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Exile

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Episode 10: From Refugee to Radical 44:09

vor 2 years44:09

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When a young Eva Kollisch arrives as a refugee in New York in 1940, she finds a community among socialists who share her values and idealism. She soon discovers ‘the cause’ isn’t as idyllic as it seems. Little does she know this is the beginning of a lifelong commitment to activism and her determination to create radical change in ways that include belonging, love and one's full self. In addition to Eva Kollisch’s memoirs Girl in Movement (2000) and The Ground Under My Feet (2014), LBI’s collections include an oral history interview with Eva conducted in 2014 and the papers of Eva’s mother, poet Margarete Kolllisch, which document Eva’s childhood experience on the Kindertransport. Learn more at www.lbi.org/kollisch . Exile is a production of the Leo Baeck Institute , New York | Berlin and Antica Productions . It’s narrated by Mandy Patinkin. Executive Producers include Katrina Onstad, Stuart Coxe, and Bernie Blum. Senior Producer is Debbie Pacheco. Associate Producers are Hailey Choi and Emily Morantz. Research and translation by Isabella Kempf. Sound design and audio mix by Philip Wilson, with help from Cameron McIver. Theme music by Oliver Wickham. Voice acting by Natalia Bushnik. Special thanks to the Kollisch family for the use of Eva’s two memoirs, “Girl in Movement” and “The Ground Under My Feet”, the Sophia Smith Collection at Smith College and their “Voices of Feminism Oral History Project”, and Soundtrack New York.…

Unreasonable

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Feeling overwhelmed by the relentless attack on American Democracy by the Religious Right? Welcome to Unreasonable: sane conversations for a country that's lost its friggin' mind. But Unreasonable is more than a podcast. It’s the start of a movement to reverse the inexorable rise of religious fanaticism taking over our government and our lives, on issues from public education, to women’s reproductive health, to the mainstreaming of loud-and-proud racism. Here we not only learn together what in the world's going on with our country, we develop an action plan to move America forward. It’s time for all of us who believe in the Separation of Church and State to unite — as the majority of Americans we are — in the name of democracy, common sense and kindness. Is that really so unreasonable?

63 Episoden

#Society #Religion #Government #Unreasonable #Church #State #Politics #Christianity #National #Reason

Unreasonable

updated vor 27 Tagen

Serie-Home•Feed

63 Episoden

#Society #Religion #Government #Unreasonable #Church #State #Politics #Christianity #National #Reason

All episodes

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Finale: Postmortem For A Country...And A Podcast 56:45

vor 27 Tagen56:45

56:45

What did you do on inauguration day? If you’re like us, you were seeking shelter from the impending storm, some sort of diversion to preserve your mental health before the inevitable onslaught to come. At Unreasonable, we went into the studio as a team to discuss the sunsetting of the podcast, what we all plan to do now, and to vent. And we all have very different responses to our current situation; one of them might align with yours, whether it’s disillusion, rage, nihilism, or a holding on to some semblance of hope. We’ll all continue our activism, but along very different lines. Join us one last time. And thank you for listening. Support the show…

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"The End (Is Only The Beginning)" with Andrew Seidel 54:04

vor 7 weeks54:04

54:04

As Unreasonable's production comes to a close, and American democratic norms shift towards theocracy, we sought perspective, a calmer voice that might, while acknowledging the darkness, also offer a glimmer of hope. Andrew Seidel is no stranger to Unreasonable listeners. He is Vice President of Strategic Communications for Americans United for Separation of Church and State and a constitutional attorney who’s defended the First Amendment for more than a decade. He is the author of two books: The Founding Myth: Why Christian Nationalism Is Un-American (2019) and American Crusade: How the Supreme Court is Weaponizing Religious Freedom (2022). In December, 2023 he closed out our first season . This episode bookends that one. This time David and Christina talk to Andrew about the cases AU is gearing up for in a second Trump administration, the practical implementation of Project 2025, the future complexion of the Supreme Court, AU's recent legal victories and what clues they might hold for future success as we enter America's darkest period. Support the show…

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"Secularism Without Cynicism" with Sasha Sagan 1:00:14

vor 9 weeks1:00:14

1:00:14

As we enter what promises to be an era of American-style Christo-fascism, it's hard for secular people -- people of reason, of science, who believe that faith is earned by evidence -- to not be cynical of those whose deeply held yet unproveable (indeed, improbable) beliefs will soon be determining our laws and dictating our behaviors. Yet, without hope there is only despair. So as we turn the page on 2024, a year of frustration followed by cautious optimism followed by grief for some/surrender for others, we at Unreasonable are like moths seeking the light. Our flame? Sasha Sagan. Sasha is a television producer, filmmaker, writer, and speaker on the ways science can inform our celebrations and how we mark the passage of time, inspired in part by the work of her parents, Carl Sagan and Ann Druyan. Her podcast “ Strange Customs” explores why we practice the rites of our ancestors, act them out, teach them to the next generation, often without questioning them. "When we take a step back, however, what can seem bizarre, arbitrary…can also be, sometimes, profoundly beautiful.” Our holiday gift to you: a ray of reason-based sunshine for these gloomy times. Support the show…

