Snarky Faith
289 episodes - English - Latest episode: about 1 month ago - ★★★★★ - 91 ratingsWelcome to Snarky Faith, your irreverent guide to navigating the maze of life, culture, and spirituality. Hosted by Stuart Delony, we're all about ditching religious clichés and dogma in favor of meaningful conversations that challenge the status quo. Forget the questions or even the answers; it's all about the journey towards a fresh take on faith. Tune in for a no-holds-barred exploration of spirituality that offers sanctuary for those questioning, seeking, or just tired of the same old religious platitudes.
www.snarkyfaith.com
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Episodes
The White Stripes and Parables
July 29, 2020 12:00 - 56 minutes - 54.4 MB“And it was all that I needed...” ― The White Stripes - Take, Take, Take When is enough, enough? We live in a time where consumeristic impulses of culture look the same as the heartbeat of the institutional church. There's no difference in currency and values. We know what success looks like, and it doesn't look like Jesus, but that's okay. Forgetting Jesus hasn't stopped the church in the past. Looking at the parables of Jesus, we can see broad strokes paintings of the Kingdom of God....
Messy Faith
July 22, 2020 11:00 - 1 hour - 60.2 MB“Spirituality is not about being fixed; it is about God's being present in the mess of our unfixedness. (Messy Spirituality)” ― Michael Yaconelli In Luke 14, Jesus tells a story about a wedding banquet where everyone was invited and welcome. It gives us a glimpse into the heart of the Kingdom of God. Imagine a God that has love and grace at the center of everything. How would that change the church and community if everyone was loved and treated with dignity? What if love and grace were as...
Normalizing
July 17, 2020 16:30 - 56 minutes - 54.4 MBOne of the great sins of the American church has been its ability to normalize a myriad of sins. In a certain way, these sins have become part of an unstated and unwritten theology of practice. For too long has the faith system based on Jesus Christ has been associated with misogyny, ignorance, racism, abuse, and hate. If your remove love from Christianity, you also remove Jesus from Christianity. If that happens, what is left? For the church to rectify itself and return to its roots, ...
Conspiracy Theories
July 08, 2020 12:00 - 56 minutes - 54.3 MBCults and conspiracy theories are both founded on lies, but they also play heavily against people's fears and insecurities. You could say that cult leaders use misinformation and paranoia to manipulate others to follow blindly after them. It almost sounds like a lot of pastors too. This isn't a new occurrence, a Ponzi scheme as old as time. There are always swindlers and suckers. And every time, the swindler makes the sucker believe that everyone else is the true idiot. Christianity has ...
From Me to We
July 01, 2020 11:30 - 56 minutes - 54.4 MBThe past few weeks on the show, we've been talking through the book, Tug of War by Wilmer Villacorta. This several-week discussion has centered around leadership in the vein of Jesus. We've talked about what biblical leadership should look like in juxtaposition to the modern church. We've seen how modern leadership is capitalistic, caustic, and antithetical to the Gospel of Jesus. The church today wields power through narrow systems of hierarchy that look more like corporations than commu...
Cancel Culture
June 24, 2020 11:16 - 56 minutes - 54.4 MBWe are living in the glorious time of the cancel culture. Yes, most call it an overreaction to civil, cultural, and political events happening now, but I think it's a beautiful thing. Conservative Evangelicals created a cancel culture against anything deemed counter to the faith, and the tactics of public shaming and boycott are now coming back to haunt them. After Louie Giglio's "white blessing" remarks, Christianity is in a downward spiral seeking to grab on to some semblance of relevanc...
Own Your Story
June 18, 2020 12:00 - 56 minutes - 54.4 MB"The person who accepts his own suffering and does not try to repress it or push it away shows the power of hope." - Jurgen Moltmann As we continue in our series of reframing what power looks like in the mold of Jesus, we must begin at the beginning. There is no power outside of us owning our narratives. If we don't understand our story, how can we comprehend someone else's story? Owning your failures and successes, your achievements, and missteps make us human. We live in a culture t...
