FORA.tv Religion Today Podcast
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FORA.tv's bi-weekly audio podcast on issues in religion.
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Deepak Chopra - Reinventing the Body, Resurrecting the Soul: How to Create a New You
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Wed, Nov 18, 2009
Spiritual guru Deepak Chopra talks about his book, Reinventing the Body, Resurrecting the Soul: How to Create a New You. This program was recorded in collaboration with Berkeley Arts and Letters, on October 22, 2009.
"You can't change the body without changing the self, and you can't change the self without bringing in the soul," says Deepak Chopra, a renowned pioneer in holistic medicine. Chopra believes the highest choice is to reinvent your body and resurrect your soul.
He discusses aging, the many lifestyle diseases he says are the result of the steady loss of energy inside the body, and how awareness can reverse the process.
From early childhood, each of us has been inventing our body, through beliefs, habits, conditioning, and our mental responses to everyday stress. We've done this unconsciously, and may now feel dissatisfaction on all levels: body, mind and spirit.
Reinventing the Body, Resurrecting the Soul offers three keys to creating the self you desire: the soul shift, the subtle action, and the core participation. Chopra's message is that your highest vision of yourself can be turned into physical reality. - Commonwealth Club of California
Deepak Chopra is the author of more than fifty books translated into more than thirty-five languages. Dr. Chopra is a fellow of the American College of Physicians, a member of the American Association of Clinical Endocrinologists, adjunct professor at the Kellogg School of Management, and a senior scientist with the Gallup Organization. He is founder and president of the Alliance for a New Humanity.
Time magazine heralds Deepak Chopra as one of the top 100 heroes and icons of the century and credits him as "the poet–prophet of alternative medicine."
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Richard Dawkins - The Evidence for Evolution
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Wed, Nov 04, 2009
Celebrated biologist Richard Dawkins talks about his book, The Greatest Show on Earth: The Evidence for Evolution. This program was recorded in collaboration with Berkeley Arts and Letters, on October 7, 2009.
Richard Dawkins' The God Delusion created a storm of controversy over the question of God's existence. Now, in The Greatest Show on Earth, Dawkins presents a stunning counterattack against advocates of "Intelligent Design" that explains the evidence for evolution while keeping an eye trained on the absurdities of the creationist argument.
More than an argument of his own, it's a thrilling tour into our distant past and into the interstices of life on earth. Taking us through the case for evolution step-by-step, Dawkins looks at DNA, selective breeding, anatomical similarities, molecular family trees, geography, time, fossils, vestiges and imperfections, human evolution, and the formula for a strong scientific theory.
Dawkins' trademark wit and ferocity is joined by an infectious passion for the beauty and strangeness of the natural world, proving along the way that the mechanisms of the natural world are more miraculous -- a "greater show" -- than any creation story generated by any religion on earth. - Berkeley Arts and Letters
Richard Dawkins is a world-renowned evolutionary biologist and author. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society and, until recently, held the Charles Simonyi Chair of Public Understanding of Science at Oxford University. His first book, The Selfish Gene, was an instant international bestseller, and has become an established classic work of modern evolutionary biology.
He is also the author of The Blind Watchmaker, River Out of Eden, Climbing Mount Improbable, Unweaving the Rainbow, A Devil's Chaplain, The Ancestor's Tale The God Delusion, and most recently, The Greatsest Show on Earth.
Professor Dawkins's awards have included the Silver Medal of the Zoological Society of London (1989), the Royal Society's Michael Faraday Award (1990), the Nakayama Prize for Achievement in Human Science (1990), The International Cosmos Prize (1997) and the Kistler Prize (2001).
He has Honorary Doctorates in both literature and science, and is a Fellow of the Royal Society.
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An Interfaith Religion Panel: Living Faith Responsibly In a Globalized World
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Wed, Oct 21, 2009
The Global Nomad Salon hosts a discussion on global religion framed around the question: "How can faith be lived responsibly in our globalized world?" - JANERA
Rabbi Justuc Baird is the Director of the Center for Multifaith Education at Auburn Seminary.
The Rev. Chloe Breyer is the Director of the Interfaith Center of New York.
Faisal Devji is a historian who specializes in studies of Islam, globalization, violence and ethics. His multidisciplinary work grounds empirical historical issues in philosophical questions. He teaches at The New School for Social Research in New York City.
Elizabeth Garnsey is an Episcopal priest of the Church of the Heavenly Rest.
Anthony Gottlieb is a rational philosopher and author of The Dream of Reason.
Dr. Uma Mysorekar is the Director of the Hindu Temple Association of North America.
Sharon Salzberg is a Buddhist teacher and author of among others The Kindness Handbook.
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The Atheon Project: A Temple of Science for Rational Belief
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Wed, Oct 07, 2009
Is the future of religion scientific? Is the future of science religious? UC Berkeley and the Magnes co-host a panel discussion on faith and reason in the 21st Century, inspired by The Atheon, a public artwork by Jonathon Keats - The Judah L. Magnes Museum
Robert A. Burton, M.D., graduated from Yale University and the University of California at San Francisco medical school, where he also completed his neurology residency. At age thirty-three, he was appointed chief of the Division of Neurology at Mt. Zion-UCSF Hospital, where he subsequently became Associate Chief of the Department of Neurosciences. His non-neurology writing career includes three critically acclaimed novels and a neuroscience and culture column at Salon.com-- Mind Reader. He lives in the San Francisco Bay Area.
John Campbell is Professor of Philosophy at UC Berkeley and author of Past, Space and Self (1994) and Reference and Consciousness (2002).
Alla Efimova is the Chief Curator at the Judah L. Magnes Museum.
Jonathon Keats is a conceptual artist, novelist, and critic. He is creator of Atheon. For his most recent exhibition, at Modernism Gallery in San Francisco, he customized the metric system. He has also attempted to genetically engineer God in a petri dish, in collaboration with scientists at the University of California, and petitioned Berkeley to pass a fundamental law of logic. He has been awarded Yaddo and MacDowell fellowships, and his projects have been documented by The San Francisco Chronicle, KQED-TV, and the BBC World Service.
Dr. Iian Roth is Senior Physicist, Space Sciences Laboratory, UC Berkeley. Dr. Ilan Roth has extensive experience in the application of analytical and numerical methods to problems in space physics: aurora, cusp, ring current, planets, solar and astrophysical environments. He is Co-Investigator on the Cluster satellites and is involved in the FAST, WIND and POLAR satellite projects. He is the co-author of the theory of the He-3 and heavy ions acceleration in solar flares as well as numerous magnetospheric acceleration processes from thermal auroral ions to relativistic electrons. He was also involved in an analysis of the recently discovered spikes on auroral field lines.
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Gene Robinson - Strength, Spirituality, and Being a Gay Bishop in America
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Wed, Sep 23, 2009
This program was recorded in collaboration with the Tides: Momentum Conference, in San Francisco, CA, on September 7, 2009.
Bishop Gene Robinson presents at Momentum 2009 on the Power plenary: Pathways to opportunity and prosperity in America continue to be blocked by racism, homophobia, and elitism. Who defines the rules of engagement? How do private perceptions inform public choices and vice versa? How can we use ideas, network, and technology to reformulate hierarchies and enact progressive values? What does it mean to speak truth to power in the Obama era?
Robinson's momentum: "As a human being and as a Christian, I am passionate about joining God in loving and liberating the poor, the marginalized and the disenfranchised. The closer we are to those who are in the margins, the closer we get to God." - Momentum Conference
Gene Robinson is the Ninth Bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of New Hampshire. Widely recognized for his work on civil rights for gay, lesbian, and transgender people; he is also known for advocating for debt relief, socially responsible investment, and access to healthcare.
He holds two honorary doctorates and has received numerous awards from national civil rights organizations including the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force and the Equality Forum.
His story is featured in the 2007 feature-length documentary, "For the Bible Tells Me So." Bishop Robinson gave the invocation at the opening inaugural ceremonies for President Obama at the Lincoln Memorial on January 18, 2009.
