Leaving Religion
First off - Leaving Religion is not about " not believing" - It is the very opposite. It's about leaving mainstream religion for a true spiritual connection. We dig deep and deal with Religious trauma and we strive towards a real religious coexistence
My name is Richard Ravenbrook. Some call me The Pagan Preacher. I am a man, a clairvoyan life coach, and a spiritual guide. Throughout my quest for truth, the spirit has guided me along various paths. My roles have included church ministry, street ministry, and publishing, among others. I have shared this journey with Christian companions as well as pagan allies. I have received ordination in Christian ministry and I have also embraced initiation into the magical arts.
The leaving Religion podcast encapsulates the wisdom and insights accumulated from these varied theologies, traditions, and philosophies. Leaving religion is about seeking true divinity and truth rather than simply following the crowd.
Leaving Religion
Breaking Political Barriers: Embracing Diverse Beliefs
What if the key to a harmonious society lies in the delicate balance between politics and spirituality? Join us on this thought-provoking journey as we explore the intricate intersections of these two realms in America today. We'll pull back the curtain on the historical struggles for equality, justice, and fairness, and scrutinize the current political climate that often feels divisive and restrictive. From the erosion of American freedoms to the stark economic inequalities and the troubling influence of radical religious extremists, we challenge the binary oppositions that dominate our discourse. Instead, we advocate for a more inclusive, equitable society that genuinely serves all its citizens.
Can integrating religion into public schools coexist with the fundamental American value of freedom? We take a hard look at the broader implications of adhering strictly to biblical principles in modern governance. As we navigate through these contentious waters, we critique the role of churches in addressing social issues like homelessness, proposing that true freedom and equity emerge from mutual respect and genuine altruism. Tackling the rise of Christian nationalism and extreme right ideologies, we stress that all taxpayers, irrespective of their beliefs, deserve equal rights and caution against the societal harm these fervent ideologies could cause.
As we approach the 2024 elections, the time has come to break free from the entrenched political dichotomy. We invite you to explore alternative political options that prioritize the people over personal gain. Reflecting on historical injustices and the harsh realities of modern society, we emphasize the necessity of unity and environmental sustainability. Embracing the diversity of all cultures and spiritual beliefs, I, Richard Kent (also known as Richard Ravenbrook), call for true equality and the elimination of bigotry. Join us as we chart a course toward a more compassionate and inclusive approach to governance, aiming for higher achievements beyond our conflicts and environmental destruction.
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Welcome everyone. Welcome back to another episode of the Pagan Preacher and this spiritual journey. Today's podcast may get a little political, so if you have a mindset that you don't want to speak of anything political or hear anything political, you may want to turn the channel. But today, when I start speaking about political things, I'm going to be speaking about political things from a spiritual perspective, if I can speak, speaking in the terms of not right or left, or Democrat or Republican or whatever, but just solely as a person, an individual that desires the best for humanity, someone that believes in equality and real justice, equal opportunity for everyone, fairness. You know, when we start talking about politics, people get frustrated, they get angry, they get just, and I understand Because for many, many years our parents and our grandparents and their parents struggled. They endeavored to make change, positive change, or to keep things the way they should be, and the waves of chaos and turmoil and just everyday life issues have somehow turned our, our country, our society and our culture into a very confusing melting pot of ideologies, doctrines, dogmas, and sometimes, when we start just thinking about what is the right thing to do and where do we need to go and I believe it goes way past, whether you are one party or another, whether you're left or you're right, whether you're in the middle and neutral, wherever you are on this political game. Wherever you are on this political game, I think the problem is America is about freedom and it seems like we have one party always arguing with another party, one party always trying to take or limit from the other party, and it takes away from the freedom of America. We have people that believe that they have to stop certain things in America due to their theology, their religion or their practice, that they can't accept certain things within society or that judgment will be upon them. And these religions, these people, these radical extremists that want to change this country to fit that narrative. In that religion they persecute on a daily basis people that are LGBT and more. They persecute anyone that is outside of the Christian faith, anyone that considers himself pagan. We know that's an umbrella term. It can mean many different religions, just not one that falls under the Abrahamic faith. All different religions aren't quite welcome in this country, even though we know that they're supposed to be.
