merton was assassinated by the CIA. We will talk more about that as well as have a candid conversation about ecology, human rights, capitalism, and resistance. In N...
Aug 13, 2018•53 min
Former U.S. Congresswoman (1992-2002, 2004-2006) from Georgia and 2008 Presidential candidate for the Green Party, Dr. Cynthia McKinney, speaks with John Shuck on the Beloved Community. Topics include her entry into politics, racism, the various factions of the Deep State, 9/11, COINTELPRO, media propaganda, Hollywood, the Israel lobby, and the wars. It is an educational hour about what it takes to awaken and “unrig” ourselves from the rigged system of partisan politics and to become activists f...
Aug 10, 2018•58 min
What is moral? How has morality changed and how does that effect how we make decisions and evaluate the decisions of others in politics, business, and sex? In Behaving Badly: The New Morality in Politics, Sex and Business. Eden Collinsworth embarks on a personal journey to discover morality in a new globalized culture. Eden Collinsworth is a former media executive and business consultant. She was formerly of Arbor House Publishing Company founder of the LA based monthly magazine Buzzbefore becom...
Aug 06, 2018•53 min
Victoria Price, author of Vincent Price: A Daughter's Biography, discusses with John Shuck her latest book, The Way of Being Lost: A Road Trip to My Truest Self. Despite doing “all the right things” to successfully rebuild her life and her finances after a period of deep personal and professional turmoil where she lost almost everything, Victoria Price still felt something profoundly missing from her life. Victoria Price’s inspirational memoir is a heartfelt, candid account of rediscovering her ...
Jul 30, 2018•53 min
In this episode I take us back to 2012 for a re-broadcast of interviews with Sarah Sentilles and Eugenie Scott. In the first part of today’s show, you will hear an interview that first aired in January 2012 with Sarah Sentilles. Sarah Sentilles broke up with the Creator of the Universe just as she was about to be ordained as a priest in the Episcopal Church. She tells all in her book, Breaking Up With God: A Love Story. In this interview Dr. Sentilles shares her theological journey and demonstra...
Jul 23, 2018•53 min
In this episode I take us back to 2012 for a re-broadcast of interviews with Michael Zimmerman and Barbara Kingsolver. In the first part of today’s show, you will hear an interview that first aired in February 2012 with Michael Zimmerman, the founder of the Clergy Letter Project and Evolution Weekend. Over 13 thousand Christian, Jewish, and Unitarian Universalist clergy have signed a letter in support of teaching evolution in public schools. On the Sunday closest to Darwin’s Birthday faith commu...
Jul 16, 2018•53 min
Heart failure, accident, or murder? John Shuck interviews Hugh Turley about the mysterious death of Thomas Merton Investigative Reporter, Hugh Turley, makes the case that the conclusion that Thomas Merton died by accident cannot possibly be true. Hugh Turley and David Martin are co-authors of the 2018 book, The Martyrdom of Thomas Merton, An Investigation. John Shuck speaks live with Hugh Turley on Beloved Community about the death of Thomas Merton, who was an anti-war author and spiritual leade...
Jul 13, 2018•54 min
From the Progressive Spirit Archives, here are two interviews from 2012 and 2013.Cultural Anthropologist, Carol Delaney discusses her book, Abraham on Trial: The Social Legacy of Biblical Myth. Dr. Delaney explores the roots of patriarchy by asking the question, what gave Abraham the right to sacrifice Isaac? What is the legacy of this myth on the way we regard children today? Brene Brown is the author of Daring Greatly: How the Courage to Be Vulnerable Transforms the Way We Live, Love, Parent, ...
Jul 09, 2018•53 min
Why do the powers that be try to convince us that there is a “clash of cultures” or a conflict between Islam and the West or between Islam and Christianity? To answer that, Dr. John Andrew Morrow discusses his book, The Covenants of the Prophet Muhammad with the Christians of the World. We learn that Christianity and Islam co-existed peacefully with full protections for Christians for 1400 years. These covenants “uniformly state that Muslims are not to attack peaceful Christian communities, rob ...
