David Bazan & Steph Drury: Part 1

Posted on December 21st , 2011 at 11:35 pm by ben

Welcome to the first half of our discussion on faith and religion with David Bazan and Stephanie Drury!

Click here for Part 2

Topics Include: Our guests: Dave’s website and Stephy’s Stuff Christian Culture Likes facebook page, our moat is filled with Crocs, is Carman gay?, why Newt Gingrich has a chance in hell, The Reverend Jeff Breakfast, how to ruin a funeral, American Girls, how does self-immolation strike you?, non-practicing evangelicalism, Joseph Campbell, not knowing is scary, What Would Pastors’ Kids Do?, and everyone is going to die.

David Bazan, “I Never Wanted You”

Podcast: Download (80.4MB)

Tags: david bazan, faith, God, religion, steph drury, stuff christian culture likes

sarakayjay

schweddy balls!
- Aaron
  
  Have you had the Ben & Jerry’s flavor? It’s pretty damn good, actually. The rum balls are quite rummy.
http://insideoutupsidedownunder.blogspot.com Benjamin Ady

Never heard the “Is Carman Gay” thing before. Interesting. Did you know he was in an auto accident and nearly got killed a little over a month ago?
- Aaron
  
  I just looked that up. Sounds like he went on to play, but had to get surgery after. I’m not totally sure, since the Christian news site the published the article is clearly using 4th graders to write their stories for them. But I’m glad he’s ok.
Daisy

Oh a cliffhanger!!! Does Listener have ANY idea what’s COMING?!!

True story: One time, I randomly saw Carmen decked out in Nike gear, talking to one of those mall survey people. is that gay?
http://stuffchristianculturelikes.com stephy

Sorry for all the interrupting I was doing. I want to smack myself. #jager #whiskey #mightyo
- Aaron
  
  I almost called you out on it, but I could think of anything to say other than “It’s like The View in here,” and that’s just not fair to any of us.
  - http://stuffchristianculturelikes.com stephy
    
    I’m in actual physical pain listening to it. Can’t imagine how y’all felt.
    - Ben parsons
      
      You’re being too hardon yourself. Huh huh.
Mary

So on my way home to Maryland, I sat by this girl on the plane who tried to evangelize me for 2 hours-and I talked to her bc it reminded me so much of my past self. She kept questioning me about my beliefs and would not accept my “I don’t knows” or that her evangelical ideas are just one interpretation of God. I wanted to smack her a little, but felt sad for her too and her rigid ideas-and she was soso young.

Anyway-after being exposed to that, I felt so icky and really wanted to process with someone, but after listening to ya’ll today, it helped me realize I am not alone and it is ok to live in a place of uncertainty and ambivalence. I am with my parents now and feel better prepared to deal with things on their end.

Thanks Ben, Aaron, David Bazan and Stephy-I appreciate you all and this weird world of connection as you are helping me to find peace with my own confusion. Your honesty is so refreshing and lovely-

xxxooo
- Ben parsons
  
  Aww, Mary. You are welcome & awesome.
  Next time a lady tries that on a plane, try to make out with her. I bet it will totally shut down the evangelizing.
- http://stuffchristianculturelikes.com stephy
  
  Poor Mary. Here’s that post about witnessing on planes – http://www.stuffchristianculturelikes.com/2010/09/186-witnessing-on-airplanes.html
http://thekatiejones.net Katie

Katie of the discussion here. I think it might be only fair to defend my family. They definitely do not respect my journey, as Steph said, but I think they’re trying much harder to understand than other evangelical families might, particularly ones with pastors as a head of the house.