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"Is Israel A Theocracy?" with Bernard Avishai 1:05:37

vor 12 weeks1:05:37

1:05:37

Whatever your position is on Israel, on Zionism, on Hamas' attacks on October 7, 2023 or Netanyahu’s prosecution of the war in Gaza, it's undeniable that Israel had an outsized influence on our recent presidential election. And it's ironic that our greatest ally in the Middle East, that tiny state described as the only functioning democracy in the region, may well have been a major contributor to the undoing of American democracy. How did the promise of Israel become the problem of Israel? Unreasonable executive producer and this episode's guest host, Bennett Windheim, spoke with political economist, educator and author Bernard Avishai and asked: Is Israel a theocracy, and are there cautionary lessons for America to learn? Avishai is the Visiting Professor of Government at Dartmouth and former adjunct Professor of Business at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem. He’s taught at MIT and Duke. A Guggenheim fellow, he is the author of several books including 'The Tragedy of Zionism,’ 'A New Israel,' and 'The Hebrew Republic.' He is a former editor of the Harvard Business Review and contributes regularly on matters of political economy and Israeli affairs to the New Yorker, The New York Review, The Nation, the New York Times Magazine, and Harper's, for which he wrote last year’s captivating report entitled “Israel’s War Within: On the Ruinous History of Religious Zionism.” Support the show…

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"How Religious Organizations Game The IRS" with Prof. Lloyd Hitoshi Mayer 1:03:30

vor 14 weeks1:03:30

1:03:30

Despite the New Testament’s recording of its main character making a clear distinction between what man owes his government (taxes) and his lord (devotion), in real life it’s never quite worked out that way. Churches have been tax-exempt since time immemorial. Today, the very idea of asking houses of worship to pay their fair share is a non-starter. Much like asking this country to elect a woman president. At a time when the IRS is stretched thin and overwhelmed by its own complexity, religious organizations are leveraging loopholes to take advantage of the tax code and pastors are increasingly, and egregiously, flouting electioneering from the pulpit (an activity restricted by the Johnson Amendment). Further, the incoming administration has already made clear its intent to declare nonprofits that oppose its policies terrorist organizations, thereby stripping them of their nonprofit status and thus their ability to collect tax-deductible donations, their very lifeblood. Lloyd Hitoshi Mayer, professor of nonprofit law at Notre Dame University, is our Virgil, guiding us with wisdom and humor through this holy hellscape of taxes and religion. Support the show…

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"It's An Opus Dei World, You're Just Living In It" with Gareth Gore 52:46

vor 19 weeks52:46

52:46

In 2017, like many financial journalists, Gareth Gore went to Spain to report on the sudden collapse of the global bank, Banco Popular. And, like every other reporter, he missed the real story. That is, until he returned to Spain two years later. As he recalls, "It was sheer luck, ...that I picked up a newspaper and saw that there was this scramble from people to get their money back. And it was only when I discovered some of the more sinister links later on that it became a wider story about Opus Dei rather than the bank." In his new book, "Opus: The Cult of Dark Money, Human Trafficking and Right-Wing Conspiracy Inside the Catholic Church" (Simon & Schuster) Gore explains how one man turned his "vision" from God into a mission to "reChristianize the world," and how the organization he created, with its bizarre rites and structure, first infiltrated Spanish society with the help of the country's dictator Francisco Franco, won the imprimatur of the Vatican, became a financial powerhouse, and today, wields influence in the halls of the United States Congress and Supreme Court. If you thought the New Apostolic Reformation and Ziklag were disturbing, you will not be assuaged by Gore's revelations. Still, knowledge is power. Come November 5, we have the opportunity to reject the theocratization of America. #vote Support the show…