Speaker 1:When we start talking about politics, we can look back and we can see that it's always been the left or the right that has handled the presidency, and today we have an America that is so far beyond what it was, an America where we pay enormous taxes, an America where most people can't even afford to live on a daily basis. We struggle simply to eat, to pay our bills, to pay for electricity, the basic essentials, and this is the America we live in Capitalism, industrial we have. The greed and the selfishness of people in power have taken apart so heavy in America that it is truly them and us, the rich and the poor, the poor being the mice that run on the wheels to keep this country going by the rich, they stand back and enjoy all the fruits of our work. We live in a country that no longer is we, the people, but it is we and them when we start talking about politics. What is the right thing?
Speaker 1:We've got people right now trying to put religion back in schools. One religion, mind you, not all of them, just one. We've got Christian nationalists that want to submit and bring in biblical principles into our law. That we need the Bible back in America, they say. And anybody that's read the Bible back in America, they say, and anybody that's read the Bible I mean truly read the Bible has to see that there's no way we could ever implement the things within Scripture in America today. Some things, obviously, yeah, there are some things in there that you know. The words of Jesus said many great things, but there's things in there, and I've said this before on another podcast.
Speaker 1:They say we got to teach the Bible in school. What are we going to teach children? That it's okay to sell our daughters if we need to. That it's acceptable to Stone a rebellious child to death. You know that it's acceptable to have slavery. How are we going to implement this in this country, in a free country? You say, well, we just don't, we don't apply those. But you'll hear these people every day. This is the one, this is the undeniable word of God, the entire Bible and people that just simply can't be.
Speaker 1:We cannot live in 2024 like they lived 3,000 years ago. We have grown, we have become more enlightened. We understand that, man and woman, though we are different, we are equal. We understand that government has no business in the role of family. It has no business telling the family what they can do, what they should do or what they will do. The government's sole purpose is to ensure the freedom of the people In today's America. What they've done is suppress and hinder the will of the people, that 85 to 95% of the representatives and senators that we have today in presidency aren't for the American people. They're for themselves or they're for the paycheck. They're for themselves or they're for the paycheck or they're for the lobbyist in the AIPAC. These things must be destroyed If we're to bring back the real, true America.
Speaker 1:America is about freedom. America is about freedom for everyone, no matter what race you are, no matter what religion you are, no matter what gender you are and no matter what gender orientation or pronoun that you are. We live in a country that wants to criticize and put down so many people for the way they live but yet demand respect for the way they choose to live. That's not America. America is not left and is not right. It is not Republican or Democrat. We are Americans, and Americans believe in one thing Freedom.
Speaker 1:Most of us believe when we say a nation under God. Many of us have different perspectives on that. We have different gods, we have different goddesses, we have different religions, we have different aspects of our spirituality that we call God, and then some people choose to not have such a deity in their life, and that's fully acceptable. Why? Because this is America and we are free to choose the way we want to live, and there's no judgment, there is to be no persecution, for each man, each woman, has the right to choose for themselves the way they will live and the way they will die. There is no right.
Speaker 1:I hear Christians all the time. Radical Christians, say that you're not obligated to listen, but I'm obligated to tell you, and I'm here to tell you, that that is not true. We want to preach. All the time I hear it that God is in control. Well, if God is in control, why are you obligated to do this? Isn't God, isn't your God, strong enough to tell me himself, to show me himself, and you're going to say well, that's why he sent me. Do you truly think that a majority of us in this country have never heard of the Bible? How in the world could you say that you've never heard of a Christian church when there's a half a dozen in every town in this country, that you can't even turn the TV on or turn the radio on, or get on Facebook or get on anything without being bombarded by a Christian radical trying to tell you to change or you'll burn in hell. We don't even strive to love each other anymore. We want rules or we want.
Speaker 1:We have to have I'm trying to find the right word. We have to have a certain, we have to get something in return when we give it. In this world, if we give something, if the church gives something, they ask for that person to be a member of the church. Gives something, they ask for that person to be a member of the church or to work for the church or to. There's always something that someone wants in return, or they seek the glory for it when they give it, and these are the things that should never happen. In order to give, you have to give from the heart, never wanting anything in return. You know, I heard it said the other day and it's absolutely true that if the churches in America, if each church just sponsored one, maybe two homeless people, that we would end homelessness in less than 24 hours, that there would be absolutely zero homeless people in America in less than a day. But our church focuses more on going to other countries and destroying cultures, just like they did here with the Native Americans, and I know a lot of what I'm saying cuts deep, but it's the truth.
