HIGHLIGHTS

04:47 Pentecostal tradition as cult culture and searching for an authentic path

10:16 The rise of modern Christianity alongside capitalism

14:43 Shifts in belief systems: Education on weaponized Christianity and the internet

18:27 Deconstruction: High religious control systems are fragile like Jenga 

22:28 Progressive Christianity: Almost a different religion altogether

26:28 Roots of the downfall of religiosity and support for the LGBTQ+ movement 

33:26 The success of organized religions seems to hang on to lack of inclusivity

34:45 Stave off chaos from anomie but modern life now provides for many human needs

37:11 Humanism and citizenship: Democracy as a post-religion spirituality

40:35 Prophesying druidry and finding harmony with the earth is an imperative need

42:47 Connect with Melody

QUOTES

13:07 "Even though there are hundreds of verses in the Bible about what I would call economic justice, what evangelicals would call economic stewards, giving to the poor caring for the widow and orphan... The Bible is just absolutely saturated with those theologies, but  that's not a very high commitment or value in current evangelicalism."

18:41 "Those systems are inherently fragile because it's like Jenga, if you pull a piece out at the bottom, then all the other pieces above that it's stacked onto that you have to accept in order to be part of that community, all those other pieces start getting a little bit less stable."

24:49 "It seems like once people have deconstructed a fundamentalistic religion or like we've been talking about systems of high religious control, it seems to me there is often a lot of trauma and a lot of resentment that has built up and the people would rather just leave faith altogether than try to reform it."

36:25 "A lot of people would say maybe there's not as high of a need for God if we don't deal with anomie on a regular basis. So I think the question is, does religion offer something that's more than oppression and more than staving off chaos?"

41:28 "I think if we can come back to environmentalist and ecological reverence and caring for it, our collective home. I think if I'm going to prophesize anything, I think that that is the biggest need in the coming decades."

To find out more about Melody Stanford Martin, please see the links below.

• LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/melody-stanford-martin
• Website (Brave Talk Project) - https://bravetalkproject.com/

To hear more of Scott Mason and the Purpose Highway™ podcast, join our community at https://purposehighway.com/ and subscribe to get notified when new episodes go live.