We’re back! In this month’s episode, we have the first of our ‘What The Hell Is A…?’ interviews. We talk to Cat Treadwell, trustee of the Druid Network and full-time Druid priest. She talked to us about faith in society, living with awareness, and how her role is being defined by members of her community – among other topics related to Druidry. She’s living out a fascinating role in her community, so she has a unique perspective on the relationship between spirituality and society. This month we also have the usual fare of Religious News – in a month that’s seen big debates over the role of religion in UK public life – and How’s Your Spirituality.

We’d like to apologise that we seem to be having sound issues again this month. We’ll try and work them out before we release the next episode! We didn’t want to deprive you of the wonderful interview with Cat, so we hope you’ll understand.

You can find Cat on her blog The Catbox, on twitter as @druid_cat, and in the pages of her forthcoming book, ‘A Druid’s Tale’. We can be found at our new Facebook page (search for ‘Divine Community’) or at the blog, and you can still follow us on twitter, where we are @AmadoreEdana123 and @SophiaCandle.

(Religious news links to follow in the next post.)

Promos played this month were for Oh No, Ross and Carrie and Druidcast.

Enjoy! Give us feedback! Enjoy!

http://divinecommunity.podbean.com/2011/12/05/ep-4-its-the-most-religious-time-of-the-year/

Episode 4 was meant to be a minisode. It’s 40 mins long. We talk too much. In particular, this ep we’re talking about some of the religious holidays that are going on at this time of year – from the Pagan festival of Samhain to the secular British celebration of Guy Fawkes Night. We recorded most of this a few weeks ago (and then my computer died), but the holidays are still going on and so are we. Hurrah.

Festivals we discuss this episode include:
Samhain (Pagan)
Dia de los Muertos (syncretic Latin American)
Halloween (non-religious)
All Saints’ and All Souls’ Days (Christian)
Eid al-Adha and Al-Hijra (Muslim)
Diwali (Hindu, Sikh and Jain)
Paryushana (Jain)
Birth of Baha’u'llah (Baha’i)
Guy Fawkes Night (non-religious)

In Living Faith we also interview Ess Jay about several Jewish festivals of this time of year, including Rosh Hashana and Hanukkah.

Poems read during the show: Mensaje en Colores by Julie Sopetran and The Listeners by Walter De La Mere. See http://library.thinkquest.org/trio/TTQ03066/poems.html for the Spanish text and an English translation of Mensaje en Colores (Message in Colours).

Promos: Between the Earth and the Stars and Inciting a Riot, whose hosts have both contributed to the show. Thank you to them!

Music:
Main theme – The Scene by Ann Lynn
Living Faith theme – Ocean by Iona Leigh
Both are open source and available at musicalley.com.

We’ll make sure to put up those pictures of Diwali and Dia de los Muertos soon. Enjoy the show!

Here are those religious news links I promised!

- Fourteen Peruvian shamans murdered:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/oct/06/peru-shaman-murders?INTCMP=SRCH
http://www.patheos.com/blogs/wildhunt/2011/10/whos-murdering-peruvian-shamans.html

- Attack on Coptic Christians in Egypt

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2011/oct/10/attack-on-egyptian-christians-not-sectarian?CMP=twt_fd
http://213.158.162.45/~egyptian/index.php?action=news&id=22211&title=Egypt’s%20blogger%20detained%20for%20further%2015%20days

- Death of Japanese girl blamed on Buddhist sect ‘exorcism’

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/japan/8792357/Teenage-girl-dies-in-Japan-exorcism.html
http://mdn.mainichi.jp/mdnnews/news/20110928p2a00m0na012000c.html

- Christian pastor facing execution in Iran for refusing to ‘repent’ of his faith

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/religious-right-now/post/clearing-up-the-facts-on-pastor-nadarkhanis-fate/2011/10/13/gIQA7drNhL_blog.html
http://religion.blogs.cnn.com/2011/10/14/lawyer-international-pressure-has-not-helped-iranian-pastor%E2%80%99s-case/

- Google puts five of the Dead Sea Scrolls online

http://religion.blogs.cnn.com/2011/09/26/google-makes-5-dead-sea-scrolls-searchable/
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/sep/26/dead-sea-scrolls-online?CMP=twt_fd

- Vatican reacts after BBC suggests using terms ‘CE’ and ‘BCE’ when dating years

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/8808388/Vatican-attacks-BBCs-senseless-hypocrisy.html

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/09/27/bbc-drops-bc-ad-dating-method_n_984081.html?ncid=edlinkusaolp00000008

And some other news we didn’t have time for in the episode…

- The organisation Christian Research, which monitors attendance at churches, has concluded that church attendance in the UK has recently increased by a small percentage. This is interesting in the light of the research I mentioned last episode which showed a small decrease in attendance in the US. However, these appear to be very small percentage increases, and we can’t really draw any conclusions until we can see if a pattern of increase or decrease emerges over a few years. UK churches are celebrating these increases, but it remains to be seen whether they can reverse the massive decreases in attendance that have happened over the last few years.