Power and Vulnerability
June 10, 2020 11:30 - 56 minutes - 54.4 MB" Our use of power will always be disoriented and destructive - will result in idolatry and injustice - unless we find a way to a restored relationship with the Giver of power". - Andy Crouch On, June 3, 2020, the President of the United States ordered militarized police to teargas and remove peaceful protesters who were hosting a "Solidarity Prayer Vigil" near St. John's Church in Lafayette Square. He did this as a show of strength to have a photo-op with a Bible in front of the church....
Power and Vulnerability
June 10, 2020 11:30 - 56 minutes - 74.3 MB" Our use of power will always be disoriented and destructive - will result in idolatry and injustice - unless we find a way to a restored relationship with the Giver of power". - Andy Crouch On, June 3, 2020, the President of the United States ordered militarized police to teargas and remove peaceful protesters who were hosting a "Solidarity Prayer Vigil" near St. John's Church in Lafayette Square. He did this as a show of strength to have a photo-op with a Bible in front of the church....
American Horror Story
June 05, 2020 12:00 - 1 hour - 58.2 MBThe world is on fire and my opinion doesn't matter right now. This isn't time for that. As a white person in America, this is the time for me to be silent and listen to those that are hurting. This is not a time to critique protesting or to offer alternative ways to seek justice and reform. This is not the time to assume I understand what it's like to live within systems of racism where I fear for my life and fear the police. This is time for me to listen. When I listen, I can mour...
We Will Never Be What We Were
May 28, 2020 14:29Time moves forward. Life changes constantly. We’ll never be what we were before. The Coronavirus pandemic has changed us all. Some are frantically trying to go back in time, while others are looking towards an uncertain future. We can’t go back. We can only go forward. And that is not bad news. Change is part …
We'll Never Be What We Were
May 28, 2020 12:00 - 56 minutes - 54.4 MBTime moves forward. Life changes constantly. We'll never be what we were before. The Coronavirus pandemic has changed us all. Some are frantically trying to go back in time, while others are looking towards an uncertain future. We can't go back. We can only go forward. And that is not bad news. Change is part of life. We either adapt to it or we don't. When we don't adapt, we become out of sync with reality and seek to idealize the past. We put on rose-colored glasses and look backward t...
The Downward Ascent of Power
May 22, 2020 12:00 - 56 minutes - 54.4 MBPower is overrated. Yet, if you look around you, you see a world scrounging for it. We want to be leaders and influencers. We want to be successful and renowned. So we spend our lives seeking power and ultimately, what we see as power becomes our God. When we look at the life of Jesus, we see a different type of leader. He didn't see prestige or care about titles. He lowered himself. He sacrificed himself for others. He was the opposite of Christian leaders today. Today, we'll dive int...
We’re All Just Sheep
May 15, 2020 14:34As weeks turn into months of the Coronavirus pandemic, we have many options in how we spend our time while under stay-at-home orders and quarantine. Some are Netflix and chilling, while others are using this time to learn new skills or take on begin new projects. I’ve been focusing my time in contemplation, conversation, and …
We're All Just Sheep
May 15, 2020 12:00 - 56 minutes - 54.4 MBAs weeks turn into months of the Coronavirus pandemic, we have many options in how we spend our time while under stay-at-home orders and quarantine. Some are Netflix and chilling, while others are using this time to learn new skills or take on begin new projects. I've been focusing my time in contemplation, conversation, and recalibrating my perspective of many things. Embracing that notion, I've spent time in conversation with many of my virtual friends. These conversations have centered ...
The Elizabeth Geitz Interview
May 09, 2020 12:06 - 24 minutes - 24.9 MBHere's the exclusive interview with author Elizabeth Geitz from our recent show where we discuss her new book, Spiritual Truth in the Age of Fake News. www.SnarkyFaith.com
Spiritual Truth in the Age of Fake News with Elizabeth Geitz
May 08, 2020 12:00 - 57 minutes - 55.3 MBIn a few short years, the phrase "Fake News" has earned a place in dictionaries, in the national discourse, and our daily lives. But Fake News is not new. Fake News began when people first interpreted the Bible to advance their agenda. Commonly-held beliefs about what the Bible says regarding women, LGBTQ folks, slavery, immigrants, and Jews trumpets Fake News that is destroying people's lives. What is the best way to counter Fake News? With the truth. So today, we'll chat with Elizabeth G...
