I grew up in the pretty small town of New Fairfield, CT, and one of the other kids in that town was a guy named Adam Sol. Even back then, he was obviously smart and thoughtful, but also funny and casual. I never told him this, but he was definitely someone I looked up to, and probably aspired to be like, at least a bit. In a bit of, I dunno, I guess I'd say radical coincidence, he married a woman from Framingham, Massachussets, and so did I. Even more oddly, she and I both became rabbis, and even more oddly, we both wound up working together at Holy Blossom Temple in Toronto, ON. So, yeah, Adam and I were both part of a New Fairfield/Framingham rabbinic couple at that congregation in Toronto. Life is weird, sometimes.

Anyway, in addition to be the spouse of the woman who is now the head rabbi of that wonderful synagogue, Adam got himself a PhD in American Literature and became a university professor, and a published poet – he's got 5 separate collections of poetry, one of which won Ontario's prestigious Trillium award for poetry. He's a pretty remarkably talented guy, and I haven't even talked about his amazing instrumental talent which is, well, amazing.

So, I thought he'd be perfect for this podcast, because he's smart, thoughtful, deeply connected to religion, but not in the most common ways, and has, for as long as I've known him, been willing to joke and swear. Along with that, we'll talk about how being a rabbinic spouse makes an impact on his spiritual life, how he's a bit like Aria Stark, and I completely forget to ask him about how music plays into his spirituality. Cool.

You can find more about Adam, including his publications, at AdamSol.com

I cannot begin to explain to you all how excited I am about our guest today. When I was in college, working on our school's radio station, I was introduced to the band Too Much Joy, and I quickly became obsessed with them. Now we'd call them pop-punk, but they didn't really have a genre back then. High energy music, insanely catchy melodies, and amazing lyrics. Some of those lyrics were snarky and kinda gleefully stupid, but some of them were as thoughtful and provocative as anything I had heard. And, even the dumb lyrics were usually pointing at something more than just silliness.

Well, the lead singer and lyricist of that bad, which is back in action after a couple of decades of hiatus (one of the few enduring blessings of the Covid epidemic), is a man named Tim Quirk, and he's agreed to be on our podcast. For me, this is a "get" on par with Bruce Springsteen for most normal people.

We talk a lot about atheism, and about why he thinks that it's important to be a loud and proud about his atheism. But, we also talk about what it's like for him to attend church, and I was surprised by his answer, and how he relates going to church to going to some concerts. We talk about other ways, outside of religion, to find transcendence and uplift, and I mostly avoid sniveling fan-boying, and only bring up one Too much Joy song, but it's completely on topic, so that's cool. And, of course, we always end with the Profanely Sacred speed round!

Here are some links you should check out:

Tim's Personal webpage: http://tbquirk.com

The Too Much Joy FB page: https://www.facebook.com/TooMuchJoyHQ

The Wonderlick (another of Tim's bands) page: https://www.facebook.com/Wonderlick

A playlist I made up of some of my favorite TMJ songs: https://music.apple.com/us/playlist/jasons-too-much-joy-sampler/pl.u-BNb7jI1mkxLb

Our guest this episode is Revered Daniel Brereton, known on various Social Media platforms as Rev Daniel. Reverend Daniel is a priest in the Canadian Anglican church, and a large part of his Social Media presence grows from the fact that he's a gay man. As we'll talk about, he gets into a many a fracas online about LGBTQIA+ issues, and he has some definite thoughts as to why it's worth it to go after the haters.

We also talk about the importance of inclusive language, especially around God, of finding time and space away from the hate, and we also get to kind of meet his adorable dog, Chester. Oh, and we take a moment to wonder if my not always realizing that Jakob is trans makes me a better or a worse ally!

And, of course, we always end with the Profanely Sacred speed round!