Totalitarian control is popular in religious groups. Zinnia escaped the Christadelphian church a few years back, and now she hosts a podcast (Life After Leaving) all about supporting ex-Christadelphians to tell their stories and find support.

Zinnia tells us about the history of the movement, from the magazine-selling origins of John Thomas, who finally named his cult to get conscientious objector status during the American Civil War. The ecclesia wields a lot of power over its members, much of it s terrifying overreach.

Warning: content includes abuse, murder, and sexual misconduct.

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Previously a Patreon Exclusive episode: We're opening the vault to showcase some of our older subscriber content.

For the first time, Katie reads the Torah (The Pentateuch, or Five Books of Moses), the first chunk of the Hebrew Bible (AKA Old Testament).

Join us for this sacred journey through the most significant books in all of human history--according to the western perspective.

The Torah includes the books of Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy. For good measure, we also discuss the direct sequel: Joshua.

These books describe the origins of the Jewish people and their religious identity.

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This episode was originally published on Patreon , 9 August 2021.

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Is belief a choice, or are our beliefs inherent to us? How do we decide whether something is true or not? With more than 8 billion people on the planet, there are about 10,000 different types of religious beliefs. How do we come to our conclusions?

Epistemology is a complex area of philosophy that deals with how we process information and decide if something is fact or fiction.

We explore the difference between proof and evidence, and the various kinds of evidence that we use to support our beliefs.

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This episode was originally published 12 April 2021

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Martin Luther is a hero to countless Christians around the world. The birth of European Protestantism and the Lutheran Church cannot be expressed without citing the 95 theses that Martin Luther posted to the church door on Halloween 1517. A diet of worms follows.

Whether you want to celebrate Fred the Wise or Pope Leo X, big changes came to Western Christendom because of Martin Luther's refusal to back down from a fight he believed in. He also believed that God wants people to suffer, so we'll take the whole thing in parts, favoring some things and not others....

We examine the Five Solae: Fidae, Scriptura, Gratia, Christus, and Deo Gloria; and how Protestantism differs from the Imperial tradition from which it was born. We also take a look at contemporary protestors, like Ulrich Zwingli, John Calvin, Menno Simons, the anabaptists of Zurich, and the dramatic climax of Guy Fawkes' treasonous Gun Powder Plot.

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Tasawwuf is the old word for dressing in wool, the typical identifier for a monk, ascetic, and mystic. Today, we pronounce it Sufi.

The Sufi tradition dates back to the foundation of Islam, though both adherents and opponents have claimed that it's even older than Islam--certainly some of the ideas are....

The Goal is Tawhid, the perfect union with Allah (the God of the Hebrew Bible). The Prophet Muhammad is also revered as a god because of his achievement in this pursuit.

The most well regarded traditions have master-apprentice chains that can be traced as far back as the best hadiths, and can be compared to the Jedi--or, we try, anyway.

We explore some Sufi poetry, and note that Rumi is the most popular poet in the world. Rumi is also the founder of a Sufi tradition known as the Whirling Dervishes--a phrase coopted by insensitive parents in the 80s and 90s.

Sufis, like many other groups, have been the object of abuse and even terrorism around the world.

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Christian mysticism is widely spread through this relatively common but fairly new tradition derived almost exclusively from what might have been parody pamphlets that told the story of Christian Rosenkreuz. Johann Valentine Andrea claims to have written one such pamphlet to make fun of the growing interest in mystical and magical traditions shortly after the beginning of protestant era in Germany.

Attempts at understanding the divine are plentiful and diverse, but there's a reasonable sort of logic to the idea that scientific pursuits can reveal the nature of the universe and its creator.

Rosicrucianism has branched into scores of organizations, and is even found in some branches of Freemasonry. AMORC (Ancient and Mystical Order Rosae Crucis) and the Rosicrucian Fellowship are both fairly popular, and the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn brought us such great works as the Waite-Smith-Rider Tarot deck of 1909.

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Kabbalah isn't just another branch of Judaism--it's more mystical and personal. The idea is hat you really connect with the creator of the universe--but if you fail at that, there's always another shot with the benefits of reincarnation.

Mystical concerns include finding hidden meaning (often in places where it ought not to be) through astrology or gematria (numerology). The Zohar adds depth to the Torah, though not everybody is interested in this newer interpretation of scripture. The Spanish Rabbi who gave us the Zohar is still under investigation for fraud....

The sefirot, and their tree of life illustration, are helpful for understanding how everything fits together in this cosmic theology.

We also explore more mundane practices and misconceptions.

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Over millennia, countless dietary traditions have formed around the world; many are tied strictly to religious traditions, and have thereby been empowered to stand the test of time (with some scientific speculation).

We examine the details that outline kosher food, and how it's much stricter than halal diets (which are hardly monolithic). We also look at the Christian narrative that discards the Kashrut laws. Some keep it simple and categorically refuse to eat meat of any kind.

Taking proper care of your kitchen is important for a lot of reasons, you shouldn't have to fear religious discipline to keep it clean, though religious tradition certainly informs the standards of cleanliness for many.

There's an ancient tradition that separates fish from other meat, too.

In addition to all the rules about what to eat, there are also some strict rules about when to eat, and feasts are an important part of every serious religion. Whether we fast or celebrate the harvest, we do it together, and strengthen the community.

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