Angie Thurston: Redifining Religion

The Unmistakable Creative Podcast

Srinivas Rao

Society & Culture

4.8 • 1K Ratings

🗓️ 10 May 2017

⏱️ 48 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

What you illustrated with your frustration at a service in a religious context is that it’s not doing the job it’s supposed to do in your life. We come at this whole question from the perspective that religion is really about the tools that we use to make meaning of our lives and help us live flourishing lives. That means all sorts of things. It means giving you a sense of connection to other people around you, to your deepest self, to the natural world the moments of transcendence or the experiences that some people might call God, to a sense of time to history. Really it helps you find a place in the world, it gives you a sense of who you are. A ritual, a set of words, chant, or song, all the tools or religion were right at one point in time. To be honest, someone could still sit in that service and find something. But it’s not working for you, and you’re not alone in that question. The fastest growing religious group in the US is “none of the above.” – Angie Thurston

Angie Thurston and Casper ter Kuile are Ministry Innovation Fellows at Harvard Divinity School and On Being Fellows. They are the co-authors of How We Gather and Something More, two reports profiling new forms of meaningful community in America.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	what you illustrated with your frustration at a religious service in your context is that it's not doing the job it's supposed to do in your life.
0:07.0	Right. You know, we come at this whole question from the from the perspective that religion is really the tools that we use to
0:15.0	make meaning of our lives and to help us live flourishing lives and that that means
0:19.8	all sorts of things it means giving you a sense of connection to other people around you, to your
0:25.3	deepest self, to the natural world, to the moments of transcendence or the experiences that some people
0:31.0	might call God, to, you know know to a sense of time to history to really
0:36.5	it helps you find a place in in the world that gives you a sense of who you are
0:40.6	and and so in that you know the example that you gave when you're sitting there for an hour and all your hearing is like shouting in sunscrap. Like, it's not helping you do that. And so a ritual or a set of words or chant or song or you know all the all the tools of
0:57.3	religion were right for at one point in time and to be honest you know someone could sit in that
1:03.7	service and still really find something but it's not it's not working for you and
1:07.6	you are not alone in that question right we're seeing these drastic rise that you know fastest growing religious group in the US is none of the above
1:21.2	I'm Sreni Rao and this is the unmistakable creative podcast where you get a window into the stories and insights of the most innovative and creative minds who started movements, built thriving businesses, written best-selling books, and created insanely interesting art.
1:35.0	For more, check out our 500 episode archive at unmistakable Creative.com. This is a passenger announcement. You can now book your train on Uber and get 10% back in credits to spend on Uber Eats
1:56.7	so you can order your own fries instead of eating everyone else's.
2:00.8	Trains, now on Uber. T's and C's apply. Check the Uber app.
2:06.0	Imagine you, you in a nice comfy seat with your hands behind your head taking in the views, instead of taking on the road, maybe even taking a nap.
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2:29.0	and we'll take you there.
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2:36.0	Angie and Casper, welcome to the unmistakable creative.
2:41.0	Thanks so much for taking the time to join us.
	...

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