Prof. Thomas Whitley and Sam Harrelson attempt to bring some thoughtfulness to the topic of religion again this week with discussions of procreation politics and theologies, agendas and searches for antiquities, and whether or not the earth is ours to dominate.

This Week’s Topics

Faith and restoration and scams
Gospel of Thomas on procreation
The "Gay Movement" as a recruitment campaign
Jeb! and The Don are running for President and Thomas is really excited
Is Donald Trump religious?
Indiana Jones and the Pursuit of the Precious Poker
Jews and Pompeii
Climate change and the Pope's leaked Encyclical
How will the Pope's statements on climate change as a theological issue affect the 2016 Presidential race here in the US?
Is the earth ours to dominate?

Show Notes
Religion In The News

Faith and Restoration Conference Scam - Merianna.net
Evangelicals and the LGBTQ Question: What’s Really Going On? - Marginalia
Tennessee Pastor Says Gay Rights Movement Actually About ‘Repopulating’ - The Daily Beast
Donald Trump is Running for President, Thank You Jesus
Jeb! Bush's religious views - NY Times
Rick Perry’s Pastor Protection Bill - Texas Values Action
ISIS, Poetry, and the Romance of Jihād; or How Reading The New Yorker Can Save Religious Studies From the Rhetoric of Authenticity - Marginalia
Do you pay extra to park closer to the church? - CNN

Ancient Religion

Facebook cracks down on Pages featuring ISIS plunder for sale - Fox News
Behold! The Holy Lance - History Today
Pompeii and God’s Revenge for Jerusalem - Biblical Archaeology

Thought Piece - Climate Change and Theological Anthropologies

Pope’s Climate Change Encyclical Leaks - Mother Jones

the Earth "is protesting for the wrong that we are doing to her, because of the irresponsible use and abuse of the goods that God has placed on her. We have grown up thinking that we were her owners and dominators, authorized to loot her. The violence that exists in the human heart, wounded by sin, is also manifest in the symptoms of illness that we see in the Earth, the water, the air and in living things."
L’espresso has the full draft (be warned, it’s 191 pages of Italian)

Why The Pope’s Stand On Climate Change Matters - NPR

“By taking on climate change, the leader of one of the world's major religions is injecting something into the debate that has mostly been missing: the question of values. Pope Francis appears ready to argue that since the science is long settled, it's now time to turn the discussion about climate change in a much different direction. Now we must ask ourselves what — based on our deepest values — are we obliged to do about it?”

Catholics Divided Over Global Warming - Pew Forum

Unsurprisingly, the split mirrors the electorate as a whole
White evangelicals are least likely group to say global warming is occurring (50%), is caused by humans (25%), and very serious problem (24%).

Carl Sagan on the shores of the cosmic ocean
Hacking the Universe on Galileo and looking outwards - Science Channel