Welcome to Empathy Media Lab’s Belief Street where we’ll be exploring religious concepts through text and scripture, interviews and profiles, and documentaries and films.
So why do I want to explore religious concepts even though I haven’t been a practicing Catholic for over two decades?
Well, first, I’m appalled at the hypocrites who have hijacked Jesus’ teachings to love our neighbor and treat people the way we want to be treated.
And as an outsider looking into the internal politics of the Catholic Church, it appears to me that there is civil war raging between a progressive Pope Francis and a very dangerous reactionary faction that sides with the hypocrites previously mentioned.
Ultimately, the outcome of this battle will determine whether it is fear or love that organizes the Holy See.
Fratelli TuttiFor this series of Belief Street, I’ll be reading Fratelli Tutti, which is Pope Francis’ Encyclical subtitled "on fraternity and social friendship.”
The encyclical calls for more human fraternity and solidarity, and is a plea to reject wars.
The document was signed on October 3rd 2020, on the occasion of Pope Francis's visit to the tomb of his namesake, Saint Francis of Assisi, and was published the following day, on the saint's feast day.
The Catholic Church I went to growing up in Muskegon, Michigan was called St. Francis De Sales and it is one of the strangest concrete structures I’ve ever seen.
The Sunday experience in that brutalist architectural design made a lasting impression on me that I plan to discuss in coming episodes.
Almost twenty years ago, I also had the pleasure of visiting the town of Assisi in Italy during a solo backpacking trip across Europe at the beginning of the U.S. invasion of Iraq.
After a day of exploration, I found a modest campsite at Fontemaggio Assisi not far from the town center, ate a delicious pasta meal with some local red wine, and I still remember that night sleeping on the side a mountain on a clear evening, looking up at the sky and thinking about the deeper questions of our life.
So with an interest in getting back to my roots, for this installment, I’ll be reading Fratelli Tutti, Chapter 7 Paths of Renewed Encounter.
African Artist’s Intellectual Property with Foza Fawehinmi - Artist Works
MLK Tapes: What We’ve Learned About the Interests Fighting Unity and Organized Labor
Working 9 to 5 A Women’s Movement, a Labor Union, and Iconic Movie with Ellen Cassedy
Bwando Farms Growing Good Food in Zambia with Conrad Bwalya
Policies for Universal Prosperity with Daniel Burke - Political Economy Project
Climate Change as Class War with Matt Huber - Author and Professor of Geography
261. Life with Energy Scarcity 101 with Irina Slav - Political Economy Project
Radical Hamilton - Economic Lessons from a Misunderstood Founder with author Christian Parenti
Body.Electric. Is a Science Fiction Anthology Series by Patrick Hale - Artist Works
Unionizing Apple Stores with Billy Jarboe AppleCore Union Member and Organizer
America’s Fight for Universal Progress from Franklin to Kennedy with Author and Historian Anton Chaitkin
Creative Recycling with Zsameria of SwapDC
THANK A UNION - Cecil Roberts President United Mine Workers of America - Battle of Blair Mountain
Fighting for a Better Future with Labor Journalist Hamilton Nolan - Labor Solidarity Podcast
Luke Rockhold on Healthcare and UFC Fighter Pay
West Virginia Mine Wars Museum with Barbara Ellen Smith
”We choose to go to the Moon” - JFK on Space Exploration
Lynne Hancock - Nuclear Times Newsletter of the United Steel Workers
Jim Key President Atomic Energy Workers Council United Steel Workers
Michael Gene Sullivan of the San Francisco Mime Troupe - Artist Works
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