JRR Talking

This week Rick from the Secular Barbershop joins me to remember our recently passed friend Bruce Horst. Bruce was involved with both our shows, and a someone I considered a close friend. His warmth will be missed, and his loss is something that Rick and I felt merited a discussion.

The memories and legacy we leave behind are the only afterlife humans really get, and this episode is dedicated to that idea and the memory of our friend Bruce.  Thanks to The Secular Barbershop podcast for sharing talent and memories.

This week also saw the sad passing of Recovering From Religion’s Scott Smith, another friend of the show and the secular community.  I am so sorry to hear of his passing.

This week, Warren Wright stops by to talk about performing as a comedian and the Philosophy that lays beneath the jokes.  While a Socialist, Warren can be forgiven this misstep (only kidding) in light of his wit and sincerity.  An avid skateboarder, Warren can be found in Houston’s skate parks, and every Monday at Rudyard’s. Check him out at www.warrenurchin.com  Also, I delve into my past for an embarrassing story with my old church compatriots.

Special thanks to the band ORCHARDS for providing music for the opening.

Recovering From Religion is a non-profit dedicated to helping those who are questioning their views about religion, and those who are leaving religion.  They offer support, live chats and a hotline for those who need someone to talk to, and Scott Smith joins me to talk about RFR.  Given that people are typically decent, and thus religious folk are pretty likely to be decent by extension, it can seem odd that religion can be harmful for some, and the experience of leaving extremely difficult.  Typically the goals of mainstream faiths involve some concern with goodness and ethical living, but this isn’t always the case.  There are those fearful of losing close relationships if disclosing doubts, to say nothing of the poor souls who remain in religious leadership who stop believing and have.

Of those who do lose their faith, many struggle through the process.  For a long time I personally had to struggle with cognitive dissonance and doubts that I used to really think would bring me eternal harm.  RFR is for those who simply want someone to talk to.  Whether one wants to stay in their faith or not doesn’t matter, the aim is to create a supportive community, not simply to encourage folks to abandon religion.

After a hurricane hiatus, we return this week with a guest who serves Houston much needed relief in the form of intoxicating libations and banh mi sandwiches.  Olay, who works at an undisclosed dive bar in the West Houston area, shares his story of working a normal gig as an accountant and transitioning to what he considers a much more fulfilling career as a bartender.

He shares the hilarity that comes along with his profession, as well as his experience growing up in a family that moved to America from Nigeria before his birth.  Olay graduated from Midwestern State University and if you ask really nicely I’ll refer you to that absolute best dive bar in Houston (that doesn’t have a pool table, seriously somebody fix that).

This week Brian David Foss, a real deal NASA employee, stops through to talk about his work with NASA and how we can really know that man has indeed landed on the moon.

Sadly, there are a growing number of groups who not only deny the validity of the Moon landing, but also the very shape of our Earth.  Luckily, friends of Science and Reason like Brian are here to explain beyond any reasonable doubt how one can know for sure that NASA isn’t just faking astronaut footage, that the Earth is spherical, and a few other misconceptions.

So this episode is dedicated to those I know who are express doubt in NASA and in the science they’ve put to good use.  Thanks to Brian for coming on the show!

This week my friend Verena Kalhoff joins the show to talk about her life and work in Science, the importance of Science in daily life. She also shares her experience living the first half of her life as a German citizen before coming America.  Verena is a friend of mine and her keen wit always makes for interesting conversation.

Verena is working on starting up her own podcast about the value of science and as an encouragement for women to take interest in professions in science.  Her perspective as an immigrant and a woman of science is both refreshing and necessary for our world and those who do not value facts.

You can find Verena on Twitter at @Science41World, and when her podcasts launches I’ll link her up to the site.

This week, the podcast returns with author Steve Ebling calling in to talk about his book, “Holy Bible – Best God Damned Version”.  This work is an effort in translating the Bible into vernacular and vulgarities that will appeal to the common man.  If you were wondering, yes, the biblical texts do indeed have vulgarities, and a great deal of explicit content (Ezekiel 23:20, Judges 19 anyone?).

Noting that biblical literacy is fairly weak through Christendom, Steve’s book aims to inform the reader about the actual content of scripture, while also poking fun at some of the more difficult questions the Bible leaves us with: Who did Cain and Abel marry?  Why is Genesis supporting a geocentric astronomy?  Why do some parts of the text appear to espouse polytheism, yet others do not?  Who created God?  Why would it REALLY defile someone to sit in the same chair a menstruating woman sat in?

This episode is completely NSFW/ life/ or children, and by far the most  episode recorded to date.  Steve, though not exactly an atheist, is not a Christian either.  Although humorous and a fun guy to talk to, Steve’s message is a great deal more inflammatory and hostile towards faith than mine is, and it was interesting to get his perspective on skepticism, and why he is so passionate about wanting to impune the holy text.

It was great getting to talk to Steve and hear how after working all his life he decided to write a book that is steadily gaining interest and readers.  He was funny and even mailed me a copy of the book for free!  Thanks Steve!  You can find Steve’s book on Amazon and Kindle for a buck or two, check it out: https://www.amazon.com/Steve-Ebling/e/B00UGHTSSW

This week, Uber 47 AKA Rick AKA Head Barber of the Secular Barbershop Podcast stops by to talk about minority voices and the non-white secular community.  This has been one of my favorite episodes to record so far.  The Secular Barbershop is a podcast you should be checking out: http://www.thesecularbarbershop.com

The Adults Only section has a series of interviews with adult films stars, male and female, which are pretty interesting and stand apart from the other episodes in a way.

While I still don’t have my responses segment ready, this episode incorporates a lot of advice given to me over the past few months.  I’m really proud with how this turned episode turned out.

This week, Kemo4Emo guitarist, Regular Dude Report co-host, and my friend, Jake Rawls stops by to talk about K4E, Houston Punk, and my awkward young days as a minister.  Jake’s band has been praised by Houston Free Press, and lasted longer than any of my relationships (so far that is).  Also, Benny Hinn’s IRS trouble, tour adventures, and the joy of being a regular dude!

Kemo 4 Emo’s music can be found here: kemoforemo.bandcamp.com/

The Regular Dude Report podcast be found here:  www.regulardudereport.com/

Also a Kemo 4 Emo video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qkRR7vS_Bdc

Jake also did a rendition of my opening song to close the episode, which might be the first time Pop Punk has felt truly felt personal.

This week the Lipstick Yogi herself, Carrah Quigley is on the show to talk about Feminism and whether or not spirituality is for the non-theistic crowd.  With folks like Sam Harris praising the virtues of meditation, it seems that there are some in the atheist community who see the benefit of  disciplines that could be called “spiritual”.  This can generate a narrow look from both believers and non-believers alike.  I confess that while I think there is a lot more reading for me to do on the matter, I’m not going to be darkening the doors of any yoga studios anytime soon.  That being said, Carrah raises some good points about the benefits of meditative practices, and thinking openly.

Aside from that Carrah addresses issues Feminism.  While there is little I can really add to the topic, I’m well aware that statistics say that 1 in 3 women will experience some form of domestic or sexual abuse in their life.  The numbers for men aren’t acceptable either.  Feminism has never aimed at treating women better than man, but has been aimed at equality since the beginning.  While I can see some of the audience already wanting to tune out, I encourage you to think why these topics generate less interest than they deserve.  At the very least it’ll help my new segment responding to positive and unkind emails that I’ve been getting.