Jul 03, 2018•53 min
Isaac Butler and Dan Kois take us backstage and behind the scenes of the iconic play, "Angels In America" in their book, The World Only Spins Forward: The Ascent of Angels In America. The book is an oral history, telling the story of the play and its influence from the voices of over 250 actors, actresses, and others who have given Angels In Americaits wings over the past 25 years. According to Isaac Butler, the political and social views of the play are still as relevant in the Trump era as the...
Jun 23, 2018•53 min
Dr. Peter Carter is founder of the Climate Emergency Institute. He has served as an expert reviewer for the Intergovernmental Panel of Climate Change’s fifth climate change assessment in 2014. He has also presented on the implications of global climate change on food security for the world's most vulnerable regions and populations at science and policy conferences in Canada, the United States, Europe, Asia and South America. He along with Elizabeth Woodworth, who has written extensively on clima...
Jun 11, 2018•53 min
Anthony Flaccavento was my first guest ever on this program when it was called Religion For Life. I had him on again last year when we discussed his book, Building a Healthy Economy from the Bottom Up: Harnessing Real-World Experience for Transformative Change. He has been a farmer, entrepreneur and consultant for over 30 years. He is on the leading edge of building sustainable economies and communities and he hopes to bring this vision of Rural Progressive Politics to Washington. He is running ...
Jun 04, 2018•53 min
Professor Paul Ortiz is Associate Professor of History at the University of Floridaand is Director of the Samuel Proctor Oral History Program. Professor Ortiz has published and taught in the fields of African American history, Latino Studies, the African Diaspora, Social Movement Theory, U.S. History, U.S. South, labor, and documentary studies. He currently works with students in these and related fields. He has written several books including Emancipation Betrayed: The Hidden History of Black O...
Jun 04, 2018•56 min
It is not unusual to have a Nobel Prize winner write a book. But what about those who lose the Nobel Prize? Not too many write that book. Dr. Brian Keating did. He is an astrophysicist who teaches at the University of California at San Diego. He almost won the Nobel Prize, but not quite. Professor Brian Keating is an astrophysicist with UC San Diego’s Department of Physics. He and his team develop instrumentation to study the early universe at radio, microwave and infrared wavelengths. He is the...
May 28, 2018•53 min
On April 28th2018, The Husayniah Islamic Society of Seattle sponsored an interfaith educational event called Husayn Day. The event was a reflection upon Husayn, the martyred grandson of the Prophet Mohammad. Rather than bow to his oppressors, he, along with 72 family members were killed in Karbala, Iraq in 680 CE. He is considered a martyr for justice, truth, love, and resistance. He is a leading figure in Shia Islam and his death is mourned each year by between 15 and 20 million pilgrims who vi...
May 21, 2018•53 min
May 15th marks the 70th anniversary of Israel's statehood. Palestinians refer to this as the Nakba, the Catastrophe, when more than 700,000 Palestinians left their homes from fear or were forcibly removed by Israelis who took their homes. On this 70th anniversary of the occupation, the people of Gaza have been staging a non-violent demonstration, The Great March of Returnthat culminates Tuesday the 15th. According to the Middle Eastern Monitor, "The demonstrations of the Great March of Return an...
May 11, 2018•56 min
On April 28th2018, The Husayniah Islamic Society of Seattle and Global Initiatives co-sponsored an interfaith educational event called Husayn Day. The event was a reflection upon Husayn, the martyred grandson of the Prophet Mohammad. Rather than bow to his oppressors, he, along with 72 family members were killed in Karbala, Iraq in 680 CE. He is considered a martyr for justice, truth, love, and resistance. He is a leading figure in Shia Islam and his death is mourned each year by between 15 and ...
May 07, 2018•53 min
“On May 14th or May 15th the people of Gaza are going to make their big last effort to break out of prison. And it will be a huge mobilization to try to break down that prison fence, that ghetto fence, that concentration camp fence. And we here have to give our all to make sure to do our best to ascertain and to assure that they succeed.” — Dr. Norman Finkelstein Dr. Norman Finkelstein speaks with John Shuck about his book, Gaza: An Inquest Into Its Martyrdom. His book was not a “labor of love.”...
