Welcome to our first episode in this new podcast series for “Spirituality and Christianity.” All the conversations in this series are with people who love to search for the meaning of God and the relevance of God in our everyday lives. Some of these conversationalists are “inside” mainstream religious communities throughout the United States, and others are probably considered “outside,” according to those on the inside! To get the series started, we want to explore some of the fundamental elements of conversing with people of differing faiths. Sometimes, even among friends, we run into surprises in our conversations, that can hurt. But Kathy Dale McNair and I (Shirley Paulson) found some valuable concepts from the Bible and from our own experiences that help forward these important discussions.
We invite you to listen in! Click here to listen: Insiders and outsiders
Mentioned in this show are:
- Bible references, Leviticus 19:33-34 and 20:26,
- Interfaith Youth Core
We’re eager to hear your comments, questions, and ideas. Please join into this open conversation. After you listen to the podcast, jot down your comments and post them below here.
#1 by Ian Kath on January 26th, 2008 - 9:41 pm
G’day Shirley
Listening to your Episode One. Great job girl. Nice intro clean sound and technically very good. Sounds great.
But the subject. Wonderful!
Now I don’t really get the Christian religion much even though I was raised in the Church of England and I’ve done the whole communion thing. As I’ve got older and learnt more things I find that I seem to ask more questions of the mainstream religions than they can answer. I find that what most people in their hearts want is more of the Christian ideal than the bible or the docrain of the church. I feel more in harmony with the philosophy that is Buddhism.
What impressed me with your discussion with Kathy was the concept of having empathy for another point of view. I find it interesting to listen to a couple of Americans who are intelligent and compassionate. When 9/11 happened my first reaction was “Oh! so that is how they decided to do it, very cleaver” I was not at all surprised. I was shocked that from our point of view, that America seemed to have no idea that someone would feel this way. To us out here it’s obvious. What you have shown in your show is that some Americans have compassion for the way that the outside world perceives America and that it may not be all good.
You seem to both get it and if you do, many others get it as well. There may be hope for America yet
You see we also have predjustices and the way to resolve them is open and honest communication between all parties so that we realise that we are more alike than different. What you are doing here in your podcast is going a long way to open that communication.
To have the time to listen, understand and relate to the alternative ways that we can all live our lives is what you seem to be talking about and if we can all have that level of compassion the world would be a better place.
That’s the premise of my on line Chat Show. To get people to understand that we are very alike. That is what I’m doing. I’m allowing all sorts of people to express in their own words how they see the world so that we out here can appreciate that there are six billion ways to live this life and all are valid. You are both expressing the same view and opinion. I congratulate you.
I look forward to future episodes.
#2 by JamesC on February 27th, 2008 - 2:25 pm
Very Good Shirley!
I just finished listening to “Insiders and Outsiders” and “Faith, Belief, and the Nicene Creed” and found them both to be very helpful. Especially “Insiders and Outsiders”. I really liked that one.
Chris