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Karen Armstrong - Charter for Compassion
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Wed, S 09,
ep 16:31:40 2009, -0700
Author Karen Armstrong discusses the necessity of compassion. This program was recorded in collaboration with the Chautauqua Institution, on August 14, 2009.
Ms. Armstrong describes how Islam, Judaism and Christianity have been diverted from a shared moral purpose. She now is working with the TED community to build a Charter for Compassion. - Chautauqua Institution
Karen Armstrong is one of the most provocative, original thinkers on the role of religion in the modern world. Armstrong is a former Roman Catholic nun who left a British convent to pursue a degree in modern literature at Oxford. In 1982 she wrote a book about her seven years in the convent, Through the Narrow Gate, that angered and challenged Catholics worldwide; her recent book The Spiral Staircase discusses her subsequent spiritual awakening after leaving the convent, when she began to develop her iconoclastic take on the great monotheistic religions. She has written more than 20 books around the ideas of what Islam, Judaism and Christianity have in common, and around their effect on world events, including the magisterial A History of God and Holy War: The Crusades and Their Impact on Today’s World. Her latest book is The Bible: A Biography. Her meditations on personal faith and religion (she calls herself a freelance monotheist) spark discussion — especially her take on fundamentalism, which she sees in a historical context, as an outgrowth of modern culture.
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Elie Wiesel - What Makes Us Moral?
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Wed, Aug 26, 2009
Humanitarian and Night author Elie Wiesel lectures on the theme "What Makes Us Moral: An Abrahamic Perspective." This program was recorded in collaboration with the Chautauqua Institution, on July 27, 2009.
Wiesel draws on his experience as a survivor of the Nazi concentration camps as well as contemporary global issues for evidence of what makes a moral or immoral society. - Chautauqua Institution
Elie Wiesel was born in 1928 in Sighet, Transylvania, which is now part of Romania. He was fifteen years old when he and his family were deported by the Nazis to Auschwitz. His mother and younger sister perished, his two older sisters survived. Elie and his father were later transported to Buchenwald, where his father died shortly before the camp was liberated in April 1945. After the war, Elie Wiesel studied in Paris and later became a journalist. During an interview with the distinguished French writer, Francois Mauriac, he was persuaded to write about his experiences in the death camps. The result was his internationally acclaimed memoir, La Nuit or Night, which has since been translated into more than thirty languages. In 1978, President Jimmy Carter appointed Elie Wiesel as Chairman of the President's Commission on the Holocaust. In 1980, he became the Founding Chairman of the United States Holocaust Memorial Council. He is also the Founding President of the Paris-based Universal Academy of Cultures and the Chairman of The Elie Wiesel Foundation for Humanity, an organization he and his wife created to fight indifference, intolerance and injustice. Elie Wiesel has received more than 100 honorary degrees from institutions of higher learning.
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Jaimal Yogis - Saltwater Buddha: A Surfer's Qest to Find Zen on the Sea
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Wed, Aug 12, 2009
Jaimal Yogis discusses his book, Saltwater Buddha: A Surfer's Qest to Find Zen on the Sea. This program was recorded in collaboration with Books Inc, in San Francisco, CA, on July 17, 2009.
Fed up with suburban teenage life, Jaimal Yogis ran off to Hawaii with little more than a copy of Hermann Hesse's Siddhartha and enough cash for a surfboard. His journey is a coming-of-age saga that takes him from communes to monasteries and the icy New York shore. - Books Inc
Jaimal Yogis is an award-winning journalist and photographer who spends a good deal of his spare time surfing and traveling the globe. He has a master’s degree in Journalism from Columbia University and his work has been published in The Washington Post, The Chicago Tribune, The Toronto Star, The Surfers Journal, Beliefnet, Tricycle, San Francisco Magazine, and many others. Saltwater Buddha, which has been internationally praised and is the subject of a forthcoming PBS documentary, is his first book, but he is currently working on a second while also traveling on an extensive book tour (along the coasts of course). You can follow Yogis on Facebook and Twitter.
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Ian Morison - God and the Universe
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Wed, Jul 29, 2009
A complete video of this presentation is available at: http://fora.tv/2008/12/01/Ian_Morison_God_and_the_Universe
Astronomer Ian Morison makes the scientific case for God. This program was recorded in collaboration with Gresham College, in London, U.K., on December 1, 2008.
With scientific knowledge ever-progressing, is there space left for God? Is there going to be a time when science will have uncovered all the secrets of the universe and proven that there is no Divinity? As science progresses, is the belief in God becoming ever-more irrational and ridiculous? Ian Morison explains why God will never be ruled out by scientific progress - Gresham College
Ian Morison made his first telescope at the age of 12 with lenses given to him by his optician. Having studied Physics, Maths and Astronomy at Oxford he became a radio astronomer at the Jodrell Bank Observatory and teaches Astronomy and Cosmology at the University of Manchester. Over 25 years he has also taught Observational Astronomy to many hundreds of adult students in the North West of England. An active amateur optical astronomer, he is a council member and past president of the Society for Popular Astronomy in the United Kingdom. At Jodrell Bank he was a designer of the 217 KM MERLIN array and has coordinated the Project Phoenix SETI Observations using the Lovell Radio Telescope. He contributes astronomy articles and reviews for New Scientist and Astronomy Now, and produces a monthly sky guide on the Observatory's website.
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Abdul Mawgoud Dardery - The Muslim Perspective
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Wed, Jul 15, 2009
Dr. Abdul Mawgoud Dardery discusses the Muslim perspective and people, in a conversation with Bishop Steven Charleston. This program was recorded in collaboration with Grace Cathedral, in San Francisco, CA, on February 15, 2009.
Dr. Abdul Mawgoud Dardery is an assistant professor of Cultural Studies and Critical Discourse, English Department, at South Valley University (Luxor, Egypt). He has 20 years of teaching in the US and in the Middle East.
Bishop Steven Charleston is the provost of San Francisco's Grace Cathedral. He is widely recognized as a leading proponent for justice issues and for spiritual renewal in the church in both the United States and Canada. A citizen of the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma, Bishop Charleston was born and raised in that state in a family that has had a long history of service in the Christian Native American community. Both his grandfather and great-grandfather were ordained ministers of the Presbyterian Church, serving among the Choctaw People in rural Oklahoma.
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Charles Taylor - The Future of the Secular
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Wed, Jul 01, 2009
Philosophy professor Charles Taylor discusses the past, present and future of religious secularism in America. This program was recorded in collaboration with the New School, in New York, NY, on March 5, 2009.
Charles Taylor, Professor Emeritus of Philosophy, McGill University treats the term "secular" with several different meanings which, for a variety of reasons can't be simply ironed out and reduced to one, hence the inevitability of confusions and cross-purposes. - The New School
Charles Margrave Taylor, CC, GOQ, BA, MA, Ph.D, FRSC (born November 5, 1931) is a Canadian philosopher who has made significant contributions to political philosophy, philosophy of social science, and the history of philosophy. He is often classified as a communitarian, though he is uncomfortable with the label. He is a practicing Roman Catholic. Taylor was educated at the McGill University (B.A. in History in 1952) and at Balliol College, Oxford (B.A. in Philosophy, Politics and Economics in 1955, M.A. in 1960, D.Phil in 1961), where he studied under Isaiah Berlin and G. E. M. Anscombe. He succeeded John Plamenatz as Chichele Professor of Social and Political Theory in the University of Oxford and Fellow of All Souls College and was for many years Professor of Political Science and Philosophy at McGill University in Montreal, Canada, where he is now professor emeritus. Taylor is now Board of Trustees Professor of Law and Philosophy at Northwestern University.
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Scotty McLennan - Was Jesus a Liberal?
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Wed, Jun 17, 2009
Rev. Scotty McLennan talks about his book, Jesus Was a Liberal: Reclaiming Christianity for All. This program was recorded at Kepler's Books, in Menlo Park, CA, on May 26, 2009.