A Common Sense Faith
May 01, 2020 12:00 - 56 minutes - 54.4 MBChristianity is weird, but it doesn't have to be. Now, sure, it seems like weirdness is on-brand with Christianity, but that wasn't the original posture. Yet today, the separation of church and reality is more distinctive and vast than the separation between church and state. The Bible doesn't call for us to run away from truth and facts. Our faith doesn't tell us to ignore science and reality. Still, to the Christian mindset, logic and reason are often the enemies. It doesn't have to be t...
Easter Silence
April 23, 2020 12:00 - 56 minutes - 54.4 MBToo often do we get caught up in the fanfare of Easter. We're too busy celebrating the resurrection that we fail to miss the real humanity of the Easter story. We like to do this in Christianity. We skip over the journey and go directly to the endgame. Doing this negates the process. It's the process that determines the 'how' and 'why' of the situation. It's throwing a party and forgetting why you did it. Everyone likes parties, so you just ignore the 'how' and the 'why' because who does...
War on Easter
April 15, 2020 15:20 - 56 minutes - 54.4 MBWithout celebrating Easter services in churches, Christianity is basically done. Jesus is still in the grave. There was no resurrection. Nothing matters anymore because we can't have church in a building. It's a travesty and my faith may never recover. I'm only kidding. Easter has become nothing more than a marketing promotion and a show church pageantry. It's like heroin for Christians, they just can't quit Easter. Now with the Coronavirus, everything has become upended. What will the f...
What is Church?
April 08, 2020 13:27 - 56 minutes - 54.4 MBIn the time of Coronavirus with churches morphing from buildings to becoming Livestream events, we should take some time to ask the question, 'What is church, anyway?' Nowadays, the church seems to be more of a business than a movement. It values numbers and dollars over people. It's forgotten why it exists. Is it a product meant to be consumed via video? Is worship supposed to be entertainment? In this grand time of pause (otherwise known as a pandemic), let's take time to examine and t...
Take a Breath
April 02, 2020 11:00 - 56 minutes - 54.4 MBPandemics are like girlfriends, you always remember your first one. The coronavirus has fundamentally changed the rhythms of culture and life. After all, it's not every day that your schedules come to a grinding halt and we're quarantined in our homes. Hopefully, this is a once-in-a-lifetime occurrence. With so much uncertainty at the moment, there is only one thing that is certain; the world will be fundamentally different once this pandemic is over. The person that entered quarantine wil...
Toxic Masculinity
March 26, 2020 11:00 - 56 minutes - 54.4 MBOn a regular day, toxic masculinity is bad and unwelcome, but the shadow of the Coronavirus, it's downright criminal. Things like this only get worse when you sprinkle in conservative Christianity. From pastors peddling fake virus cures to megachurches staying open during a time of quarantine, it's all just a holy pissing contest. On its' best day, the church has a terrible track record cultivating and preaching patriarchal systems of submission. Christianity is adept at perpetuating archa...
Gratitude
March 20, 2020 19:16 - 56 minutes - 54.4 MBLiving life in the shadow of a pandemic is stressful. There's so much anxiety and unpredictability on the horizon and all we can do is separate and quarantine ourselves from one another. The isolation leads to more fear and becomes a vicious cycle filled with doubt and paranoia. So what is the path forward in the face of uncertainty? It's gratitude. Sounds crazy right? People are dying. Resources are scarce. Jobs hang in the balance. So why gratitude? Well, we can become so obsessed with w...
Good White Racist?
