Podcast appearances and mentions of sam maher

Say my name 3 times. It must be spoken, unbroken. Curtain Up!, a three day outdoor festival taking place in the heart of Times Square. Curtain Up! will takeover Broadway stretching between 45th and 48th Streets. 22 unique events will take place on stages in Duffy Square and between 45th & 46th Streets. BPN will kick off the festival everyday that weekend with Wake Up, Broadway!. What's Up Broadway? host Ayanna Prescod and co-host Christian Lewis will be setting the tone before introducing your favorite theater talents to the stage. Here is our schedule: Friday, September 17, 11 a.m. - 12 p.m. join the Be More Chill celebration of Joe Iconis' birthday, with the master creator himself and the fans who made the show what it is today. Hosted by How to Be More Chill's Ilana Levine and Sam Maher with special guest appearances and answers to fan submitted questions.  Saturday, September 18, 11:30 a.m. - 12:15 p.m., Freestyle Love Supreme cast members: Kaila Mullady, Anthony Veneziale, Tarik Davis, and James Monroe Iglehart join Jan Friedlander Svendsen, Chief Creative Officer of the Charity Network and host of Broadway Gives Back to discuss the hit Broadway show returning to the Booth Theater in October. Sunday, September 19, 9 a.m. - 10 a.m., Off Book: The Black Theatre Podcast!, a safe haven for Black theatre artists to talk about the real tea, will welcome esteemed guests from the Broadway community for a live podcast recording with hosts Drew Shade, Kim Exum and Ngozi Anyanwu. Broadway News: BEETLEJUICE is returning to Broadway in April 2022. The show will play at the Marquis Theatre in the spring. Audra McDonald and Leslie Odom Jr., will host the 74th Annual Tony Awards on September 26. Audra, the Six-time Tony winner will lead the awards portion of the evening, streaming on Paramount at 7 PM ET, while Hamilton Tony winner Leslie is set to emcee the live concert event Broadway's Back!, airing at 9 PM on CBS, Paramount, and the CBS app.  The theater community gathered for the Trans March on Broadway and Christian discusses the movement. Everyone's Talking about Jamie musical adaptation will release on Amazon on Friday, September 17. Casting: Is This A Room and Dana H. running in rep at the Lyceum have announced their full cast. Becca Blackwell, Will Cobbs, and Pete Simpson join Emily Davis in Is This A Room. The play recounts the story of the FBI investigation of former Air Force intelligence specialist Reality Winner. Deirdre O'Connell will reprise her role in Dana H., playing Hnath's mother as she recounts a terrifying kidnapping experience. Previews for Is This A Room begin September 24 and previews for Dana H. begin on October 1st. Nkeki Obi-Melekwe will succeed Adrienne Warren in the title role of Broadway's Tina—The Tina Turner Musical on November 2. The Book of Mormon will star Kevin Clay as Elder Price, Cody Jamison Strand as Elder Cunningham, Kim Exum as Nabulungi, Olivier Award winner Stephen Ashfield as Elder McKinley and Sterling Jarvis as Mafala Hatimbi.  Be sure to download the BPN iOS app via bpn.fm/app. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Just like [re]born Broadway, I'm young, scrappy and hungry... Broadway News: Playbill, in partnership with The Broadway League and the Times Square Alliance have announced Curtain Up!, a three day outdoor festival taking place in the heart of Times Square. Curtain Up! will takeover Broadway stretching between 45th and 48th Streets. 22 unique events will take place on stages in Duffy Square and between 45th & 46th Streets. BPN will kick off the festival everyday that weekend with Wake Up, Broadway!. What's Up Broadway? host Ayanna Prescod and co-host Christian Lewis will be setting the tone before introducing your favorite theater talents to the stage. Here is our schedule: Friday, September 17, 11 a.m. - 12 p.m. join the Be More Chill celebration of Joe Iconis' birthday, with the master creator himself and the fans who made the show what it is today. Hosted by How to Be More Chill's Ilana Levine and Sam Maher with special guest appearances and answers to fan submitted questions.  Saturday, September 18, 11:30 a.m. - 12:15 p.m., Freestyle Love Supreme cast members: Kaila Mullady, Anthony Veneziale, Tarik Davis, and James Monroe Iglehart join Jan Friedlander Svendsen, Chief Creative Officer of the Charity Network and host of Broadway Gives Back to discuss the hit Broadway show returning to the Booth Theater in October. Sunday, September 19, 9 a.m. - 10 a.m., Off Book: The Black Theatre Podcast!, a safe haven for Black theatre artists to talk about the real tea, will welcome esteemed guests from the Broadway community for a live podcast recording with hosts Drew Shade, Kim Exum and Ngozi Anyanwu. Every weekend this month a new movie musical will be released. September 3rd Cinderella on Amazon September 10 Come From Away on Apple TV+ September 17 Everybody's Talking About Jamie on Amazon September 24 Dear Evan Hansen will release in theaters. And as a bonus on October 1st, Netflix will release Diana: The Musical. Casting: MJ: The Musical is going on a nationwide search for their young Michael Jackson. Whomever is cast as Young Michael will also be featured on iHeartRadio Broadway. Myles Frost will make his Broadway debut as adult Michael Jackson when the show begins previews on December 2nd. Ain't Too Proud announced their casting. Leading the cast as The Temptations will be Nik Walker as Otis Williams, James Harkness as Paul Williams, Jawan M. Jackson as Melvin Franklin, Matt Manuel as David Ruffin, and Jelani Remy as Eddie Kendricks. All five were starring in the production prior to the COVID-19 shutdown. Jane Krakowski also joined the cast of NBC's Annie Live. Sasson Gabay and Janet Dacal will lead The Band's Visit's North American Tour to round out the cast of Joe Joseph as Haled, Clay Singer as Itzik, Yoni Avi Battat as Camal, and Coby Getzug as Papi. Tootsie national tour will be headed by Drew Becker as Michael Dorsey, Ashley Alexandra as Julie Nichols, Payton Reilly as Sandy Lester, Lukas James Miller as Max Von Horn, Jared David Michael Grant as Jeff Slater, and Kathy Halenda as Rita Marshall. Be sure to download the BPN iOS app via bpn.fm/app. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Have you ever wondered how influencer marketing works on Broadway?

Have you ever wondered how influencer marketing works on Broadway?

On this episode of The Midnight Special Podcast, join your host Ai-Ling Truong for episode three of MUSICIANS IN KITCHENS with local drummer and handpan extraordinaire [Sam Maher ](https://www.facebook.com/sammahermusic/)cooking up a special vegetarian dish in his kitchen in Fremantle. Tune into our kitchen conversations to find out how Sam got into cooking and playing the drums, travel, his earliest music memories and life growing up in Tom Price. We also delve into how Sam discovered the handpan and its power as a communication tool, and chat about reality of being a musician and Sam’s evolution as a handpan player. Please note: this episode was recorded earlier in the year before COVID-19 lockdown. Season 2, Episode 4 of Midnight Special Podcast. Episode 54 of Midnight Special On RTRFM. Originally broadcast on Thursday March 12th - Friday March 13th, 2020. Theme music 'Martini Spoke' by [Leafy Suburbs](https://leafysuburbs.bandcamp.com/). Logo by Soda. You can listen using the play audio button. If you are on the Midnight Special podcast page you can download the podcast. The page is [here](https://rtrfm.com.au/podcasts/midnight-special/).

Can influence marketing save broadway? Or how about arts organizations in general? Save might be an inappropriate word. Certainly, COVID and the pandemic restrictions of 2020 have had a huge financial impact on the arts, as would any economically challenging time. And broadway theatres, along with arts centers, theatres, community troops and groups are going to have to resort to some scrappiness in the coming year to get re-established.  Is Influence marketing the key? Sam Maher started Yes Broadway as a media company -- an online magazine if you will -- to help people figure out what shows to see, which were duds and the like. It was when he stepped into a producer’s role that he realized influencers could get the word out about the shows. But when he became a producer of a show, he realized he could get influencers to help promote the experience. He joined Winfluence to discuss what he's learned, talk about how he's now turned on an influence marketing agency arm of YesBroadway and more. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

There are some people in life who you are so connected with, you can confidently call them “brother”. Sam Maher is one of those people. I’ve known him for a long time - we even lived together in college!Today, we are just “shootin’ the shit” and catching up, talking about all things life, consciousness, and loads of other interesting topics. I hope you can join us for a real, raw, and authentic chat!LINKS & RESOURCESThinking of Starting Your Own Podcast? I've used Buzzsprout to produce nearly 10 podcasts and absolutely love it! Buzzsprout is the easier backend platform to get your podcast onto all the major apps... iTunes, Spotify, Sittcher etc... Try it out for FREE using this link: https://bit.ly/3djNaGp Permission to Podcast (Simply Show Up & Record): https://bit.ly/2N2NUoI FREE Guide on How to Uncover Your Gifts & Share them with the World | https://buff.ly/3gmml7t Spiritual Blogs & More | https://buff.ly/2Sq6Gtl Start Your Dream Business | https://buff.ly/2xpy2ITFreeup | https://buff.ly/2YotRYY Go here if you need to hire reliable VA’s. (you’ll also get a $25 coupon PS. It’s free to sign up!)LET’S BE SOCIALJoin the journey — come hangout on social mediaInstagram | https://www.instagram.com/soul_seekr_/ Join the Soul Seekr Facebook Group | https://buff.ly/2yi8ldA Twitter | https://twitter.com/soul_seekr_ LinkedIn | https://www.linkedin.com/in/kabert/ YouTube | https://buff.ly/3e4kXUO ASK SwagSam ANYTHING: Email is Sam@CloneYourselfU.com and you can book a FREE business strategy call with me by going to Calendly.com/CLONE.THANK YOU!To Gettin Goin,Sam AKA SwagSamSupport the show (http://soulseekrz.com/medicine)

Hello! What would society look like if we started from the assumption that people are fundamentally decent? We speak to historian Rutger Bregman about ‘Humankind’ - his new book arguing for a positive view of human nature. Then we talk to COVID mutual aid volunteer Sam Maher about how our instinct in crises is often to help others. And to constructive journalism campaigner Jodie Jackson about why the news should go beyond showing the worst of humanity. Subscribe to the Cheerful newsletter: https://cheerfulpodcast.com/subscribe See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Missing Happy Hour with your friends? BPN has you covered! Join the hosts of Equity One: Broadway’s Happy Hour (BPN.fm/EquityOne) as they catch up with your favorite podcast hosts! Each Wednesday and Saturday at 4:00 ("between shows” if you will) they’ll chat LIVE with some of Broadway Podcast Network’s best podcasters. Cocktails, games and laughs are guaranteed. So pour yourself a drink, and join us for Happy Hour on the Broadway Together Town Hall! This episode we were joined by our friends from How to Be More Chill, Ilana Levine (@littleknownfactspodcast) and Sam Maher (@yesbroadway). @howtobemorechill @equityonepodcast bpn.fm/EquityOne Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Sam Maher is one of the most passionate, dedicated, informed consumers of theatre in New York. His website, YesBroadway.com, is designed to help you sort through the noise that’s prevalent on other sites — it’s quality, not quantity, of articles & features that matter. Two of the website’s biggest sections — “saw it, loved it” and “hype alert” — focus on Sam’s personal favorites, and the upcoming shows with the most buzz. And he would know — in addition to being a professional audience member (like Laura!) — he is also a savvy marketing expert, who runs influencer marketing campaigns for shows like Be More Chill — on which he was also a producer — and Emojiland: The Musical.

