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!

Our guest this week is probably the most famous social media Talmud hypewoman out there, Miriam Anzovin. Miriam has earned herself an amazing Social Media following by studying the Talmud (an ancient book of Jewish law and learning) and then giving irreverent, but thoughtful, recaps of what she’s learned. She is beloved by her followers, but as we’ll talk about, has also been on the receiving end of a sadly unsurprising amount of hate and misogyny.

We talk about her history of finding and then losing religious faith, and then what still grounds her today. And, we also discuss why being snarky might sometimes be the most appropriate way to approach at least certain sections of the Talmud. And, Jakob will try to teach us how bears are actually dogs, or something like that. And, of course, we always end with the Profanely Sacred speed round!

If you are on Social Media and you aren't following Miriam, then you are definiitely missing out. Find her on Instagram, TikTok, BlueSky, Mastodon, Threads, and Youtube. You can also check out her website, www.miriamanzovin.com.

And, if you want a sample of her brilliance, this might be the greatest thing ever recorded for the Internet. Certainly, the greatest thing ever recorded about rabbinic opinions of men who accidentally insert their penises into women? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VDaOIKCPW_8

Welcome to Profanely Sacred, the podcast where we try to talk about really serious things, but not always in serious ways. We talk about God and religion and faith and humanity, but we also swear and tell jokes, so if that isn’t your thing, this is probably a good time to find another podcast! But, if you do like talking about God, and also sometimes saying “fuck,” then…welcome!

Rabbi Laurie Rice was a classmate and friend of mine when we were attending our rabbinical school – the Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion, and she is now co-rabbi of congregation Micah (https://www.congregationmicah.org), just outside of Nashville, along with her husband, Rabbi Flip Rice. I’ve always known Laurie to be smart, thoughtful, friendly, and as likely to drop an f-bomb as any of us, so I figured that she’s perfect for our little podcast.

We talk about the spirituality of being outdoors, of being uncertain about a great many things, and, in more depth than I would have predicted, of pooping. We chat a bit about some inside-baseball stuff for clergy, but hopefully you normal people will still find that interesting, and, of course, we end, as always, with the Profanely Sacred speed round.

This was recorded a while ago, so a couple of references are a bit dated. And, as in our other early episodes here, my and Jakob’s sound quality isn’t so great, but it’s clear enough, and Rabbi Laurie is the best of the bunch, so that’s good! Let’s get going!