Religiosanity
Religion & Spirituality
About
Talking about religion and keeping our sanity. Knowledge and humour are our best defenses against bigotry.The Rev. Andrew Stehlik, Th.D. (theologian and anthropologist) takes layperson Peter Rinaldi on deep dives into the sources of religious phenomena. We are talking about religion honestly, respectfully and humbly.#Religion #Anthropology #Science #History #antibigotry
Episodes
- Episode 131: Genesis 15 and the Lie of Greater Israel .
Genesis Pastor Andrew takes comments from Mike Huckabee, the US Ambassador to Israel, on Tucker Carlson's show as a jumping off point to spotlight the various levels of either willful blindness or astounding stupidity at work within the fu…
- Rescuing Baal From Epst31n as well as Evangelicals
Jeffrey Epsxxxn was a despicable person—but let’s leave the ancient god Baal out of it. Baal re-entered public discussion this week after reports revealed that Epstein named a bank account after the ancient deity, triggering a wave of misi…
- Episode 129: A Catholic Couch Convert who started argument with TWO POPES
If causing the last Pope to slip faster into the afterlife wasn't enough, now U.S. Vice President J.D. Vance has an audience with the NEW Pope, and presents this Augustinian scholar with an English translation of St. Augustine's "City Of G…
- Episode 128: The Playground Anthropology
Pastor Andrew returns from his study leave/vacation with some anthropological discoveries made in a surprising place--the playgrounds of the Czech Republic!
- Episode 127: Demonic Possession of the Self-Defeating Kind
Pastor Andrew makes the case that the MAGA movement that elected a convicted criminal for a second term is not merely brainwashed, but is rather under a form of demonic possession, a kind that is very self-defeating.
- Episode 126: J.D. and the Pope
Pastor Andrew breaks down the back-and-forth between Vice President J.D. Vance and Pope Francis. Vance invoked ordo amoris to defend his general approach to immigration and refugees, and the Pontiff (without naming him directly) "corrected…
- Episode 125:Racist Dogwhistles and the Origins of Apartheid in South Africa
Trump's offer of refugee status to "persecuted" Afrikaans prompts Pastor Andrew, as a way to shed light on the racist dogwhistle that policy move is, to lay out the origins of apartheid in South Africa, religions' role in those origins, an…
- Episode 124: My God, My God
Pastor Andrew takes us on a deep dive into one of Jesus' last words on the cross, "Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?" that is, 'My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" and encourages us to take it in via its literary context, seeing it as "an…
- Episode 123: Case for Religious Education in Public Schools
When well-meaning leaders, anxious to adhere to the separation of church and state, lean too far in to the “zero religious education” stance, instead of calling on academia to sift through standards and material and come up with a curricul…
- Episode 122: "Hey Hey Jesus" US Christo-Fascist Radio
Pastor Andrew is back from vacation with a report on the phenomenon that is called "Christian Radio" but under a thin veneer it is actually "Christo Fascist Radio." On a surface it is saccharine sweet but it only hides and masks sinister d…
- Episode 121: Deep human prehistory
Recognition of the deep human history and prehistory can have a profound influence on our spirituality and religion. Humans like us (with same capacities of thinking and feeling have been on our planet for roughly 200,000 years. History st…
- Episode 120: NO to public displays of the Ten Commandments!
Pastor Andrew returns again to the topic of the state of Louisiana making it a law to have the 10 Commandments on display in all schools. He posits "Tell me which 10 Commandments you read and I'll tell you who you are." By censoring the ve…
- Episode 119: The Last Word On The Last Supper Controversy
A moment in France's olympic opening ceremony was deemed blasphemous and mocking of Jesus and the Christian religion. The outcry was so loud and vast that the Olympic officials had to give press conferences about it, and eventually removed…
- Episode 118: Birds in the Bible and Ancient Texts (Part 2)
Birds in the New Testament - and some less known mythical antecedents of well known Jesus' logia (sayings and parables)
- Episode 117: Endless 10 Commandments
Public displays of the 10 Commandments are back!!!!!! And Pastor Andrew is more angry about it than ever. On this episode, he discusses how this phenomenon is offensive on many different levels, not just with fundamentalists pushing their…
- Episode 116: Birds in the Bible and Ancient Texts (Part 1)
An offhanded remark about the salvation of birds prompts Pastor Andrew to come to this episode with some examples, from the Bible and ancient texts, of the wisdom, cunning, and dare we say, faith of our winged friends, which leads to a lar…
- Episode 115: Agnostic theologians?