BUY A TICKET TO OUR OFF-BROADWAY SHOW S2 E6: (Part 2 of 2) The hit new musical "Be More Chill" is in previews on Broadway right now! Broadway producer & Yes Broadway founder Sam Maher gives details about the show and advice about producing. We also have a VERY INSIGHTFUL (and long) talk about how investing works. Click here to learn more about Broadway's "Be More Chill." Good Morning New York: A New Musical Links: IndieGoGo Page Buy Good Morning New York Shirt Visit Our Website Sponsors: ZZZSock Physician's Choice (Use my Code JACK20) --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app

S2 E5: (Part 1 of 2) The hit new musical "Be More Chill" is about to open on Broadway. Be More Chill producer & Yes Broadway founder Sam Maher drops in to explain how the show bounced to Broadway! Plus, hear how he got involved! Next week we talk about the Broadway production! Good Morning New York: A New Musical Links IndieGoGo Page Buy a Good Morning New York Shirt Visit our show's website Sponsors: ZZZSock Physician's Choice (Use my Code JACK20) --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app

Our guest for this week is Sam Maher, an instrumentalist and drummer better known for his unique playing style on the handpan.Sam is a very experienced drummer, having worked with bands and artist such as Methyl Ethel, Katy Steele (Little Birdy), Rabbit Island, Grace Woodroofe, Nicholas Allbrook (POND, Tame Impala) and countless other groups based in Perth. But only 6 months after discovering the handpan, Sam decided to travel to the Americas. Over the course of 15 months, he has explored regions from Mexico City all the way south to the Patagonian region of Argentina, surviving mostly from the money he made busking on the streets. Sam has now performed his boundless music in over 22 countries and counting.In 2015, he unexpectedly reached new levels of fame when he was approached to make a video by the YouTube channel BUSKRS. They recorded and produced a video of Sam improvising a session on his handpan in New York and the video went viral quickly after being uploaded. To this day it has racked up over 2.8 million views with overwhelmingly positive reviews, and you can check it out here!Sam has also spoken at a TEDMED conference about the transcendent power of music. Along with a touching performance, he discussed his personal experience with the handpan, how much has the music changed and affected him, and he also explored the communicative nature of music.Connect with Sam:Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCoTHsMyy2SHIXt2w42RrOFQFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/sammahermusic/Twitter: https://twitter.com/sammahermusic?lang=enSam’s Story of Inspired EvolutionPrior to being propelled by a spontaneous YouTube video going viral, Sam’s journey has been one accompanied by struggles, from both a personal and a professional standpoint.“I was really burning the candle at both ends because I was playing in about five bands, I was working full time and I was just really burnt out.” - Sam MaherWith a full-time job on one end and an exhausting nightlife of endless gigs on the other, Sam found himself at a position of feeling emotionally drained. Around that same time, he discovered the handpan, and straight away he felt a connection with the instrument. In his own words, playing the handpan has opened up new worlds for him and for his audience as well.“I sat down on the side of the street and just started playing, and all of a sudden people would sort of gather around, and I had an older Aboriginal woman sitting down next to me weeping. It just opened up so many worlds for me, in that instant.” - Sam MaherHe realized that he was ready and that he needed to experience different cultures, learn through traveling and better understand himself. He sold everything and embarked on a journey over the Americas, with a plan to make a living through busking. Purposefully seeking to get in contact with the locals in order to connect with the way they’re living their everyday lives has led him on a path of personal growth.“To consider myself successful, I feel like I constantly need to be exposed to new worlds and new cultures.” - Sam MaherThe Benefits of Pushing Yourself Out of Your Comfort ZoneLeaving his home for 15 months was not an easy decision. Sam was aware that he would miss certain important moments in the lives of his friends and family. But he knew that in order to truly achieve relevant progress and development he needed to take a big step outside of his comfort zone.“It’s good to be uncomfortable. It’s a good trait for a human to be ok being uncomfortable at times.” - Sam MaherBeing able to sustain yourself in the moments of discomfort is a useful skill in life, and Sam wittingly makes note of this. It is good to have a playful relationship with being uncomfortable and there is a very good reason when we should push ourselves beyond the comfort zone even in moments when life seems easy. Because at times we’re going to run into adversities that are beyond our control. It is at those times precisely when our lifelong training of dealing with discomfort comes in handy.Searching for a New Sound“I want to be known as a great handpan musician, but would rather be known for a handpan musician that pushed the boundaries, rather than just sat on the street busking.” - Sam MaherIn terms of finding his sound, Sam is seeking to explore different genres and change the way people make music with the handpan. He has experimented with adding electronic music in an attempt to creatively challenge himself. Reestablishing the rules of how an instrument is played may not an easy task, but nevertheless, he is determined to continue on this path as the challenge makes it all the more rewarding.“I’m always looking for the push or pull, or the question and the answer.” - Sam MaherFinding a Purpose in Things That Bring Us Joy“There’s been no more important time to find something for yourself that works.” - Sam MaherSam recognizes the importance of living a life true to your purpose and depicts it as one of the foundations to a good mental health. His journey has been difficult at times, but the fact that he knew what he needed from life and the way he unconditionally gave himself to the things that brought him joy is a true inspiration. We need to be in line with our values. Our actions have to be accompanied by a sense of purpose and joy in order to make sense. Otherwise, we’re just playing games with ourselves. That is why Sam invites us to:“Trust those things that make you feel really, really good when you do them.” - Sam Maher See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Today, we bring you two guests: One is a follow-up interview with former guest of the show on episode 108, Marie. But before that Dave Warnock and Cass Midgley talk with Mark Russell about his book, "God is Disappointed in You." Marie was a hard-core YWAMmer, an extremely devout Christian and her deconversion was long and difficult. It was around 10 years ago and she's still recovering. Her deconversion came about because she started asking why certain things were true. Well, if you keep asking why we do things, you're liable to unearth some social norms that are just not very grounded in logic, but rather tradition, or even fear, or just deeply ingrained social patterns. My talk with Marie is primarily about her and husband's exploration into what she calls Ethical Non-monogamy. also known as Polyamory. She is extremely honest and transparent and cusses like a sailor. This is good talk. But, before Marie, we're going to feature Mark Russell, author of the comedic slightly sardonic book about the Bible titled, God is Disappointed in You. He also writes the comic book series Prez and The Flintstones for DC Comics. I start with a presentation Mark gives at Comicon where he summarizes the entire Bible, alpha to omega, in 15 minutes. He's in front of a live audience and uses a Powerpoint presentation so some of the humor is lost on us, in this audio medium, but it's still a lot of fun. Then Dave Warnock and I interview Mark in Portland, OR via Skype for about 30 minutes. Then we get into Marie's open marriage. My beloved cohost Bob Pondillo was not involved in either of these interviews, but he's back for next week's episode in which we interview Corinna Nicolau, who's kind of the opposite of our typical guest. She was raised completely secular but wondered what she'd missed out on and set out to search for meaning the top 4 world religions. Her experience is expressed in her book,  "A None's Story: Searching for Meaning Inside Christianity, Judaism, Buddhism, and Islam." That's next week's episode. I want to talk about compartmentalization and love. Compartmentalization is a subconscious psychological defense mechanism used for the purpose of avoiding cognitive dissonance, or the mental discomfort and anxiety caused by a person having conflicting values, cognitions, emotions, beliefs, etc. I'm going to borrowing some of the thoughts I found in an article called, "The Good, The Bad, The Ugly of a Man’s Ability to Compartmentalize," on a blog called SGM for Single Black Male. But I'm also talking about how people raised in Christianity have some highly developed compartmentalization skills. One of the purposes that religions serve is to help people not think about scary things--to compartmentalize such thoughts. Death being the most daunting thought known to humankind, Christianity creates a narrative that literally enables a person to say, "death, where is your sting?" Everlasting life. Immortality. Done. Christians also have to compartmentalize eternal torture of their fellow humans. Those who concede that they believe in a literal hell have to compartmentalize that entire concept in order to not spend every minute of every day running around warning people. After that's what a good, moral person would do if they were conscious of its reality. This is why hell-fire preachers on the street are good people--they're deceived, but at least they're acting on those deceptions. They are loving you. As our the Westboro Baptist people. They just aren't as good as compartmentalizing as Christians who aren't warning you about Hell. I think it was Penn Jillette who said, "How much do you have to hate someone to believe everlasting life is possible and not tell them that?” Eternal bliss and eternal torment hang in the balance. If compartmentalization requires some mental maneuvering, imagine how much mental contorting is going on in the brain of one of your loved ones who believe in eternal life, know you're going to the bad end of it, and have to sit through lunch with you? It's no wonder that relationships are broken when we deconvert. It's just too much for our believing friends and family to deal with. They may even take your photos down in their house, because just seeing you makes their hearts and minds wince in pain. Okay, now some completely secular thoughts on compartmentalization. The good, the bad, and the ugly. It's a good thing to use for work environments. Say for example, your going through something difficult in your personal life. You would do well to compartmentalize that stuff as you walk into work. It's just not the place for it. If you're a car salesman, you need to be upbeat, positive, energetic in order to sell cars. If you're personal life sucks, you better figure out how to flip that switch. In fact, we all know that if you are unable to gather your composure, in other words, the thing you should be compartmentalizing is just too big for your mind to fit into that compartment, you should just stay at home. The inverse of this is true: if work is stressing you out, you should not take that out on your partner and/or your children or friends. Compartmentalize that shit. It stinks. It kinda comes down to knowing the appropriate time and place for things. Which brings us to some ways in which compartmentalization can be a bad thing. Think back to Shanna's episode, #174. She pointed out that humans have two needs that are often in conflict: the need to be genuine and the need to belong to the tribe. If forced to choose between the two, survivors will always choose the tribe, even if it means sacrificing their authenticity. They're forced to Compartmentalize their true self and put on whatever mask or persona they know will keep their fellow tribespeople accepting them into the tribe. This is where Compartmentalization is utilized to make you into a disingenuous person. If you do this long enough, you can forget who you are. Your true self is miles and years in your rear view mirror and if and when you ever decide to get real, it can feel like a long way back. However, it's really not. It's hard to believe, but you can begin being true, genuine, honest, and authentic at the drop of a hat. What makes it feel difficult or even impossible is when we try to know ourselves by going within--by introspection. I recommend last week's monologue on episode 179 to better understand this paradox. Anyway, the solution to not having to choose b/w authenticity and belonging is find a tribe that accepts you just as you are, so you can have both. In fact, true friends and lovers will know when you're using your car salesman skills on them rather than just letting your down and will likely be hurt by your distrust of their open acceptance. They've created a safe space for you to be true and you're still putting on airs. That's rough. That's painful...for everyone, and can ruin otherwise good, healthy relationships if your Compartmentalization habits are on auto-pilot and you are emotionally unavailable to those really need you, it's going to strain those relationships. Those grooves in your brain can grow deep. Good thing neuroplasticity can change those old habits. Another example of bad compartmentalization is if you're watching TV knowing that you've got a paper due tomorrow (and you're able to enjoy yourself) then you're compartmentalizing. Procrastinating is easy when you can put what you’re supposed to be doing in a box that you don’t have to look at. Without going into it, the ugliest manifestations of toxic compartmentalization are infidelity and sociopathy. You can probably imagine how that happens. In summary, bad Compartmentalization is when it's coming from a place of fear. Good Compartmentalize is coming from love. Love for that couple buying a car, the family waiting for you at home, and the community of friends that love you enough to call you if you bring that car salesman posing into that intimate space. A healthy adult is in control of their life in ways that uses Compartmentalization appropriately when it is to their advantage while still operating in love for their fellow humans. As I've said for years, "be who you is, cause if you is who you ain't, you ain't who you is." because the world desperately needs all of us to be more honest with ourselves and each other. I taped the conversation with Marie back on October 16th, 2017, and we taped the conversation with Mark Russell on November 5th, 2017. We interview people you don’t know, about a subject no one wants to talk about. We hope to encourage people in the process of deconstructing their faith and help curb the loneliness that accompanies it. We think the world is a better place when more people live by sight, not by faith. Please subscribe to our podcast, and leave a review wherever you listen to podcasts. Also, you can support us monetarily in two easy ways: you can pledge one dollar per episode or more through Patreon; that’s www.patreon.com/eapodcast, or leave a lump-sum donation through PayPal at our website, www.everyonesagnostic.com. The smallest contribution is greatly appreciated. Credits:"Towering Mountain of Ignorance" intro by Hank Green https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w3v3S82TuxU Intro bumper "Never Know" by Jack JohnsonThe segue music on this episode is recorded by Sam Maher on a handpan in the NY City subway.   The article on Compartmentalization I reference, "The Good, The Bad, The Ugly of a Man’s Ability to Compartmentalize." The book: "The Ethical Slut The book: "More Than Two" Mark Russell's Twitter (it's great!) is @Manruss ‏ The Book, "God is Disappointed in You"

Cass Midgley and Bob Pondillo interview "Elle." She's not out to many of her friends and family as having left the Christian faith in which she was raised: Plymouth Brethren and a part of the Quiverfull Movement. She has a lot to say about women's issues, adopting orphans with down syndrome, her son coming out as gay, and the abundance of sexual misconduct in the Independent Fundamental Baptist denomination. Cass' opening monologue is a complication of his thoughts, Friedrich Nietzsche, and an essay titled, "Self-Knowledge as Self-Narration in Nietzsche" by Kaitlyn Creasy.  As complex embodiments of drives and values, we act upon a world with its own drives and values--a world in which we are connected, embedded in fact. And this driven world acts also upon us. And both are changed.  I'll close with this aphorism, number 119, from Nietzsche's book, "Dawn of Day." "Every moment of our lives sees some of the tentacles of our being grow and others of them wither, all according to the substance which the moment does or does not bear with it… Take some trifling experience. Suppose we were in the market place one day and we noticed someone laughing at us as we went by: this event will signify this or that to us according to whether this or that drive happens, at that moment, to be at its height in us and it will be a quite different event according to the kind of person we are. One person will absorb it like a drop of rain, another will shake it from him like an insect, another will try to pick a quarrel, another will examine his clothing to see if there is anything about it that might give rise to laughter, another will be led to reflect on the nature of laughter as such, another will be glad to have involuntarily augmented the amount of cheerfulness and sunshine in the world and in each case a drive has gratified itself, whether it be the drive to annoyance or to combativeness or to reflection or to benevolence. This drive seized the event as its prey: why precisely this one? Because, thirsty and hungry, it was lying in wait… What then are our experiences? Much more that which we put into them than that which they already contain."  We taped this conversation on November 4th, 2017. We interview people you don’t know, about a subject no one wants to talk about. We hope to encourage people in the process of deconstructing their faith and help curb the loneliness that accompanies it. We think the world is a better place when more people live by sight, not by faith. Please subscribe to our podcast, and leave a review wherever you listen to podcasts. Also, you can support us monetarily in two easy ways: you can pledge one dollar per episode or more through Patreon; that’s www.patreon.com/eapodcast, or leave a lump-sum donation through PayPal at our website, www.everyonesagnostic.com. The smallest contribution is greatly appreciated. Credits: "Towering Mountain of Ignorance" intro by Hank Green https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w3v3S82TuxU  Intro bumper "Never Know" by Jack JohnsonThe segue music on this episode is recorded by Sam Maher on a handpan in the NY City subway.   Thanks for listening and be a yes-sayer to what is.  Self-Knowledge as Self-Narration in Nietzsche - Kaitlyn Creasy