May 01, 2018•53 min
Rev. Dr. Angela Yarber discusses the revolutionary work of the Holy Women Icons Project. As an intersectionally ecofeminist organization, the Holy Women Icons Project seeks to empower marginalized women and to be an accomplice in the work for justice for ethnic and racial minorities, women, LGBTQs, people with differing abilities, immigrants and refugees, the poor, animals, the earth, and all living at the margins of society. This is the fifth and final episode in my series Revisioning Christian...
Apr 24, 2018•53 min
Bishop John Shelby Spong has been on the leading edge of progressive Christianity. Over the decades he has shared his own honest journey with faith, doubt, and social activism as an Episcopal priest, bishop, and author. Some of his many books include: Living in Sin? A Bishop Rethinks Human Sexuality, Rescuing the Bible from Fundamentalism: A Bishop Rethinks the Meaning of Scripture, and Why Christianity Must Change or Die: A Bishop Speaks to Believers in Exile. He is the author of the newly rele...
Apr 15, 2018•53 min
The rising threat to free speech, Muslim-Christian dialogue, and LGBTQ+ advocacy. John Shuck’s guests include Jeremy Rothe-Kushel. Nicole Correri, and Brett Webb-Mitchel. **I will also be speaking with Lyn Neeley about the action Saturday in Portland Against U.S. Wars at Home and Abroad.** Saturday, April 14, 1 PM, Rally: Waterfront Park, Battleship Memorial (Naito pkwy, Oak & Pine). March to Saturday Market. Jeremy Rothe-Kushel talks about being arrested in a library for simply exercising h...
Apr 14, 2018•54 min
Dr. David Skrbina makes the case that Christianity started as a hoax by Paul: "Jesus of Nazareth is one of the most famous men in history. There are good reasons to believe that he walked the earth some two thousand years ago, and was eventually crucified. But what about Jesus Christ, son of God? What if he never existed? What if the divine, virgin-born, resurrected Jesus Christ was a myth, a lie—even a hoax? That would have huge implications for modern-day Christianity; it would mean that there...
Apr 08, 2018•53 min
Bart Ehrman asks how did a religion that began with a small group of illiterate day laborers become the dominant religion of the Roman Empire in just three centuries? What was gained and what was lost when the Roman Empire became the Christian Roman Empire? This is the second part of series on Revisioning Christianity. Different scholars bring different views to help us understand the history of Christianity and its future. How did Christianity become empire’s religion? Was Christianity a hoax? ...
Apr 01, 2018•53 min
John Shuck begins a five-part series on Revisioning Christianity. How did Christianity triumph? Was it a hoax? Is it unbelievable? Does it yet have a message to inspire peace and justice? My five guests include Bart Ehrman, author of the newly released, The Triumph of Christianity: How A Forbidden Religion Swept the World, John Shelby Spong, author of the newly released, Unbelievable: Why Neither Ancient Creeds Nor the Reformation Can Produce a Living Faith Today, David Skrbina, author of the ne...
Mar 26, 2018•53 min
Johann Hari suffered from depression since he was a child and took anti-depressants as a teenager because he was told that depression is the result of a chemical imbalance in the brain. He went on a quest to see if this is really the case. In his book, Lost Connections: Uncovering the Real Causes of Depression—and the Unexpected Solutions, he discusses that journey. He interviewed many social scientists who are uncovering evidence that depression and anxiety are largely caused by key problems wi...
Mar 23, 2018•53 min
In 1957, Melba Patillo Beals, was one of nine African-American high school students chosen to integrate Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas. She became a journalist, professor, author, and at the age of 52 adopted twin sons. In her book, I Will Not Fear: My Story of a Lifetime of Building Faith Under Fire, she tells her life story and how the faith she received from her grandmother grew and became her source of strength and inspiration. In the interview, she takes us back to LIttle Rock...
Mar 16, 2018•53 min
On February 3rd, 2018, Roots of Conflict and KBOO/Portland, co-sponsored a presentation at Portland State University called US-Saudi Coalition: Bringing Peace or War? In this episode you will hear from Yemeni activist, Aisha Jumaan and Mohammad al-Nimr, son of executed Sheik Nimr. They speak boldly and clearly about the Saudi war crimes against Yemen that are assisted by the United States and the United Kingdom. Dr. Aisha Jumaanis a public-health specialist working as a consultant on heath-relat...
Mar 09, 2018•53 min
