IOTG Podcast

Leaving a Fundamentalist Ultra Orthodox community is difficult, leaving that community when it has strong ideological beliefs tied to a political group is near impossible. Born into this type of ultra-Orthodox Jewish family, artist Sara Erenthal left home at 17 to avoid an arranged marriage and has spent the next two decades creating art and rebuilding her world. Sara has gone from being a member of the Israeli Military, to an art model, to a now acclaimed and rising artist in New York. Join host Hayley Karl as she speaks with Sara about her life before and after ultra orthodox religion and how her art is helping with this personal evolution.

One of the most difficult aspects of leaving organized religion is maneuvering the relationships that have been built within that community; family and friends, and for many a marriage. For those who met their spouse inside a religious community, made marital commitment and begin to have kids, it can be impossible to question the religious structure that brought them together. Today I speak with Ben and Becca Bauman about how they - and their young daughter - navigated leaving their strict Jewish community together, the challenges they faced and how they are building a new life, a new community and making new traditions.

The United States election has finally come to an end and we are now preparing for a new administration with our new President Elect, Donald J. Trump. Today we take a moment to speak with previous guests, author Frank Schaeffer and human rights activist Faisal Al Mutar about their reactions to the election and how and why we should have conversations about spirituality and humanity that honor the concept of civil disagreement.

"Science is the best means humans have to learn facts about reality. What my beliefs about God do for me is allow me to function in the crushing weight of all those facts." Mike McHargue is the host of Ask Science Mike and The Liturgists podcasts and more recently, the best selling author. Mike gave his life to Jesus when he was just seven years old, and was an ardent follower of Christ for many years, until a series of events in his adult life began to unravel his faith. He began to doubt the existence of God, and slowly became an atheist, a journey that for the most part he kept to himself. His process of coming to terms with his doubt, his loss of faith, his love and understanding of science and how the human brain works and his curiosity and ultimately acceptance of his own mystical experiences is documented in his new book "Finding God In the Waves." Mike is a husband and father, a theologian and a self proclaimed nerd, and I've found Mike is best summed up by his friend, speaker and author Rob Bell: "I was once at a party with Mike and I began asking him questions about science or the brain or God or some similar topic and when he responded something fascinating happened. It was a fairly large party, with people in the living room where Mike and I were, spilling out into the dining room and the kitchen, but when Mike started casually answering my questions people stopped talking to each other and started listening to Mike. And moving closer, and hanging on every word. I don't mean to make this sound overly dramatic, but I've seen Mike talk, both casually and more formally over the past few years, and this always happens: people lean and hang on his every word. It isn't just the content of what he says, which blows people's minds, and it isn't just his clarity-he is an outstanding communicator, it's something else. Something deeper, richer, more profound-something involving his soul, his life, his integrity, his heart. This is someone filled with wonder and awe, who looks at the world and in the facts and pain and science and poetry and heartbreak sees something beautiful at work, and he has the uncanny ability-maybe the better word would be power-to explain and describe and articulate that something beautiful like few people I've ever heard. Mike is a rare talent, a rare voice, a rare soul." Join host Hayley Karl as she speaks with Mike about his journey into the Christian/Atheist paradox, kicking certainty addiction, the Zombie Apocalypse, and how he heartily embraces being wrong.

The Christian church is currently undergoing an incredible transformation. The pews are emptying, fewer say they believe in God, and while some become atheist or agnostic, there are many who gravitate towards a new type of Christianity: the Emergent (or Emerging) Church. Known for it's open approach to questions surrounding the faith, it's accepting theology on the LGBT community, and the star power of it's community (Rob Bell, Peter Rollins, Brian McLaren,) the Emergent Church is still the number one choice for Christians who seek to leave organized religion behind, but believe there are enough redeemable qualities in Christianity to stay. But, is Christianity worth saving? Is Christianity worth a second look through another lens? Today's guest, author Brian McLaren, believes that it might be. Brian McLaren one of the founding leaders of the Emerging Church and through his desire to evolve the Christian Faith, he has gone through his own remarkable journey away from organized religion and embracing what he has identified as the main reason why Christianity is under such a dynamic shift now: the death of the Patriarchy. Join us today as we speak with Brian McLaren about his new book, "The Great Spiritual Migration" the great consciousness shift changing American politics, culture and religion and whether or not Christianity is at the beginning of it's end, or at a new beginning.

