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.
Prayer of the 54th Regiment Before the Battle of Fort Wagner - Morgan Freeman
End Eco-Colonialism and Free Africa’s Nuclear Energy with Princy Mthombeni
Nuclear Surplus Energy: China vs. United States
An Artist’s Duty - Nina Simone
Energy 101 with Isaac Orr on The Power Hungry Podcast - Excerpt
Mexico and U.S. Labor Solidarity Lessons Learned with Robin Alexander
Ain’t I A Woman? Reverend Addie Wyatt on Sojourner Truth
JFK On Revolution - March 13, 1962
JFK Alliance for Progress first Anniversary speech - March 13, 1962
Killing People with a Bad Electrical Grid - Meredith Angwin: Author of Shorting the Grid
What Is Your Life’s Blueprint? Martin Luther King Jr. Speech Excerpt - October 26, 1967
Robert Frost Reads His Poem The Road Not Taken
Jazz Lewis - Delegate Representing District 24 - Maryland House of Delegates
No Time - A beautiful sad soul blues folk tune by Ronald Charles McKernan
Chisenga - Global Hip Hop Artist, Producer, and Sound Engineer
My soul has grown deep like the rivers - Langston Hughes
Driving home with the Labor Radio Podcast Network
Why Love? A message from Belief Street Faith and Labor.
CEOs Screwing Workers with Sarah Anderson of the Global Economy Project at IPS and Co-Editor of Inequality.org
The Coalition of Labor Union Women Response to the Supreme Court Decision on Roe v. Wade.
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