News Item Potpourri
- Mike Huckabee wants to amend the Constitution to conform with God’s laws. Archbishop Earl Paulk fined and given 10 years’ probation for perjury. Colorado lawmaker Douglas Bruce kicks a photographer during a prayer service. A Muslim teen athlete’s uniform violate’s track federation rules. The Kite Runner movie is banned in Afghanistan. And Matthew McConaughey says “God bless evolution.”
We conclude our interview with singer/songwriter Susan Werner, whose latest album The Gospel Truth is an unusual collection of songs that combine”the music of faith and the lyrics of doubt.” In Part One (The Genesis of The Gospel Truth) she discusses what motivated her to launch this project. In Part Two (Reactions and Revelations) she talks about the fan response and what she learned about herself in the process. In this third and final installment, she looks to what she might say about the future of America in her upcoming work.
Learn more about her on the web at www.SusanWerner.com.
We continue our interview with singer/songwriter Susan Werner, whose latest album The Gospel Truth is an unusual collection of songs that combine”the music of faith and the lyrics of doubt.” In this second installment, she talks about the response of fans to this (as far as we can tell) unique artistic project.
Learn more about her on the web at www.SusanWerner.com.
Singer/songwriter Susan Werner has been on the music scene for over fifteen years. She has toured nearly constantly and released seven successful albums (including I Can’t Be New, her delightful homage to Tin Pan Alley), and despite consistent critical acclaim and positive audience response, she flies just under the mainstream radar. Her output is eclectic, but generally skews to the soft side: jazz, folk, lounge, easy listening - Werner is difficult to pin down. Equally at home with guitar and piano, she possesses a clear voice and a head for clever lyrics and biting satire (she’s opened for such diverse acts as Madeleine Peyroux and George Carlin).
Werner’s latest album is The Gospel Truth, released in February 2007, a unique collection of songs that combine “the music of faith and the lyrics of doubt.” Musically, each offering sounds like something that could have been pulled from any Protestant hymnal or sung by an African-American choir, but in the finest tradition of folk and the blues, the lyrics express indignation, hope, and calls for social justice.
Religion and Insanity
- Recent, tragic cases in the news involving filicide and/or suicide by insane and possibly religiously motivated people (Banita Jacks, John Violette and Marcelle Thibault).
- A look back at the sad story of Andrea Yates, who infamously drowned all five of her children.
by John C. Snider © 2008
One of the most talked-about movies of 2007 is writer/director Paul Thomas Anderson’s There Will Be Blood. Anderson has a reputation as a bold filmmaker unafraid to tackle strange and disturbing subjects: Boogie Nights, with its 70s porno backdrop; Magnolia, a mesmerizing three-hour-long epic in which half a dozen ill-fated characters meet their respective Waterloos; and Punch-Drunk Love, while probably the least of Anderson’s films, stars Adam Sandler in an unexpected non-comedy role. An eclectic body of work, to be sure; still, it would have been interesting to see how many critics would have picked There Will Be Blood as a P.T. Anderson flick without the man’s name appearing in the credits.
The Portable Atheist by Christopher Hitchens - We take a look at the latest collection of writing selected and introduced by the Bad Boy of Unbelievers!
A review of the science fiction anthology
Galileo’s Children, edited by Gardner Dozois
by John C. Snider © 2008
It has been nearly four centuries since Galileo Galilei lost his legendary showdown with the Catholic Church’s Court of the Inquisition. Threatened with imprisonment, torture and certain death, Galileo backed down — officially, at least — from his outrageous claim that the earth and the planets orbited the sun (a claim which he had the audacity to support with — gasp! — data, meticulously gathered and brilliantly analyzed).
Since Galileo’s time, science has marched messily forward and superstition has been forced to retreat; although lately superstition has engaged in some clever stalling tactics. The ancient Catholic Church could enforce its will through military force and terror; in 21st century America, the more loosely organized Protestants simply outmaneuver scientists by dominating school boards and swarming the halls of Congress. Evangelical hegemony has replaced outright theocracy.
Recorded 12/31/2007. Hosted by John C. Snider and David Driscoll.
Politics and Faith: The Presidential Candidates and how their religious beliefs will affect the race for the White House. We’ll listen to and comment on excerpts from several speechs and debates, including: John F. Kennedy’s 1960 speech, Mitt Romney’s “Faith in America” Speech, Mike Huckabee’s Christmas Commercial, Rudy Guiliani (and Mitt and Mike!) at the YouTube Debate, Barack Obama at an MTV forum, and Hillary Clinton interviewed on CNN.
by John C. Snider © 2008
Christopher Hitchens seems to revel in his role as the Bad Boy of Unbelievers. With books like The Missionary Position (a scathing criticism of the late and soon-to-be-canonized Mother Teresa) and his recent bestseller God Is not Great, Hitchens tweaks the conservative establishment, and he’s not afraid to engage in public debate with such right-wing luminaries as Dinesh D’Souza and the Catholic League’s Bill Donohue. But his ”pro” positions on the War in Iraq and the War on Terror have led to accusations from his atheistic (and overwhelmingly leftist) fellow travelers that “Hitch” is a thinly veiled neo-con.
