Christianity and the Cult of Innocence

Learning How to See with Brian McLaren

Center for Action and Contemplation

Christianity, Religion & Spirituality

4.8 • 748 Ratings

🗓️ 17 June 2022

⏱️ 53 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

What is the Christian Cult of Innocence and how does it limit our view of ourselves, God, and Christian wisdom? In this episode, Brian McLaren continues his journey of discovering wisdom and perspectives that can break Christianity open. In this conversation, Fr. Richard Rohr and Paul Swanson explore how embracing our flawed human nature can free us from limiting judgements that keep us and everyone else limited, small, and feeling unworthy of Divine Love. Learn to liberate yourself and everyone else you know to be unapologetically human! Resources: The transcript for this episode can be found here Brian's new book, Do I Stay Christian? can be found here Everyone who purchases a copy of Brian's new book Do I Stay Christian? from our online bookstore will be invited to participate in an exclusive Community Read-Along on Facebook! There will be discussion questions, prompts, and shared practices as we move through the book each week. The Center for Action and Contemplation (CAC) is an educational nonprofit organization whose mission is to strengthen compassionate engagement in the world. When you purchase this or any other book from our online bookstore you help us to introduce seekers from around the world to the contemplative Christian path of transformation. (Everyone who purchases a copy of Do I Stay Christian? will receive a URL to join the discussion group via email.) Connect with us: We’d love to hear your thoughts, comments or feedback. Send us an email at podcasts@cac.org Center for Action and Contemplation: Facebook | Instagram | Twitter Brian McLaren: Website| Facebook | Instagram | Twitter This podcast is made possible, thanks to the generosity of our donors. If you would love to support the ongoing work of the Center for Action and Contemplation and the continued work of our podcasts, you can donate at cac.org/podcastsupport Thank you!

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	I was once a guest at an important breakfast gathering in Switzerland for multi-faith leaders.
0:07.0	I was seated next to a Muslim woman.
0:10.0	After she took a sip of what looked like orange juice, she put her hand to her throat and leaned over to me.
0:17.0	Did you taste that orange juice? Something's wrong with it.
0:22.0	I tasted it and realized it was spiked.
0:25.5	It was a screwdriver, a cocktail made of orange juice and vodka.
0:31.1	I told her that's what it was, and she looked shocked.
0:35.1	That is the first time alcohol has ever touched my tongue. Alcohol is forbidden
0:43.4	to me as a Muslim, she said. Well, she was very gracious, but I was appalled. I was appalled that the
0:51.9	organizers would be so insensitive as to serve alcohol at such
0:57.3	a gathering. There were rabbis present. Would they put bacon and ham on the menu? There were
1:04.2	vegetarian Hindus present. Would they put beef on the menu? Why weren't they more considerate? Many religions make distinctions between clean
1:15.7	and unclean. There are permitted foods and taboo foods. There are sacred places and dirty places.
1:22.7	There are acceptable people and unacceptable people. The ability to distinguish between what is clean and to be enjoyed and what is dirty and to be avoided
1:33.3	is an instinct deeply rooted in religion and it taps into one of our most primal reflexes, the gag reflex,
1:42.3	the urge to spit out what might be harmful to us.
1:47.0	Clean, unclean, pure, impure.
1:50.0	It seems that our religions use purity codes to teach us an aversion to physical things
1:57.0	to help train us to avoid non-physical dangers, attitudes and actions like lying or prejudice
2:05.3	or greed or hate or revenge. Jesus had a complex relationship to purity codes. For example,
2:11.9	he touched lepers, people considered unclean. He ate with tax collectors and sex workers,
2:19.2	people considered unclean. He didn with tax collectors and sex workers, people considered unclean.
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Center for Action and Contemplation, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of Center for Action and Contemplation and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.