In Scotty McLennan's bold call to reclaim ownership of Christianity, he advocates a sense of religion based not on doctrinal readings of scripture but on the humanity behind Christ's teachings. He addresses such topics as intelligent design, abortion, same sex marriage, war, torture and much, much more.
As he says in the Preface, "We liberal Christians know in our hearts that there is much more to life than seems to meet the rational eye of atheists; yet we find it hard to support supernatural claims about religion that fly in the face of scientific evidence." - Kepler's Books
The Rev. Scotty McLennan is the dean for religious life at Stanford University. He was the university Chaplain at Tufts University from 1984 to 2000, and senior lecturer at the Harvard Business School for ten of those years. McLennan received his B.A. from Yale University in 1970 as a Scholar of the House working in the area of computers and the mind.
He received his M.Div. and J.D. degrees from Harvard Divinity and Law Schools in 1975. In 1975, he was also ordained to the ministry (Unitarian Universalist) and admitted to the Massachusetts bar as an attorney. He is the author of Finding Your Religion and was the inspiration for Doonesbury's Rev. Scott Sloan.
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Reza Aslan - In Conversation with Phil Bronstein
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Wed, Jun 03, 2009
FORA.tv Studios and Whole Earth Films present Reza Aslan, scholar and acclaimed author of No God But God, speaking to Phil Bronstein, editor-at-large for the San Francisco Chronicle, about his new book How to Win a Cosmic War. This program was recorded on May 15, 2009.
How to Win a Cosmic War provides both an in-depth study of the ideology behind al-Qa'ida, the Taliban, and like-minded militants throughout the Muslim world, and an exploration of the tradition of religious violence found in Judaism, Christianity, and Islam.
Surveying the global scene from Israel to Iraq and from New York to the Netherlands, Aslan argues that religion is a stronger force today than it has been in a century. At a time when religion and politics are increasingly sharing the same vocabulary and functioning in the same sphere, Aslan writes that we must strip this ideological conflict of its religious connotations and address the actual grievances that fuel the Jihadist movement.
How do you win a cosmic war? By refusing to fight in one.
Reza Aslan is a writer and scholar of religions. Born in Iran, Aslan is currently a research associate at the University of Southern California's Center on Public Diplomacy. He was a visiting assistant professor of Islamic and Middle Eastern studies at the University of Iowa and the Truman Capote Fellow in Fiction at the Iowa Writer's Workshop. A frequent commentator on television, radio, and in print, Aslan is a graduate of Santa Clara University, Harvard University, and the University of Iowa. He is the author of No god but God: The Origins, Evolution and Future of Islam and How to Win a Cosmic War: Why We're Losing the War on Terror.
Phil Bronstein is the Executive Vice President and Editor at Large of the San Francisco Chronicle.
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Paul Discoe Explains Zen Architecture
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Wed, May 20, 2009
This presentation includes a number of visual aids. To view the complete video of this event, visit http://fora.tv/2009/03/21/Paul_Discoe_Talks_Zen_Architecture
Paul Discoe discusses his book, Zen Architecture: The Building Process as Practice. This program was recorded at Book Passage in Corte Madera, CA, on March 21, 2009.
In the 1960s, Paul Discoe was in on the ground floor of Zen architecture in the United States.
He became a student of Zen Buddhism, studying and building at the Tassajara complex in northern California. His own wood-based Zen-Buddhism architectural structures and renovations in the U.S. and Europe are the focus of this book. - Book Passage
An ordained Zen Buddhist Priest, Paul Discoe studied art history and philosophy as an undergraduate in the United States and later Buddhist temple design and construction in Japan. He became a student of Suzuki Roshi at Tassajara Zen Mountain Center in California and after four years, Suzuki sent him to Japan to train under a traditional master builder for five years. Upon returning, Discoe studied and worked at San Francisco Zen Center before founding Joinery Structures in 1988. Having built both temples and high end residences Discoe is now focused on pre-fab housing and furniture using the urban forest.
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Bronwyn Winter on Hijab and the Republic: Uncovering the French Headscarf Debate
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Wed, May 06, 2009
Complete video at: http://fora.tv/2009/03/19/Bronwyn_Winter_Uncovering_the_French_Headscarf_Debate
Professor Bronwyn Winter discusses her book, Hijab and the Republic: Uncovering the French Headscarf Debate. This program was recorded in collaboration with the Australian Broadcasting Corp. on March 19, 2009.
The hijab is arguably the most discussed and controversial item of women's clothing today. It has become the primary global symbol of female Muslim identity for Muslims and non-Muslims alike, and is the focus of much debate in the confrontation between Islam and the West. Nowhere has this debate been more acute or complex than in France.
In Hijab and the Republic, Bronwyn Winter provides a riveting account of the controversial 2004 French law to ban Islamic headscarves and other religious signs from public schools. While much has been written on the subject, Winter offers a unique feminist perspective, carefully delineating its political and cultural aspects.
Drawing on both scholarly literature and popular commentary, she examines the headscarf debate from its inception in 1989 through fluctuations in its intensity in public consciousness over the 1990s to its surging significance in the wake of 9/11 and the consequent shift in global politics.
Bronwyn Winter is a lecturer (professor) in the Department of French Studies at the University of Sydney. She identifies as a radical feminist political scientist and likes to stir up debate in the pursuit of what Somer Bodribb has called "the feminist potential to make sense." Her publications focus on such themes as culture and consent in human rights discourse on women, the politics of race and culture, issues in women's political representation, what counts as feminist theory, and why what is generally known in the United States as "French feminism" has little if anything to do with what French feminism actually is.
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William Lobdell - Losing My Religion
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Wed, Apr 22, 2009
Complete video at: http://fora.tv/2009/03/25/Losing_Religion_William_Lobdell
Author William Lobdell talks about his book, "Losing My Religion: How I Lost My Faith Reporting on Religion in America - and Found Unexpected Peace." This program was recorded in collaboration with Kepler's Books, in Menlo Park, CA, on March 25, 2009.
William Lobdell's journey of faith -- and doubt -- may be the most compelling spiritual memoir of our time. Lobdell became a born-again Christian in his late 20s when personal problems drove him to his knees in prayer.
As a newly minted evangelical, Lobdell -- a veteran journalist -- noticed that religion wasn't covered well in the mainstream media, and he prayed for the Lord to put him on the religion beat at a major newspaper. In 1998, his prayers were answered when the Los Angeles Times asked him to write about faith.
Yet what happened over the next eight years was a roller-coaster of inspiration, confusion, doubt, and soul-searching as his reporting and experiences slowly chipped away at his faith. He explored every doubt, every question -- until, finally, his faith collapsed. - Kepler's Books
William Lobdell has been a journalist for 25 years, winning scores of state and national awards. In 1998, he was assigned to the religion beat for the Los Angeles Times. During his eight years covering faith, he was a finalist for national religion writer of the year in 2002, 2003 and 2004. He left the religion beat when he lost his faith, in 2007.
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Stephen Mitchell: The Second Book of the Tao
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Wed, Apr 08, 2009
Complete video at: http://fora.tv/2009/03/04/Stephen_Mitchell_The_Second_Book_of_the_Tao
Author Stephen Mitchell talks about his book, The Second Book of the Tao. This program was recorded in collaboration with Book Passage Bookstore, in Corte Madera, CA, on March 4, 2008.
The most widely translated book in world literature after the Bible is Lao-tzu's Tao Te Ching, or Book of the Way, the classic manual on the art of living. Following his extraordinarily successful translation of the Tao Te Ching, renowned scholar Stephen Mitchell delivers The Second Book of the Tao.
Drawn from the work of Lao-tzu's disciple Chuang-tsu and Confucius's grandson Tsu-ssu, it offers Western readers precious new lessons in the Tao.
Mitchell has selected the freshest, clearest teachings from these two great students of the Tao to reveal the poetry, depth, and humor of the original texts, with vivid new clarity. Alongside each translated passage, Mitchell includes his own commentary; his meditations and risky reimagining of the original texts creat a book that is both a companion volume and an anti-manual to the Tao Te Ching.
