Recovering Evangelicals

The previous three episodes had us unpacking statistics, quotes, and teachings pertaining to Evangelicalism which … really didn’t make Evangelicals look very good at all. It made us wonder if we might be seen as being too hard on Evangelicals. Even “persecuting” them. And then, the Internet being what it is … delivered up to me in my morning news feed an article in Christianity Today which claimed Evangelicals feel like they’re the most discriminated group, as well as another one that explored stories of persecution of Christians overseas. In this episode, we look at a Pew Research report which dug into this perception held by people who self-identify as Evangelicals. And we talk about why they might face discrimination: whether it is indeed discrimination against their religious beliefs, or against the way in which those beliefs are foisted on society. And the sense of privilege which seems to motivate them. We also look at the horrific stories from far off countries … bombings, killings, beheadings … and whether this is bona fide persecution of Christian belief, or rejection of Western/foreign influences and simple tribalism under the banner of religious belief. Is it a fight over theology, or over control of the country? And isn’t this precisely what’s also going on in America: a fight for control of the country, under the guise of a defense of Christian values? As always, tell us what you think. Leave a comment here (below) or at our new Recovering Evangelicals Facebook Group page (you’ll need to join the group first). If you want to play this episode later on your device, look for Recovering Evangelicals wherever you get your podcasts and music. If you want to help grow this pod-cast, please like and share with a friend. Subscribe here to get updates each time a new episode is posted, and find me on Twitter or Facebook. Back to Recovering Evangelicals home-page

Months ago, we planned to kick off Season 2 with two episodes that … we thought … were quite unrelated: the Insurrection at Capitol Hill, and COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy. And yet our research revealed a common thread running through both: QAnon and Evangelicals walking hand-in-hand in revolt. While interviewing people to gauge their awareness and interest in these two topics, we learned that the thread led to something called “the Great Reset.” Our bet is that you don’t remember ever hearing about anything called the Great Reset.  We certainly hadn’t. When we did the homework to see what was going on here, weren’t we surprised to learn that it has to do with a global cabal trying to take over the world, using COVID-19 to bring the world to its knees, and only Donald Trump was standing in their way to prevent this “secret” plot. In fact, some Evangelicals see this cabal being led by Satan himself. We kid you not. If you think these ideas are completely removed from your own reality, think again. We’ve all heard of conspiracy theories of world takeover … world governments colluding … government control of the populace … banks and billionaires exerting influence.  It’s the stuff of many Hollywood movies. And maybe you’ve sometimes even wondered if “there might be some kernel of truth here”. This is precisely the fringe of the world of reality known as QAnon. And many of us who have moved in Christian circles have often heard of spiritual warfare … children of light against children of darkness … Christians needing to stand up against a growing evil … Dominion theology. We may also have heard that we now live in the End Times: apocalyptic images featuring Armageddon, the Beast, the Anti-Christ. Fringe ideas of Christendom perhaps, but this is precisely the world of Evangelicalism in America. And those two fringe worlds resonate with each other. The Great Reset indeed! We hope this episode gives you something to talk about. But you might want to sit down before you hit <Play>. As always, tell us what you think. Leave a comment here (below) or at our new Recovering Evangelicals Podcast Facebook Group page (you’ll need to join the group first). If you want to play this episode later on your device, look for Recovering Evangelicals wherever you get your music and podcast episodes. If you want to help grow this pod-cast, please like and share with a friend, and leave a review at your podcast provider. Subscribe here to get updates each time a new episode is posted, and find us on Twitter or Facebook. Back to Recovering Evangelicals home-page

It’s been almost a year and a half since we’ve had COVID-19, and over half a year since we’ve talked about it. It’s time for an update. Global deaths have now exceeded 3 million, despite our having several vaccines with high efficacy. At the heart of this paradox: people refusing to wear masks, to socially distance, or to take a vaccine. Who are these people? Pew Research have asked … and found an uncomfortable and embarrassingly high proportion of them are Evangelicals. In fact, Pew Research found that white Evangelicals (in the USA) are the demographic most likely to decline the vaccine!? And worse, the most likely to declare that it should not matter what impact their decision has on the community!? “Evangelicals”? Boyd has an interesting word for this kind of people. In this episode, we give a ground-level primer on what a virus is, and the two new vaccine strategies that have been developed to fight them. Instead of the old approach of injecting actual viruses which have been inactivated (by chemicals or radiation), the new approaches are to artificially synthesize a signature protein from the COVID virus (the “spike protein”) and then float that into our cells using lipid bubbles (Moderna; Pfizer-BioNTech) or a hollowed out shell of a different harmless adenovirus (Oxford-AstraZeneca; Johnson&Johnson). We also look at the reasons why people are declining the vaccine: relatively minor side effects which might mean a few days of discomfort or even lost income a misinformed belief in becoming a genetic mutant an uninformed understanding of the increased risk of blood clots or anaphylactic shock use of stem cells from aborted fetuses concern about how quickly these were developed, and lack of data on how well they work the feeling that they’re strong and therefore don’t need the protection they can quote Bible verses to ward off the threat As always, tell us what you think. Leave a comment here (below) or at our new Recovering Evangelicals Facebook Group page (you’ll need to join the group first). If you want to play this episode later on your device, look for Recovering Evangelicals wherever you get your podcasts and music. If you want to help grow this pod-cast, please like and share with a friend. Subscribe here to get updates each time a new episode is posted, and find me on Twitter or Facebook. Back to Recovering Evangelicals home-page

