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An Atheist’s Prayer.

Posted by John on June 22nd, 2006 at 4:25 pm · 4 Comments

Mind on Fire now has it’s very own podcast! I christened it An Atheist’s Prayer (the title is loosely taken from a talk I gave at Sunstone a couple of years ago called “A Skeptic’s Prayer” (Adobe PDF link)).

I decided to create the podcast when I had a difficult time finding ones that fit my interests. Most casts seem to come from within a tradition, and although there are some really good ones (Mormon Stories and SunstonePodcast are two of my favorites), I wanted to hear ones that dealt with a variety of approaches to both religion and spirituality in a thoughtful and critical manner (there are a lot of critical shows out there as well, but they seem to have nothing positive to say about religion).

In my vision for the show, An Atheist’s Prayer dwells in a place full of tension. There’s the security of religious community and the private call of the spirit/conscience and the ongoing struggle between belief and doubt. I plan to do a show that looks at Jesus, Buddha, Mohammed and others as skeptics, heretics and radicals, and another one that looks at what science has to say about mystical experiences. The listeners I want to target are believers who feel constrained by tradition and skeptics who want to know how they can access the sense of connection and community that religion can provide, without giving up their integrity and autonomy. Like the mind on fire blog, it’s also part of my pilgrimage (I’d like to record one or two OC Pilgrimage visits to the podcast as well).

The first podcast was fun to produce, in part because this was a new thing and there was much to learn, but mostly because Jana and I were able to work on it together. She’s starting to listen to more podcasts now, and I’m hoping that between the two of us (and others we may con recruit), we’ll be able to get some good shows going. Because it is our first, it’s pretty rough, but I think that the quality of both the sound and our presentation will increase with each new show.

My goal is to put a new one out each week. Please listen, and post your feedback!

Tags: Doubt · Getting over Religion · Podcast · Skeptic

4 responses so far ↓

  • 1 John Dehlin // Jun 23, 2006 at 6:49 am

    Oooooo. HOOOOORAAAAAAAAAAAY!!!!!

    Please email me every time you release an episode, or tell me if/when you’re in iTunes!!!

    Also, have you ever listend to “Left, Right and Center” or “Pardon the Interruption (PTI)?”?

    I think it would be super cool to do a multi-person, talk show format around religion, pop culture, current events, etc.

    Let me know if you’re interested.

  • 2 Miko // Jun 26, 2006 at 5:25 am

    I, too, vote for an iTunes version…I have so many podcasts that I’m subscribed to thatiTunes is the only way for me to make sense of it!

    I read your Skeptic’s Prayer (or what I could—it seemed that the end of the article was missing) from your link to Sunstone. I may just have to add Sunstone to my list of daily reads. In short, I found the piece moving & beautiful.

    (the rest of this is in response, more to your essay, than to your post…sorry)

    In long,
    I immediately responded to your comment that prayer is a hard habit to break. Although I no longer really consider myself religious, I still find myself praying; or feeling the need for prayer. My husband, who has never been religious, taught me a beautiful practice: before each meal, once everything’s been placed & we’re about to dig in, we hold hands with everyone seated there & give thanks where it is due: to the cooks, the table-setters, the guests for their presence. I find this acknowledgement before breaking bread (or, more often, pasta) fills a space that my lack-of-prayer left.
    In addition, your comment on the Japanese language’s careful selection of pronouns and verb endings resonated. I barely speak Japanese, but am bilingual with German. It seems to me that the English language is poorer for its loss of the familiar “thou” (and with it, the formal “you”) distinction. In German prayers, the opposite (to what I understood you to say happens in Japanese) happens: the Divine is familiar. When you speak to the Divine, you say “Thou”, as Jesus said, “Daddy” (Abba) rather than “Father”. While I see arguments for both usages, I like the feeling that the Divine is so accessable. I don’t have to use the formal & flowery speech I would use with an elder, better, or stranger; the Divine is my Friend, the Divine meets me on my level since it is impossible that I could raise myself to meet the Divine.
    Finally (I promise), I really like the fact that you pray over IM. Most of my prayers are (& have always been) sub-vocal. I’ve never really explored why, but it occurs to me that I’ve felt the Divine could hear me, whether I said anything or not: knowledge of the deepest heart of me & all that. But prayer is not always a private thing & I love that you & your wife pray together: a joint act of submission (islam) to the Divine. Clearly, the Divine is just as technosavvy as those who pray :)

    Okay, I lied, one final comment/question: my husband & I have been driving cross-country on I-80 (through SLC and then into other Mormon areas) and learning about the Mormon emmigration. All these reminders of Mormons make me think of the people I know (if I can claim that I “know” you) who are Mormon. Knowing now that your conversion happened around the same time (life-span-wise) as my deconversion, I’m curious what drew you to the Mormon faith.

  • 3 John // Jun 27, 2006 at 5:40 am

    Miko, thank you so much for this feedback on my essay. We’re traveling right now, but I’m going to try to respond in an email to you (and I’ll also see if I can get you the rest of the essay!)

    It sounds like you’ve picked a wonderful husband! I like that his thanksgiving is a reminder of the dependencies even in something as simple as a meal at home.

  • 4 NATE Miller // Jul 31, 2006 at 5:24 pm

    Hello John Remy– This is your old friend Nate Miller. Will you give me a call sometime, I would love to hear from you. 435-XXX-XXXX. Thanks, Nate

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