March 11, 2020 22:05 - 56 minutes - 54.4 MBWhen it comes to race, most white Americans are obsessed with two things: defending our own inherent goodness and maintaining our own comfort levels. Too often, this means white people assume that to be racist, one has to be openly hateful and willfully discriminatory—you know, a bad person. And we know we're good, Christian people, right? But you don’t have to be wearing a white hood or shouting racial epithets to be complicit in America’s racist history and its ongoing systemic inequality....
Liberation Theology in the Digital Age
March 06, 2020 12:00 - 56 minutes - 54.4 MBDamon Garcia is a leftist Christian living in Santa Maria, California. Through his vlogs, livestreams, and podcasts he's building an online community for post-religious, yet spiritually hungry nomads. Damon grew up in the evangelical church and was on the road to becoming a pastor when things took a different direction. The more he studied the radical ways of Jesus the more he became convinced that the church had tamed Jesus. This was around the time he stumbled into liberation theology an...
Christian Socialism
February 27, 2020 12:00 - 56 minutes - 54.4 MBSocialism is the boogieman of American Politics. Brought again to the forefront by Democratic Socialist, Bernie Sanders, it's a topic that needs to be discussed in an intelligent manner that's not shrouded in stereotypes, half-truths or memes. Today, let's have that discussion in regards to faith as we talk about Christian Socialism. This historical movement has been around since the mid-19th century and combined the fundamental aims of socialism with the religious and ethical convictions ...
Truth in the Age of Misinformation
February 20, 2020 12:00 - 56 minutes - 54.4 MBTruth is a word that frequently gets thrown around in Christian circles. "The truth is on our side." "We alone know God's truth." "I speak the truth in love." "There is only one truth." In those instances, the word is just used as a weapon against others. This kind of truth divides and it's not true at all. Over the centuries, faith leaders have learned how to harness the truth to manipulate others. Politics is the same way. Now we are living in an age of misinformation where t...
Embracing Mystery
February 12, 2020 12:00 - 56 minutes - 54.4 MBOh, Christianity, what has happened to you? When faith has become a game of preaching confidence, something is wrong. When there're answers for everything and we treat the Bible as a scientific textbook something is definitely wrong. It's all about certainty and we need to return to a place of mystery. Real faith is drenched in mystery. To embrace the ways of Jesus requires risk, imagination, hope, grace, and adventure. It embraces the world with an open hand. It tells us to remain open ...
Legacy of Love
January 24, 2020 18:00 - 56 minutes - 54.4 MB“Love is the only force capable of transforming an enemy into a friend.” – Martin Luther King Jr. Love is at the heart of the Gospel. As followers of Jesus, we are called to love our enemies even at the risk of our own safety. Christianity not driven by love isn't Christianity at all.As we see the faithful being driven more by fear than love and Christianity is becoming more and more inert and inwardly focused. So let us look to history as a reminder of what a non-violent, but powerful ...
The Road to War
January 17, 2020 17:00 - 56 minutes - 54.4 MBThe show today is part one of a two-part show. If you missed part one, YOU CAN FIND IT HERE. Join us as we continue to discuss the changing landscape of Christianity in American and abroad. From the beginning threads of Christian fascism to the recent assassination of a general in Iran, the Trump administration is not just pushing a political ideology, it's also pushing a theological one. Many of his advisors are end-times, apocalyptic nut jobs trying to tip the hand of fate and somehow t...
The Road to Theocracy
January 10, 2020 18:00 - 56 minutes - 54.4 MBThe show today is part one of a two-part show Join us as we discuss the changing landscape of Christianity in American and abroad. With the rise of Christian fascism in Europe, there's similar posturing under the Trump administration. Many in the administration's orbit continue to move more ideologically towards theocracy. This may sound extreme, but the seeds of change have been planted for years by the religious right and the Moral Majority. Theocracy's a crazy conservative fever dream t...
Christianity Today Grows a Pair
January 03, 2020 13:00 - 56 minutes - 54.4 MBWhen Christianity Today's editor, Mark Galli, published his editorial about why Trump should be removed from office it sent shockwaves through the conservative community. While trying to seem even-handed in his assertions about Trump, the editor committed the unpardonable Evangelical sin, trash-talking the Orange Bloated Messiah. While some of the arguments rang true, it was still too careful and calculated. In a moment, it was almost like the grew a par, but they seemed to stop just short. ...