We’ve all seen images of the storming of the US Capitol.  Among those many images, did you notice the pictures of people carrying Bibles or crosses? Signs with Christian slogans?  A flag with the words: “Jesus is my Savior, Trump is my president”? What was the connection between Christianity and the insurrectionists at the Capitol? In this episode, we take a deep dive down into the rabbit hole known as QAnon, and find a community and a worldview that looks very much like a vocal and politically active segment of Evangelical Christianity. Which explains the resonance and the synergy between them when they started to listen to and collaborate with a small band of armed revolutionaries. As always, tell us what you think. Leave a comment here (below) or at our new Recovering Evangelicals Facebook Group page (you’ll need to join the group first). If you want to play this episode later on your device, look for Recovering Evangelicals in the iTunes Store, Podbean, Spotify, GooglePodcasts, or GooglePlayMusic. If you want to help grow this pod-cast, please like and share with a friend. Subscribe here to get updates each time a new episode is posted, and find me on Twitter or Facebook. Back to Recovering Evangelicals home-page

After a hiatus of a couple months that stretched out to eight, we’re back! Here, we re-connect with our audience, look back at Season 1, and give a preview of what’s coming in Season 2. As always, tell us what you think. If you want to play this episode later on your device, look for Recovering Evangelicals in the iTunes Store, Podbean, Spotify, GooglePodcasts, or GooglePlayMusic. If you want to help grow this pod-cast, please like and share with a friend. Subscribe here to get updates each time a new episode is posted, and find me on Twitter or Facebook. Back to Recovering Evangelicals home-page

View the autosave [This is a re-posting of an episode with a broken link] There’s never been a shortage of reasons to think that the Apocalypse was right around the corner.  But Covid-19 and worldwide socio-political-economic unrest have recently ratcheted that fear to a whole new level.  It takes some effort to not get caught up in the hysteria while at the same time not willfully choosing blissful ignorance. R.E.M. not only gave us one of the greatest rock anthems ever, it also inspired the most impenetrable abbreviation that only their fans would recognize: ITEOTWAWKI.  YouTube it if you can’t figure it out. In this episode, we look at how we humans all through the ages have too quickly identified an existential threat, too quickly acted irrationally and impulsively, and too quickly forgot the lesson(s) we should have learned from our mistakes. And then too quickly repeated the cycle all over again.  We could all benefit from reading Daniel Kahneman’s book: “Thinking, fast and slow.” Psychologists give us some insight into the reasons we do this.  The internet and social media only act like gasoline on a fire. We’ll also look at how this basic human trait is amplified by religious beliefs, and how Christians have put a unique spin on it. Selective and faulty interpretation of Biblical passages (especially the uniquely Apocalyptic Books of Daniel and Revelation) gives some of us a false sense of authority … or even authorization … to start shouting about End Times, the Anti-Christ, four horsemen and plagues. And too many others of us buy completely into their alarmism. And finally, we take a few steps back, take a few cleansing breaths, and offer a few suggestions for how to make it through this latest Apocalyptic reprise. As always, tell us what you think. If you want to play this episode later on your device, look for Recovering Evangelicals in the iTunes Store, Podbean, Spotify, GooglePodcasts, or GooglePlayMusic. If you want to help grow this pod-cast, please like and share with a friend. Subscribe here to get updates each time a new episode is posted, and find me on Twitter or Facebook. Back to Recovering Evangelicals home-page

. Looking back at the comments and responses which have accumulated at this WordPress site, at Facebook, and sent to us by email, we thought it was time to respond to a few of them in more detail. We noticed a couple recurring themes, one of which related to the Bible itself: how to read/interpret it; why certain books are “in” and others not; why Paul in particular is given such authority; whether the theology of some is a petrified version of the snapshot we have from 1st century writings, and has not been allowed to grow as humans expanded their library of knowledge and experience over the two millennia since then (a theological version of arrested development?); the extent to which we can allow our Biblical interpretation to be influenced by other books (even modern ones), other disciplines (science), or other philosophies. All great questions. Here’s some of our thoughts on them. Tell us what you think, and share this with a friend. If you want to play this episode later on your device, look for Recovering Evangelicals in the iTunes Store, Podbean, Spotify, GooglePodcasts, or GooglePlayMusic. If you want to help grow this pod-cast, please like and share with a friend. Subscribe here to get updates each time a new episode is posted, and find me on Twitter or Facebook. Back to Recovering Evangelicals home-page