http://churchmousepublishing.blogspot.com/2010/09/christian-research-church-attendance-in.html

- Three deaths after London church advises people to stop taking HIV medication:

http://www.pinknews.co.uk/2011/10/18/three-deaths-after-london-church-advice-to-stop-taking-hiv-medicine/

- Occupy Wall Street and other cities in the international Occupy movement are seeing a strong presence from the interfaith movement and from people of faith in general, including Pagans. In the UK, the Occupy London movement is based at St Paul’s cathedral, which has caused disagreements in the Anglican church over what the reaction to this should be. Both the dean and canon chancellor of the cathedral have resigned. Occupy St Paul’s is still there, but facing legal action – they may be gone by the end of today.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/blog/2011/nov/17/occupy-london-st-paul-s-protesters-face-eviction

http://www.miamiherald.com/2011/11/17/2506699/occupy-london-protesters-vow-to.html

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2011/oct/31/dean-st-pauls-resigns-occupy

- No churches now survive in Afghanistan:

http://blog.beliefnet.com/news/2011/10/state-department-reports-no-churches-survive-in-afghanistan.php

- US Catholic bishop charged with failing to report child abuse:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/oct/15/bishop-charged-failing-report-abuse?INTCMP=SRCH

- ‘Ministerial exception’ and disability employment: should churches and other religious institutions be exempt from the Americans with Disabilities Act when it comes to employing disabled workers?

http://www.theatlantic.com/national/archive/2011/09/church-state-and-the-americans-with-disabilities-act/245854/
http://www.patheos.com/community/paganswithdisabilities/2011/09/29/faith-based-employers-vs-americans-with-disability-act/
http://www.patheos.com/blogs/wildhunt/2011/10/ministerial-exception-and-minority-religions.html

- Is there an atheist-shaped hole in the inter-faith movement?

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/belief/2011/oct/10/atheists-interfaith-movement?CMP=twt_gu

Episode 3! Religion vs Spirituality.

http://divinecommunity.podbean.com/2011/11/15/ep-3-religion-vs-spirituality/

In which Amadore and I decide that the definitions of each don’t really matter. And then I interview Fire Lyte, of Inciting a Riot, and we decide that the definitions are very important. And now I’m confused. But that’s nothing new.

 

Many thanks to Fire Lyte for coming on the show to debate the issue of religion and spirituality – he had some great insights on the subject.

 

Also, I must apologise for the length of time it’s taken to release this episode. We recorded the interview in early October, and then circumstances conspired. We also continue to be sorry about the sound problems! I’ve just bought a new mic, so we’ll see if that helps from next ep onwards.

 

Segments in this episode:

- How’s Your Spirituality
- Religious News
- Main Topic: Religion and Spirituality
- Debating the Divine:  Interview with Fire Lyte of Inciting a Riot about religion, spirituality, Paganism, and the definitions of all these things and more.

Promos played this episode:
The Infinite and the Beyond
New World Witchery

Other credits:
Opening and closing music – ‘The Scene’, Ann Lynn
Main topic theme – a selection of open source recordings of religious ceremonies/services

I’ll be back with a separate post soon, to give you the religious news links (because uploading this episode took forever and it is now bedtime). See you soon!

Here’s a (relatively!) short promo for the show. We’d love it if some podkin would be willing to play it on their shows. Thank you in advance!

http://divinecommunity.podbean.com/2011/10/14/divine-community-promo/

We are now on Podcast Alley. Feel free to vote for us, if you’d like to! Meanwhile, we’re working on the next episode, which will be out very soon. Thanks for continuing to listen!

We’re back! Already! A new, possibly-occasionally-recurring format for the main topic today: Discussing the Divine, in which I have, well, a discussion about religion and the Divine with someone. But with a bit of a theme to pull it together. Really. In today’s main topic, I discuss secular Judaism, as well as what makes religion and community, with the lovely-but-cranky Ess Jay. Who I hope will be back on other occasions for more Discussing the Divine (if you like her!) And as you’ll realise if you know the Jewish calendar, we recorded this about a week ago. So Ess Jay’s final challenge to listeners is a bit out of date! Sorry – but you can still make it relevant…

Download the show from Podbean or subscribe in  iTunes.

Segments

- Intro: You’ve been downloading the show! Thank you so much!

- Religious News: The controversial Islamic community centre in Lower Manhattan opens; the possibility of same-sex marriage in the UK; a retired Roman Catholic bishop calls for an end to celibacy for priests; does Estonia really show us a vision of a Neo-Pagan future for the religious world?

- Discussing the Divine: An atheist Jew and an aspiring mystic with inconsistent beliefs walk into a bar… Topics we covered included secular Judaism; how society’s (i.e. our) expectations of a religion can vary wildly; how and why religious/spiritual people label ourselves; how far we ‘filter’ our beliefs; and how much effort we should put into exploring other religions. Then Ess Jay gives us all homework. Including me!