Cass Midgley and Dr. Bob Pondillo talk with Jeff Haley and Dale McGowan, authors of "SHARING REALITY: How to Bring Secularism and Science to an Evolving Religious World." Jeff T. Haley is a scientist, lawyer, and inventor. He has argued before the U.S Supreme Court, and founded and directed the nonprofit that led Washington state's successful medical marijuanainitiative. He is currently the founder and CEO of OraHealth, which sells his patented healthcare products through 30,000 pharmacies worldwide. Dale McGowan is the author and editor of numerous books, including Parenting Beyond Belief, In Faith and In Doubt, and Atheism for Dummies. In 2008 he was named Harvard Humanist of the Year for his work in nonreligious parent education. Religions are a natural outgrowth of the intuitive ways of knowing that evolved with human culture. Though many people continue to find value in religious identity and community, intuitive knowledge has been eclipsed by a more effective way of knowing-the scientific way. A better way of relating religion to politics called secularism is gradually replacing theocracy. Once you understand and accept the scientific way of knowing and this preferred relationship of church and state, you become agnostic and secular-even if you continue to identify with and participate in religion.As Jeff T. Haley and Dale McGowan argue in this volume, this isn't some abstract dream-it's happening right now. Religions are in a continuous state of evolution, changing beliefs, values, and practices over time. All religions, includingChristianity and Islam, can evolve to accept the scientific way of knowing and secularism, becoming agnostic and even atheistic without losing their essential value. Haley and McGowan explain how you can help this natural process, sharing reality with your friends and family in a way that encourages religions to embrace the best of humanity'S knowledge and values.The only reason I celebrate ANYONE'S faith is if it is "light" and "loose" and full of doubt and uncertainty and love and connectedness and empathy. And I only do that because in this chapter of human history it's the best thing I can do to further the demise of all nonsense forged out of fear, childishness, death-anxiety, and the need for extant meaning, aka religions. See, even if there is a "god" or something of the sort, no human should ever bow the knee to it, nor would a good god want that. The best practice of ethics, morals, virtue, etc. is to ignore god and attend to reality--your neighbors, problem solving, conflict resolution--all the stuff that plagues us and makes life difficult. The day that we stop looking to the heavens to fix us or to save us or to create a new place for us to exit this mess, is the day that we put on our big-person pants, roll up our sleeves, and get busy living and loving the facts, what it means to be human, and the honest resolution of real problems. All notions that take our eyes off reality and onto untruths contribute to our problems, not solve them. And for those too imprinted with religion to embrace that, consider this: after we forsake god and actually love one another and fix things, any god worth her salt will still say, "well done good and faithful servant," because if his ego is too fragile to share the "glory" then fuck him! Now I also want to say something about pedagogy. Pedagogy simply means the function or work of a teacher. Now, nobody likes a smarty pants. But lets ask ourselves why? It could be argued that often the reason people don't like people who know something they don't and want to pass it on is insecurity or jealousy, which are not virtues I feel it must be said. On the other hand, when the student is ready the teacher arrives. Which implies that, like what Jesus said, that trying to teach someone unsolicited advice can backfire. It also has the potential of cutting into their freedom to figure it out for themselves, which knowledge that's hard earned and self-determined always has a more indelible and lasting effect on the learner. It's odd isn't it? My therapist is a wise, old sage who is extremely skilled and self-disciplined in NOT giving me the answers to my problems. Because he knows the value of me figuring it out for myself. He's told me that client after client beg him to "TELL ME WHAT TO DO!" And in his wisdom, he won't. And yet our schools are filled with teachers telling kids what they don't want to hear. What's the balance? You know the phrase, "you can lead a horse to water, but you can't make them drink?" Often, we focus on the "can't make them drink" part; but think about the first part: we CAN lead people to water and sometimes we should. It goes back to what Jesus said, doesn't it? We should assess the person we're engaged with whether they seem to be a candidate for the truth we could endow in that moment. Otherwise, we're being presumptuous, are we not? For those of us who love to set people free with truth, for those of us whose lives have benefitted SO greatly from truths we've discovered and we want to do is share this or that truth with them, for those of us who see our loved ones sabotaging their own lives by believing lies, we owe to ourselves and everyone in our lives to exercise some age-old wisdom and self-control and truly discern the moment whether it's pregnant with pedagogical possibility, or that person will only resent the impartation and experience it as condescending. It will be lost on them and it will backfire. Often they will double down on their self-deception just to spite you. Similarly, our guests today, Jeff and Dale have taken a similar high road when it comes to the religious hegemonic stronghold Christianity has over America. Instead of the firebrand atheism, which has its place, they've chosen to play nice with their fellow Americans who identify as Christian. They, like the mission of the podcast, seek to oil the wheels of the natural evolution of religious culture and slow, gentle deconstruction that truth will inevitably have on untruths. We taped this conversation on October 21st, 2017. We interview people you don’t know, about a subject no one wants to talk about. We hope to encourage people in the process of deconstructing their faith and help curb the loneliness that accompanies it. We think the world is a better place when more people live by sight, not by faith. Please subscribe to our podcast, and leave a review wherever you listen to podcasts. Also, you can support us monetarily in two easy ways: you can pledge one dollar per episode or more through Patreon; that’s www.patreon.com/eapodcast, or leave a lump-sum donation through PayPal at our website, www.everyonesagnostic.com. The smallest contribution is greatly appreciated. Credits:"Towering Mountain of Ignorance" intro by Hank Green https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w3v3S82TuxU Intro bumper "Never Know" by Jack JohnsonThe segue music on this episode is recorded by Sam Maher on a handpan in the NY City subway.   Thanks for listening and be a yes-sayer to what is. If you would like to contact our guests directly, you can reach jeff@haley.net and dale@dalemcgowan.com parentingbeyondbelief.com/blog      

Tercer y último programa de repaso de la primera temporada de Perpetuum Mobile. En este episodio escucharemos temas de Vangelis, Mattia Cupelli, Sophie Hutchings, José del Ordi, Tambour, Max Richter, Angelo Rapan, Lito Vitale, Angelo Badalamenti, William Ackerman, Kiasmos, Lubomyr Melnyk, Rodrigo Leão & Scott Matthew, The Cinematic Orchestra, Dead Can Dance, Paul Halley & Theresa Thomason, Omar Akram, Sam Maher, Harold Budd & Zeitgeist, Max Richter, Ludovico Einaudi y Nightnoise. Más contenidos sobre Perpetuum Mobile: https://goo.gl/yp5Pju Síguenos en Facebook: https://goo.gl/yVkhnw Síguenos en Spotify: https://goo.gl/u3UFrj

El episodio de esta semana nace de un mail enviado por un oyente del programa, Francisco San José Barrero, quien me sugería un tema para el programa y añadía una selección musical muy interesante. De hecho, la selección del programa de esta semana está hecha casi exclusivamente con sus aportaciones. Escucharemos piezas de Sam Maher, Mumi, Aikyo, Rahim AlHaj, Faran Ensamble, Toumani Diabaté & Sidiki Diabaté, Anoushka Shankar, Anna RF y Mark Eliyahu. Más contenidos sobre Perpetuum Mobile: https://goo.gl/yp5Pju Síguenos en Facebook: https://goo.gl/yVkhnw Síguenos en Spotify: https://goo.gl/u3UFrj Para ponerte en contacto conmigo: jaume@quedamosenhuesca.com

Cass Midgley interviews Brian Peck. Brian is a licensed clinical social worker in Boise, Idaho, who specializes in faith transitions and religious-based trauma. His practice, Room to Thrive PLLC grew out of a desire to reduce the suffering unique to faith transitions and to trauma experienced within a religious context. We taped this conversation on June 6th, 2017. We interview people you don’t know, about a subject no one wants to talk about. We hope to encourage people in the process of deconstructing their faith and help curb the loneliness that accompanies it. We think the world is a better place when more people live by sight, not by faith. Please subscribe to our podcast, and leave a review wherever you listen to podcasts. Our show is available on most podcast platforms.  Also, you can support us monetarily in two easy ways: you can pledge one dollar per episode through Patreon; that’s www.patreon.com/eapodcast, or leave a lump-sum donation through PayPal at our website, www.everyonesagnostic.com. The smallest contribution is greatly appreciated. Credits:"Towering Mountain of Ignorance" intro by Hank Green https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w3v3S82Tux Intro bumper "Never Know" by Jack JohnsonThe segue music is on this episode was performed on a handpan by Sam Maher in the NY City Subway Thanks for listening and be a yes-sayer to what is. https://www.roomtothrive.com/welcome/        

Cass Midgley and Dr. Bob Pondillo interview Ginna. Ginna is a 32 year old software engineer living and working in New York City.  She graduated from St. Olaf College with degrees in history and English, but transitioned into software development after the recession hit. Ginna grew up in a non-denominational / charismatic Christian household.  From an early age, she was fully immersed in the world of Christian school and Christian culture. She describes herself as having spent every moment trying to be a better follower of Jesus -- asking Jesus into her heart at age 3, reading the whole Bible as a young teen, memorizing scripture, praying, being active in youth group.  But as she came into adulthood, Ginna went through an experience with clinical depression that led her to question everything. We taped these conversations on May 6th, 2017. We interview people you don’t know, about a subject no one wants to talk about. We hope to encourage people in the process of deconstructing their faith and help curb the loneliness that accompanies it. We think the world is a better place when more people live by sight, not by faith. Please subscribe to our podcast, and leave a review wherever you listen to podcasts. Our show is available on most podcast platforms.  Also, you can support us monetarily in two easy ways: you can pledge one dollar per episode through Patreon; that’s www.patreon.com/eapodcast, or leave a lump-sum donation through PayPal at our website, www.everyonesagnostic.com. The smallest contribution is greatly appreciated. Credits: "Towering Mountain of Ignorance" intro by Hank Green https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w3v3S82TuxU Intro bumper "Never Know" by Jack Johnson The segue music is on this episode was performed on a handpan by Sam Maher in the NY City Subway Thanks for listening and be a yes-sayer to what is.

Sam Maher drops by the podcast, fresh off a tour with Katy Steele. Sam is a drummer, busker and hangpan pioneer whose videos have amassed millions of plays. We chat about his collaboration with Bjork's Manu Delago on La Blogoteque filmed in the London Eye, his recent TEDMED talk in California entitled ‘The Transcendent Power of Music', drumming in Katy Steele and the latest album, travelling life, healing frequencies and mental health, cannabis laws, Brady snare drums, going viral and plenty more!Thanks to The Hen House Rehearsal Studios and the hipflask app! --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/themissioncontrolpodcast/message