Hanukkah Clusterf*uck
December 27, 2019 20:14 - 56 minutes - 54.4 MBDonald Trump ruins everything he touches and he always seems to know how to make things worse. I just that's just his spiritual gift. He's a King Midas that turns everything into 💩. When he signed an executive order aimed at tackling anti-Semitism on college campuses at a White House Hanukkah reception, he made sure to include Pastor Robert Jeffress who has said on numerous occasions that all Jews are going to hell. This is also the same president that continues to allow Stephen Miller, a ...
Advent for the Hopeless
December 20, 2019 13:00 - 56 minutes - 54.4 MBThe advent season is filled with shopping, families, parties, gifts, and joy. We all seek the perfect picture of Christmas with presents under the tree and houses decorated to the hilt. This is the epitome of Christmastime. Advent was never meant to be like this. The story of Christ's birth happened far away from the parties and festivities. It takes place in the gutter away from warmth and cheer. And yet, this story is about longing in a place of uncertainty and finding hope in hopeless t...
Beyond Blood
December 12, 2019 12:00 - 56 minutes - 54.4 MBJustin T. Miller was just a regular undergraduate college student when he felt the desire for something bold and extraordinary. In his new book, Beyond Blood: Hope and Humanity in the Forgotten Fight Against AIDS, Justin lays out the story of how he met Duncan Kimani Kamau and Cornel Onyango Nyaywera, two men who had grown up witnessing firsthand the devastating effects of HIV/AIDS in their own communities in Kenya. Though Kamau and Nyaywera grew up in opposite ends of the country and came...
The Church’s Problem With Equality
December 06, 2019 14:00Why are Christians so uncomfortable with the idea of equality? It’s laid forth so quickly in the first chapter of Genesis when it says, “So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.” We know this, yet, the tribalistic nature of modern …
The Church's Problem With Equality
December 06, 2019 12:00 - 56 minutes - 54.4 MBWhy are Christians so uncomfortable with the idea of equality? It's laid forth so quickly in the first chapter of Genesis when it says, "So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them." We know this, yet, the tribalistic nature of modern Christianity has morphed it into a judgmental exercise of the pious degree. People want equal rights because they don't have them, but those in positions of privilege feel that giving equal sta...
Game Over
November 22, 2019 12:00 - 58 minutes - 56 MBBy 2035, the US will no longer be a majority Christian nation. We're beginning to see, especially along generational divides, that the church is in the slow decline towards death. This isn't simply about the loss of platforms in culture or power in politics, it's people walking away from the faith altogether. So, if the death of the institutional church in America is imminent, what are we to do? Is it finally game over for Christianity? In America, we also find ourselves in a very interest...
Paula White
November 15, 2019 13:00 - 56 minutes - 54.4 MBPresident Donald Trump’s spiritual adviser Paula White has now officially joined the White House staff as Advisor to the president’s Faith and Opportunity Initiative. If you don't know Paula White, you really should. She's the thrice-married, prosperity gospel preaching televangelist that has decades of moral and financial scandals. So basically, she's perfect for the Trump administration. Oh and I forgot to mention that d she's currently married to the keyboardist from Journey. Yep, she'...
Christian Copout Music
November 08, 2019 17:08 - 56 minutes - 54.4 MBCCM (Contemporary Christian Music) often acts as a mirror to modern-day Christendom. It sounds pretty and looks good, but it's just lots of empty words and vague phrasing. The truth is, both are all about celebrity and money and not the gospel. In CCM, Jesus is your boyfriend as long he doesn't do anything to rock the boat. The Tomlins and W. Smiths have worked so hard to neuter the faith and Crowns have been cast in order to make Christianity inert and impotent on the Third Day. Mercy Me! ...
