In this episode, we get into the rhetoric and ideology used in the 2024 election. We discuss former president Trump's comparison to a controversial messiah figure similar to Cyrus, the calling for Christian/White Nationalism, the American people's frustration with current and former power systems, as well as the roles religion, gender, ethnicity, and identity have played and will play in political discussions, regardless of who will win the presidency.

References:

NPR segment - https://www.npr.org/2024/01/26/1227070827/a-video-making-the-rounds-online-depicts-trump-as-a-messiah-like-figure

World Values Survey - https://www.worldvaluessurvey.org/WVSDocumentationWV1.jsp

Isabel Wilkerson - Caste

Kristin Kobes Du Mez - Jesus and John Wayne

Music by Caleb, Aiden, and Kirk Sandvig

Rev. Dr. Carver Pace helps us navigate the positives and negatives of maintaining online spaces for religious institutions. Since the Pandemic, religious institutions have been forced into the deep waters of not only increasing their online presence through virtual services, online giving, and digital prayer requests, but also hold responsibility to ensure this information stays safe and secure. This can be especially difficult for older populations and communities where internet access and technological know-how is limited. Having the right people and tools in place can make navigating these online spaces more inviting, safe, and secure. Rev. Dr. Pace shares with us his research and experience to make this possible.

In this episode we get into the connections between religion and the olympic games. Issues of nationalism, identity, belonging, migration, environmental sustainability, and physical/spiritual transcendence are all discussed. We welcome in our new co-host, Briana Wong, from Phillips Theological Seminary. Thanks for joining us!!

Janice McLean-Farrell is the Dirck Romeyn Associate Professor of Metro-Urban Ministry & Associate Dean of Doctoral Studies, at New Brunswick Theological Seminary.

Briana Wong is the Assistant Professor of the History of World Christianities at Phillips Seminary.

Kirk Sandvig is a Lecturer in the Department for the Study of Religion at San Diego State University.

Music composed in this episode comes from Aiden, Caleb, and Kirk Sandvig

This episode features a series of interviews from community members in Southern California who deal with death regularly. Rev. Greg Coppock, pastor at Sunrise Christian Fellowship in Fallbrook, CA and former San Diego Sheriff Chaplain; Dr. Lillian Harvey Banchik, retired trauma surgeon; Rev. Cate Luehr, Children's Hospital Los Angeles Chaplain and ELCA pastor; Dr. Nilesh Vora, Oncologist, Hematologist, and Palliative Care Physician at Long Beach Memorial Hospital, share their insights regarding death, as well as provide advice for people dealing with death.

Topics in this episode include:

1) Talking to children about death

2) Professionals coping with death

3) The impact of death on the lives of the living, including caregivers

This episode features a series of interviews from community members in Southern California who deal with death regularly. Rev. Greg Coppock, pastor at Sunrise Christian Fellowship in Fallbrook, CA and former San Diego Sheriff Chaplain; Dr. Lillian Harvey Banchik, retired trauma surgeon; Rev. Cate Luehr, Children's Hospital Los Angeles Chaplain and ELCA pastor; Dr. Nilesh Vora, Oncologist, Hematologist, and Palliative Care Physician at Long Beach Memorial Hospital, share their insights regarding death, as well as provide advice for people dealing with death.

Topics in this episode include:

1) General introductions

2) The impact of faith and death

3) The role of platitudes when dealing with death

4) Medicalized death

Gail Stearns shares her book Liberating Mindfulness: From Billion-Dollar Industry to Engages Spirituality. We discuss how mindfulness can break free from an individualized self-help discipline and lead into ways of bringing awareness and action into social justice issues.

You can find her book through Orbis Books - https://orbisbooks.com/products/liberating-mindfulness-from-billion-dollar-industry-to-engaged-spirituality?_pos=1&_sid=90d6b56e5&_ss=r

Co-hosting today's episode:

Janice McLean-Farrell, the Dirck Romeyn Associate Professor of Metro-Urban Ministry & Assistant Dean of Doctoral Studies at New Brunswick Theological Seminary.

Anderson Jeremiah, Senior Lecturer in the Department of Politics, Philosophy and Religion at Lancaster University.

Kirk Sandvig, Religious Studies Lecturer at Chapman University and San Diego State University.

Music for today's episode was brought to by: Aiden, Caleb and Kirk Sandvig

Sal Gutierrez IV, from Chapman University, presents his student project for the class "Studying Religion". His project looks at the importance of the Islamic Golden Age and its lasting impact on the world today. 

Sophia Lieberman, from Chapman University, presents her student project on the ways Jewish women preserve modern Jewish culture and traditions through the use of folklore and magic. 

Here is the link to the video of her project https://youtu.be/bqIri5_dX-E