Hosts Cass Midgley and Dr. Bob Pondillo interview John Loux. His story is one of many tragedies. Today he calls himself an agnostic Christian. He has a huge heart and has given his life to helping less fortunate people. He attends the Unity Church in Kansas City. Unity Church was a plateau on my journey. I joined one here in Murfreesboro around 2010 or so. I was the music leader there for 3 years before my studies at Vanderbilt Divinity prohibited me from continuing. Their primary text is the Bible, but they are universalists when it comes embracing the path of other religions and the afterlife. They believe Jesus was the son of god but no more than your or I. Their core principles are: God is absolute good and everywhere present. People are good. Thoughts create experiences (kind of “what you think about you bring about” from the Secret). Prayer is connection, and Action is needed. Heaven is not a place, but a state of consciousness; we create our own heaven and hell here and now. We all have an innate capacity to know God through direct experience. The “Christ” is that part of God that is in every person. There is a spark of divinity within all people, just as there was in Jesus. In God we live, move, and have our being.   These aren’t toxic principles. I know some want to hurry humanity along in their recovery from the concept of God, myself included, but we also need to let ourselves and each other trust our own journey. You do you. Say yes to you and your current needs, feelings and desires. And if that includes some remnant of your old faith, trust your instincts. You’ll know when and if that narrative no longer serves you. No one is better or superior for moving faster or slower or even hanging onto Jesus til you die, because there is no judgment when it comes to people pursuing their own happiness (unless it harms others, of course). John Loux models a way of making the world a better place one adopted child at a time. It’s his way of being a part of something bigger than himself, and by golly if it feels good and doesn’t hurt anyone—do it!  It is an important human need to say something with your life. To leave your mark. To find a way to express to the world (or whatever part of the world you can touch) with what’s bubbling up within you. We each have something to offer; something to bring to the table and enhance the life and experience of others.  Find your outlet and bring yourself to the world. It’s your world. The world belongs to you and you to the world. Don’t let anyone or anything stifle you or mute you. Many of our guests and listeners are bloggers, poets, songwriters, nurses, authors, teachers, or as in John’s case—parents. Sowing into children that need loving parents.  The problem of evil has and will always trouble those unsatisfied with the old cliché’ “God works in mysterious ways.” That explanation can feel like a twisting of the knife for those who have known the pain and agony of losing a child or a sibling prematurely. Lately we’ve heard that there’s really no such thing as closure, and that’s okay. What’s not okay, at least for me, is continuing to hold onto to some narrative that overstates our value and simultaneously reveals some expectations and projections of what we think life is supposed to be. Even the word “supposed” implies that we’re assuming or presuming something to be true that may not be. So when a loved one dies, it’s not just their absence we’re mourning, but maybe the deterioration or even death of an old belief as well. I think that life gets easier and maybe even more fun the more we align our beliefs with reality. Just this week I heard a man who was rendered completely dysfunctional by the untimely death of his wife and daughter in a car accident nearly 3 years later. He said, “my faith is 100% of my survival.” You’ll be glad to know I resisted the urge to ask him that most condescending of questions, “How’s that working for ya?” I’ve said it many times before, and it sounds paradoxical, but getting more honest with reality and letting go of false narratives that formerly comforted us can actually lead to a more satisfied, settled, and sustainable happiness. That the more we stop expecting things from life, the more beautiful and magical life becomes. I was talking with a friend last week and together we decided that we were just natural stoics. Stoicism comes from a philosophy introduced by a thinker named Zeno around 300 BC. Stoicism laid great emphasis on goodness and peace of mind gained from living a life of Virtue in accordance with Nature. That people should be free from passion, unmoved by joy or grief, and submit without complaint to unavoidable necessity. It doesn’t mean that we won’t feel joy or grief or passion, but that we will not be knocked off kilter by them. Stoics believe that just living is an act of courage.  Seneca the Younger, another Stoic philosopher wrote, “True happiness is to enjoy the present, without anxious dependence upon the future, not to amuse ourselves with either hopes or fears but to rest satisfied with what we have, which is sufficient, for he that is so…wants nothing.” This has always come natural for me.  This can be frustrating for people around me who are Carpe Diem types, who want to jump out of bed and suck the marrow out of life, always wanting more, that next thing. As usual, somewhere in the middle is the sweet spot. If a stoic and a sieze-the-dayer could hook up and enjoy the other’s influence on them, that would be powerful combination. Our guest today, John Loux,  is a singer/songwriter/musician who led worship at the 24 hour house of prayer in Kansas City and other churches. He was raised in a traveling family band through his teens. He’s written a song about the dissonance he feels with the God of his youth in the face of so much tragic loss. We feature this song during the interview. The lyrics read: How could you do this to me I'm at the end of sanity I was just rising from the dead You seemed it right to push me down instead Now I'm tearing at your skin To see what's underneath A bastard or a friend Or something in between Say something, anything Give me one more hallelujah Give me one more hallelujah Say something, cause you're fading Give me one more hallelujah Give me one more hallelujah Are you even real Or just something we think we feel I thought I had been loved by you Now I feel taken for a fool We taped this conversation on December 3rd, 2016. We interview people you don’t know, about a subject no one wants to talk about. We hope to encourage people in the process of deconstructing their faith and help curb the loneliness that accompanies it. We think the world is a better place when more people live by sight, not by faith. Please subscribe to our podcast, and leave a review wherever you listen to podcasts. Our show is available on most podcast platforms.  Also, you can support us monetarily in two easy ways: you can pledge one dollar per episode through Patreon; that’s www.patreon.com/eapodcast, or leave a lump-sum donation through PayPal at our website, www.everyonesagnostic.com. The smallest contribution is greatly appreciated. Credits: "Towering Mountain of Ignorance" intro by Hank Green https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w3v3S82TuxU Intro bumper "Never Know" by Jack Johnson The segue music is on this episode performed by Sam Maher on a handpan in the NYC subway.   Thanks for listening and be a yes-sayer to what is. John Loux’s website with music  

Cass Midgley and Dr. Bob Pondillo interview Kate. She came out as an ex-Christian less than a year ago to a select few family and friends.  Kate is a 21 year old nursing student. Her husband is still a believer, and his devout Christian parents still don’t know about her deconversion so we hide her identity on this episode.  Life is the great teacher. It is teaching us things about itself, the natural world and ourselves. I know it’s debatable whether there actually is something called the self. But somebody is listening to the teacher (in this case, Life) and deciding what to believe and keep, or not believe and reject. For example, you’re a high school student and you graduate. One lesson you could hear is, “Hey, I accomplished something. I finished something I started. I hated most of it, but I got through it. That says something about me. It means I’ve got what it takes. That I showed perseverance, tenacity, and discipline.” All our lives we’re doing things that were successes or failures, we overcame it or it kicked our ass, they loved me or they hated me, etc. All the while we’re building a self-image. We’re tweaking our self-esteem and self-respect. We discovering that we’re not umbilically connected to Mommy anymore, that we don’t need her teat, and that I’m equipped, capable, and free to take on the real world. This is a part of becoming an adult. But do you know who misses out on this type of learning?  this wonderful rite of passage? whose maturation is impaired they walk around handicapped until they can do some hard, painful repair work on their psyche? Christians who were sheltered and married young.  Any one of those three things will handicap your personal maturation: Christianity, being spoiled or over sheltered, and marrying young. And you are FUCKED. You hear all your life that you are inherently sinful, your heart is deceitful and wicked and beyond cure, that without God you can do nothing, that without Jesus in your heart you deserve eternal torture. So you’re brainwashed into having no self-respect or identity. Christianity is even harder on women. You are to submit to your husbands, you’re a second-class citizen because Eve is blamed for the Fall, you are to be silent in church, you’re to cover your head in shame and hide your glory.  Secondly, your parents may buy you everything, or rescue you from every peril, or hide sexuality or science from you so that you when finally learn the truth you are cold-cocked by it. And lastly, if you went straight from your parent’s arms to your lover’s and never got a chance to try your wings, get your own apartment, move to a strange city, or bear responsibilities like a job or car payment or doing your own taxes, this is another way in which you haven’t had the opportunity to build your own confidence and self-esteem. These are ways that the ex-Christian’s life are complicated. There’s a fourth thing I want to highlight that is not associated with Christianity directly, although I think it could be argued that western civilization is so shaped by Christianity that it’s culpable even in this: and that’s the codependency in pop music. Let me play a medley of codependent songs. I must warn you, though, if you were ever a pastor’s wife this is definitely going to trigger your PTSD. I kid you not. Listen how these “lovers” put too much responsibility and cede too much power to another human being. The sooner one learns one’s competence, the sooner one gets out from under untrue narratives that stunt one’s growth and arrest one’s development, the sooner one believes in one’s self—that you’re brave, powerful, independent or interdependent, you’ve shored up your self-respect with true beliefs about yourself, you feel that you have a voice, that your thoughts and feelings matter, the less pain and suffering you’re going to incur when life’s harshness comes at you. You have to have agency to say to what is.  We taped this conversation on December 11th, 2016. We interview people you don’t know, about a subject no one wants to talk about. We hope to encourage people in the process of deconstructing their faith and help curb the loneliness that accompanies it. We think the world is a better place when more people live by sight, not by faith. Please subscribe to our podcast, and leave a review wherever you listen to podcasts. Our show is available on most podcast platforms.  Also, you can support us monetarily in two easy ways: you can pledge one dollar per episode through Patreon; that’s www.patreon.com/eapodcast, or leave a lump-sum donation through PayPal at our website, www.everyonesagnostic.com. The smallest contribution is greatly appreciated. Credits: "Towering Mountain of Ignorance" intro by Hank Green https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w3v3S82TuxU Intro bumper "Never Know" by Jack Johnson The segue music is on this episode performed by Sam Maher on a handpan in the NYC subway.   Thanks for listening and be a yes-sayer to what is. http://www.skepticsannotatedbible.com/  

Cass Midgley and Dr. Bob Pondillo interview Blake Coleman. Blake is a local friend who works in a restaurant with my children. This is a bit of a detour from our regular format. We normally focus on our guest’s deconversion from Christianity and the pains and difficulties of that journey. Today, because Blake decided all man-made religions (which is all there is) were false at age 12, we end up talking about culture, religion and politics in broad, general terms and the three of us really enjoyed ourselves. I hope you do too. As one who has adopted what I consider to be healthy dose of nihilism, and by that I mean an embracing of the meaninglessness of life, I’m often confronted with just how harsh life is and how difficult it is to be a yes-sayer.  This motto has a boldness to it that musters the courage to look absurdity in the face and refuse to look away…or bury one’s head in the sand. However, life is so hard that I have chosen to use opiates as a means of taking the edge off, not unlike people use religion. I am one who thinks a little depression now and then is apropos given the harshness of life. Hell I’m a white straight male with a beautiful wife and kids living in a 3 bedroom house in suburbia; what do I know about the hardness of life? What about Syrian refugees trying to find food, shelter, and warmth for their crying babies? What about people right up the street from me who live in the projects and try to keep the lights on with a McDonald’s salary. I complain about my shitty cars but at least I have one.  Obviously suffering is relative but make no mistake, everyone suffers. Even the guy with the mansion, private jet, and the 200 ft yacht. Life is hard. Relationships are hard. I often say how miraculous it that we’re even conscious. It’s amazing that we’re here and sensing these emotions at all. But that doesn’t always cut it. Often unconsciousness sounds better than consciousness. This is why we like to sleep a lot when we’re depressed, or worse yet, consider suicide. Sometimes we just have to ride out the dark night of the soul hoping that elusive euphoria that comes around now and then is just around the corner.  Saying yes to this existence and whatever form it’s showing up as at any given moment is challenged by fatigue and cowardice and apathy.  And yet we stay. As Jennifer Michael Hecht wrote, “We are humanity, Kant says. Humanity needs us because we are it. Kant believes in duty and considers remaining alive a primary human duty. For him one is not permitted to “renounce his personality,” and while he states living as a duty, it also conveys a kind of freedom: we are not burdened with the obligation of judging whether our personality is worth maintaining, whether our life is worth living. Because living it is a duty, we are performing a good moral act just by persevering.” But being a yes-sayer is most applicable to the uber-mensch. To a powerful person who knows who they are and carries a power that affords them the luxury of being a yes-sayer to the real circumstances in which they find themselves. This is not to be confused with the positive effects of also knowing when to say no. If you ever read the Boundaries book, you know that saying “no” to people making demands on your life that you did not sanction is also a bold and brave thing to do. For someone who has lived a servile life, always thinking of others, protecting and serving all those near and dear in their life, it may be time to say no. As John C. Maxwell wrote, “Learn to say ‘no’ to the good so you can say ‘yes’ to the best.” Listen to this testimony by Paige Burks, on her blog “Simple Mindfulness.” “I’ve been a people pleaser most of my life.  I’ve done what I think I’m supposed to do to make the people around me happy. Needless to say, my own happiness was pretty low on my list of priorities.  My thinking was that I would be happy when everyone around me was happy.  Funny thing is that this time never comes.  Making everyone around me happy is completely impossible.  For decades I didn’t understand the core tenant of happiness: no one and nothing outside of you can make you happy.  Happiness comes from within.  It’s a choice. We’re programmed to believe that pursuing our own happiness is selfish.  Like we’re not supposed to be happy until we make everyone else around us happy first.  This comes from the same warped thinking that keeps us from doing things we enjoy because we have to finish all the un-fun work that never ends first.  I’m here to tell you that those rules are total BS.  They’ve created nothing but misery for millions of people.  It’s time to wake up to your new, happier way of being.  It all starts by putting yourself first.  Go ahead.  Be selfish.  You’ll also be happy. For years I said yes to everything, thinking that I was invincible and could take on more than anyone else.  Even being very organized and efficient, it’s crazy for me to think I could handle this level of stuff – especially other people’s stuff.  When I started saying no to requests (in a diplomatic way) or not volunteering by assistance, I felt bad.  I thought I was letting people down. The more I said no, the more clearly I could see my healthy boundaries – that imaginary line between helping because it makes me feel good and helping because others expect it of me.  The more I worked my ‘no’ muscle, the more people started to respect my decisions. I say no to things that don’t support my values so I can focus my time on things that do. If we’re a doormat and say yes to everything, people will continue to expect us to say yes to everything.  When we make our boundaries clear by saying no because that’s the healthy choice for us, we teach others to respect our choices.  Saying no to something that doesn’t serve you opens the space to allow you to say yes to something that makes your heart sing.” So in summary, the Nietzschean yes-saying motto is talking about life and the brut harshness of it. And even then, life can be so relentless, merciless, and extreme that sometimes saying yes allowing yourself to be depressed, take more naps, maybe even cope with some moderate opiate use, so that you can ride that storm out and survive to see better days.  On the other hand, the healthy no-saying that is prescribed by those wanting to achieve a more-Nietzschesk power status, is about saying no to external demands being placed on you by others. Both practices—yes-saying and no-saying--are working toward the same goal: the empowerment of yourself that comes from knowing, loving and caring for one’s self.  My admonition is to 1) believe in yourself and 2) put yourself in a community of others who also believe in themselves and where you each can believe in each other. Another great quote from Jennifer Michael Hecht is “We believe each other into being.” Say yes to life and your ability to stay in it despite its brutality, and say no to people trying keep in you enslaved in powerless servitude so that you can grow the strength to say yes to what is. We taped this conversation with Blake on November 20th, 2016. We interview people you don’t know, about a subject no one wants to talk about. We hope to encourage people in the process of deconstructing their faith and help curb the loneliness that accompanies it. We think the world is a better place when more people live by sight, not by faith. Please subscribe to our podcast, and leave a review wherever you listen to podcasts. Our show is available on most podcast platforms.  Also, you can support us monetarily in two easy ways: you can pledge one dollar per episode through Patreon; that’s www.patreon.com/eapodcast, or leave a lump-sum donation through PayPal at our website, www.everyonesagnostic.com. The smallest contribution is greatly appreciated. Credits: "Towering Mountain of Ignorance" intro by Hank Green https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w3v3S82TuxU Intro bumper "Never Know" by Jack Johnson The segue music is on this episode performed by Sam Maher on a handpan in the NYC subway.   Thanks for listening and be a yes-sayer to what is. “When It’s Time to Say No” Blog http://www.jennifermichaelhecht.com/stay/ So that’s our talk w/ Blake Coleman from here in Murfreesboro TN. Great guy. Feels like he’s navigating his life and picking his battles well.  In closing I want to read an email from a listener who has an interesting twist on her faith journey.  Her name is Jennifer Casey. Hi Mr. Midgley, I have been listening to your podcast for about seven or eight months now and have become a huge fan. While I'm not like many of your guests who've de-converted, I struggled for many years trying to "become" a christian, and suffered a lot of anger and confusion about why it just wouldn't "click" for me and make sense like it does for so many others. I wasn't raised particularly religious, but we did attend church pretty regularly until I was a teenager. When I was a young adult I went back to church trying to become "Christian". I didn't throw myself into it, honestly believing I would naturally have some kind of epiphany and suddenly feel all the certainty that many of my Christian friends felt about the bible. My best friend is a Christian who's heavily involved in her church. She had always been the image of what I expected I would be like once my "epiphany" came. I envied her complete trust in god - despite the discordance I felt about the bible and god's influence in the world. Well, it all started unraveling when trying to start a family revealed that I had some medical issues that would prevent conception. So we prayed... a lot. In the end, god didn't answer our prayer, science did. We had a successful IVF cycle and achieved pregnancy. And although we stood up in church and thanked god for our miracle, I became bitter, angry, and confused afterward. I carried around this bitterness toward god for not giving me a pregnancy naturally. I paid thousands of dollars and underwent uncomfortable medical procedures in order to have my babies. I felt like god had cheated me. Finally though, I had my epiphany. I let go of trying to make sense of a senseless god. The transformation has been revitalizing! Finding your show has added to the peace I feel with my newfound non-belief. One of my biggest conflicts about giving up the search for god was, "What am I if I'm not a believer?" The word atheist sounded scary and like something I didn't want to be labeled as. This is something that your show has really helped me with. Hearing the stories of your guests has shown me that atheist is not a dirty word, goodness and kindness are not dependent on belief in god, and I'm not alone in my non-belief. Thank you so much for the work you do. Your podcast is bringing some good to the world. Sincerely, Jennifer Casey  