This month marks 15 years since the events of September 11th, 2001. Nearly every American who was alive during that time remembers exactly where they were and what they were doing on that day. Faisal Saeed Al-Mutar remembers as well - he was 10 and growing up in Baghdad, Iraq. His parents were Muslim and Faisal's father encouraged him to read, research and make up his own mind what he believed. When the Iraq War started, Faisal and his family were in the middle of the war zone. Faisal walked to school past dead bodies and went to bed with the sounds of fighting surrounding him. It was hell, and Faisal saw first hand not only the failings of US Diplomacy, but the intense problems with Islamic ideology. After the first Iraqi elections Faisal began speaking out against Al Qaeda, both publicly and online and received a number of death threats and close calls. But Faisal had an idea, "to unite humanists all over the world in order to bring positive change." He formed this idea into the Global Secular Humanist Movement in 2010 which is only one of Faisal's many beautiful humanitarian accomplishments, including receiving the President's Volunteer Service Award from the United States, from President Obama this past August. I sat down with Faisal a couple of weeks ago to discuss his time growing up in Iraq during the Saddam Regime, his choice to leave Islam and speak out against Al Qaeda, why the definition Islamophobia needs to change and his love for humanity, science and the universe.

"What's wrong with Donald Trump? What's wrong with racism? What is wrong with homophobia and sexism? In the final analysis it isn't morals, it's aesthetics. This is ugly shit. And in the final analysis you should reject things that are ugly, because they will burn your soul." This week we return with part two of our conversation with artist, philosopher, tomato gardener, bug zookeeper and grandfather, Frank Schaeffer. In the last episode Frank spoke briefly on the history of his life, a subject which is the focus of a new documentary "Let Me Be Frank." Today we're going to talk a little more about Donald Trump BUT, we will be also be talking about art and Frank's philosophy that beauty is truth and how he tries to live this philosophy every day.

If you've have never heard of Frank Schaeffer, you may be surprised to learn that his life has most likely impacted your life and the lives of nearly every American in ways we're just now beginning to grasp. Frank is the son of Evangelical Christian authors Francis and Edith Schaeffer who ran a world famous Christian organization in Switzerland. As Frank got older, both he and his father Francis became prominent figures of the Evangelical world in America, working closely with Jerry Falwell and Pat Robertson and most importantly helping to start pro-life movement, as recently pointed out by Samantha Bee on her show, Full Frontal. Many who were religiously homeschooled in America in the last 30 years grew up watching Frank's Evangelical Christian movies. From the pro-life propaganda film, Whatever Happened To The Human Race to How Then Shall We Live, a documentary that Michelle Bachmann has often cited as one of her main inspirations. Frank Schaeffer left the Evangelical world years ago and is now an artist and writer. And while the most important aspects of his life involve his grandchildren, his family and his home in Massachusetts, Frank is extremely outspoken about his time in the fundamentalist Evangelical world as evidenced in his memoir Crazy For God and his most recent book, Why I Am An Atheist Who Believes In God. Co-host Dustin Parent and I sat down with Frank a couple of weeks ago to discuss his current advocacy against the Fundamentalist ideals of Donald Trump, America's addiction to certainty and the intrinsic value of Beauty. This is episode is part one of our conversation with Frank.

When Tovah was growing up, she had two divergent dreams. One, to get married a wonderful Orthodox man, start a family and live her life for God and her community, and the other, to have a career in comedy. Because the latter seemed out of reach and because community is so important to a orthodox girl growing up in a conservative family in the south, Tovah continued on the path of the first dream for many years. That is, until she moved to New York and discovered something incredible: wonderful communities exist outside of organized religion. It's something that would seem obvious to secular individual, but to someone growing in an insular world that's taught everyone outside of their community is disconnected from God - and therefore from them - it can seem impossible. Today we speak with Tovah Silbermann about how she is now living the impossible and about growing up Hasidic in New Orleans, Sex ed in Orthodox Judaism (there is none) and how you can be free to be yourself and still be connected to your culture.

