Archive for October, 2012


Who Would Jesus Vote For? A Redemption Church Small Group

In an unusual podcast format, we take a peek into a “small group” at Redemption Church called “Theology on Tap” to discover how your typical churchgoer wrangles with political issues in light of their evangelical faith. The topic of the night’s discussion was “Who would Jesus vote for?” Listen to the various twists and turns, and sometimes surprising statements, from this group of sixteen individuals in the small town of Duvall, WA.

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Jeremy Lott on America’s Shifting Religious Election Coalition

What hath Election 2012 wrought? We examine the 2012 presidential campaign with RealClearReligion editor and author Jeremy Lott who recently published a free e-book on the shifting electoral coalitions that we are observing this campaign season. Jeremy notes that religious coalitions are shifting in such a way that the US party system is starting to resemble the European system with one party being “religion friendly” while the other is becoming wholly secular. President Obama’s faith is examined and how the perception of his religiosity among the population has posed a problem for him. We then look at how Catholics are (or may be) starting to realign their partisan loyalties away from the Democratic Party to the Republicans. How has Mitt Romney managed this shift? We examine his choice of Paul Ryan, a Catholic, as a running mate and whether or not evangelicals will be spooked by Romney’s Mormon faith. This interview was recorded on October 15, 2012, before the second presidential debate.

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Stephen Barr on Quantum Physics, Religion, & the God Particle.

Does quantum physics make it easier to believe in God? And what is the deal with that “God particle” that physicists just discovered? Did we really discover God and the origins of the universe? These questions, and many more, are answered by a real-honest-to-goodness physicist Dr. Stephen M. Barr (University of Delaware). Our discussion is both fun and informative as Prof. Barr explains, in terms a layman can undestand, what quantum physics is and how it relates to faith. While Prof. Barr argues that quantum mechanics does not make it necessarily easier to believe in God, it does make it harder to subscribe to a philosophy known as “materialism,” which often underpins a number of arguments for atheism. We also reflect on what it is like being a religious believer in the secular academic world.

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Kevin Cooney on Christianity in Japan

Prof. Kevin Cooney of Northwest University gives us a general perspective of what spiritual life is like in Japan, focusing first on Shintoism and Buddhism, but then exploring the hidden history of Christianity. He discusses the suprisingly early arrival of the “Nestorian Church,” followed several hundred years later by Jesuit missionaries. What happens when the Catholic Church is forced to go underground and how does the opening of Japan to the West and then its imperialist phase impact Christianity? We also explore where Christianity sits today in Japan and how religion relates to fertility rates.

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Rod Stark on the Triumph of Christianity, Part III

Prof. Rodney Stark returns to discuss the final part of his monumental book, “The Triumph of Christianity.” We pick up the story of Christianity with the Protestant Reformation and take it up to the contemporary period. Along the way, we talk about the Catholic Counter-Reformation, the Spanish Inquisition, Christianity’s transfer to the Western Hemisphere and what is becoming of this faith tradition today.

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