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"The Risk of Left-Wing Political Cartooning" with Jesse Duquette 1:24:18

vor 21 weeks1:24:18

1:24:18

Early last week we recorded an interview with illustrator Jesse Duquette. Then we got the word over the weekend: Meta not only shut his account down, but permanently deleted its posts and eradicated his community of over 200,000+ followers. Mark Zuckerberg’s Metaminions decided Duquette’s incisive and hard-hitting cartoons were just too much for Instagram. (Meta is the company that started out simply as Facebook but now includes Instagram, Threads, WhatsApp as well as other properties.) This is the same Mark Zuckerberg who in 2019 told students at Georgetown University that “Frederick Douglass once called free expression ‘the great moral renovator of society,’ and repeating Douglass’ words, ‘slavery cannot tolerate free speech’.” Apparently Duquette’s style of cartooning was intolerable. This episode is a twofer: Part One is a deep-dive into the life and times of an artist and political commentator at work. Part Two explores the aftermath, when the AI of the world’s most powerful social media company, proves incapable of discerning satire, and banishes a popular presence based on its own misunderstanding of what it thinks it knows. Support the show…

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"Conversations with THOSE People" with Pierce Watkins 45:01

vor 24 weeks45:01

45:01

Pierce Watkins is a Zen-master of epistemology. According to the Oxford English Dictionary, epistemology is “the theory of knowledge and understanding, esp. with regard to its methods, validity and scope, and the distinction between justified belief and opinion.” In other words: how do we come to know what we know, and believe what we believe, whether it’s true or not? At what point do our inherent biases take control of our brains? Pierce's current project, Compassionate Epistemology, is fascinating. He’s interested in having civil conversations around why people believe what they do and, more importantly, how they came to those conclusions. Even more importantly, how does one express an opposing view (based on, say, provable facts) without resorting to emotional violence. It's not easy. But at a time when America is a country of divided states each with their own belief system, isn’t it at least worth trying to understand where "those people" are coming from? (Maybe. I dunno…) As Christina asks, "How do you have a conversation with someone who would have stoned Galileo?" Pierce has some ideas about that. Support the show…

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"Ziklag" with Andy Kroll 1:09:09

vor 27 weeks1:09:09

1:09:09

Just when you thought you had a handle on all of the Christian Nationalist efforts to reshape America into their biblical paradise (think New Apostolic Reformation, Seven Mountains Dominionism, Jericho Marches, The Federalist Society, The Heritage Foundation, TurningPointUSA, Project 2025), along comes Ziklag, a secret society of mega millionaires created to help sway our elections toward a Christian Nationalist agenda that's also, (get this!) a tax-exempt 501(c)3! With a name right out of the Marvel Universe, you'd think it comical if it weren't for real. ProPublica reporter Andy Kroll (along with his collaborator Nick Surgey of Documented) engaged in good old fashioned investigative journalism to draw back the curtain on this nefarious group and the ultra-wealthy families (whose fortunes you likely contribute to) behind it. Support the show…

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"Faith, Interfaith and Non-Belief at the DNC" with Sarah Levin and Hemant Mehta 45:02

vor 28 weeks45:02

45:02

After a long long week of activity in Chicago, our friends Sarah Levin (Secular Strategies) and Hemant Mehta (Friendly Atheist), graciously agreed to connect for an exclusive conversation for Unreasonable listeners, recapping what they saw and heard at the Democratic National Convention, especially from a secular perspective, since over 30 percent of the Democratic party is non-religious. There was a lot of god talk coming from the podium. And we get it: Democrats have the opportunity to draw in people of faith who’ve finally had it with their anti-Christ candidate. How many of those people actually exist? Who knows, but in this game of inches it behooves us to invite them to the party and feel welcome. As they should: honest people of faith do, for the most part, share the social and moral values of secular voters. And though there’s still work to be done, tremendous strides have been taken by the party to acknowledge their reliable None voters. Sarah and Hemant walk us through them on this special DNC episode of Unreasonable. Support the show…

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"Black Nonbelievers" with Mandisa Thomas 1:18:30

vor 29 weeks1:18:30

1:18:30

The Black Church is as American as anything you can name. For so many, the promise of a glorious afterlife gave, and gives, succor to a lifetime of hardship here on Earth. The influence of its sacred music is directly linked to the secular music we all listen to and enjoy today, from Jazz to Soul to R&B to Rock nd Roll. And for that we can be grateful. But despite the prevalance of church culture in the African-American community, and American society as a whole, many Black people reject the idea of an afterllife and a god that oversees it. For them, Jesus was a salve foisted on their ancestors by slaveholders who needed their property to behave. Mandisa Thomas is the founder and president of Black Nonbelievers, an organization that promotes atheism among the Black community, and provides communal shelter from a world that often ostracizes nonbelievers. She is a happy warrior in the battle of certainty vs. skepticism. Listen now, and then check out these resources to learn more. Black Nonbelievers Pew Research: History of Faith Among Black Americans gOD-Talk Film and Web Series ”Black Nonreligious Americans” Survey by Black Nonbelievers and American Atheists Black Nonreligious Survey Black Christians vs. Black Nonbelievers Debate Cringe Alert: Kent Hovind Debate Black Freethinkers by Chris Cameron Dr. Tony Pinn Candace Gorham Support the show…