Stephen Mitchell's many books also include Gilgamesh, The Gospel According to Jesus, Bhagavad Gita, The Book of Job, and Meetings with the Archangel.
Stephen Mitchell is a poet, translator, scholar, and anthologist. He is married to author Byron Katie. Mitchell was educated at Amherst College, the University of Paris, and Yale University. He is widely known for his translations of ancient classics.
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David Plotz - Good Book: Blogging the Bible
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Wed, Mar 25, 2009
Slate Editor David Plotz discusses his book, Good Book: The Bizarre, Hilarious, Disturbing, Marvelous, and Inspiring Things I Learned When I Read Every Single Word of the Bible. This program was recorded in collaboration with Politics and Prose Bookstore, in Washington, D.C., on March 7, 2009.
Like many Jews and Christians, David Plotz, editor of Slate Magazine, long assumed he knew what was in the Bible. He read parts of it as a child in Hebrew school, then at-tended a Christian high school where he studied the Old and New Testaments.
Many of the highlights stuck with him--Adam and Eve, Cain versus Abel, Jacob versus Esau, Jonah versus whale, forty days and nights, ten plagues and commandments, twelve tribes and apostles, Red Sea walked under, Galilee walked on, bush into fire, rock into water, water into wine. And, of course, he absorbed from all around him other bits of the Bible--from stories he heard in churches and synagogues, in movies and on television, from his parents and teachers.
But it wasn't until he picked up a Bible at a cousin's bat mitzvah--and became engrossed and horrified by a lesser-known story in Genesis--that he couldn't put it down. - Politics and Prose Bookstore
David Plotz is Slate's editor. He is the author of Good Book: The Bizarre, Hilarious, Disturbing, Marvelous, and Inspiring Things I Learned When I Read Every Single Word of the Bible. In 1992, Plotz graduated from Harvard. Prior to his work at Slate, he worked as a paralegal for the Department of Justice, which he disliked, switching to journalism. Thereafter, he served as a writer and editor for the Washington City Paper. He joined Slate when it launched in 1996.
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Dinesh D'Souza - What's So Great About Christianity?
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Wed, Mar 11, 2009
Bestselling author Dinesh D'Souza talks about his book, "What's So Great About Christianity?" in a discussion with the Rev. Alan Jones. This program was recorded in collaboration with Grace Cathedral, in San Francisco, CA, on December 7, 2008.
Is Christianity obsolete? Can an intelligent, educated person really believe the Bible? Has Christianity been disproven by science, debunked as a force for good, and discredited as a guide to morality? Do the atheists have it right?
Bestselling author Dinesh D'Souza looks at Christianity with a questioning eye, but treats atheists with equal skepticism; he challenges the assumptions of both believers and doubters, and affirms that there really is, indeed, something great about Christianity - Grace Cathedral
Dinesh D'Souza is the Robert and Karen Rishwain Fellow at the Hoover Institution at Stanford University. Before joining the Hoover Institution, Mr. D'Souza was the John M. Olin Fellow at the American Enterprise Institute. In 1987-88 he served as senior policy analyst at the Reagan White House. From 1985 to 1987 he was managing editor of Policy Review. He graduated Phi Beta Kappa from Dartmouth College in 1983.
Alan Jones, Ph.D., has been dean of Grace Cathedral in San Francisco since 1985. Jones was formerly the director of the Center for Christian Spirituality and Stephen F. Bayne Professor of Ascetical Theology at General Theological Seminary in New York City. Born and educated in England, Jones was also on the staff of Trinity Institute of Wall Street's Trinity Church. He became a citizen of the United States in 1975. Jones is the author of several books, most notably, Soul Making, The Desert Way of Spirituality, Passion for Pilgrimage and most recently, The Soul's Journey: Exploring the Three Passages of the Spiritual Life with Dante as a Guide. He is widely known as a gifted preacher and travels throughout the world preaching, lecturing, and leading retreats.
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Buddhist Scholar Robert Thurman - In Conversation
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Wed, Feb 25, 2009
This program features two brief interviews with Robert Thurman, Buddhist advocate, author and Professor of Indo-Tibetan Buddhist Studies at Columbia University. This program was recorded in collaboration with City Arts and Lectures, in San Francisco, CA, on February 9, 2009.
When author, translator, and scholar Robert Thurman was first introduced to His Holiness the Dalai Lama in 1964, he was described as "a crazy American boy, very intelligent and with a good heart (though a little proud), who spoke Tibetan well and had learned something about Buddhism [and] wanted to become a monk."
Thurman became the first Westerner to be ordained as a Buddhist monk, though he gave up his robes after several years for an American academic career.
His many books, including Essential Tibetan Buddhism, Inner Revolution, The Jewel Tree of Tibet, and Why the Dalai Lama Matters, reflect a deep reverence for Tibet combined with a flair for making Buddhism accessible to the West.
A champion of the preservation of Tibet's culture, Thurman co-founded New York City's Tibet House with actor Richard Gere and works closely with the Dalai Lama to educate the world about Tibet's political struggles against China.
Well-known for his enthusiasm and depth on the page and in person, Thurman is currently Professor of Indo-Tibetan Buddhist Studies at Columbia University, holding the first endowed chair in the field in the United States.
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Stephen Singular - Polygamy, Warren Jeffs and the FLDS
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Author: FORA.tv
Wed, Feb 11, 2009
Complete video at: http://fora.tv/2008/09/16/Stephen_Singular_Investigates_FLDS_Polygamists
Author Stephen Singular talks about his book on the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, a controversial offshoot of the Mormon church. This program was recorded on September 16, 2008.
New York Times bestselling author and Edgar Award nominee Stephen Singular discusses his new book When Men Become Gods: Mormon Polygamist Warren Jeffs, His Cult of Fear, and the Women Who Fought Back.
One of the women profiled in Singular's book, Laura Chapman, a former FLDS member who escaped polygamy and was profiled recently on CBS' 48 Hours, also speaks at this event - Tattered Cover Book Store
Since 1987, Stephen Singular has published 17 more non-fiction books that reflect a wide range of interest and diversity of styles. Twice a New York Times best selling author, he's written three books about sports, including collaborations with NBA legend Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and controversial NFL superstar Terrell Owens, and biographies of Hollywood power players Michael Ovitz and David Geffen. True crime remained the focal point of his work, but he'd begun writing less about individual crimes and more about social crimes. His 1995 study of the O.J. Simpson case, Legacy of Deception, went beneath the media hysteria surrounding these murders and connected the violent bigotry of The Order with the racist corruption inside the Los Angeles Police Department. Singular's 1999 book, Presumed Guilty: An Investigation into the JonBenet Ramsey Case, the Media, and the Culture of Pornography, performed a similar role for the infamous child killing in Boulder, Colorado.
Laura Chapman is a child services worker for the state of Colorado and an activist against polygamy. She was raised in the Fundamentalist Latter-Day Saints community until she left with her five children.
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Reuven Firestone - An Introduction to Islam for Jews
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Author: FORA.tv
Wed, Jan 28, 2009
Complete video at: http://fora.tv/2008/09/18/An_Introduction_to_Islam_for_Jews
In his new book, An Introduction to Islam for Jews, Rabbi Reuven Firestone offers an introduction to Islam, intended for a Jewish audience.