Cass Midgley and Dr. Bob Pondillo interview Amber Cantorna.  Amber was raised evangelical Christian and home schooled. Her father works for Focus on the Family and has for 30+ years. At age 27 she came out to her parents as gay and they disowned her, regarding her as dead—sounds like a practice they borrowed from Sharia Law. Today she is 32, married to her wife, and they both are Christian.  Amber’s book, “Refocusing My Family: Coming Out, Being Cast Out, and Discovering the True Love of God” is set to release in early 2017. As an ex-Christian myself, I find that my sense of how comfortable I am being around Christians has a lot to do with the doctrines they personally hold to. It’s been said that Progressive or Liberal Christians have more in common with us atheists than they do with fundamentalist Evangelicals, and I think that’s true. Many of us who have rejected Christianity are able to look back at the damage it did to us. I see many damaging effects of Christian doctrines on society, to name a few: The concept of eternal life diminishes a person’s ability to be present and concerned with reality The concept of reward and punishment in the afterlife inhibits people’s ability to grow up, to think for one’s self, to determine one’s own personal ethics, and contributes to a divisive sectarian view of others, thus enhancing the potential for judgment, superiority, violence and an “us versus them” mentality. In other words, an asshole. Hell forces one to suppress and compartmentalize one’s natural sense of connectedness to all things in order to be okay with human beings being tortured forever. This hardens the heart and numbs one’s innate sense of compassion. It narrows one’s capacity to empathize with all humans by removing empathy from those outside one’s tribe. It promotes in-group loyalty and out-group derogation. The concepts of Heaven and Hell falsely satisfy the innate human need for justice, inoculating one’s ability to acknowledge that, in reality, life is not fair; it is random chaos, and justice rarely happens. This harsh reality is too much for some to bear and they hide under the delusion that God is someday going to right every wrong, further postponing their maturation. To quote Psychologist, Scott McGreal, “…belief in Hell at a national level is probably associated with greater support for retributive policies such as capital punishment and torture, as well as with prejudice against people who violate religious norms such as gays. Aside from being an extremely cruel thing to believe in, the idea of Hell may have done more harm to society than good. So perhaps you can understand why I am apprehensive to build a friendship with a person who believes in Heaven and Hell. They can admire the teachings of Jesus, hold loosely to the Christian doctrines and I find I’m not as suspicious or nervous around them than if I know that deep down they’re okay with a God who tortures those who reject him and trains his followers to be servile, infantile, and void of agency. Not all Christian doctrines are toxic, but some of the most fundamental core tenants are deeply damaging to the individual who buys into them and to the societies where a majority of the population adhere to them. The most violent countries are the most religious, and the least violent countries are the least religious. These jealous god’s abhor the goodness and freedom of humans to find their own path without the aid of a celestial dictator, thus their followers distrust and deny their own innate sense of morality and thereby turn morality on it’s head—calling evil that which natural humans regard as good, and calling good such things as ignorance, stupidity, and servility.   Knowing this about Christianity can be the difference in religiously-mixed couples staying together or divorcing.  A couple like the Thompsons, featured on episode 111, get along because neither are radical fundamentalists of their own beliefs. This is one reason I like to elevate the agnosticism that all humans share. Certainty, rigidity, and fear are destroyers of relationships. If one or both parties are, as Peter Montoya put it in episode 130, “0% capitulation and 100% capitalization,” then they are at an impasse. Sometimes the Christian accuses their Atheist partner of being intolerant of their Faith, and this may in fact be happening when the atheist attacks their partner’s Christianity on purely judgmental terms, like, “you have to be stupid to believe.” However, if the atheist is positing that the beliefs their Christian partner hold to are immoral and have lowered the character and integrity of that partner, that’s a much more robust argument for establishing irreconcilable differences. Remember, one thing that it’s okay to be intolerant of is intolerance itself. Meaning we’re all free to believe what we want, but if one or both parties deem the other’s beliefs as depreciating the value of the relationship or in fact disgusts one or both of them, then no covenant or promise we made at an altar years ago should lock anyone into a situation that is draining the life out of them. Here again, though, Christianity can foster a lack the agency on the part of the Christian to protect their own pursuit of happiness and oblige them to a higher power to stay in a toxic environment. Not so with the free-thinker. So there’s my thoughts on whether or not I can respect or be friends with a Christian. Rigid, immutable beliefs in toxic ideologies limit, if not eliminate, my desire to spend time with that person. If they believe in a literal Hell or are even hesitant to take a stand on it, that’s a deal-breaker for me.   Okay, back to our interview with Amber. Amber is an activist, author and speaker with a heart for people who find themselves at the intersection of their faith and their sexuality. She strives to bridge the gap between two seemingly opposing communities. She has been featured in Huffington Post’s Religion column, as well as on Liberal America and other writing mediums. We taped this conversation on November 21st, 2016. We interview people you don’t know, about a subject no one wants to talk about. We hope to encourage people in the process of deconstructing their faith and help curb the loneliness that accompanies it. We think the world is a better place when more people live by sight, not by faith. Please subscribe to our podcast, give it 5 stars, and/or leave a review wherever you listen to podcasts. Our show is available on most podcast platforms.  Also, you can support us monetarily in two easy ways: you can pledge one dollar per episode through Patreon; that’s www.patreon.com/eapodcast, or leave a lump-sum donation through PayPal at our website, www.everyonesagnostic.com. The smallest contribution is greatly appreciated. Credits: "Towering Mountain of Ignorance" intro by Hank Green https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w3v3S82TuxU Intro bumper "Never Know" by Jack Johnson The segue music is on this episode performed by Sam Maher on a handpan in the NYC subway.   Thanks for listening and be a yes-sayer to what is. Amber’s website Belief in Hell: Does it Benefit or Harm Society? "Untangling the Mess" by Kathy Baldock https://www.facebook.com/Beyond.AmberCantorna/    

Cass Midgley and Dr. Bob Pondillo interview Nathan Keith, of San Antonio, Texas. Nathan is a gifted musician, served as worship leader and youth pastor. Nathan, like many, took Christianity SO literally, SO serious, only to realize later that most people—most Christians—DON’T take it as literal as we did. In fact, it may be that Christianity is only a sustainable ideology when handled metaphorically or loosely or at least with a lot of wink-winks along the way. Nathan is in his mid-20s, married around 2 years and just recently decided he couldn’t believe anymore despite sincere efforts. His wife remains a believer but models one of the best examples of how to handle this situation as I’ve ever heard. His parents are also handling it well. As what happened to many of us in the first year of our deconversion, some aspects of our world and identity are turned upside down. For example, Nathan’s a musician and yet he has picked up an instrument since deconverting; he used to be an avid hunter now he’s working on a flexible vegetarianism. He attempts to exceed the F-bomb record set on this podcast by Marie LePage, Episode 108, but doesn’t quite make it.  We taped these conversations on November 12th, 2016. We hope to encourage people in the process of deconstructing their faith and help curb the loneliness that accompanies it. We think the world is a better place when more people live by sight, not by faith. Please subscribe to our podcast, give it 5 stars, and/or leave a review wherever you listen to podcasts. Our show is available on most podcast platforms.  Also, you can support us monetarily in two easy ways: you can pledge one dollar per episode through Patreon; that’s www.patreon.com/eapodcast, or leave a lump-sum donation through PayPal at our website, www.everyonesagnostic.com. The smallest contribution is greatly appreciated. Credits: "Towering Mountain of Ignorance" intro by Hank Green https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w3v3S82TuxU Intro bumper "Never Know" by Jack Johnson The segue music is by Sam Maher recorded on a handpan in the NY city subway. Thanks for listening and be a yes-sayer to what is. The news story on Nathan’s church embezzlement case    

Cass Midgley and Dr. Bob Pondillo interview Erin Leigh. She’s another Minnesotan guest, she’s a math teacher a marathon runner, and she’s an ex-Christian. We interview people you don’t know on a subject no one wants to talk about, but we think it helps people to talk about it AND we are, in fact, about to get to know Erin Leigh. Erin was raised Evangelical, went to church 3 days a week, thought she knew 100% 'truth.’ She left Christianity when the questions outnumbered the answers at age 25. She’s now 32. She blogs as A Math Person at amathperson.blogspot.com. One of her posts is a letter to my Christian friends. The following are exceprts from that blog: “As many of you know I was once one of you.  From a young age, I was active in the church community I grew up in.  My mom and dad loved him, my grandparents loved him and so did most of the other people I knew, so it seemed like a pretty reasonable thing to do. We participated in AWANAS and I was a dedicated verse memorizer. When I was old enough I joined the youth group, and my life began to revolve around Christianity even more.  We had the best parties, amazing retreats, I got to sing in the band, and all my friends were there too.  It wasn't just about fun stuff though, I took my faith seriously.  I lead the campus bible study.  I questioned my faith and found solace in various apologetic resources.  I lost someone dear to cancer and was compelled by their story to believe ever more deeply that there was a God. In college, I was equally involved in a campus ministry, but the questions I felt I had wrestled with in high school still remained and were in some cases were emboldened.  I struggled with the lack of intellectualism expected from anyone in ministry I was involved in.  I struggled a lot in college with 'fitting in' within Christian circles.  I felt like a strange anomaly in this group because I wanted to get a degree that was marketable outside of ministry, which seemed to mean a lot more homework and not enough time for leading a bible study (though I tried).  About the time I graduated from college I found faith again in my own terms.  I flirted with Catholicism, because I really enjoyed the ritual and reverence.  I joined a church where my questions were honored, or at least not completely laughed off and considered irreverent.  I met people who 'believed in Evolution' and God, who could have a cocktail and a Bible and who swore and said Amen who prayed and voted democrat.  At this time, I felt my faith was dynamic and honest.  I wanted nothing more than to stay true to that honesty and remain faithful for the rest of my life. And I did stay honest. And that in turn was the problem. There were three main sticking points that led to me leaving the faith.  The efficacy of prayer (or lack thereof), the ubiquity of the messiah stories,  and evidence that existential experiences are not strictly divine. I had a strong, but complicated emotional connection to my faith and despite it's messiness I had no desire to leave.  I felt forced by the plain logic in front of me, and I was a somewhat unwilling deconvert.  I attempted to hang on in various ways.  I joined an emergent church, I read Anne Lamott, but it didn't really work. In the end, I found atheist is the best description I could give myself, though I'm still not a fan of labels in general. Here's the thing I didn't expect from leaving religion.  I'm happy now.  I expected pain and heartache and suspected I would feel some sense of existential dread, but to be honest leaving Christianity has made me a much more fulfilled person.  I'm finally free to pursue the passions I always loved without guilt or shame, and that has made be very fortunate and fulfilled person.   Ultimately, leaving Christianity alleviated the pain I had always felt in my brain, and eventually alleviated the pain I didn't know was in my heart.” We taped these conversations on November 5th, 2016. We hope to encourage people in the process of deconstructing their faith and help curb the loneliness that accompanies it. We think the world is a better place when more people live by sight, not by faith. Please subscribe to our podcast, give it 5 stars, and/or leave a review wherever you listen to podcasts. Our show is available on most podcast platforms.  Also, you can support us monetarily in two easy ways: you can pledge one dollar per episode through Patreon; that’s www.patreon.com/eapodcast, or leave a lump-sum donation through PayPal at our website, www.everyonesagnostic.com. The smallest contribution is greatly appreciated. Credits: "Towering Mountain of Ignorance" intro by Hank Green https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w3v3S82TuxU Intro bumper "Never Know" by Jack Johnson The segue music is by Sam Maher recorded on a handpan in the NY city subway. Thanks for listening and be a yes-sayer to what is. Erin’s Blog: http://amathperson.blogspot.com/  