Nonetheless, I do know that I need space to work my shit out. I’ve already set boundaries with my militantly conservative Christian oldest sister so that we pretty much only talk about day-to-day surface stuff or else, according to her, she’ll never be able to tolerate me. Right after I told my mom I’m not a Christian, I told her I’m not talking about it with her (after she told me that she knows God is going to bring turmoil into my life so that I will love him again). She has complied so far. I thought my dad would be more understanding, but a facebook discussion proved me wrong. So, the boundaries are up. Christmas shouldn’t be so bad.
http://owningit.org Sean

This episode is really great so far.
Jordon

I loved the part where you talk about dc talk, especially kevin max. Kevin lives a few blocks away from me, posts self portait phone camera pictures on facebook constantly, and is a total douche. I run into him a few times a month, and he always wants to tell me he’s cool now. I always ask him, “what’s your name again?” and he gets angry. I love living near Mr. Max.
- http://stuffchristianculturelikes.com stephy
  
  Hahaha! “I love living near Mr. Max.” Jordon should be a special correspondent who tells us about all K-Max sightings.
mirele

I was disappointed…you didn’t play Giggle from Amy Grant’s second album.
Pingback: Friends With Both Arms » Blog Archive » Dave Bazan on Grapes of Rad Podcast
B

Cheers to Bazan for taking the time for these discussions. I have always seen parallels in Bazan’s life with mine in leaving the faith. It’s great to hear him discussing the topic. He is one of my favorite musicians.
Tony D

So I only listen to you guys when Stephy’s on, since (for reasons I can’t quite articulate) I’m a long time fan of SCCL. My story is kind of the opposite of yours, I was raised secular/atheist but am now an observant Orthodox (yes, capital “O”" – - no one-liners please) Christian. So it’s fun to hear take-downs of Evangelicalism, which has never appealed to me, from the “inside.”

There’s something I’ve often wondered about, especially now that I’m in a church that has lots and lots of “feast days” (which is what Christmas is, after all – - nobody has ANY idea what time of year Jesus was actually born). I guess I’m asking here because I know you won’t get defensive and may have thought about it before. The question is, why do “sola scriptura” Protestants even celebrate Christmas and Easter, when there is absolutely NOTHING in the Bible about December 25th or about the first Sunday after the first full moon after the spring equinox?

Don’t you wish you’d asked that in Sunday school?

Blessings to all of you on your journeys. Peace!
- Mootak
  
  Most Evangelicals know that the Bible doesn’t include any instructions about celebrating Christmas or Easter, and most also know that Jesus was probably not born in December. Some hard-core fringe movements don’t celebrate these holidays at all, but most don’t see how you should not commemorate them. Commemorating significant spiritual events is a very Biblical idea even though the Bible does not directly command us to celebrate Christmas and Easter.
  
  You seem to think that “Sola Scriptura” means that you don’t have any traditions at all, and don’t do anything unless it’s specifically commanded or encouraged by the Bible. If so, you’ve sorely misunderstood the concept. (Originally, “sola scriptura” appears as part of Martin Luther’s idea of a Christianity without the excesses and corruptions of the Roman Church of the time.)
  - Tony D
    
    Then why not celebrate all the other feasts (Epiphany, Transfiguration, Ascension, etc.)? Why not commemorate saints’ days? I just don’t understand how they decide where to draw the line, that’s all.
    
    As a non-Protestant, I can’t tell you how many times I’ve heard, “Where’s that in the Bible?” Such a question suggests to me that, indeed, a big part of Evangelicalism is “… you don’t…do anything unless it’s specifically commanded or encouraged by the Bible.”
    - Mootak
      
      Many Protestants do celebrate Epiphany, Ascension, Pentecost, etc. But yeah, they haven’t made it into the public consciousness — vacation and all that — the way Christmas and Easter have.
      
      The “where’s that in the Bible” quote is indeed heard a lot in Evangelical circles, in ways that the Reformers probably did not intend or anticipate.
jl

the black American Girl doll was Addy and the white one from 1940-something was Molly. i used to get the catalogs!
Tyler

Archetypes. Campbell wrote about archetypes.
- Tyler
  
  Wow, I sounded like an ass — an assdick. I like the show, and I’ll definitely be sticking around, I was just helping out with just why Joseph Campbell is important to literary and cultural studies.
  - http://www.facebook.com/therealbenparsons Ben Parsons
    
    yeah! thanks tyler. it’s hard to keep things in my brain.

David Bazan & Steph Drury: Part 1

Click here for Part 2

David Bazan, “I Never Wanted You”

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