Special Guests

  • Jory Nash — Recording Artist
    Jory Nash is an award-winning singer-songwriter and storyteller who blends elements of folk, jazz, blues, pop & soul into an original stew of sound. He has recorded 6 critically acclaimed albums, including his newest CD “New Blue Day”, which was named the Penguin Eggs Magazine 2009 Critic’s Choice Album of the Year (Penguin Eggs is Canada’s premier Folk, Roots & World Music Magazine). New Blue Day was also nominated for a 2010 Canadian Folk Music Award. Jory plays acoustic guitar, piano and banjo and his warm, unique voice urges you to listen to his thoughtful lyrics and intricate melodies. He tours regularly across Canada and the US playing folk festivals, house concerts, folk clubs and soft seat theatres. Recent festival appearances include Mariposa, Summerfolk, Home County Folk Festival, Hillside, Live From the Rock and the Blue Skies Festival. Jory Nash is co-founder and producer of “The Way We Feel”, a large-scale, multi-artist annual concert celebrating the music of Gordon Lightfoot. The show has been recorded for broadcast by CBC Radio and has featured dozens of different Canadian Roots music artists over the years. (Gordon Lightfoot himself has several times appeared with guitar in hand to play in the show.)

  • Sabrina Jalees — Comedian
    (Oh and... she's also a lesbian rejected by her Muslim family. Just a little FYI for ya'll.)

    Sabrina Jalees is a comedian, actor, keynote speaker and writer based in New York City. Since stepping onto the stage of Yuk Yuk’s amateur night at 16, she’s become one of the most recognizable faces in the Canadian media. Lovers of comedy were immediately intrigued by the ½ -Pakistani, ½ -Swiss teen’s humor. She was soon skipping class to tour the country. Going on to record a CTV Comedy Now special, perform at the famed Just For Laughs Festival and break Mike Myers’ record as the youngest improviser ever hired by Second City. Between now and then she’s crossed over into acting (CBS’s Flashpoint, Lifetime’s Mom at Sixteen), hosts a Canadian reality series (YTV’s In Real Life) as well as a national radio show (CBC’s Laugh Out Loud) and is best known for her rapier wit as a fixture of the most popular show on Canada’s version of MTV (Much Music’s Video On Trial). Sabrina came out to her extended Muslim family and was shunned. The material from that experience is the basis for her new, cross-Canada comedy tour, "Brownlisted!"

  • Bruxy Saves "Humble" from Hell! — A pastor and an atheist (aka "Bitter Jew") talk about God!

    Bruxy Cavey – Teaching Pastor at The Meeting House & Author of “The End Of Religion”www.themeetinghouse.com

    Howard “Humble” Glassman – Host of The Humble & Fred Show, Broadcasting Legendwww.humbleandfredradio.com

    Two friends of Drew's, two points of views
    One speaks to the pews, the other walked among the Jews
    One says there is no God, the other... ummm... has a hot bod?
    Both great guys, both hate religious lies
    Sorry... No more rhyming, we mean it!
    (Anybody want a peanut?)

  • Dale Hanson Bourke — Author of The Skeptic's Guide: The Israeli – Palestinian Conflict
    As author of the hit series, The Skeptic's Guides - Dale Hanson Bourke has now chosen to take on the task of shedding some concise light on the places, terms, history and current issues shaping the Middle East. Like... What countries are considered part of the Middle East? What is the Promised Land? What is the West Bank? The Gaza Strip? Are most Muslims Arab? Is Zion a city, the country of Israel or heaven? Is criticism of Israel the same as anti-Semitism? And is anti-Zionism the same as anti-Semitism? I know all Arabs aren’t terrorists, but why are so many associated with terrorism? What is Hamas? Were Arabs and Jews always at war? Why is Jerusalem so important in history? Who are suicide bombers? What is the meaning of Christian Zionism? Where is the U.S. Embassy in Israel, and why is there controversy about its location? What is the relationship between the governments of Israel and the Palestinian Territories? How much money does the United States give Israel every year? Does the United States give money to the Palestinians? Does Israel have nuclear weapons? Why doesn’t it want any other country to have them? What was the significance of Palestine’s bid to be recognized at the United Nations? Besides the United States, does Israel have other allies? Why is Jerusalem such a big deal?

Author of the Month

  • Dr. Daniel Taylor — Author of The Skeptical Believer: Telling Stories To Your Inner Atheist
    (This book is so good – we've decided to do an entire month of interviews with the author!)

    When it comes to God, there are believers and there are skeptics. But there are also Skeptical Believers. Can someone be both skeptical and a believer? In what sense is having faith like living in a story? And what, for heaven’s sake, is an Inner Atheist? These are just a few of the many questions addressed in The Skeptical Believer, a book that is all about questions and answers, and about working out useful responses to questions that have no definitive answers. It steers a middle course between the modernist conviction that faith is agreement with a set of statements about God and the postmodernist assertion that religious faith is just one story among many. Written in dozens of short reflections, laced with stories and sometimes irreverent asides, The Skeptical Believer is by a person who tried for decades to kill his Inner Atheist, but discovered that it was better to acknowledge him and let him have his say—and then go on living in the story of faith. This book doesn’t prove anything, but then little of great value can be proved. Instead it explores the notion that one can live a rich and meaningful life of faith without proof (and despite the weaknesses of the church) by seeing oneself as a character within an ancient story. As believers, skeptical or otherwise, always have.

Talkback, etc.

  • The Counsel of Many
    This week on the Counsel Of Many:

    Need Help or Advice On An Issue In Your Life? A lady wants to know if a popular email (below) should have been read to the congregation by her pastor, or not - and whether it's racist, or not!

    Our pastor read the following email to our congregation recently, and afterwards there were a whole bunch of people who were offended. They felt that it was racist and uncalled for. Our lady's group discussed it amongst ourselves and we are divided on whether or not we think it should have been read by our pastor to the congregation. We're also divided on whether or not it's racist. I would be interested in knowing what your listeners think.

    "I am truly perplexed that so many of my friends are against another mosque being built in Toronto. I think it should be the goal of every Canadian to be tolerant regardless of their religious beliefs. Thus the mosque should be allowed, in an effort to promote tolerance. That is why I also propose that two nightclubs be opened next door to the mosque thereby promoting tolerance from within the mosque. We could call one of the clubs, which would be gay, "The Turban Cowboy", and the other a topless bar called "You Mecca Me Hot." Next door should be a butcher shop that specializes in pork, and adjacent to that an open-pit barbecue pork restaurant, called " Iraq o' Ribs". Across the street there could be a lingerie store called "Victoria Keeps Nothing Secret", with sexy mannequins in the window modeling the goods. Next door to the lingerie shop there would be room for an adult sex toy shop,"Koranal Knowledge", its name in flashing neon lights, and on the other side a liquor store called "Morehammered". All of this would encourage Muslims to demonstrate the tolerance they demand of us, so their mosque issue would not be a problem for others. Yes, we should promote tolerance!"
     (Apparently, although unverified, this was a speech delivered by Jiggs McDonald, NHL Hall of Fame broadcaster, while speaking in Ontario.)

  • God & Stuff
    Join Drew & Tim The Tool as they catch up on current events and the week's happenings in the world of Religion & Faith & Cults – Oh My!
    This Week's God & Stuff Guest: Kevin Eckstrom - Editor-in-Chief of Religion News Service