Speaker 1:America's about freedom, and a lot of us our ancestors and their ancestors spent many, many of a time taking that freedom from everyone else, and now we are about to lose our freedom due to our own ignorance, our own stubbornness and our own arrogance. In order to bring back America, the America that each one of us know in our heart that we desire, we've got to give people that freedom that we want ourself. You want the right and the freedom to be the person that you are, to walk the streets and to carry the cross if you want to, and to go to a church three times a week if you want to. That's wonderful, but your neighbor has the same right If they choose to live a lifestyle of a same-sex marriage, or if they live, if they're a lady and they choose to be a man, if. Whatever the situation is and there's many different situations whatever the situation, the point is if you want freedom yourself to be who it is that you are, in order to be truly America, you must give your neighbor the same right.
Speaker 1:This isn't about religion, this isn't about God. Freedom is freedom, period. You're going to say well, my nation, I cannot live. God says this and God. What we have to remember is that is your God, that is your religion, that is your tradition, and I understand that you believe it to be the only one, the only true one, and you believe we have to break out of that mindset. You have to break out of that mindset. You have to break out of that mindset if we ever want peace in this world, if we want peace in this country.
Speaker 1:Let people be who they are and let judgment come. If judgment is going to come, but let it come between them in spirit, not them in you. We have no right to judge. Most Christians I hear say that, yeah, we're supposed to, we're supposed to make a rightful judgment. But how can you make a righteous judgment when you yourself admit that you're a sinner? Even Jesus himself said he that was without sin cast the first stone and everybody had to walk away. That's where we are in this country. We need to focus on our own lives, on our own, the stick in our own eye.
Speaker 1:Don't worry about what your brother's doing. Don't worry about the drag queens down the street and what they're doing. Don't worry about the pride parade. Don't worry about all drag queens down the street and what they're doing. Don't worry about the pride parade, don't worry about all these things around you, but just worry about you, in fact, most of the things that are going on in our country, like pride parades and all these things. Why do you think they have to do this? It's because people have fought and fought to quench them, to hinder them, to take any amount of freedom away from them. They've been beaten in the streets just for being who they are and loving someone, just for loving them.
Speaker 1:We live in a country that keeps screaming about how great we are and the freedom that we have in this country, but it seems like you only have that freedom if you're a white Christian. And yeah, I said that because it's the truth and it might hurt, but it's the truth. We live in a country of multiple cultures and traditions and we have to respect that, we have to honor that, that we cannot have a culture this diverse in order of one religion in our schools, in our courthouses and whatever, and especially in politics, because I'm here to tell you now any politician that wants to shout their religion and shout their names of their God and what's going to happen here and quote scripture and do all these other things and only focus on one religion while they're speaking to their constituents and their voters, then they are an enemy of this country, because what they're preaching, what they're telling, will limit every other culture besides that one particular religion. Why would you put somebody in power that's going to strip every else, every taxpayer? Because I don't care if you're a Muslim or if you're a Buddhist or a Hindu or a pagan or an atheist. If you're a taxpayer in this country, you have all the same rights as any radical Christian. But if we're not careful, if we're not careful, we're going to go back to what I call the Dark Ages, a time when religious zealots run things and many people are going to be hurt. I can tell you that I foresee in the future and it's sad that if a person is elected and I'm not even going to give any names, but you'll know who I'm talking about If this person is elected and they bring in these ideologies of Christian nationalism and radical extreme right theologies, there will be minutes, they will be much pain and much chaos in this country.
Speaker 1:We will see devastation and suffering like we haven't seen in a hundred years. We have to stop. We always think that we got to be left or we got to be right. No, look deeper. There's always other options and they try to hide those options from you. Look to those other options.