Cass Midgley and Dr. Bob Pondillo interview Jen Senko, who wrote and directed a documentary titled “The Brainwashing of My Dad.” Jen’s documentary and the effect that political pundits and talking heads have on the human psyche brings up a fascinating subject, especially relevant in view of the election of Donald J. Trump to the highest office in the world (or at least it was before he took it). This catastrophe has so stupefied people that we’re finally talking about the elephant in the room: “fake news.” and it’s ability to influence people  to vote against their own self-interest, their own conscience, or against whatever decency they have left after 30 years of right-wing propaganda. This really is a fascinating conversation with a fascinating personality—Jen Senko. There are several nuggets of unique dialogue here and a few at my expense.  I love this episode and I hope you will too.  We taped these conversations on October 30th, 2016. We hope to encourage people in the process of deconstructing their faith and help curb the loneliness that accompanies it. We think the world is a better place when more people live by sight, not by faith. Please subscribe to our podcast, give it 5 stars, and/or leave a review wherever you listen to podcasts. Our show is available on most podcast platforms.  Also, you can support us monetarily in two easy ways: you can pledge one dollar per episode through Patreon; that’s www.patreon.com/eapodcast, or leave a lump-sum donation through PayPal at our website, www.everyonesagnostic.com. The smallest contribution is greatly appreciated. Our Indigogo fundraiser is over and as of this taping, we raised $530. We were trying to raise $1600 for 3 new microphones and 3 boom arm mic stands. We raised enough for the mic stands with a head start toward the mics. My thanks to everyone who donated.  Credits: "Towering Mountain of Ignorance" intro by Hank Green https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w3v3S82TuxU Intro bumper "Never Know" by Jack Johnson The segue music is by Sam Maher recorded on a handpan in the NY city subway. Thanks for listening and be a yes-sayer to what is. Official Website: www.thebrainwashingofmydad.com Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/thebrainwashingofmydadmovie?ref=hl YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCq2PQ5pM-6oYAdAGSsreB4Q Twitter: @brainwashingdad Tumblr: http://thebrainwashingofmydad.tumblr.com Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/the_brainwashing_of_my_dad/   Producer/Sales Contact: Adam Rackoff CINCO DEDOS PELICULAS (917) 207-5169 adam@cincodedospeliculas.com https://vimeo.com/cincodedospeliculas   Maslow’s 5 hierarchies of needs start with the basic needs of food and shelter, then safety and security. The third is community. The fourth is esteem. The fifth, and top of the pyramid is self-actualization. But in light of today’s show and the premise of this podcast, I want to point out how falling for counterfeit means of meeting the 3rd and 4th level’s needs—community and self-esteem, keeps one from ever achieving self-actualization. This is where false ideologies come in and hijack personal growth and true agency. This where religion and Fox News come in.  People can overlook a lot of nonsense associated with an organization IF they’ve made friends within it. Churches are full of people that don’t tow the party line of all 7 tenants of their church’s statement of faith, but they go back week to week because “Sometimes you want to go where everybody knows you’re name, and they’re always glad you came. You want to be where you can see our troubles are all the same. You want to be where everybody knows you’re name.” That’s the 3rd tier—community.  The fourth tier has to do with self-respect or self-esteem.  We all need a sense of contribution or value. This might include a felt need for strength, competence, independence, and/or freedom. These are true paths to the 5th need—self-actualization. But we can be tricked into thinking we have freedom when we’re yet a slave; we can think we’re thinking for ourselves when we’re being told what to think. We can be tricked into thinking we’re strong when in fact we’re weak. The church does this by conveying that God loves you uniquely. He knows the number of hairs on your head. He knit you together in your mother’s womb. You are special. The music, the stain glass windows, the grand narrative from Creation to Apocalypse, the goose-bumps all make a person feel alive and a part of something bigger than themselves. All this was made with you in mind. But what if it’s not true? What if life is not the intent or creation of a being and we’re all just accidents; that the universe doesn’t know or care that we’re here? Wouldn’t it be important that we’re getting our needs met by things that are true? That are real? We don’t eat imaginary food? We don’t shelter ourselves under imaginary roofs. Our self-esteem must be based on facts or we’ve fallen for counterfeit girding of our existence.  The banner under which we rally our community must be real. Fox News meets the esteem need by igniting the emotions—primarily fear and anger. When our brains light up with these emotions, they release dopamine and adrenaline and we feel alive, powerful, and most importantly: right. The need to be right cannot be underestimated. But it actually stunts our maturation, not fosters it. Yeah, you’re exerting your energy, flexing your muscles, fighting enemies, but they’re not real. Fake news keeps people on an imaginary playground with imaginary battles and thus in a perpetual state of infancy. The most honest path to true self-esteem is thinking for one’s self, doing the work yourself to build your beliefs, but this is hard work. Part of the difficulty is facing harsh realities like the chaotic, absurd meaninglessness of life. Part of it is acknowledging that we all die a permanent death and will be forgotten in a few generations—as if we never existed. If a person cannot or will not exert the effort needed to face reality, it can actually lower their self-esteem. Life is SO complex, and navigating human problems is such an intricate labyrinth, that it’s very attractive when someone offers to do your thinking for you and feed you what to think and believe.  Religious leaders and political pundits are eager to feed us. There is great wealth to be gained by creating followers.  We all can get overwhelmed with our realities and the temptation to bury our heads in the sand is powerful. But this is saying no to what is.  There are many popular ideologies, including religion and partisan politics, that when adopted can trick you into falsely maintaining your self-esteem, self-respect, and self-righteousness in spite of your cowardice, incompetence and sloth.  I’m saying that Maslo’s needs are real; we all want to feel alive and part of a community. I’m pointing out that there are people who understand that humans can be stupid and lazy and are eager to exploit us for personal gain by introducing deceitful pitfalls that can derail our heroic journey toward genuine self-esteem and authentic community. Don’t fall for it. Smell it out. Follow the greed. Discern the liars. Say yes to reality and no to falsehood, not the other way around. Jesus may have been right when he said, “Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.”  

Cass and Bob converse with Tim Flynn of right here in Nashville. He was raised Southern Baptist in west Tennessee but unlike some of us, was not good at the fake-it-til-you-make-it gambit to maintain faith. Once he got his driver’s license and some autonomy, he stopped going to church and never looked back.  Tim realized relatively early in life that no matter how hard he tried to establish a personal relationship with Jesus it just never took, and in so doing he avoided years or even decades of tension and confusion and wrestling with doubts and trying to make the Christian narrative hold water; which, once conceded, is followed by shame and embarrassment for taking so long to get honest. So Tim models a less painful way that one leaves their childhood faith, and we witness a snapshot of how many millennials are reacting to their inherited religion. His ability to trust his own common sense and be less prone to need something to be true when you know deep down that it’s not saved him a lot of heartache and we hear that in his calm, pleasant disposition.  We taped these conversations on October 23, 2016. We hope to encourage people in the process of deconstructing their faith and help curb the loneliness that accompanies it. We think the world is a better place when more people live by sight, not by faith. Please subscribe to our podcast, give it 5 stars, and/or leave a review wherever you listen to podcasts. Our show is available on most podcast platforms.  Also, you can support us monetarily in two easy ways: you can pledge one dollar per episode through Patreon; that’s www.patreon.com/eapodcast, or leave a lump-sum donation through PayPal at our website, www.everyonesagnostic.com. The smallest contribution is greatly appreciated. Our Indigogo fundraiser is here: https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/ea-podcast-equipment-upgrade#/ Credits: "Towering Mountain of Ignorance" intro by Hank Green https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w3v3S82TuxU Intro bumper "Never Know" by Jack Johnson The segue music is by Sam Maher recorded on a handpan in the NY city subway. Thanks for listening and be a yes-sayer to what is.    

Cass and Bob converse with Kile B. Jones. Kile gets around in post-Christian circles and is very much a bridge-builder. He plays well with Christians, Muslims, other faiths and inter-faith functions. He actively engages with churches in helping them understand that atheists are human too and helps integrate Darwinism into their faith. Kile is a Bible scholar with a Masters in Sacred Theology and another Masters in Theological Studies, both from Boston University.  He’s the Founder and Editor-in-Chief, Claremont Journal of Religion. He’s the Founder of Interview an Atheist at Church Day (and I play a clip as an example of what happens there). Kile is also the founder of the Take Darwin to Church Project, which we discuss. He’s been published in many scholarly periodicals and has presented at Conferences across the U.K. and U.S.A. on Religion and Philosophy. This is good talk with Kile. We talk about current events, which can be problematic because I usually give myself 2 to 3 weeks to edit each show, sometimes 4 here at the end of the year, but at as a result, for example, the election of President had not happened when we taped this, and, in fact, has not happened yet as I’m taping this, so some of that is a little dated, but I think it’s still interesting, maybe even as we reflect back on how we were feeling in the weeks approaching it, etc. We taped these conversations on October 22, 2016. We hope to encourage people in the process of deconstructing their faith and help curb the loneliness that accompanies it. We think the world is a better place when more people live by sight, not by faith. Please subscribe to our podcast, give it 5 stars, and/or leave a review wherever you listen to podcasts. Our show is available on most podcast platforms.  Also, you can support us monetarily in two easy ways: you can pledge one dollar per episode through Patreon; that’s www.patreon.com/eapodcast, or leave a lump-sum donation through PayPal at our website, www.everyonesagnostic.com. The smallest contribution is greatly appreciated. Our Indigogo fundraiser is here: https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/ea-podcast-equipment-upgrade#/ Credits: "Towering Mountain of Ignorance" intro by Hank Green https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w3v3S82TuxU Intro bumper "Never Know" by Jack Johnson The segue music is by Sam Maher recorded on a handpan in the NY city subway. Thanks for listening and be a yes-sayer to what is. Kile’s interview w/ Ryan Bell on the Life After God podcast The Youtube interview w/ Pastor Phil Wyman and Jonas Green https://interviewatheists.wordpress.com/about/ https://www.facebook.com/kilebjones?fref=ts So here are the most commonly used words on the EA Podcast according to the Facebook thread: Hegemony Credulity Ontological Certainty Agency Inerrancy Secular Woowoo Epistemology Volitional Community Humanist Difference Transcendent Epiphany WooWoo Nuanced Wow Narrative Fuck Cognitive Dissonance Mental Gymnastics Meaning making, story-telling, pattern seeking creatures Drank the Kool-Aid Apologist Firebrand – Fundamental – Reason – Zeitgeist – Apostate    

Cass Midgley interviews Rev. George Cunningham, a local pastor of a Disciples of Christ church who is openly gay with a partner of 12 years. Their church is called open table because all our welcome. I present these Christians every now and then to model a version of Christianity that is non-toxic and even beneficial for society, in my opinion. I think honestly that Christianity is not going away any time soon. (Never soon enough.) So since we have to share society with it for at least a few more generations, I find it worthwhile to elevate and highlight those that are doing it right, if there is such a thing. George is that guy, as is Stan Mitchell 118, David Dark 90, Becky Garrison 65, Geoff Little 41, Roger Wolsey 13, Patsy Moore 8, and many others. Also to show that these are human beings doing the best they can with what they’ve got. They are NOT delusional about the negatives in scripture and in how others apply their Christianity, and they seek to show a better way, and I applaud them.  They are reforming from within and that’s no easy task, trust me.  Something I want to highlight about this conversation with George is his work in his work helping mentally challenged people. He talks about his funding from United Way and city and county support (which is tax dollars) and with that comes a lot of government regulations. Also that it’s difficult to find good help at $9.50 an hour. Call me crazy but I honestly would love to live in a country upside down from the one I currently live in, where people who help people—from people like George and his care-givers, to police and firefighters, to teachers—would make a minimum of $80,000/year.  When the 30 wealthiest Americans have the same net worth as half of Americans, and the 60 wealthiest human’s net worths equal have of the earths population’s net worth, then we have a problem and we could do much better in sharing the planet, sharing resources, and creating the best possible life for the most people possible. And yes, I’m talking about wealth distribution and yes, I’m a socialist.  I despise money because it enslaves all of us. If we all cared about noble moral things rather accumulation of stuff, life could be a much better experience for more people, if not all.    We taped these conversations on October 15th, 2016. We hope to encourage people in the process of deconstructing their faith and help curb the loneliness that accompanies it. We think the world is a better place when more people live by sight, not by faith. Please subscribe to our podcast, give it 5 stars, and/or leave a review wherever you listen to podcasts. Our show is available on most podcast platforms.  Also, you can support us monetarily in two easy ways: you can pledge one dollar per episode through Patreon; that’s www.patreon.com/eapodcast, or leave a lump-sum donation through PayPal at our website, www.everyonesagnostic.com. The smallest contribution is greatly appreciated. Our Indigogo fundraiser is here: https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/ea-podcast-equipment-upgrade#/   Credits: "Towering Mountain of Ignorance" intro by Hank Green https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w3v3S82TuxU Intro bumper "Never Know" by Jack Johnson The segue music is by Sam Maher recorded on a handpan in the NY city subway. Thanks for listening and be a yes-sayer to what is.  