He explains the similarities and differences between Judaism and Islam, the complex history of Jihad, the legal and religious positions of Jews in the Islamic world, how various expressions of Islam regard Jews, the scope of Muslim views about Israel and other topics - Sixth and I Historic Synagogue
Rabbi Firestone is Professor of Medieval Jewish and Islamic Studies, HUC-JIR/Los Angeles. He served for eight years as Director of HUC-JIR's Edgar F. Magnin School of Graduate Studies and the Jerome Louchheim School of Undergraduate Jewish Studies at the University of Southern California, which offers degrees in cooperation with HUC-JIR. Prior to joining the HUC-JIR faculty, he taught at Boston University and was Yad Hanadiv Research Fellow at the Hebrew University. He received a Center for Arabic Study Abroad (CASA) III research fellowship for the Spring 2006 semester for study at the American University of Cairo, funded by the Fulbright Binational Committee in Egypt and the U.S. Department of Education. In 2000, Professor Firestone was awarded a fellowship for independent research from the National Endowment for the Humanities, and was chosen to be a fellow of the Institute for Advanced Jewish Studies at the University of Pennsylvania in 2002. His specialties are early Islam and its relationship with Jews and Judaism, scriptural interpretation of the Bible and Qur'an, and the phenomenon of holy war.
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Dr. Michael Arbib and Dr. Lisa Bitel: Seeing the Divine
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Author: FORA.tv
Wed, Jan 14, 2009
How, in this age of scientific rationalism, can we begin to understand religious visions and mystical experiences--now being reported by a growing number of people on the nightly news, across the internet, and by word-of-mouth?
Dr. Lisa Bitel and Dr. Michael A. Arbib discuss visions from the Middle Ages to today, especially the tensions between cultural, spiritual, and neurological explanations for extraordinary sights, and consider new ways to understand these mysterious phenomena - Los Angeles Public Library
Lisa Bitel is the Professor of History and Gender Studies and Chair, Gender Studies Program at USC College of Letters, Arts and Sciences. Professor Bitel studies the social, cultural, and religious history of medieval Europe. She has written four books about religion and/or gender in early medieval Europe, and published articles about sex, dreams, architecture, and Christianity, among other topics. She is currently researching two books about religious vision: a book on the material history of medieval visions and a collaborative book about a modern-day vision event in the Mojave desert.
Michael Arbib is the Fletcher Jones Professor of Computer Science, as well as a Professor of Biological Sciences, Biomedical Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Neuroscience and Psychology at the University of Southern California (USC). As both a theoretical neuroscientist and a computer scientist, Arbib argues that by deducing the brain's operating principles from a computational standpoint we can both learn more about how brains function and also gain tools for building learning machines. Arbib is a prolific author and has written or edited over 30 books and many scientific research articles.
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Za Rinpoche - The Backdoor to Enlightenment
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Author: FORA.tv
Wed, Dec 31, 2008
Complete video at: http://fora.tv/2008/05/02/Za_Rinpoche_on_The_Backdoor_To_Enlightenment
Za Rinpoche talks about his book, The Backdoor to Enlightenment: Eight Steps to Living Your Dreams and Changing Your World. This program was recorded in collaboration with Cody's Books, at the First Congregational Church of Berkeley, in Berkeley, CA, on May 2, 2008.
Za Rinpoche, a Tibetan monk, first came to the world's attention when his life story was chronicled in the first chapter of Po Bronson's bestseller, What Should I Do with My Life?
While growing up in a refugee camp in Southern India, Za Rinpoche was recognized by the Dalai Lama as the sixth reincarnation of the Za Choeje Rinpoche.
Now, in The Backdoor To Enlightenment, he shares with us the keys to immediate, profound realization and lasting peace, revealing the secrets to enlightenment that have remained hidden in the distant reaches of the Himalayas for more than a thousand years.
This revolutionary work stands out as a smart, clear guide, showing step-by-step how you can use these deep truths to transform every aspect of your life.
Za Rinpoche is the founder of the Emaho Foundation, a nonprofit organization based in Scottsdale, Arizona, dedicated to sharing Tibetan culture with the West, supporting humanitarian projects, and assisting with personal spiritual development - Cody's Books
Za Choeje Rinpoche was identified by H.H. the Dalai Lama as the sixth reincarnation of ZaChoeje Rinpoche. At the age of 16 he entered Drepung Loseling Monastery where, after ten years of study, he graduated with the Geshe Lharampa degree and continued his studies at Gyume Tantric College in India.
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Firoozeh Dumas - Laughing Without an Accent: Adventures of an Iranian American
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Author: FORA.tv
Wed, Dec 17, 2008
Complete video at: http://fora.tv/2008/11/23/Firoozeh_Dumas_Laughing_Without_An_Accent
Firoozeh Dumas discusses her experiences as an Iranian-born immigrant, author and Muslim woman in modern American society, in a conversation with the Rev. Alan Jones. This program was recorded in collaboration with Grace Cathedral, in San Francisco, CA, on November 23, 2008.
Often lost in the rhetoric of debate about the United States' immigration policy is this: although each immigrant's country of origin and reason for leaving are widely diverse, the experience of being an immigrant in the United States crosses all cultural divides.
For the past five years, Firoozeh Dumas has traveled the country reminding us that our commonalities far outweigh our differences ... and doing so with humor.
In 2001, with no prior writing experience, Firoozeh Dumas decided to write down her family stories as a gift for her two children. Those stories became the book Funny in Farsi, a San Francisco Chronicle and Los Angeles Times bestseller and a finalist for the PEN/USA award and for an Audie Award for best audio book (She lost to Bob Dylan).
She was also a finalist for the prestigious Thurber Prize for American Humor (she lost to Jon Stewart), and is the first Middle Eastern woman ever to be considered for this honor.
Dumas's latest book, entitled Laughing Without an Accent, was published in May 2008 - Grace Cathedral
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Gustav Niebuhr - Beyond Tolerance: Searching for Interfaith Understanding in America
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Author: FORA.tv
Wed, Dec 10, 2008
Complete video at: http://fora.tv/2008/08/06/R_Gustav_Niebuhr_Going_Beyond_Tolerance
Professor R. Gustav Niebuhr discusses his book, Beyond Tolerance: Searching for Interfaith Understanding in America, as a part of the Chautauqua Institution's 2008 lecture series. This program was recorded in Chautauqua, NY, on August 6, 2008.
Gustav Niebuhr is an associate professor of Religion and the Media, director of the Religion and Society Program, director of the Carnegie Religion and Media Minor, and co-director of the Luce Project in Religion, Media, and International Relations at Syracuse University.
Over a twenty-year career in journalism, most recently at the New York Times and, prior to that, at the Washington Post, the Wall Street Journal, and the Atlanta Journal/Constitution, Gustav Niebuhr has established a reputation as a leading writer about American religion. He is a frequent guest blogger on the Washington Post's "On Faith" column, and he also does occasional commentaries on religion for the National Public Radio program "All Things Considered."
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Sam Harris - The Clash Between Faith and Reason
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Author: FORA.tv
Wed, Dec 03, 2008
Complete video at: http://fora.tv/2007/07/04/Clash_Between_Faith_and_Reason
"Believing the Unbelievable: The Clash Between Faith and Reason in the Modern World" with Sam Harris speaking at the 2007 Aspen Ideas Festival. This program was recorded in Aspen, CO, on July 4, 2008.
Some of the most inspired and provocative thinkers, writers, artists, business people, teachers and other leaders drawn from myriad fields and from across the country and around the world all gathered in a single place - to teach, speak, lead, question, and answer at the 2006 Aspen Ideas Festival. Throughout the week, they all interacted with an audience of thoughtful people who stepped back from their day-to-day routines to delve deeply into a world of ideas, thought, and discussion.
Sam Harris is the author of the New York Times bestsellers, The End of Faith and Letter to a Christian Nation. The End of Faith won the 2005 PEN Award for Nonfiction.
Mr. Harris' writing has been published in over ten languages. He and his work have been discussed in Newsweek, TIME, U.S. News and World Report, The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, The Los Angeles Times, The San Francisco Chronicle, The Chicago Tribune, The Economist, The Guardian, The Independent, The International Herald Tribune, Der Spiegel, The Globe and Mail, New Scientist, Wired, SEED Magazine, and many other journals.