- Some Promos And The Closing Bit: How you can subscribe to the show and how you can contact us.

Articles referred to in the Religious News section of the episode:

Ground Zero Mosque opened to public Wednesday

Make-Your-Own Religion? More and more Americans are doing it, according to new book ‘Futurecast’

Is Estonia really the least religious country in the world?

Bishop of Derry calls to end to celibacy in Catholic church

France’s burka ban: women are effectively under house arrest

Stories we didn’t get a chance to talk about in detail:

Four ways 9/11 changed America’s attitude toward religion

It’s time to scrap the law to provide daily worship in UK schools

When atheism turns ugly

How the fear of being criminalised has forced Muslims into silence

On another news story I didn’t get a chance to talk about, I also recommend this post on the Inciting a Riot blog  for discussion on the recent move to offer some convicted criminals a choice between prison and church. Controversial? Exclusive of those following religions other than Christianity, or of atheists? Or just people up in arms on behalf of local non-religious people/minority religions who haven’t complained themselves? Do comment, either on Fire Lyte’s blog or here!

Podcasts whose promos we played this episode:

The Wigglian Way

Borealis Meditation: Geology for Pagans

I’ll say a bit more about Estonia and religious trends/predictions in a later blog post. For now, I hope you enjoy the episode – and do continue to let us know what you think, either here or via twitter, where I can be found @SophiaCandle and Amadore can be found @AmadoreEdana123. You can subscribe to the show via iTunes, which is the easiest way to keep in touch with when there’s a new episode. We’ll be back within the next couple of weeks. Meanwhile, I’m off to get on with that homework that Ess Jay set…

You can now subscribe to Divine Community in iTunes. Which is very exciting. We’ve even been featured in the ‘New and Noteworthy’ section for the ‘Religion and Spirituality: Other’ category. Not bad for a brand new show!

Talking of which, thank you all SO much for downloading, commenting on the blog, and tweeting us with feedback. It’s just great to hear that you enjoyed the pilot episode. Keep us posted with your thoughts, especially if you want to get involved, be interviewed, suggest topics, or just tell us what you think of the show so far.

And if you do subscribe in iTunes, you can keep up with any new episodes we release. That would be to your advantage, as I am currently editing the NEW episode. If I can just sort out my sound levels for different segments. Ah, the learning experience. Anyway, we hope to release your all-new episode of Divine Community in the next couple of days. See you then!

We can at last present to you… Divine Community: the pilot episode!  http://divinecommunity.podbean.com/2011/09/13/pilot-episode/ (It might be a while before it’s approved on iTunes, but we’ll keep you posted on that.)

Feedback welcome, and we’d love to hear your thoughts generally. We know the sound wasn’t 100% – we’ve had microphone problems, but we’ll endeavour to make sure that we use better mics from here on!

Many, many thanks to the wonderful podkin who shared their thoughts, in e-mail or mp3 form. Your comments were thought-provoking and insightful. I just hope our conversation about the comments did them justice.

Segments

- Living Faith: our personal stories of faith and society.

- Religious News: faith communities’ responses to the recent UK riots.

- Main topic 1: Why Religion? Some wonderful podkin share their views on religion and society with us, and we discuss these.

- Main topic 2:  Why Society? I talk about why society matters in relation to religion.

How to contact us

You can comment here  on the blog, or tweet us at @sophiacandle or @amadoreedana123. More ways to contact us coming soon!

Resources and References

Bloggers who were kind enough to share comments:

Sparrow from The Wigglian Way

Cory from New World Witchery

Oraia from Media Astra Ac Terra

Kathleen from Borealis Meditation

Chris from The Infinite and the Beyond

Paganism:

We talked – very briefly! – about Neo-Paganism as an umbrella grouping of faith paths. Here are some more resources on that – in addition to the wonderful Pagan podcasts above!

The BBC Religions guide to Paganism

The Inciting a Riot blog and podcast

The UK Pagan Federation

Islam and Society:

The podcast I mentioned on this topic is Islam: Culture, Religion and Politics. It’s definitely worth a listen.

And that’s all for now, folks. Let us know what you thought. We look forward to hearing from you, and we hope to be back soon!

We are working on the Divine Community podcast, and hope that it will be out within the next week or so. In the meantime, mainly because Sophia Catherine is a shameless publicity whore, we thought we’d release the blog a bit ahead of time, so that you can get your news about the Divine Community podcast before anyone else. Apart from other blog readers.

This week’s religious news

Eid Mubarak to our Muslim friends! Just in time for the holiday, this survey about Muslims in America has a few interesting conclusions. Although not as many as it could have. Meanwhile, I’m always happy to hear of interfaith celebrations, so I like this report of an Eid dinner shared between a Muslim mosque and a Jewish synagogue in Maryland.

We’ll see you in about a week’s time, hopefully complete with a podcast!