Cass and Dr. Bob interview a man who we’ll call Casey, to protect his true identity and so that he can be more candid in telling his story. Casey kept a deep dark secret from age 10 to 30, and today, at age 38, he shares in publicly for the first time. The deconstruction of his Christian faith happened relatively quickly, in less than a year, but not until he was 36. He is surrounded by believers, including his wife, parents and siblings, but he does a good job of keeping the peace and maintaining those relationships.  Casey’s story brings up a touchy subject—victimhood, and how to handle it. Many people are reluctant to call themselves a victim out of a disdain for being aligned with those who seem to capitalize or gain some much needed attention from dwelling on it or wallowing in it.  Sometimes victims are offended when they’re unfairly accused of this. I made the mistake of doing this on episode 6 of this podcast when I accused a dear, life-long friend named Sam of playing that card. He hasn’t spoken to me since, and won’t, and he lives right here in Nashville.  In this age of political correctness and the strong arguments on both sides, there is much for us to learn on this nuanced subject. One side is trying to enlighten people too privileged to understand how words can hurt someone traumatized by decades and even generations of abuse and discrimination. The other side is trying protect 1st Amendment rights to say what you want and let societies toughen up. As a vocal, opinionated person, I have said hundreds of times to people offended by my words, “if the shoe doesn’t fit, don’t wear it.” But the question remains, who made me the shoe cobbler of other people’s feet? I find myself agreeing and disagreeing with both sides of this quandary. And here we find ourselves. Casey took the tough-guy route and suppressed his victimhood for 2 decades but found that no matter how hard he suppressed it, it was determined to resurface and demand a reckoning. Casey models how, as humans, we are fragile and vulnerable, AND YEt strong and resilient. This should come as no epiphany. After, we all—literally all—are fighting our own battles, and it is never the place for anyone—stranger or friend—to give unsolicited critique of how that person is working through their own unique circumstance. So in case you’re listening, Sam, I apologize for my callous, presumptuous accusations and although you are in no way obliged to restore our friendship or even forgive me, I confess that I would like that whenever you’re ready.  Ooh, did you catch that? “Whenever you’re ready” implies a weakness on his part. There I go again. Like I said, this shit is nuanced. That said, Sam, I hope that you can see my heart and know my intent and separate my inept choice of words from my actual character and core.  Knowing that Sam could say, “Oh I see your character, and you are not capable of empathy and thus not safe to be around.” And that would be his prerogative, of course.      In the area of friendships, Casey has had great success, maintaining lifelong friendships and making new ones in the present. As a tip, he offers a practice that reminded me of Romans 12:15, “Rejoice with those who rejoice, and mourn with those who mourn.” This sound like common sense, and it is, but I appreciated Casey’s emphasis on it, and that is that a true friend is able to celebrate other people’s successes and not be jealous or envious, but truly happy for them. Some of what we gleamed from scripture when we were Christians turned out to be common sense, good advice, and unlike much of scripture, remains relevant today. This is part of what drew us to it in the first place. Perhaps we mistook it as the sole source of morality for humanity back then, but for those of us unanchored to insisting that it’s God’s word, we can retain some of what we learned and be the better for it.  So today I’m introducing a new segment of the show that we’ll feature every now and then, not every week, but I am a huge proponent of talk therapy (for the world) and love to think about why do what we do as humans, and I have a few friend who are psychologists or therapists who I’ve asked to give their two cents every now and then regarding things that come up on a particular episode or just something interesting the relevant in the culture, so after Bob and I do our post-interview commentary, I’ve tacked on a 15 minute conversation with Dr. Brynda Quinn, a former guest of the show, episode 77. We taped these conversations on October 8th, 2016. We hope to encourage people in the process of deconstructing their faith and help curb the loneliness that accompanies it. We think the world is a better place when more people live by sight, not by faith. Please subscribe to our podcast, give it 5 stars, and/or leave a review wherever you listen to podcasts. Our show is available on most podcast platforms.  Also, you can support us monetarily in two easy ways: you can pledge one dollar per episode through Patreon; that’s www.patreon.com/eapodcast, or leave a lump-sum donation through PayPal at our website, www.everyonesagnostic.com. The smallest contribution is greatly appreciated. Our Indigogo fundraiser is here: https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/ea-podcast-equipment-upgrade#/   Credits: "Towering Mountain of Ignorance" intro by Hank Green https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w3v3S82TuxU Intro bumper "Never Know" by Jack Johnson The segue music is by Sam Maher recorded on a handpan in the NY city subway. Thanks for listening and be a yes-sayer to what is.  

Cass Midgley and Dr. Bob Pondillo interview an ex-Christian, and now police officer, Mark Stephens.  Mark’s story has a lot to do with him noticing that much of his Christian way of thinking—the  “logic” whereby Christians made choices, for spouse, for President, for where to live, what college to go to, just life choices in general, were flawed.  When he ventured outside reliance on scripture or prayer for making decisions and trusted his own skills of deduction and reason, he found that he made wiser choices and reaped better outcomes.  We taped these conversations on October 1st, 2016. We hope to encourage people in the process of deconstructing their faith and help curb the loneliness that accompanies it. We think the world is a better place when more people live by sight, not by faith. Please subscribe to our podcast, give it 5 stars, and/or leave a review wherever you listen to podcasts. Our show is available on most podcast platforms.  Also, you can support us monetarily in two easy ways: you can pledge one dollar per episode through Patreon; that’s www.patreon.com/eapodcast, or leave a lump-sum donation through PayPal at our website, www.everyonesagnostic.com. The smallest contribution is greatly appreciated. Our Indigogo fundraiser is here: https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/ea-podcast-equipment-upgrade#/ Credits: "Towering Mountain of Ignorance" intro by Hank Green https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w3v3S82TuxU Intro bumper "Never Know" by Jack Johnson The segue music is by Sam Maher recorded on a handpan in the NY city subway. Thanks for listening and be a yes-sayer to what is. http://whywontgodhealamputees.com/ DarkMatter2525 video about why Christians take our Atheism personally   The insert I put in the middle of the interview: I’m stopping the tape here to enter a footnote regarding this issue of the Christian notion of the Fall or what Mark is calling here Sin. I didn’t fully understand the gravitas of Bob’s question in real time, but after listening back to it, I realized that there is something here to elucidate.  We’re talking about the problem of evil and how the fact that an alleged good, all-powerful god doesn’t heal amputees or intervene in any measure of suffering is a big problem. It’s important to understand how Christians get around this and maintain their allegiance to and a loving image of a good god, despite this evidence. To most Christians, God created everything perfect. And there are actually several Falls that ruined God’s perfect world—the two main one’s being the Fall of Satan from Heaven as he questioned God’s authority and wanted be like God, and second, the Fall of Adam of Eve, which was prompted by Satan as the serpent to do the same—question God and desire to be like God. Now being like God, in this context, would mean being knowlegable—knowing stuff—the knowledge of good and evil for example, but also being free. The rebellion to want to eat from any tree I want to. The desire to think for one’s self, etc. It’s important that we understand that to the Christian, God is the only source of goodness. In the Biblical narrative, humans have always messed things up and God is constantly disappointed and frustrated with our ineptitude.  This is pounded into us over and over. Eden was only the first time we fucked things up. The flood was God giving his creation a do-over because our disobedience and rebellion led to debauchery and ruin. The same with Sodom and Gomorrah, the same with the Tower of Babel. This is what is drilled into the Christian mind—humans always ruin things when they ignore God. These narratives keep God’s reputation squeaky clean and human’s reputation hopeless. This is why they are so quick to assume malice when we misbehave, this is why’s it’s easy for them to demonize humans, and have ZERO reservoir of hope for humanity. They already walk around with a presupposition that humans are evil, hopeless, and incapable of turning things around. “Only God can save us” is there goto answer for everything. In fact, when they hear some of us saying that we trust our own ability to think and reason our way out of problems and don’t need God to fix this, THEY HEAR SATAN. They hear the voice of the Serpent. They hear Adam and Eve. They hear the stomping footsteps of a wrathful God approaching. Atheists, naturalists, secularists, scientists scare them and anger them just like their blind ignorance and allegiance to their non-existent savior angers us. We both think the other’s ideology leads to more suffering. Eden represents the perfection of God’s world before humans got prideful and disobedient and rebellious. To the Christian, restoring the Kingdom of God, represented here by pre-Fall Eden, is their main agenda. Why, because they hate suffering too. They want to end racism, poverty, famine, and war. They too want social justice, equality, civil liberties, but many of them only see it possible by way of humbling ourselves before God and crowning him King of the World. But I think it’s helpful to keep in mind that we both want the same things (at least for the earth). Now the after-life is really another layer of this altogether, but I think all humans, especially as were born into this world as children, pre-tainted by fears and prejudice, want the same good things—food, water, and shelter for everyone, peaceful relations, joy and laughter, fun and freedom, etc. We just see two very different means to those ends. They believe that the invisible third-party Maker of everything is the only hope of that coming to fruition. In fact, God will thwart the efforts of humans who have not called on His help first. This is what would lead Newt Gingerich or Mike Huckabee to say things like whoever’s president should be first and foremost a man of prayer. Christians want the good life too, but they frame it as wanting to get back to Eden. They want the kingdom of God to come on earth as it is in heaven which will only happen when every nation, tribe and tongue bows the knee to Jesus. This is why they do missions around the world. And they’ve added a loophole just in case that’s impossible here on earth (and they fear it is), and that is that God will create a new heaven and earth populated only by Christians and that’s when they’ll get their Eden back. And then God will have his way. Because finally, He’s got a bunch of obedient people around him.  They see me and my atheism as rebellion and disobedience to the God who wants to bring it about. I see their fictional narrative as a brainwashing that impedes us solving these problems ourselves.  And here we find ourselves. 

Bob and Cass interview two guests: Gayle Jordan, formerly featured on episode 79 who’s now running for State Senate in Tennessee as an atheist, and our second guest, blogger/activist Nina Jackel of ladyfreethinker.org which has generated over a million views.  In the post-Christian experience we go from believing in God to not believing in God and we can get stuck in that stage of pushing against what we no longer believe in. Perhaps after the grieving process, it might be healthy for us to redirect our energies to something that we DO believe in. Today our guests are both modeling that for us. They’ve put themselves out there in active, public forums to be agents of change in the world, working towards promoting the things that they’re FOR. Many of us got into Christianity because it was a vehicle through which we could express our core values—love, compassion, healing, improving people’s lives, and whatnot. Gayle is addressing issues that would improve the lives of Tennesseans like health care, education, and equal rights. Nina is working for animal rights and human rights. We’re not focusing on Nina’s religious deconversion, because she really didn’t have one, her mother being a moderate Episcopal and her dad a moderate Bronx Jew. Gayle is an ex-Christian and we covered her story in episode 79. So this episode is a bit of a detour from our regular subject. We taped these conversations on September 18th and 24th, 2016. We hope to encourage people in the process of deconstructing their faith and curb the loneliness that accompanies it. We think the world is a better place when more people live by sight, not by faith. Please subscribe to our podcast, give it 5 stars, and/or leave a review wherever you listen to podcasts. Our show is available on most podcast platforms.  Also, you can support us monetarily in two easy ways: on a per episode basis through Patreon; that’s www.patreon.com/eapodcast, or leave a donation through PayPal at our website, www.everyonesagnostic.com. Credits: "Towering Mountain of Ignorance" intro by Hank Green https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w3v3S82TuxU Intro bumper "Never Know" by Jack Johnson The segue music is by Sam Maher recorded on a handpan in the NY city subway. Thanks for listening and be a yes-sayer to what is. http://gaylejordanforsenatetn14.com/ https://ladyfreethinker.org/ Our Indigogo campaign to upgrade our microphones and mic stands    