Mr. Harris makes regular appearances on television and radio to talk about the danger that religion now poses to modern societies. His essays have appeared in Newsweek, The Los Angeles Times, The Times of London, The Boston Globe, and elsewhere. He blogs for the Washington Post / Newsweek website: On Faith, the Huffington Post, TruthDig, and Edge.org. Mr. Harris is a graduate in philosophy from Stanford University and has studied both Eastern and Western religious traditions, along with a variety of contemplative disciplines, for twenty years. He is completing a doctorate in neuroscience.
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Peter J. Gomes - The Scandalous Gospel of Jesus
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Author: FORA.tv
Wed, Nov 19, 2008
Complete video at: http://fora.tv/2008/06/15/Peter_J_Gomes_The_Scandalous_Gospel_of_Jesus
Rev. Peter Gomes talks about his book, "The Scandalous Gospel of Jesus: What's So Good About the Good News?" in a conversation with the Rev. Alan Jones. This program was recorded in collaboration with Grace Cathedral, in San Francisco, CA, on June 15, 2008.
"What did Jesus preach?" asks Harvard pastor Peter J. Gomes, who believes that excessive focus on the Bible and doctrines about Jesus have led the Christian church astray.
To recover the transformative power of the gospel - "the good news" - Gomes says we must go beyond the Bible and rediscover how to live out Jesus's original revolutionary message of hope.
With eloquence and insight, using examples from ancient times as well as modern pop culture, Gomes shows us why the good news is every bit as relevant today as it was when first preached - Grace Cathedral
The Reverend Professor Peter J. Gomes is an American Baptist minister ordained to the Christian Ministry by The First Baptist Church of Plymouth, Massachusetts. Since 1970 he has served in The Memorial Church, Harvard University; and since 1974 as Plummer Professor of Christian Morals and Pusey Minister in The Memorial Church.
His most recent work, The Scandalous Gospel of Jesus, includes extensive commentary and observation on the interrelations of Church and State throughout history and particularly in recent US history.
Alan Jones, Ph.D., has been dean of Grace Cathedral in San Francisco since 1985. Jones was formerly the director of the Center for Christian Spirituality and Stephen F. Bayne Professor of Ascetical Theology at General Theological Seminary in New York City. Born and educated in England, Jones was also on the staff of Trinity Institute of Wall Street's Trinity Church. He became a citizen of the United States in 1975.Jones is the author of several books, most notably, Soul Making, The Desert Way of Spirituality, Passion for Pilgrimage and most recently, The Soul's Journey: Exploring the Three Passages of the Spiritual Life with Dante as a Guide.
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Kerry Kennedy on Being Catholic Now: Faith in a Modern Era
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Author: FORA.tv
Wed, Nov 12, 2008
Complete video at: http://fora.tv/2008/10/02/Kerry_Kennedy_Faith_in_a_Modern_Era
Author and humanitarian Kerry Kennedy discusses her book, "Being Catholic Now," in a conversation with David Batstone. This program was recorded in collaboration with the Commonwealth Club of California, in San Francisco, CA, on October 2, 2008.
How do you spend your Sundays? Could the Church change its image among young skeptics by using more innovative Web 2.0 technologies?
Kennedy interviewed high-profile church members in an exploration of personal journeys and interpretations versus dogmatic and impersonal mandates sent from above.
Kennedy shares her experiences, replete with tales of struggle, spirituality, denial and much more - The Commonwealth Club of California
Activist Kerry Kennedy is an advocate for the protection and promotion of fair and equal justice, the defense of basic human rights, and the rule of law worldwide. The author of Speak Truth to Power, which features interviews with international human rights activists, Kennedy has led over 40 human rights delegations to over 30 countries, all with the goal of preserving the rule of law and human dignity. Currently, she is chair of the Amnesty International Leadership Council, and is a judge for the Reebok Human Rights Award.
David Batstone, Ph.D., is Professor of Ethics in the Department of Theology and Religious Studies at the University of San Francisco. Batstone serves as Executive Editor of Sojourners magazine, which Folio awarded in both 2003 and 2004 as the "Best Religious/Spiritual Magazine" in the United States. In addition to his part in the leadership team, Batstone initiated and directs SojoMail, an online news and perspective that is delivered weekly to over 200,000 subscribers.
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A.J. Jacobs - The Year of Living Biblically
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Author: FORA.tv
Wed, Nov 05, 2008
Complete video at: http://fora.tv/2007/10/24/A_J__Jacobs_Year_of_Living_Biblically
A.J. Jacobs discusses his book, "The Year of Living Biblically: One Man's Humble Quest to Follow the Bible as Literally as Possible." This program was recorded in collaboration with Cody's Books, in Berkeley, CA, on October 24, 2008.
"The Year of Living Biblically" answers the question: What if a modern-day American followed every single rule in the Bible as literally as possible. Not just the famous rules - the Ten Commandments and Love Thy Neighbor (though certainly those). But the hundreds of oft-ignored ones: don't wear clothes of mixed fibers. Grow your beard. Stone adulterers. A.J. Jacobs' experiment is surprising, informative, timely and funny. It is both irreverent and reverent. It seeks to discover what's good in the Bible and what is maybe not so relevant to 21st century life. And it will make you see the Good Book with new eyes. Thou shalt not put it down. - Cody's Books
A.J. Jacobs is an editor at large at Esquire magazine, for which he wrote the article "My Outsourced Life". His last book was "The Know-It-All" in which he described the process of reading the entire Encyclopedia Britannica. - Cody's Books
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Faith and Politics in the 2008 US Presidential Election
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Author: FORA.tv
Wed, Oct 29, 2008
Video at: http://fora.tv/2008/09/01/Richard_Land_and_Jim_Wallis_Faith_and_Politics
Krista Tippett moderates a panel on religion in the 2008 U.S. Presidential election. Panelists include Jim Wallis, Richard Land and Steven Waldman. This program was recorded in collaboration with the Hubert H. Humphrey Institute of Public Affairs at the University of Minnesota, in Minneapolis, MN, on September 1, 2008.
Moderated by Krista Tippett, host of American Public Media's Speaking of Faith, this panel of conservative evangelical Dr. Richard Land and liberal evangelical Jim Wallis separates faith from any one party and defines a broad faith-oriented agenda - University of Minnesota
Jim Wallis is founder of the Sojourners Community, a 30-year-old Christian ministry focused on social justice and peace, and editor-in-chief of Sojourners magazine, which covers faith, politics, and culture. He is a speaker, author, activist, and international commentator on ethics and public life. His most recent book is God's Politics: Why the Right Gets It Wrong and the Left Doesn't Get It; he has authored five in total. He offers regular commentary and analysis for radio and television and teaches a course at Harvard University called "Faith, Politics, and Society."
Princeton and Oxford educated, Dr. Richard Land has served as president of the Southern Baptist Convention's Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission since 1988. During his tenure as representative for the largest Protestant denomination in the country, Dr. Land has represented Southern Baptist and other Evangelica concerns in the halls of Congress, before U.S. Presidents, and in the media. In 2005, Dr. Land was featured in Time Magazine as one of "The Twenty-five Most Influential Evangelicals in America."
Steven Waldman is the Editor-in-Chief and co-founder of Beliefnet. Before that he was the National Editor of US News and World Report and before that the National Correspondent for Newsweek. He earlier served as editor of The Washington Monthly, an influential political magazine.Waldman also was senior adviser to the CEO of the Corporation for National Service, the government agency that runs AmeriCorps and other volunteer programs. He is the author of an acclaimed book titled The Bill about the passage of the AmeriCorps law, which is now a textbook in college courses around the U.S.
A journalist and former diplomat, Krista Tippett came up with the idea for Speaking of Faith while consulting for the internationally renowned Institute for Ecumenical and Cultural Research at Saint John's Abbey and University in Collegeville, Minnesota. She has hosted and produced the program since the Speaking of Faith project began as an occasional feature in 2000, before taking on its current form as a national weekly program in 2003. Tippett is a graduate of Yale Divinity School and a former Fulbright Scholar. She has reported and written for The New York Times, Newsweek, the BBC, and other international news organizations. Tippett also served as special assistant to the U.S. ambassador to West Germany.
