Prof. Thomas Whitley and Sam Harrelson attempt to bring some thoughtfulness to the topic of religion again this week with discussions of pastor ratings, cooperative baptists, church marketing to men, papal encyclicals, new perspectives on Paul, how ancients used dates, and what's next after the tragedy in Charleston last week.

This Week’s Topics

Ratemypastor.church
Why would you have a cake if you didn’t want to eat it?
The Climate Change-Abortion Connection You Never Knew Existed
Grumpy Cooperative Baptists
Church Marketing to Men
Crossfit for Jesus
The New, New Perspective on Paul
ISIS and Palmyra Update
What is there to protest?
No more Confederate gear at Wal-Mart
NASCAR and racism
Cynicism and political expediency
Can we be colorblind when it comes to race?

Show Notes
Religion In The News

Pope brings the heat about guns and weapons - Huffington Post
The Climate Change / Abortion Connection You Never Knew Existed - Thomas in Marginalia
Laudato Si (English)
13 Out-of-Context Quotes from the Pope’s Climate Change Encyclical - Thomas Whitley
Baptist Joint Committee for Religious Liberty statement on religious liberty - BJCOnline
Churches want more dads - The Daily Beast
Nadia Bolz Weber's Pastrix - Amazon
Baconfest - Church Unlimited
Southern Baptist statement on homosexual marriage

Ancient Religion

Paul Within Judaism and the New Perspective - Identity Formation
How did ancient Jews date years? - Bible History Daily
ISIS and Palmyra update - Al Jazeera

Thought Piece

Corridor of Shame
The Cross and the Confederate Flag - Russell Moore
Republicans who saw the event as an attack on Christianity - Washington Post
Relatives forgive Roof - Washington Post
Virginia removing Confederate flag from license plates - Washington Post
Roof's financially stable family and middle class values - The State
Time to Confront Our Racism - Faith Street
NASCAR's statement supporting removal of Confederate Flag - NASCAR.com