“I found my way out of Young Earth Creationism because I tried to prove Young Earth Creationism … and failed.” These are the words of our guest today. But it’s a well-worn confession, made by many before him who walked the same beaten path. Renowned historian Dr. Ronald Numbers identifies a recurring theme in the story of the Young Earth Creationist movement. For over a century, that movement has struggled to identify a champion with solid scientific credentials combined with the empassioned conviction to champion the YECist cause. Over and over again, young men would go to university vowing to get the degree that would qualify them to disprove the theories of evolution and the Big Bang, and defend a six-day Creation and Noah’s Flood. Over and over again, they would come back a few years later, much less sure of their convictions, often questioning the foundation of their Fundamentalist belief system, many even having given up Christian faith entirely. Another one bites the dust. Our guest today fits that pattern completely. As a teen, David MacMillan interacted closely with the “scientists” at Answers-in-Genesis, consulting them about scientific questions he was pursuing, learning how they developed their arguments, publishing a few articles of his own, becoming familiarized with “how the sausage is made” at AiG. Then he went to university to get the scientific degree that would catapult him into the YECist Big League. The end result is predictable … and entirely consistent with that theme that Ron Numbers described. Just the same, David gives a rare insider’s look into the poster child organization that is synonymous with Young Earth Creationism. He sheds valuable light on their motives, strategies, qualifications, and claims. He also tells a great story of finding a new form of Christian faith, one which is far deeper, and textured, and colorful … and convincing … than the veneer of belief he grew up with and gave up. Tell us what you think, and share this with a friend. Ronald Numbers. “The Creationists: from Scientific Creationism to Intelligent Design.” Harvard University Press, 2006. If you want to play this episode later on your device, look for Recovering Evangelicals in the iTunes Store, Podbean, Spotify, GooglePodcasts, or GooglePlayMusic. If you want to help grow this pod-cast, please like and share with a friend. Subscribe here to get updates each time a new episode is posted, and find me on Twitter or Facebook. Back to Recovering Evangelicals home-page

When we read a paper1 published a couple years ago by last week’s guest — Dr. Chris Barrigar — we felt his idea was a perfect book-end to our recent discussions about Young Earth Creationism and Intelligent Design. We’ve often referred to an image of God rolling certain ingredients — thermodynamics; entropy; quantum mechanics; biological evolution — into a cosmic egg and setting that on the stage of the pre-universe … and watched with delight as that exploded into the universe we see now in front of us. Our guest now adds more detail to that image: those ingredients might have also included randomness, probability, order, predictability, determinism, massively large numbers, dynamic complexity, and chaos theory. And in the process, he tells us he’s found the meaning and purpose of the universe itself: it’s been front-end loaded (the cosmic egg above) to create agape-capable beings like ourselves. We’ll warn the listeners in advance though: this could be the most intellectually challenging episode we’ve done so far. We’ll be putting some of the most recent advances in science, philosophy, and theology on the table. We still believe you’ll be able to keep up with the discussion, but you’ll need to stay focused! Let us know what you think, and share this with a friend. Barrigar, C., “God’s Agape/Probability design for the universe.” Perspectives on Science and Christian Faith 70(3):161-174, 2018. If you want to play this episode later on your device, look for Recovering Evangelicals in the iTunes Store, Podbean, Spotify, GooglePodcasts, or GooglePlayMusic. If you want to help grow this pod-cast, please like and share with a friend. Subscribe here to get updates each time a new episode is posted, and find me on Twitter or Facebook. Back to Recovering Evangelicals home-page

After exploring one end of the spectrum of Creationist beliefs (Young Earth; Intelligent Design), we now move to the other end. This week, we talk to Dr. Chris Barrigar an Anglican pastor from Montreal, Quebec, who’s proposed an idea by which God might have front-loaded the intrinsic properties of the primal cosmic egg in such a way that it would not only explode into the universe we now inhabit, but would inevitably produce “agape-capable beings”. But in setting the stage for his scientific idea, we heard him tell a personal story that was equally worth exploring. He became a Christian in his teen years, when his parents brought home their born-again experience. In university, he pursued a very broad liberal arts degree and a couple career paths before submitting to a call to full-time Christian ministry. But after several years in Bible seminary and time spent in India, he found he had to reject his previous Christian faith. It wasn’t science that did him in: it was encounters with the Christian church itself, and with other world religions and philosophies. His journey took him from Fundamentalist Christianity, to liberal Christianity, to other world religions, and finally even atheism, but none of these seemed to satisfy him. They weren’t “intellectually and emotionally honest”. Yet he still felt there was something more. (Anything you might be able to relate to?) He wondered whether there was something else … something he might have missed the first time around through all those different corners of the theological/philosophical maze. In finding that answer inside the broad Christian tradition, he also discovered the meaning of the universe. Again, as with all of our previous guests, we believe there’s much to learn from his experiences. So we decided to first present his journey through faith and worldview (this week) before hearing about his provocative new idea on Emergent Creationism (next week). If you want to play this episode later on your device, look for Recovering Evangelicals in the iTunes Store, Podbean, Spotify, GooglePodcasts, or GooglePlayMusic. If you want to help grow this pod-cast, please like and share with a friend. Subscribe here to get updates each time a new episode is posted, and find me on Twitter or Facebook. Back to Recovering Evangelicals home-page