Special Guests

  • Magus Peter H. Gilmore — High Priest of The Church Of Satan
    As stated on their website: “Founded on April 30, 1966 c.e. by Anton Szandor LaVey, we are the first above-ground organization in history openly dedicated to the acceptance of Man’s true nature—that of a carnal beast, living in a cosmos that is indifferent to our existence. To us, Satan is the symbol that best suits the nature of we who are carnal by birth—people who feel no battles raging between our thoughts and feelings, we who do not embrace the concept of a soul imprisoned in a body. He represents pride, liberty, and individualism—qualities often defined as Evil by those who worship external deities, who feel there is a war between their minds and emotions. As Anton LaVey explained in his classic work  The Satanic Bible, Man—using his brain—invented all the Gods, doing so because many of our species cannot accept or control their personal egos, feeling compelled to conjure up one or a multiplicity of characters who can act without hindrance or guilt upon whims and desires. All Gods are thus externalized forms, magnified projections of the true nature of their creators, personifying aspects of the universe or personal temperaments which many of their followers find to be troubling. Worshiping any God is thus worshiping by proxy those who invented that God. Since the Satanist understands that all Gods are fiction, instead of bending a knee in worship to—or seeking friendship or unity with—such mythical entities, he places himself at the center of his own subjective universe as his own highest value. We Satanists are thus our own “Gods,” and as beneficent “deities” we can offer love to those who deserve it and deliver our wrath (within reasonable limits) upon those who seek to cause us—or that which we cherish—harm. Magus Gilmore’s essay “What, The Devil?” from The Satanic Scriptures discusses this in greater detail.”

  • Randy Stonehill — Christian Rock Pioneer
    Forty years after the release of his first album (Born Twice 1971), Randy Stonehill created an album of new songs that is both fresh and some are saying his best yet. An astounding 23 albums later, which include hits like “King of Hearts”, “Shut De Do”, and “American Fast Food,” this pioneer of the Christian Rock Movement shows no signs of slowing down! Spirit Walk - strings together songs that only a veteran like Randy could sing with such conviction, wit and playfulness. The story of Randy Stonehill coming to Los Angeles in 1970 to apply for the job of “rock star” but finding Jesus instead has been told and retold innumerable times. His friendship in the 70s with the Godfather of Christian Rock - Larry Norman, has been celebrated in tunes and liner notes and more recently examined in the documentary film Fallen Angel. Randy was nominated for a Grammy Award in 1985 for his duet with Amy Grant and in 1988 CCM Magazine acclaimed his 1976 album Welcome to Paradise as among the top three most influential albums in the contemporary Christian genre.

  • Hannah Chapplain — Recording Artist
    She's shared the stage with Dan Hill, opened for Canadian rock legend Kim Mitchell and the Jim Cuddy Band at Illuminaqua, and in August 2012, Hannah Chapplain joined a superstar line-up of country and rock artists, including Paul Brandt, Sheryl Crow, Tim McGraw, Kid Rock and Carrie Underwood at the Boots and Hearts 2012 music festival. She's kinda hard to describe musically, but if you add a half cup of rock and a tablespoon of country, with a tiny pinch of folk, mix with love and tenacity - you've got Hannah Chapplain! “I'm Hannah...a raspy-voiced tall girl from Ontario, Canada. I sing, a lot, and write, and play guitar. I write songs about people, things, experience, dreams, and feelings. I like writing stories, but making them rhyme and morph into this big production that gets people dancing or crying or laughing. I started singing when I was 8 years old, but in a more conservative way. I sang through some of the grades for the Conservatory of Music, but in all the competitions and recitals I was the youngest kid there, by a long shot. I stopped singing for awhile, life got busy and money got tight, but after a long break I picked up a guitar at 14 and started learning how to play. Soon after, I wrote a compilation of 200 songs in a year and a half, and it's been my addiction ever since. I'm all artsy and stuff, I love painting, sketching, reconstructing clothes, writing, reading, anything really. So after the past few years, I have put those artistic abilities to work and have found myself with a pile of songs that don't sound too shabby, even if I do say so myself. So take a listen to my stuff! I'm sure you'll find something you can relate to.”

  • Brittany Machado & Matt Barber — Producers of Jesus, Don't Let Me Die Before I've Had Sex
    Jesus, Don't Let Me Die Before I've Had Sex is a documentary examining the idealism and silence embedded in the sexual teachings of evangelical churches. Through the stories of gay, straight, celibate & sexually active churchgoers, this doc explores the hopes, fears, and prayers of real people as they learn to reconcile their faith and sexualities.
    www.givemesexjesus.com

    Matt Barber is a Los Angeles-based director, editor, and photographer, whose directing credits include the NBC series Chuck, on which he has also served as an editor for five years, the award-winning film Weathered, and multiple music videos (Macintosh Braun, Kyle Andrews). He has also edited several television series (Fox’s The O.C. and Human Target)

    Brittany Machado received her Master of Arts in the Social Sciences from the University of Chicago, where she conducted original research on theories of culture about evangelical sexuality. She is currently investigating how the brain processes morality and virtue with a research collaboration between the California Institute of Technology and the Travis Research Institute at Fuller Seminary. Brittany is adjunct faculty at Azusa Pacific University, where she lectures on culture, gender and social inequality.

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.

  • TDMS Dating Game Update!
    Well, it's been a month since our last Dating Game contestant was in the studio, so we figured it's about time to check in with Valerie to see how the wedding plans are going!!! (Just kidding)

  • The Counsel of Many
    This week on the Counsel Of Many: A man wants to know if he should leave his church because they've just hired a pastor who left another church due to a serious lack of financial accountability! His wife wants to stay.
    First of all, I don't want to say too much in case someone knows who I'm talking about, but the bottom line is that our church just hired a new pastor and I'm not sure we should trust him. He came from another church, which was forced to shut down because of unpaid taxes. The financial records of both the pastor and his former church, have been investigated on numerous occasions by government officials. This pastor had even refused to come under the accountability of his denomination's governing body. As it turns out, hundreds of people left his old church over these concerns, and now he's at OUR church! Being forgiven by God is one thing, but trusting someone like this as a spiritual leader AGAIN?? My wife thinks I'm being too cynical and that I should trust our board's decision to hire this crook. She says that no one is perfect and that maybe he's changed. I say – it's different if someone has been living a lifestyle contrary to a Biblical moral code, and they're not a Christian - but when someone has been not only a Christian, but a spiritual leader, and has been living contrary to a Biblical moral code?? They should no longer be in spiritual leadership ever again! How many times have we all heard of these TV preachers or mega church pastors who get a taste of power and money, then get busted for WHATEVER – then they soon get back into spiritual leadership (because they don't know what else to do and they miss the power and the money and the spotlight) and then blow it AGAIN! I don't want to be around when that happens. I think I should take our family out of this church. My wife isn't so sure. Anyone else have some thoughts on this?

  • 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: Eric Marrapodi - CNN Sr. Producer & CNN Belief Blog Co-Editor