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Pico Iyer on The Open Road: The Global Journey of the Fourteenth Dalai Lama
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Author: FORA.tv
Wed, Oct 22, 2008
Video at: http://fora.tv/2008/04/20/The_Open_Road_with_Pico_Iyer
Pico Iyer discusses his book, "The Open Road: The Global Journey of the Fourteenth Dalai Lama," in a conversation with Rev. Alan Jones. This program was recorded in collaboration with Grace Cathedral, in San Francisco, CA, on April 20, 2008.
Pico Iyer has been engaged in conversation with the Dalai Lama (a friend of his father's) for the last three decades - an ongoing exploration of his message and its effectiveness.
Now, in his insightful, impassioned book, Iyer captures the paradoxes of the Dalai Lama's position: though he has brought the ideas of Tibet to world attention, Tibet itself is being remade as a Chinese province; though he was born in one of the remotest, least developed places on earth, he has become a champion of globalism and technology.
He is a religious leader who warns against being needlessly distracted by religion; a Tibetan head of state who suggests that exile from Tibet can be an opportunity; an incarnation of a Tibetan god who stresses his everyday humanity.
Moving from Dharamsala, India - the seat of the Tibetan government-in-exile - to Lhasa, Tibet, to venues in the West, where the Dalai Lama's pragmatism, rigor, and scholarship are sometimes lost on an audience yearning for mystical visions, The Open Road illuminates the hidden life, the transforming ideas, and the daily challenges of a global icon - Grace Cathedral
Pico Iyer is a British-born essayist and novelist of Indian descent. He is most recently the author of The Open Road: The Global Journey of the Fourteenth Dalai Lama.
Alan Jones, Ph.D., has been dean of Grace Cathedral in San Francisco since 1985. Jones was formerly the director of the Center for Christian Spirituality and Stephen F. Bayne Professor of Ascetical Theology at General Theological Seminary in New York City. Born and educated in England, Jones was also on the staff of Trinity Institute of Wall Street's Trinity Church. He became a citizen of the United States in 1975.
Jones is the author of several books, most notably, Soul Making, The Desert Way of Spirituality, Passion for Pilgrimage and most recently, The Soul's Journey: Exploring the Three Passages of the Spiritual Life with Dante as a Guide. He is widely known as a gifted preacher and travels throughout the world preaching, lecturing, and leading retreats.
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Would We Be Better Off Without Religion? - A Discussion and Debate
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Author: FORA.tv
Wed, Oct 15, 2008
Video at: http://fora.tv/2008/08/19/Would_We_Be_Better_Off_Without_Religion
A panel of religion, philosophy and science experts debate the value of religion in society. This program was recorded in Sydney, Australia, on August 19, 2008, in collaboration with the Australian Broadcasting Corporation and the Intellegence Squared Conference.
While the world's religions have inspired stunning acts of creation, they also have been implicated in some of the darkest deeds in human history.
If God cannot be blamed for such moments of evil, His priests and prophets at least have a case to answer.
So what might they say? That religion is unfairly blamed -- and that we should look to other factors? Admit that there are problems but argue that on balance the good outweighs the bad? That there is no alternative; that people need religion like they need air? - Intelligence Squared
Richard Ackland is a prominent columnist for The Sydney Morning Herald writing on legal and ethical issues. He is founder of Law Press of Australia, whose publications include The Justinian and The Gazette of Law and Journalism.
Lyn Allison was an Australian Democrat Senator from 1996 to 2008. Lyn Allison has been a prominent advocate for women's issues, and human rights.
Dr John Lennox holds three doctorates in the fields of science and mathematics and is a Fellow in Mathematics and Philosophy of Science at Green College, University of Oxford. His most recent book is God's Undertaker: Has Science Buried God?.
Simon Longstaff is Executive Director of the St. James Ethics Centre. Longstaff was inaugural President of The Australian Association for Professional and Applied Ethics and serves as a director for a number of companies.
Ian Plimer is Emeritus Professor of Earth Sciences at the University of Melbourne and Professor of mining geology at the University of Adelaide. He is a prominent critic of creationism. Professor Plimer argues that religion is important for the fabric of society.
Suzanne Rutland is Associate Professor and Chair of the Department of Hebrew, Biblical and Jewish Studies at the University of Sydney and the main lecturer in the program of Jewish Civilization, Thought and Cultures. Her latest books are The Jews in Australia and Triumph of the Jewish Spirit: Forty Years of the Jewish Communal Appeal.
Professor Vic Stenger is emeritus Professor of Physics and Astronomy at the University of Hawaii and adjunct Professor of Philosophy at the University of Colorado. He is the author of seven books that deal with the interface between science, pseudoscience, and religion including: The Comprehensible Cosmos and God: The Failed Hypothesis - How Science Shows that God Does Not Exist.
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Brother Guy Consolmagno - How Scientists and Engineers Make Sense of Religion
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Author: FORA.tv
Wed, Oct 08, 2008
Video at: http://fora.tv/2008/03/02/Brother_Guy_Consolmagno_God_s_Mechanics
Brother Guy Consolmagno discusses "God's Mechanics: How Scientists and Engineers Make Sense of Religion," in a conversation with the Rev. Alan Jones. This program was recorded in collaboration with Grace Cathedral, in San Francisco, CA, on March 2, 2008.
With wry humor, Brother Guy Consolmagno shows how he not only believes in God but gives religion an honored place alongside science in his life. His book God's Mechanics: How Scientists and Engineers Make Sense of Religion offers an engaging look at how - and why - scientists and those with technological leanings can hold profound, "unprovable" religious beliefs while working in highly empirical fields.
Vatican astronomer Guy Consolmagno is a Jesuit brother with advanced degrees from MIT and the University of Arizona. A highly respected planetary scientist whose research focuses on meteorites, asteroids, and dwarf planets, Consolmagno is the author or co-author of numerous books and publications, including Brother Astronomer and Turn Left at Orion. He even has an asteroid named in his honor (4597 Consolmagno, known to its friends as "Little Guy").
He has served as chair of the Division for Planetary Sciences of the American Astronomical Society and is a past president of Commission 16 (Planets and Moons) of the International Astronomical Union - Grace Cathedral
Alan Jones, Ph.D., has been dean of Grace Cathedral in San Francisco since 1985. Jones was formerly the director of the Center for Christian Spirituality and Stephen F. Bayne Professor of Ascetical Theology at General Theological Seminary in New York City. Born and educated in England, Jones was also on the staff of Trinity Institute of Wall Street's Trinity Church. He became a citizen of the United States in 1975.
Jones is the author of several books, most notably, Soul Making, The Desert Way of Spirituality, Passion for Pilgrimage and most recently, The Soul's Journey: Exploring the Three Passages of the Spiritual Life with Dante as a Guide. He is widely known as a gifted preacher and travels throughout the world preaching, lecturing, and leading retreats.
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The Dalai Lama at the Aspen Institute
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Author: FORA.tv
Wed, Oct 01, 2008
Complete video at: http://fora.tv/2008/07/26/His_Holiness_the_Dalai_Lama_at_The_Aspen_Institute
The 14th Dalai Lama Tenzin Gyatso discusses Tibet, China, Buddhism, and a variety of global issues. This program was recorded in collaboration with the Aspen Institute, in Aspen, CO, on July 26, 2008.
The Aspen Institute and co-chairs Margot Pritzker and Richard Blum, in collaboration with the Conservancy for Tibetan Art and Culture, are proud to present a substantive symposium that embraces Tibetan and Himalayan art, culture, science, medicine, spiritual practice, and history.
The three-day program - featuring His Holiness the Dalai Lama as the keynote speaker - will bring together an extraordinary number of eminent scholars, teachers, practitioners and tradition-bearers from around the globe to shed light on the rich historical and philosophical significance of Tibet and its impact on global issues today - The Aspen Institute
Tenzin Gyatso is the 14th Dalai Lama. He is the head of the Tibetan government-in-exile in Dharamshala, India. Tibetans traditionally believe him to be the reincarnation of his predecessors.
