Throughout the modern Christian spaces, abstinence only has been the most promoted as the way to teach sex education. In this episode we will unpack the ramifications of abstinence only and how it is not only insufficient, but that it can leave young people dangerously uniformed. Our churches and faith communities hold responsibility here and we can do better. Listen in.

Kimberly Crenshaw coined the term intersectionality which is a metaphor she created to discuss the overlapping systems of oppression that impact Black women. In today’s episode we will explore other examples of intersectional revolutionaries and their work and how we can all work towards the liberation of Black women and nonconforming people. Listen in.

In this episode we remember Black ingenuity, Black greatness, and Black potential. Listen in as we celebrate Black History Month.

Resources
1) History of Seneca Village

2) More on Seneca Village

3) Black Communities Under Water

4) Black Wall Streets

In this episode, Ben and Kibler explore the history of Indigenous people in North American and explore both the genocide that is still happening and the amazing resilience of native communities. Kibler identifies herself as  a mother, daughter, wife, auntie, niece, cousin, and “homegirl” to many biological and chosen family members. She is an urban Ndee, German Jew, Queer Femme, 2Spirit writer, teacher, and business owner. Learn more about Kibler on her website Decolonize & Thrive. 

Links to sources

• https://apachelanguage.org/projects/
• https://www.csvanw.org/mmiw
• https://7genfund.org/our-work/land-defenders-water-protectors/#:~:text=The%20Land%20Defenders%20and%20Water,Free%2C%20Prior%20and%20Informed%20Consent.
• https://linktr.ee/postpartumhealinglodge?fbclid=IwAR17csobfMva6J4mNxPLR5OxetnARU6i1rLBZG001g9m5c5sw5WxgSLyTMQ

Climate change scientists told us that severe weather would happen more frequently as weather patterns changed, and they were right. I’m not optimistic about the world my child will live in when he’s 33. Luckily, there are brilliant minds wrestling with these problems and giving us reasons to be hopeful. We’ll unpack why in today’s episode. Today we’re asking, What Would It Take to save the planet? Listen to find out.

Links to resources from this episode:

• https://www.fws.gov/refuges/airquality/effects.html
• https://www.rff.org/publications/reports/climateinsights2020-policies-and-politics/
• https://open.spotify.com/episode/0qaS3Rk8I9Sjlz5OOOCElx?si=324f4ba40dac4aaf
• https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew%206%3A26&version=ESV
• https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/02/climate/new-york-rain-floods-climate-change.html
• https://www.texastribune.org/2021/03/15/texas-winter-storm-deaths/
• https://www.vox.com/22265119/biden-climate-change-renewable-energy-clean-electricity-standard-congress
• https://drawdown.org/solutions/table-of-solutions
• https://docs.google.com/document/d/e/2PACX-1vS30vR8zChP03PfKowbeIKgikTtrNn0Wefs7sIjy-sVUAroXizvZ4nFdPS27FvNqGpr396YcYRrdr3J/pub
• https://disasterphilanthropy.org/disaster/2019-australian-wildfires/

To celebrate season one of the What would it take? podcast. Host Ben, and AW staffers Dani and Juan talk about the work, the topics, and hopes for the season two.

There is a mythical stigma associated with homelessness that says people who are homeless are lazy. They’re often treated as “others”, and characterized as a “problem” to be solved or hidden. Lets take stock of our assumptions about homelessness and consider how we can truly love our neighbors.

This is Episode 10 of the What Would It Take Podcast. Join me as I ask, What Would It Take for Everyone to Have a home?

Links to sources for this episode:

• Article from Strong Towns, Resilient, Long-term Approach to Addressing Homelessness
• Article from Fox 11 Los Angeles, City of Los Angeles accused of moving the homeless in order to prepare for the Oscars
• Article from Los Angeles Times, L.A. near settlement to create shelters and clear homeless people off the streets
• Information from the National Alliance to End Homelessness – Chronically Homeless
• Information from the National Alliance to End Homelessness –What Causes Homelessness
• Information from homeless hub – Causes of Homelessness
• Proven Solutions from the coalition for the homeless
• PDF resource from the National Law Center on homelessness and Poverty – No Safe Place, The Criminalization of Homelessness in U.S. Cities
• Alternative resources than calling the police, from Don’t Call The Police – Resources by City
• Youtube video from Invisible People which share’s Lavern’s story

As we begin to see our way out of the Covid-19 pandemic, we are plunged back into the national epidemic of gun violence. Lawmakers trot out the same tired excuses for doing nothing all the while our friends and loved ones are lost. It doesn’t have to be this way.

This is episode 9 of the What Would It Take Podcast. Join me as I ask What Would It Take to find a cure for gun-related violence?

Links to sources for this episode:

• Indy Star article, Names of eight victims who died in Fedex shooting have been released
• New York Times article, Officer who Pepper-Sprayed a Black Army Officer Is Fired
• Reuters article, Chicago releases graphic video of police shooting 13-year-old
• Vox map of mass shootings in the United States
• New York Times article, Was Slavery a Factor in the Second Amendment?
• New York Times article, Why America cant fix its gun violence crisis
• The Intercept podcast – White supremacy and the church of the second amendment
• Spirituality Practice article, For the Inward Journey
• Last Week Tonight, reporting on the NRA
• The Daily Show, “Good Guy With A Gun”
• The Daily Show, “Switzerland: So Many Guns, No Mass Shootings”

For weeks news outlets have been talking about the crisis at the US-Mexico border. What is actually happening at the southern border? And in response to so much suffering, what are we called to do as followers of Jesus?

This is episode 8 of the What Would It Take Podcast. Join me as we explore the question: What would it take to truly love our neighbors?

Links to sources for this episode:

• Vox article 9 questions about the humanitarian crisis on the boarder, answered
• Center for Disaster Philanthropy report, Southern Border Humanitarian Crisis
• Washington Post article The migrant ‘surge’ at the U.S. southern border is actually a predictable pattern
• USA Today article How US foreign policy in Central America may have fueled the migrant crisis
• Boarder Advocacy Groups from National Network for Immigrant and Refugee rights – Organizations to support

Many of us have grown up with a very strong understanding of what hell was. Eternal torment, literal flames, pain and agony forever. For a long time, our understanding of hell has been divorced from the practical realities that many face day-in and day-out, but does it have to be that way?

This is episode 7 of the What Would it Take Podcast. Join me as we explore the question, What if Hell is closer than we think?

Links to sources for this episode:

• Article from Christian History Institute: Three Views of Hell
• Article from Christianity Today: What is Hell? A Biblical Guide of Its Existence
• Bible Gateway passage Mark 9:48
• Bible Hub passage Luke 13:28
• CBS News story from 60 Minutes: Early results from 174 Flint Children Exposed to Lead During Water Crisis Shows 80% of Them Will Require Special Education Services
• Article from The New York Times : British Police Office Charged with Murder in Killing of Sarah Everard
• Article from National Geographic: The Campaign to Eliminate Hell 
• Podcast God is with poor people: Liberation theology’s challenge to this world