Biblical scholarship is slowly replacing the discipline of Biblical theology. More and more biblical scholars find themselves outside of the straitjacket of church dogmas and practice. Their lack of dogma yields a richer and robust underst…
- Episode 114: Ask The Pastor Anything (2nd Edition)
Pastor Andrew is back LIVE with host Peter Rinaldi for the 2nd edition of ASK THE PASTOR ANYTHING (about the Bible of Ancient Times). Favorite theologians, Do pets go to heaven, Christianity in the days of Slavery, miracles as myth, and mu…
- Episode 113: A Personal Spiritual Realignment
On this episode, Pastor Andrew describes, and begins to process, a spiritual crisis, or a personal spiritual realignment, that has to do with the Old Testament.
- Episode 112: On Dangerous Fabrications of Biblical and Zionist Archeology
A headline reading “Breakthrough in Biblical Archeology: Israeli researchers developed a groundbreaking method using the earths magnetic field to verify events in the old testament” prompts Pastor Andrew to do a deep dive into the oxymoron…
- Episode 111: Hebrew Satanic Verses in the mouth of Netanyahu
Deeply problematic, ugly, satanic texts about biblical jihad (passages from the Hebrew bible that no serious theologian would ever cite without significant, careful assessment of the context), are suddenly surfacing among the ranks of Isra…
- Episode 110 - Martin Buber - A Unique Zionist
On this final episode of 2023, Pastor Andrew posits that, the longer a two-state solution to the Israel/Palestine conflict seems more and more unattainable, the more Martin Buber's vision for a single state of two nations will be the only…
- Episode 109: Why Geographical Terms Matter
As promised, Pastor Andrew breaks down the various geographic terms of the areas surrounding and including what we nowadays refer to as Israel and Palestine, explaining how these terms were formed, what is contested, and why it matters.
- Episode 108: Let us distinguish between Antijudaism, Antisemitism, and Antizionism
A hot button topic sometimes needs to be discussed in order to bring some sanity to it, especially if it's related to religion. Pastor Andrew carefully lays out the differences between Ant-Judaism, Antisemitism, and Anti-Zionism, and goes…
- Episode 107: "Disorganised religion is the worst option"
The worst conflict between Israel and Palestine in recent memory sparks a hypothetical question for Pastor Andrew: If there were a button that would erase all the organized religions from the planet, would you press it? His answer leads in…
- Scapegoats, Azazel, and Yom Kippur
Pastor Andrew brings us back to the ritual that points to the origins of the word "scapegoat," throw in a mysterious possible deity named Azazel, and you have the polytheistic roots of the Yom Kippur tradition for the Jewish people! A shor…
- Episode 105: Hawaii (Part 2)
On this second episode about Hawaii, as promised, Pastor Andrew digs into the myth of Pele (Goddess of Volcanos)and her significance to the Hawaiian people even now. But first, he talks about the devastating wild fires that have terrorized…
- Episode 104: Hawai'i (Part 1)
After mentioning it in many episodes, finally Pastor Andrew takes us deep into one of his favorite topics: Hawaii. This epic episode dips into many aspects of our 50th state, including its history, its religion, the Polynesian people in ge…
- Episode 103: The Bigots Court In The Land
Last week The Supreme Court ruled in favor of "303 Creative LLC," making it acceptable for a business to withhold service from Gay people. Pastor Andrew talks about this frustrating decision, and the myriad ways in which it makes no sense.
- Episode 102: Are Penisses Necessary for Preaching and Sacraments?
The decision reached at the latest Southern Baptist Convention to exclude churches with women clergy is the springboard for a larger conversation with Pastor Andrew about women in the church, Christian misogyny, female deities, and much mo…
- Episode 101: MORE "Ask The Pastor Anything!"
Pastor Andrew answers the questions that weren't asked (due to time)in the 100th LIVE episode, such as "Did ancient people really believe an immortal God could get drunk?," "Does someone have to believe in the Trinity to be considered Chri…
- The 100th Episode LIVE at Rutgers Church: Ask The Pastor Anything!