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Irshad Manji and Dalia Mogahed - Who Speaks for Islam?
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Author: FORA.tv
Wed, Sep 24, 2008
Complete video at: http://fora.tv/2008/07/01/Irshad_Manji_and_Dalia_Mogahed_-_Who_Speaks_for_Islam
Irshad Manji and Dalia Mogahed discuss issues surrounding contemporary Islam at the 2008 Aspen Ideas Festival, including the nature of the religion in relation to peace and conflict and the interpretation of the Koran.
Irshad Manji is director of the Moral Courage Project at New York University, which aims to develop leaders who will challenge political correctness, intellectual conformity, and self-censorship. She is also the internationally best-selling author of The Trouble with Islam Today: A Muslim's Call for Reform in Her Faith. She created the acclaimed PBS documentary "Faith Without Fear" which chronicles her journey to reconcile Islam with human rights and freedom.
She also founded Project Ijtihad, which won the Youth Global Leader award from the World Economic Forum for its global campaign to popularize IslamÂ’s own tradition of critical thinking. IrshadÂ’s columns appear frequently in the New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, and Times of London.
Dalia Mogahed is a senior analyst and executive director of the Gallup Center for Muslim Studies. With John L. Esposito, Ph.D., she is coauthor of the forthcoming book Who Speaks for Islam? Listening to the Voices of a Billion Muslims.
Mogahed provides leadership, strategic direction, and consultation on the collection and analysis of Gallup's unprecedented surveying of more than one billion Muslims worldwide. She also leads the curriculum development of an executive course on findings from the Gallup Poll of the Muslim World.
Jeffrey Goldberg is the staff writer and Middle East correspondent for the New Yorker Goldberg, based in Washington, D.C.. He joined the staff of the New Yorker in 2000.
Previously, he was a writer for the New York Times Magazine, covering the Middle East and Africa. He has also covered the mafia for New York Magazine, served as the New York bureau chief of the Forward, and been a columnist for the Jerusalem Post. He began his career as a police reporter for the Washington Post.
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E.J. Dionne - Religion and American Politics
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Author: FORA.tv
Wed, Sep 17, 2008
Complete video at: http://fora.tv/2008/07/01/EJ_Dionne_in_Conversation
Washington Post Op-Ed Columnist E.J. Dionne discusses religion and American politics, as a part of the Chautauqua Institution's 2008 lecture series. This program was recorded in collaboration with the Chautauqua Institution, in Chautauqua, NY, on July 1, 2008.
E.J. Dionne is a twice-weekly columnist for The Post, writing on national policy and politics. His column appears on Tuesdays and Fridays.
Before joining The Post in 1990 as a political reporter, he spent 14 years at The New York Times, covering local, state, and national politics, and also serve as a foreign correspondent in Paris, Rome and Beirut. Dionne began his column for The Post in 1993. He is a University Professor at Georgetown University and a senior fellow at The Brookings Institution. Dionne has been a frequent commentator on politics for National Public Radio, ABC's "This Week," and NBC's "Meet the Press." His book Why Americans Hate Politics (1991), won the Los Angeles Times Book Prize and was a National Book Award nominee. He is also author of Stand Up Fight Back: Republican Toughs, Democratic Wimps, and the Politics of Revenge (2004), and They Only Look Dead: Why Progressives Will Dominate The Next Political Era (1996).
Dionne received the American Political Science Association's annual Carey McWilliams Award in 1996 for a major journalistic contribution to the understanding of politics. In 2002, he received the Empathy Award from the Volunteers of America, and in 2004 he won the National Human Services Assembly's Award for Excellence by a Member of the Media.
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Christopher Hitchens Debates Alister McGrath: Is Religion a Poison or a Cure?
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Author: FORA.tv
Wed, Sep 10, 2008
Complete video at: http://fora.tv/2007/10/11/Christopher_Hitchens_Debates_Alister_McGrath
Poison or Cure? Religious Belief in the Modern World: A debate, dialogue, and discussion with Christopher Hitchens and Alister McGrath.
The Ethics and Public Policy Center and the Berkley Center for Religion, Peace, and World Affairs at Georgetown University host a debate between writer Christopher Hitchens and Oxford University professor Alister McGrath on the role of religious belief in the modern world.
Christopher Hitchens is an author, journalist and literary critic. Now living in Washington, D.C., he has been a columnist at Vanity Fair, The Nation and Slate; additionally, he is an occasional contributor to many other publications. He is most recently the author of "God Is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything" (2007) and editor of "The Portable Atheist: Essential Readings for the Nonbeliever" (2007).
Alister McGrath is a biochemist and Christian theologian born in Belfast, North Ireland. He currently enjoys the title of distinction "Professor of Historical Theology" granted by the University of Oxford. He has written extensively on history and theology, including "In the Beginning: The Story of the King James Bible and How It Changed a Nation, a Language, and a Culture" (2001), and "The Twilight of Atheism: The Rise and Fall of Disbelief in the Modern World" (2005).
He has written biographies of John Calvin, Thomas Torrance, and J. I. Packer. He has also written on the interaction of science and theology and his "A Scientific Theology" (4 volumes, 2001-2004) has been hailed as one the most important works of systematic theology to appear in recent years. He has written two critiques of the biologist "Richard Dawkins: The Dawkins Delusion?" (2007) and "Dawkins' God: Genes, Memes, and the Meaning of Life" (2005). His most recent book is "Christianity's Dangerous Idea: The Protestant Revolution - A History from the Sixteenth Century to the Twenty-First," published by HarperOne. He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts in 2005 and in 2009 he will give the prestigious Gifford Lectures at the University of Aberdeen.
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Garry Wills on Head and Heart: American Christianities
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Author: FORA.tv
Wed, Sep 03, 2008
Complete video at: http://fora.tv/2007/10/13/Garry_Wills_Head_and_Heart
Pulitzer Prize-winning author and cultural historian Garry Wills discusses his book Head and Heart: American Christianities. This program was recorded at Politics and Prose Bookstore in Washington, D.C., on October 13, 2007.
A prolific thinker and writer on history and faith, Wills tackles the evolving roles of the multiple denominations of Christianity throughout American history. He sees an ongoing tension between reason and emotion, which he believes is necessary and inevitable, and is clearly visible in the fervor of the religious right pitted against the enlightenment values of separation of church and state - Politics and Prose
Garry Wills (PhD Yale, 1961) is an adjunct professor and cultural historian whose many books include penetrating studies of George Washington, Richard Nixon, the Kennedy family, Ronald Reagan, and religion in America. His numerous prizes include the Merle Curti Award of the American Historical Association, the National Book Critics Award, the Pulitzer Prize, and an honorary doctorate from the College of the Holy Cross.
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FORA.tv Interview with Christopher Hitchens
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Author: FORA.tv
Wed, Aug 27, 2008
Original video at: http://fora.tv/2007/05/23/Backstage_Interview_wChristopher_Hitchens
Bestselling author and journalist Christopher Hitchens speaks with FORA.tv President and CEO Brian Gruber. This program was recorded prior to an event featuring Mr. Hitchens at City Arts and Lectures in San Francisco, CA, on May 23, 2007.
Christopher Hitchens is an author, journalist and literary critic. Now living in Washington, D.C., he has been a columnist at Vanity Fair, The Nation and Slate; additionally, he is an occasional contributor to many other publications. Hitchens is most recently the author of "God is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything."
Brian Gruber is Founder, President and Chief Executive Officer of FORA.tv.Gruber has twenty years experience successfully building and marketing media enterprises. As the senior marketing officer for a range of respected media institutions, he has managed billion dollar revenue budgets and large and small marketing teams. As the first marketing director for C-SPAN, he built its affiliate sales and marketing organization, launching C-SPAN II with the largest subscriber base ever for a cable network at launch.
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Religion & Spirituality
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