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Show 239: Alisha Price of the One Taste NYC Center

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Michael O’Neil continues his series on “Ecstatic Humanism” in a conversation with Alisha Price of One Taste NYC. Since opening their first San Francisco center in 2004, the OneTaste movement has explored radical ideas of relationships, intimacy, pleasure and community. Now operating on both coasts, OneTaste offers a “post-New Age” vision of “Connected Living” that relies less on mysticism and more on psychology than some of their shamanism-chic contemporaries.

But what can humanists learn from these practices? Have we rejected superstitious institutions only to blindly continue aping their rigid mores and perpetuate a society of “sensual scarcity,” when healthier arrangements are possible?

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Show 238: 1-Hour Easter Day Special: From Sacred to Secular Cruelty & Vengeance

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The story of the events of Easter Day in combination with the events leading up to it is a narrative so loaded with dysfunctional, anti-humanistic, and delusional content, it has served as a virtually inexhaustible wellspring of toxicity for two thousand years, providing support for most of the very worst ideas in our society which are still with us today.Belief in universal sin, belief that universal sin could somehow be relieved through someone’s torture, and belief in an immortal soul that rises up after we die, are just some of the problematic lessons of Christ’s Passion.

A major example of an inhumane institution which derives legitimacy from beliefs which can be traced back to the Easter narrative can be found in our American system of criminal justice. Joining us to facilitate our examination of our modern prison system will be author of “American Furies,” Sasha Abramsky, and Dr. Philip Zimbardo, author of “The Lucifer Effect,” and Chief Researcher and designer of the famous “Stanford Prison Experiment.”

And we’ll also be replaying the now classic confrontation between Jesus and the Easter Bunny, first played on this program, in which we’re given the best argument to date for why we should jettison all the suffering, blood and gore and instead celebrate the Spring for the natural “miracle” it is.

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Show 237: Kathryn Joyce

Sunsara Taylor talks to Kathryn Joyce, author of the upcoming book, Quiverfull: Inside the Christian Patriarchy Movement.

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Joyce discusses the relationship between the Right-Wing Christian Fundamentalist movement both in the US – and it’s affect in Europe – and Xenophobia, racism, patriarchy, the Pro-Life movement and the white anti-immigration madness of the 21st Century.

Kathryn Joyce is a freelance writer whose work has appeared in The Nation, Mother Jones and other publications. Quiverfull: Inside the Christian Patriarchy Movement, is due out from Beacon Press in early 2009.

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Show 236: Edward Trippel on Antioch College

Michael O’Neil talks to Edward Trippel of the Antioch College Action Network (ACAN) about the corporatization and sabotage of one higher education’s most forward-thinking and progressive institutions.

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From ACAN:

“The Antioch College Action Network (ACAN) is a coalition of Antioch College Community Members—students, faculty, staff, alumni, villagers and friends—dedicated to a vibrant, humane, self-governing and self-sustaining Antioch College. Operating on principles of direct participatory democracy, ACAN continues to work towards a true Non-Stop Antioch, uncompromised in its academic integrity and commitment to social justice. To this end, ACAN advocates autonomy, independence, participatory community governance; open, public and accountable decision-making processes, faculty tenure, respect for students and employees, sustainable student services, aggressive admissions, and faculty-driven curriculum for Antioch College.”

Click here for info about the struggle of Antioch College against Antioch University…

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Show 235: Stephen Eric Bronner

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From the Publisher:

Turmoil in the Middle East has escalated to unprecedented levels in the twenty-first century. Opposing cultural, religious, and political forces have resumed old conflicts and spawned new ones, fighting with words and images as well as bombs and bullets. The path toward peace and reconciliation seems further away and less clear than ever.

Stephen Eric Bronner‘s Peace Out of Reach is both a deeply personal account and a careful analysis of the crises currently threatening the cradle of civilization. Bronner’s insights into Middle Eastern tensions are significantly enhanced by his extensive travels in the region. Equally informed by scholarly research and conscientious engagement, Bronner critically evaluates the motivations and actions of the powerful players on the Middle Eastern stage. Peace Out of Reach challenges policymakers to build bridges, recognize common interests, foster genuine diplomacy, and seek realistically navigable roads to lasting peace, rather than resort to propaganda, threats, and military actions.

Stephen Eric Bronner is Distinguished Professor of Political Science at Rutgers University. He is the author of numerous books, including Blood in the Sand: Imperial Fantasies, Right-Wing Ambitions, and the Erosion of American Democracy, and coeditor of The Logos Reader: Rational Radicalism and the Future of Politics.