Kanye’s Sunday Service
November 01, 2019 14:00For too long, Christians have allowed themselves to be duped by the resident charlatan of the week. Always looking for a messiah and never accepting personal responsibility. It’s the sheep always seeking a shepherd mentality that continues to allow the faith to be lead astray. Whether it be Kanye West’s new money grab called Sunday …
Kanye's Sunday Service
November 01, 2019 11:00 - 56 minutes - 54.4 MBFor too long, Christians have allowed themselves to be duped by the resident charlatan of the week. Always looking for a messiah and never accepting personal responsibility. It's the sheep always seeking a shepherd mentality that continues to allow the faith to be lead astray. Whether it be Kanye West's new money grab called Sunday Services or fake health insurance like Medi-Share, Christians are always suckers waiting to be duped. Jesus didn't call us to be idiots always being tempted by ...
Complementarianism = Misogyny
October 25, 2019 20:58 - 1 hour - 64.2 MBThroughout the history of Christianity, women have underestimated, underappreciated and downright oppressed. The playing field has never been level and men often twisted scripture to abuse, shame or subdue women. Sure, in ancient times, culture was patriarchal, but we are now thousands of years past the time of Jesus and these problems still exist within the church, especially within conservative circles. There's no easy way to say it, but conservative religious men have a problem with wom...
Perspective
October 14, 2019 12:30 - 56 minutes - 54.4 MBIt's not what you look at that matters, it's what you see. -Henry David Thoreau In these crazy and calamitous times, it's easy to lose perspective and rely on emotional reactions. When topsy turvy becomes normal, it's hard to keep your bearings straight. Too often, do we let pastors and pundits tell us how to look at the world. They warp our perspective and then we proceed to engage the world in a distorted manner as we're open to being manipulated. That's not what we're called to do. ...
Unvangelism
October 10, 2019 11:00 - 1 hour - 58.9 MBThe sheer fact that Evangelicals have worked so hard to grab political power and shun culture is dripping with irony because to be Evangelical at its root means you must evangelize (i.e. make converts). To evangelize should mean that you can't shun culture. It also means that power isn't your ultimate aim. The madness they have made out of their pursuits has pushed culture away and made any witness or testimony utterly impotent. They've killed any hope of fulfilling their mission and establi...
Liberty Mutual
October 02, 2019 11:00 - 56 minutes - 54.4 MBOh, Liberty, what has happened to you? Once a shining beacon for evangelical conservatism, has now been rocked with scandals. Scrutiny and allegations are hitting Liberty University's emperor, dictator, grifter, president, Jerry Falwell Jr. He's cronies with Trump, a proponent of political evangelism and turned Liberty U into a cash grab through financial mismanagement. Liberty University is just a more successful version of Trump University. Falwell Jr. rules the campus with an iron fis...
Hot to NOT Apologize
September 20, 2019 18:19We should all rejoice that Benny Hinn has finally seen the light and renounced the prosperity gospel! Yes, it’s true. That Benny Hinn. You know the one that knocks people to the floor with the power of the Holy Spirit. The one that tells you to give him money for God to bless you. The …
How to NOT Apologize
September 20, 2019 18:17 - 56 minutes - 54.5 MBWe should all rejoice that Benny Hinn has finally seen the light and renounced the prosperity gospel! Yes, it's true. That Benny Hinn. You know the one that knocks people to the floor with the power of the Holy Spirit. The one that tells you to give him money for God to bless you. The prosperity gospel, greasy grifter, owner of private jets, Benny Hinn. That one? Yes, supposedly he's turned over a new leaf. Miracles never cease... or do they? So join us today as we delve into this new re...
Christian Crazy
September 13, 2019 11:00 - 56 minutes - 54.4 MBLet's talk about the insanity happening in Christianity. In the age of Trump, it's only gotten more wild and crazy. Typically on our program, we devote the first segment of the hour to the Christian Crazy. This show today will devote its entirety to the crazy. So buckle up as we delve into the Christian lunacy for a higher purpose. Is it mockery? No, but there will be plenty of that, don't worry. We're looking directly into the eyes of madness to see how far Christianity has gone off the r...