Danny Scott grew up in a big Irish/Scottish/Italian family in New Jersey, and as anyone familiar with stereotypes will infer, Danny was raised Catholic. Still, Danny enjoyed going to church and found comfort in Catholicism. He enjoyed the community and he credits the Catholic high school he attended with keeping him focused and giving him the structure and discipline to earn his high school diploma. And yet, a few years after high school Danny was in a place where he felt he had to leave Catholicism and as he puts it, "break up" with God. It has been several years since Danny and God split, though recently, Danny has been reexamining the great beyond and now considers himself spiritual but not religious, a man of faith, with no faith. Danny does not believe in the bible, but when he sees one in a room, he can not help but feel drawn to it. So what is it about God/the Bible/Jesus that Danny can not completely break up from? Is it possible for him to be an objective spiritual person, outside of organized religion? And why is it that lately everyone Danny meets wants to talk about God?

Hinduism - according to many historical sources - is considered the world's oldest religion and is currently the third most popular religion on the planet. It includes a diversity of ideas on spirituality and traditions but has no ecclesiastical order, no unquestionable religious authorities and no binding holy book. With a seemingly wide range of freedom and the mass appeal of many Hindu practices (yoga, meditation, etc.) it is surprising to find that there are many who choose to leave Hinduism behind. Today's guest, Greeshma, left Hinduism several years ago when she was still living in India. But why did she choose to leave a religion that seems so open, diverse, and from all outward appearances, free? Join Hayley as she speaks with Greeshma about growing up Hindu, why this and other religions have very little to offer women, and why we must encourage our parents to grow up with us.

Philosopher and Nobel Prize laureate Bertrand Russell once wrote, "Religion is based primarily and mainly upon fear. It is partly the terror of the unknown and partly the wish to feel that you have a kind of elder brother who will stand by you in all your troubles and disputes. Fear is the basis of the whole thing - fear of the mysterious, fear of defeat, fear of death. Fear is the parent of cruelty, and therefore it is no wonder if cruelty and religion have gone hand in hand. It is because fear is at the basis of those two things." In today's episode, Hayley speaks with a former Muslim and a former Hasidic Jew about this idea of fear. Both Mustapha (former Muslim) and Celia (former Hasidic) grew up in very different religions in very different regions of the world, and yet both have shared similar struggles and feelings when deciding to leave their religions behind, and how they are now reorganizing and living their lives outside of these religions.

"There's a reason children could be in a playground and there could be all colors of these children, and they could be two, three years old and they will all play together. But as they get older and as they are taught by their parents and they're taught different things, that's where the racism comes in, and religion is really pretty much the same. Religions are racist little groups..." In today's episode Hayley speaks with artist Hunt Rodriguez. Hunt grew up in the Pentecostal Church and tells his story about leaving organized religion, coping with PTSD, why he believes we are all Jesus, and how this idea inspires his artistic career and his life.

Often when we see Islam brought up in conversation, it is discussed in one of two ways. Either it is spoken about in a fearful way, in which the religion and its believers are to be heavily scrutinized (a la Fox News, Donald Trump) or it is a religion of peace with a bad reputation because of a few terrorist extremists (a la Barack Obama, MSNBC.) And as is often the case with two opposing ends of a spectrum, neither is anywhere close to the truth. The reality about Islam and Muslims can not be broken down into soundbites and the truth about them exists somewhere in the gray area between the all fearful or all politically correct attitudes with which we approach them. In today's episode we speak with Former Muslim, Ibrahim. Ibrahim was raised in Egypt and speaks about growing up Muslim, how traveling and having a daughter changed his mind about his faith, and how he is helping other former Muslim's to transition out of Islam despite the fact that many times, they are risking their own lives to do so.

It's often easy to dismiss past occurrences as circumstantial in the context of the times in which they occurred. How often do we hear our elders lament about a past grievance then brush it off with the statement "that's just how it was back then." It's a statement which also implicitly says "let's move on" and yet that is often the opposite of what we should do. Because while the statement "that's just how it was," is true, it doesn't make what occurred in the past is good, or healthy or right, and it is absolutely essential that we take the time - even if it's just a moment - to acknowledge that. In today's episode of the show we speak with former Catholic, Eileen. Eileen's powerful story is one filled with harrowing occurrences likely shared by many Catholics of her generation. Join us as host Hayley Karl and co-host Dustin Parent speak with Eileen and examine of how this psychological damage brought about by the Catholic Church, effected her, and how she helps herself and others heal and be who she is in spite of it.

How does a woman whose family has been a part of the LDS Church since the beginning and who LOVED growing up in that church family, make the decision to step outside of her culture and community? In our premiere episode, host Hayley Karl speaks with Melanie Christianson about her journey out of the Mormon religion, Melanie's life in the church, and what living an authentic life means to her.