Cass interviews Pastor Stan Mitchell. His church is called GracePoint right here in the Nashville area, and he’s been a source of a lot of controversy in the last few years, not only in his embrace of LGBTQ congregants but an overall reformation of what it means to be Christian. Stan started preaching in the Oneness Pentecostal vein at age 16. He didn’t have a skeptical thought toward his Christianity until his early 20s. We were colleagues at Vanderbilt Divinity School. Stan’s personal evolution has brought us today, the most honest version of himself he’s ever lived. He hasn’t lost his faith entirely, but he has lost his certainty. As with so many of the Christians interviewed on this podcast, they deconstruct theology and embrace science and reality to their best ability and find when the smoke clears that there remains a Jesus they can keep and honor and heed.  This spectrum of how much of the old narrative is salvageable and redemptive is a recurring question in this movement, and while some of us have burned the whole house down, others find value in sifting through the rubble for keepsakes. Perhaps it’s sentimental; perhaps its comfortable. We don’t care as long as we’re stemming the tide of radical religious fundamentalism and its toxic effect on the survival of our species. At the end of Cass' talk with Stan, Bob and Cass discuss the conversation, and tag onto to the end a 21 minute excerpt from a Pete Holmes episode of “You Made it Weird” w/ guest Hasan Minhaj, a correspondent from the daily show. They discuss these very tensions of anti-theism versus a redemptive post-theism. We taped these conversations on September 17th, 2016. We hope to encourage people in the process of deconstructing their faith and curb the loneliness that accompanies it. We think the world is a better place when more people live by sight, not by faith. Please subscribe to our podcast, give it 5 stars, and/or leave a review wherever you listen to podcasts. Our show is available on most podcast platforms.  Also, you can support us monetarily in two easy ways: on a per episode basis through Patreon; that’s www.patreon.com/eapodcast, or leave a donation through PayPal at our website, www.everyonesagnostic.com. Credits: "Towering Mountain of Ignorance" intro by Hank Green https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w3v3S82TuxU Intro bumper "Never Know" by Jack Johnson The segue music is by Sam Maher recorded on a handpan in the NY subway. Thanks for listening and be a yes-sayer to what is. http://gracepointe.net/ News report on Stan’s church http://quillette.com/2016/09/23/is-the-new-atheism-movement-irrelevant/ http://www.stitcher.com/podcast/nerdist-industries/you-made-it-weird-with-pete-holmes/e/hasan-minhaj-46258981  

Today Cass and Bob interview Marie Kent, an ex-Christian Preacher's kid who recently took over the “My Book of Mormon podcast” from David Michael. Marie is a computer programmer by day and a nerd by night. She was raised Baptist and has left Christianity, but like many, she finds religion fascinating. She wonders how it is that so many people believe they’ve found the ‘right’ god, yet that version of god changes so drastically. Many people who were never religious, like David Michael, the founder of the podcast Marie now co-hosts, were driven by their curiosity to read the sacred texts of religions in hopes of understanding why so many people have given their lives to this. He decided to read the entire Book of Mormon on the air, word for word, with commentary. Perhaps we can see in a few passages some truths that people could latch onto, and also discover passages so inane, at best, or morally repugnant at worst that they merit outright rejection.   Marie Kent works in the same office as our former guest on episode 108, Marie LePage (which was a great episode). But Marie Kent is a pastor’s kid from Minneapolis. Marie underwent sexual abuse from a boy in the youth group for 7 years, right under the nose of the church. Like so often happens, there were opportunities along the way for ethical adults to intervene, rescue Marie, and stop the predator, but they chose to protect themselves, the perpetrator, and the status quo leaving Marie to bear it alone.    We taped these conversations on August 28th, 2016. If you’re liking our show, please subscribe to it, give it 5 stars, and/or leave a review on iTunes, Stitcher, or wherever you listen to podcasts.  Also, you can support us monetarily on a per episode basis through our Patreon page. That’s www.patreon.com/eapodcast. Or leave a donation through PayPal at our website, www.everyonesagnostic.com. Credits: "Towering Mountain of Ignorance" intro by Hank Green https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w3v3S82TuxU Intro bumper "Never Know" by Jack Johnson The segue music is by Sam Maher recorded on a handpan in the NY subway. Thanks for listening and be a yes-sayer to what is. Marie Kent’s podcast “My Book of Mormon”    

We have the good fortune of talking with the writer and director of a new documentary called “A Better Life: An Exploration of Joy and Meaning in a World Without God,” Chris Johnson.  You may have seen a screening of it at the Reason Reason Rally. Chris Johnson is a New York-based photographer and filmmaker. He received his undergraduate degree in film production (along with a minor in religious studies) from Concordia University in Montreal, Quebec. His photography has been seen in various outlets, including The New York Times. He is the author of the coffee table photography book, “A Better Life: 100 Atheists Speak Out on Joy & Meaning in a World without God” that later was made into this documentary. Chris has traveled the world with A Better Life, and continues to do so, speaking and screening the film in over 60 cities on four continents. For the book, Johnson interviewed many prominent atheist figures such as Richard Dawkins, Steven Pinker, Dan Dennett, Derren Brown, Pat Churchland, Julia Sweeney, David Silverman, Penn & Teller, to name a few, plus many every-day people. He has given talks on atheism and his work at conferences, universities, non-profit organizations, and community groups. In addition, he has also been a guest on numerous podcasts, radio and TV shows around the globe. Chris is the recipient of the Kodak Award for Excellence in Filmmaking as well as the B.F. Lorenzetti Scholarship for Excellence in Filmmaking. Additionally, Chris sits on the Secular Board of Advisors, as well as the board of Openly Secular. And he’s 8 episodes into his own podcast, A Better Life, and it’s really good. Chris is truly a professional. For more information on Chris’s work and how you can purchase or rent your own copy of the documentary , visit: www.theatheistbook.com We taped these conversations on August 27th, 2016. If you’re liking our show, please subscribe to it, give it 5 stars, and/or leave a review on iTunes, Stitcher, or wherever you listen to podcasts.  Also, you can support us monetarily on a per episode basis through our Patreon page. That’s www.patreon.com/eapodcast. Or leave a donation through PayPal at our website, www.everyonesagnostic.com. Credits: "Towering Mountain of Ignorance" intro by Hank Green https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w3v3S82TuxU Intro bumper "Never Know" by Jack Johnson The segue music is by Sam Maher recorded on a handpan in the NY subway. Thanks for listening and be a yes-sayer to what is. You can find more information on the book/film/podcast/tour at: www.theatheistbook.com You can support the tour/podcast here: https://www.patreon.com/theatheistbook Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vEJXD6r9d78 Who's in the film? The film version of A Better Life features a selection of those from the book — atheists from around the world from many different backgrounds and professions. They include best-selling authors, award winning artists and scientists, and many well-known public personalities and figures including: A.C. Grayling, Philosopher, author and Master of the New College of the Humanities. Adam Pascal, Musician/Actor, created the role of "Roger" in the musical RENT. AJ Johnson, Vice president and co-founder, Be Secular. Alex Honnold, Rock climber, featured on 60 Minutes & the cover of National Geographic Magazine. Andrew Copson, Chief Executive, British Humanist Association. Cara Santa Maria, Co-host and Producer, TakePart Live on Pivot TV. Dan Barker, Co-president, Freedom From Religion Foundation. Daniel Dennett, Philosopher, author, and cognitive scientist, Tufts University. Donald C. Johanson, Paleoanthropologist, Arizona State University. Discovered the fossil of the hominid australopithecine known as "Lucy." Helena Guzik, Online Publications Assistant, The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Julia Sweeney, Actress, comedian & author. Matt Dillahunty, Speaker/co-cost; The Atheist Experience. Nahla Mahmoud, Environmentalist/Human Rights Activist. Patricia S. Churchland, Neurophilosopher, University of California San Diego. Robert Llewellyn, Writer, TV presenter, speaker, actor (Red Dwarf), electric vehicle evangelist. Sean Carroll, Theoretical Physicist, California Institute of Technology. Tracie Harris, Speaker/co-cost; The Atheist Experience.  

Cass and Bob interview Alex whose faith journey weaved in and out, back in and back out of Greek Orthodox Christianity. He read Dawkin’s “God Delusion” and followed it up with Lee Strobel, the Christian apologist. Alex is skilled talker; he’s a salesman for a living, he’s currently in law school, and he’s a songwriter. So as a first on this podcast, we feature him performing one of his songs live in the studio at the end of the interview. His story is compelling. We’re excited to bring it to you. We taped these conversations on August 21st, 2016. If you’re liking our show, please subscribe to it, give it 5 stars, and/or leave a review on iTunes, Stitcher, or wherever you listen to podcasts.  Also, you can support us monetarily on a per episode basis through our Patreon page. That’s www.patreon.com/eapodcast. Or leave a donation through PayPal at our website, www.everyonesagnostic.com. Credits: "Towering Mountain of Ignorance" intro by Hank Green https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w3v3S82TuxU Intro bumper "Never Know" by Jack Johnson The segue music is by Sam Maher recorded on a handpan in the NY subway. Thanks for listening and be a yes-sayer to what is.  

Today, Cass and Bob present a double feature. We converse with 2 separate guests: one who appears under a pseudonym, we call him Yert, the second using her real name, Ashley Hall.  They both live locally here in the Nashville area and share their story of leaving their Christian faith. Yert is a 37 year old man was raised Christian. Ten years ago, he was in a tragic boating accident on Reelfoot Lake in Tennessee in which he suffered severe head trauma and was in a coma for 32 days. When he awoke, he recognized his mother’s face, he remembered the English language, but he had to learn how to walk and talk again. He also had to learn his religion again and this time, it didn’t make any sense. With this second chance on life, he viewed things more skeptically and eventually renounced his faith. Our second guest, Ashley, has a Masters in social work and councils with preteens. She herself was diagnosed with autism at age 12. She testifies that her autism contributed to her need for things to make sense which at the time included Christianity, but as she matured she found her childhood faith to be counterfactual. She’s grateful that her faith contributed to her desire to help others. Now she continues to do so without it.  We taped these conversations on August 6th, and August 13th, 2016. If you’re liking our show, please subscribe to it, give it 5 stars, and/or leave a review on iTunes, Stitcher, or wherever you listen to podcasts.  Also, you can support us monetarily on a per episode basis through our Patreon page. That’s www.patreon.com/eapodcast. Or leave a donation through PayPal at our website, www.everyonesagnostic.com. Credits: "Towering Mountain of Ignorance" intro by Hank Green https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w3v3S82TuxU Intro bumper "Never Know" by Jack Johnson  The segue music is by Sam Maher recorded on a handpan in the NY subway. Thanks for listening and be a yes-sayer to what is. Mr. Deity “Bourne Again Identity” sketch Do people with Autism lack empathy?  

Cass and Bob interview Dave Warnock, an ex-Christian pastor whom Cass met through The Clergy Project and lives here in middle Tennessee. Week after week on this podcast we talk with people about the two-fold hardships of deconverting—personal and relational or internal and external. Everything changes in our own hearts and minds and that is a difficult process. And outwardly, people react differently to our newfound loss of faith. Some family members and friends, while not agreeing with our changed worldview, are able to love us and maintain healthy relationships even though they may be disappointed in or confused by our changes.  Others, however, may react by dissociating from us; or shunning us. This oftentimes is a defense mechanism- as they don’t know what to make of our loss of faith, and “pull back” as a way of coping. Some see this as a punitive or corrective measure and believe that by withholding relationship, the apostate will repent and return to God. They don’t seem to have the capacity in their spiritual framework to understand that we aren’t running from God or mad at God…we just don’t think he is there anymore; and thus we have nothing to repent of; or anyone to return to. Thus, all we can do in those cases is try to manage the pain of broken familial relationships and wait for it to get better as we get on with our new lives. This is what Dave has done. Even though the loss of relationship with his adult daughters and his grandchildren is a daily pain, he has found a way to forge a new path that has given him meaning; and he continues to look for ways to re-write the story of his life. His work in Central America in secular missions is one of the things that has helped him do that; as well as daily connections with others who have left the faith and need support and encouragement. Some people realize the importance of love and keep their priorities straight; others choose their allegiance to their religious guidelines over their loyalty to their unbelieving friend or family-member. I’ve said on the show before that I don’t like tough love or shaming techniques to influence people. Here we have a case where believer’s treatment of the deconverted loved ones due to their pastor’s advice bears a resemblance to cultic behavior:   Five attributes of cults ring true here: 1. Cult members typically swear total allegiance to an all-powerful leader to whom they cede too much power. 2. In a cult, rational thought is discouraged or forbidden. 3. A cult weakens its follower psychologically such that they look the group to solve their problems. 4. The cult leader makes life decision of the members. 5. Cult members are isolated from the outside world and any reality testing it could provide. Dave agreed to come on this podcast partly because he hopes by talking openly about this kind of brainwashing, people’s skepticism regarding charismatic church leaders will increase and fewer people will fall into this trap. We taped this episode on June 11th, 2016. If you’re liking our show, please subscribe to it, give it 5 stars, and/or leave a review on iTunes, Stitcher, or wherever you listen to podcasts.  Also, you can support us monetarily on a per episode basis through our Patreon page. That’s patreon.com/eapodcast. Or leave a donation through PayPal at our website, www.everyonesagnostic.com. Credits: "Towering Mountain of Ignorance" intro by Hank Green https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w3v3S82TuxU Intro bumper "Never Know" by Jack Johnson Other bumper music is Sam Maher, New York Subway Hand Pan player Thanks for listening and be a yes-sayer to what is. Dave’s blog called nevercertain The Clergy Project Dave’s appearance at Grace Point Church      

Sam Maher drops by to talk about his adventures around North and South America, busking rivalries in NYC, altitude sickness, planets and the universe, black holes, participating in an Ayahuasca ceremony along with his visual experiences and plenty more. Sam also plays a song his 'Hang' - a melodic, metallic percussion instrument (skip to 58:50 for song). Sam will be performing with Katy Steele at Bigsound in Brisbane (September 9-11). --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/themissioncontrolpodcast/message