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565: The Vegan Bible, Loveless Christianity, & Spiritual Narcissism with Rainn Wilson


Ethicist, David Gushee, says we are seeing the emergence of a new kind of loveless Christianity. But those who practice it say their anger, culture warring, and pursuit of power are actually how they’re loving their neighbors. Then, Skye talks to actor Rainn Wilson, best known as Dwight Schrute from “The Office,” about religious pluralism, spiritual narcissism, why Hollywood misrepresents Christians, and how he became a follower of the Baha’i faith. Wilson’s new book is “Soul Boom: Why We Need a Spiritual Revolution.” Also this week—A.I. has rewritten Genesis to be vegan-friendly, and does God really hate yoga pants?


Patreon Bonus:

Our full discussion on yoga pants


0.00 - Intro


2:33 - Theme Song


2:55 - Sponsor: Faithful Counseling

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4:03 - A Vegan Bible


15:23 - Yoga Pants & Christian Modesty


25:37 - Christianity without Love





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43:14 - Interview Intro


48:26 - Rainn’s journey to becoming Baha’i


53:30 - Why people are shifting away from religion


1:02:43 - Avoiding “self-help” spirituality


1:08:35 - How can people of different faiths work together


1:22:55 - End Credits



Links mentioned in news segment:


PETA Rewrites the Bible With ChatGPT: ‘A Loving God Would Never Endorse Exploitation’


‘Women’s leggings are too revealing’: Men of the Christian right deem yoga pants too scandalous to wear outside


Christianity without love

Other resources:

Soul Boom: Why We Need a Spiritual Revolution by Rainn Wilson


The Divine Commodity: Discovering a Faith Beyond Consumer Christianity by Skye Jethani


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15 Comments


Sarah Lowe
Sarah Lowe
May 22, 2023

I appreciated the conversation between Rainn and Skye. Skye always does a good job reading books before interviewing authors and then taking the time to come up with good questions & discussion points based on that. It seems like the two of them really hit it off, and I hope they do end up doing a panel or service project or something together like Rainn suggested.

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S R
S R
May 18, 2023

'Be unapologetic about your faith' wow. That's amazing to hear esp from someone who's not even a Christian!

And I loved 'let your heart burn in loving-kindness for everyone who comes across your path'. Wonderful stuff.

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jaybjessica
May 17, 2023

After listening to your most recent podcast and hearing the part about the Vegan Bible, I felt compelled to comment. Yes, what PETA did was wrong and is only making Christians less likely to go vegan BUT how can you not agree that factory farming is indeed animal exploitation/cruelty which is 99% of the farmed animals? We were called as Christians to have dominion over animals and I don’t think God is too thrilled seeing how we are currently ruling over them. And also to address Skye’s point about animals eating other animals: yes, that’s true but we as humans have a conscious which is something other animals do not have. Why should we eat meat/dairy because of the pleasure…

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S R
S R
May 18, 2023
Replying to

Not to comment on veganism per se, but your question 'Isn’t eating for pleasure and not nutrition considered gluttony?' caught my eye, as it strikes at the core of why God made us with the capacity to taste and enjoy food at all. Why did he make us with tastebuds, if nutrition is the only goal of eating food? Why did he create flavours we could delight in and experiment with? Why do we get a feeling of enjoyment and satisfaction after a good dessert, even though it contains no nutritional value? One of the most impactful sermons I ever heard was a friend's husband preaching on God's generosity to us concerning food. The question 'Why did God make maple…

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Mark Norman
Mark Norman
May 17, 2023

Here is another instance of us overcomplicating simple things.


Contrary to what some (referenced in the Loveless Christians article) might suggest or openly espouse, love does not equal hate. Love does not look like hate. Love does not sound like hate.


Christ was endowed with perfect knowledge of people's circumstances and motivations and was uniquely capable of judgment, and yet He loved and loved and loved, without seeking to humiliate or dominate wretches like us.


So, to answer your question, is "anger, culture warring, and pursuit of power... actually... loving [our] neighbors"? No, it's not.

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sbsalzer
sbsalzer
May 17, 2023

Fantastic episode! I appreciate the alternative for Patreon subscribers to skip the commercials, but it's more difficult to listen through Patreon.

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sbsalzer
sbsalzer
May 18, 2023
Replying to

Thank you so much!!

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