In celebration of the 100th episode, Pastor Andrew invites the public to ASK HIM ANYTHING about the bible or ancient times! Co-host Peter Rinaldi moderates questions from the live audience, those in the YouTube chat, and anonymous question…
- Episode 99: Religious and cultural censorship in America
Baffled by the recent book bans, anti-LGBT legislation, and general fascist behavior from "Florida Man" Ron DeSantis, Pastor Andrew discusses the origins of a mindset that would think of this as acceptable, and religion's part in this insa…
- Episode 98: Jewish holiday in pagan Ugarit? KTU 1.41
On the jewish holiday of Shavuot, Pastor Andrew takes us back to the ancient city of Ugarit to discuss KTU141, which is one of the tablets describing rituals for a holiday that could be considered to be the Ugarit equivalent of the Jewish…
- Episode 97: Andrei Rublev and Russian dark cruel soul
News that Putin was ordering the handover of Russia’s most famous icon and work of art, Andrei Rublev’s 15th-century "Trinity," from the State Tretyakov Gallery to the Russian Orthodox Church, reminds Pastor Andrew of Andrei Tarkovsky's fi…
- Episode 96: Should governments invade our bedrooms? Conservative overreach
Peter's traffic ticket leads Pastor Andrew into a discussion on government overreach, particularly in regard to abortion, and the hypocrisy of conservative cries for less government involvement, except of course when it comes to issues the…
- Episode 95: Corrupt news media anabled by corrupt preachers
Consumerism in everything. "If they pay, give them (tell them) what they want to hear." This corrupted our public discourse and fostered bigotry in churches and bigotry and the big lie in politics. The latest news about the corrupt Fox New…
- Episode 94: Jesus died on the cross completely abandoned
The incredible musical presentation of Theodore Dubois' "The Last Seven Words of Christ" from music director Gabriel Evans and Rutger's Choir and Chamber Ensemble sparks a conversation of what, if anything, Jesus did say on the cross, and…
- Episode 93: Teratomancy KTU 1.140
On this episode, Pastor Andrew returns us to Ugarit, this time to talk about the strange form of divination called teratomancy, which is the procedure of deriving insights into the future from the malformations of newborns. And shows how t…
- Episode 92: Jesus Doesn't Need A Super Bowl Ad
On this episode, Pastor Andrew poses the question "what kind of religion needs advertisements?" He discusses the 7 million dollar "He Gets Us" Jesus ad, and why we should be careful and questioning, not just with a message, but with who th…
- Episode 91: Robot Sermon
Pastor Andrew reads selections from a sermon written by artificial intelligence which leads to a discussion about these exciting and possibly concerning advancements in technology, its crossroads with religion, and the ways people react to…
- Episode 90: The Very First Recorded Eclipse KTU 1.78
Pastor Andrew brings us back again to the ancient city of Ugarit, this time to talk about a short cuneiform passage that briefly details (what most scholars think is) a solar eclipse. This leads into a discussion about viewing eclipses (in…
- Episode 89: American Mental Health Crisis
A hike near Stony Point New York brings Pastor Andrew face to face (both literally and figuratively) with the current state of mental health care in America when he comes across the dilapidated remains of the Letchworth Village Sanatorium.…
- Episode 88: Intoxicated god El KTU 1.114
Pastor Andrew promised us a story about God El, head of Pantheon, getting drunk; and he delivered. As we dives into this Ugarit myth, we learn about ancient people's relationship to alcohol (particularly wine, and its road from experimenta…
- Episode 87: The Pastor's Covid Fortnight
Freshly recovered from his first bought with Covid-19, Pastor Andrew shares his experience with it, how he fared, how he passed the time, why he wouldn't wish it on his worst enemy, and speculation on why people would deny themselves the v…
- Episode 86: Thoughts on "God: An Anatomy"
Pastor Andrew offers up his thoughts on Francesca Stavrakopoulou's book "God: An Anatomy." Spoiler alert: he really likes it! He offers an appreciation of the maturity of the worldview, grasp of the biblical world, and understanding that t…
- Episode 85: Canaanite Circumcision in the Bible
Pastor Andrew returns to the Ugarit story of the twin gods Shahar and Shalim, this time to focus on another aspect of that ancient text--the circumcision of God El. He talks about the origins of circumcision as a form of marriage ritual, a…
- Episode 84: Holy Guitar
Pastor Andrew brings us back to the ancient city of Ugarit, this time to talk about interesting lists of Gods (KTU 1.47; 1.118 and RS 20.24). Deities numbering over 30, including...a guitar?!
- Episode 83: We Refuse, We Resist
We waited a month before sitting down to talk about the Supreme Court decision that the constitution does not confer a right to abortion. But now that some time has passed, Pastor Andrew expresses his feelings about this decision--morally,…
- Episode 82: "Pre-biblical Yom Kippur"
Pastor Andrew sheds light on a Ugaritic Day of Atonement that pre-dates the Hebrew bible by hundreds of years, which leads to a conversation and an idea for adding such a day to our calendar as Christians.