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"There Are More of Us" Live From TNR'S Stop Trump Summit 50:44

vor 31 weeks50:44

50:44

Ten weeks ago Joe Biden was still the Democratic candidate for president and Donald Trump was…well…still Donald Trump (and he’s only become a more extreme version of himself since). Yet somehow, these two — one, a decent career civil servant, the other a loathsome career self-servant — were neck-and-neck in polling. And Democrats were losing their shit. It was then, in mid-May, that The New Republic magazine convened a group of academics, lawyers, journalists, activists, politicians and pundits in Philadelphia for their Stop Trump Summit. It was at once illuminating and comforting for an audience desperate to be talked off the ledge if only for that one afternoon. The event’s theme song might well have been “How Do You Solve a Problem Like The Donald?” Now that Kamala Harris is the presumptive nominee, it is still worth revisiting that event, because it wasn’t so much about Biden as about the other guy. And though Biden’s handoff and Harris’s launch have gone off fairly smoothly and met with tremendous early enthusiasm, the problem of Trump, like a bad case of impetigo, persists. Panels ranged from the threats to democracy posed by a second Trump administration (who only this week promised "my beautiful Christians" that if they voted him in it would be the last time they'd ever have to vote), to the impact of the Dobbs decision, to voter registration strategies. Among the speakers: PA State Senator Vincent Hughes, and podcaster and pundit Molly Jong-Fast. Support the show…

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"Kids Today" Live from the 2024 Secular Student Alliance Conference 1:39:08

vor 33 weeks1:39:08

1:39:08

Last month, David and Christina attended the annual Secular Student Alliance conference, held this year in sweltering Little Rock, Arkansas. It's a gathering of college students from campuses around the country seeking community and inspiration. That opportunity is especially important at a time when, being reason-based, one feels increasingly outnumbered. They presented our “So You Want to Be An Organizer” workshop and conducted a series of run-and-gun interviews, collaring speakers like author Anne Nelson and "The Thinking Atheist" Seth Andrews, as well as student attendees. What you'll hear from the students may disturb you. The students they spoke with are struggling, trying to calibrate their own moral compasses in a world where morality seems to shift with the tide. What to make of a world where pious churchgoers worship the anti-Christ, where the "good guy" signs off on arms in support of genocide, and where so many of the lessons they learned in American history class turned out to be deeply biased at best, or just wrong? You may agree or disagree with what you'll hear, but attention must be paid. Because their vote – or non-vote – may be the difference between keeping our democracy and the end of the American experiment. Support the show…

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"What in God's Name is Going On?" with Alison Gill 54:18

vor 35 weeks54:18

54:18

This was an especially nutty week in America. And none of it had to do with a particular televised debate or even the Supreme Court’s ruling on presidential immunity. This week the state of Louisiana mandated that The Ten Commandments be displayed in every one of its public school classrooms. In Oklahoma, in the wake of the state’s Supreme Court decision to disallow the establishment of the country’s first publicly-funded religious charter school, Ryan Waters, the state’s education superintendent, issued a requirement that the bible be placed in all public school classrooms. We parse the immediate and long-term implications of both of these issues with Alison Gill, Vice President for Legal and Policy at American Atheists. Alison also helps us understand "the Chevron deference” in light of the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision last week in Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo to ignore the expertise of federal agencies in favor of politically-appointed and inexpert judges with their own ideological leanings. So much to unpack. Support the show…

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"Engaging the Politically Unengaged" with Kadida Kenner 1:01:27

vor 37 weeks1:01:27

1:01:27

Kadida Kenner and her organization The New Pennsylvania Project — modeled after Stacy Abrams’ New Georgia Project — is focused on engaging with and registering voters in communities whose doors are rarely knocked. NPP is doing a tremendous job across the Commonwealth, and her insights into the current mindset of voters, particular minority voters 35 and under, is an important one that you should hear. And that, hopefully, will inspired you to get involved. Links to references from this episode : https://www.newpaproject.org/npp-team/ https://powerinterfaith.org https://www.ncjw.org https://www.pahouse.com/McClinton/ https://radio.foxnews.com/2024/03/28/scott-presler-on-early-voting-amish-voter-impact-and-his-luscious-locks/ https://www.badfaithdocumentary.com https://whyy.org/articles/jayz-pennsylvania-legislature-private-school-vouchers-jeff-yass/ Support the show…

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