Speaker 1:We have the Libertarian Party, the Green Party, we have independence, but they try to push these people away. They try to push these people out of the political scene because they don't have the big dollars, they don't have the lobbying and the big corporations to back them up, so no one sees them, when these are the true Americans. These are the people that will save our country. Why? Because they know. They know what an American is because they've walked it, they have lived it. They know what it is that Americans need and want because they've lived it, they've suffered through it and they've watched their brothers and their sisters suffer beside them while rich politicians do nothing but fill their own wallets. We can make change, but you got to break out of this cycle of left or right.
Speaker 1:The answer to saving America isn't Christianity and it isn't Republican or Democrat. It is something completely and utterly different. I need you to find that different. Look to those people. Research who is running. I myself am running for US Senate Because I believe right now that's where I can do the best work that I can be a voice of the people, but look deeper at the presidency. Look who's running. Look who loves the people, not just loves the dollar. Look who will look to equality of all religions and all traditions, rather than just one.
Speaker 1:We've got politicians right now saying that they're going to we're going to have the biggest mass deportation the world has ever seen this country has ever seen, and that breaks my heart Because, even though, yes, I believe that we have to have a good, strong security and a border, I believe that there's a better way. I believe that there's a better way. I believe becoming a citizen is too difficult, that the way needs to be much easier and the door needs to be much wider and more clear to see and avenues that are much easier to approach. But it feels like there's just so much hate and bigotry in a country that's supposed to be free. What are we afraid of? Are we afraid that someone's going to come in and take what is ours? Like we took from someone else? Our ancestors came here and they destroyed everything. They took from everyone. They slaughtered anybody that wouldn't conform and then they went to war with their own country in order to gain freedom.
Speaker 1:Don't get me wrong I love this country, but the facts and the truth is the truth. We cannot be hateful upon people that merely want a better life. We owe that to the world. To open the door to such better life, we need to go back and ask forgiveness for the things that our ancestors did and make things as right as we can. When I start talking about politics, I'm talking about bringing people together, an awakening of the heart and soul, bringing people together in equality, in equal opportunity. Coming to the facts that we understand, what happened was there's just no words for it everything from what happened to the Native Americans to what happened with slavery, what happened to our children, what we did to women, our ancestors. You know we've come a long way, but we've come a long way, but we've got a long way to go, but I think we're going to take a few steps backwards if we're not careful. We need a person that will lead us for us, not for them. That is, for everyone, not just one particular mindset of people or one religious ideology, but everyone.
Speaker 1:2024 is coming up. We've got to make a choice. Don't just be what most people will be. I've been a Democrat for all these years, or I've been a Republican for all these years. Shake that off, friends. Focus, listen to your heart, listen to spirit, look deeper.
Speaker 1:Today is about change, restoration. Our planet is in jeopardy. Wildlife is in jeopardy. We ourselves are in jeopardy. We can change this. We can bring America back again, or I believe that we can make America truly great, greater than it's ever been, because I think a lot of people, when they've said America is so great, they merely said that's because they were indoctrinated to say that that America really hasn't been that great.
Speaker 1:We've done a lot of harm and we've made many, many, many people suffer For what we call democracy, when in all actuality it was about the dollar bill, power, resources, and I understand all these things, but there comes a time when where do you draw the line between our luxuries and humanity Lives and wants? We're going to come together real soon. This world's going to lay down just the idea of financial prosperity and we're all going to be focused on the prosperity of humanity and of each other, and we need the diversity of all of our cultures together, all of our gods and goddesses. We need us all together with the same mindset, to love each other, to help each other, to guide each other, to empower each other and to reach out beyond the stars and maybe do something more rather than just kill each other on our own planet that we also destroy. Consider this this week.
Speaker 1:You know what? I don't want to get on here and just talk about myself, but remember Richard Kent for US Senate. Many people go by Richard Ravenbrook because Ravenbrook is my magical name. Richard Kent is my legal name for US Senate. If you feel like you need that you would like to endorse or help in this campaign, please do Spread the news that somebody is ready and willing to step in and bring true equality into this country once again and to eliminate the haters from all the bigotry. But way beyond me, look at the other people that are running for president Jill and many others. Thank you everyone for just taking the short time to listen. I hope I haven't offended anybody. I know some of the things that I've said are rough and it hurts, but we've got to get to the point where we start speaking the truth and understand the truth within us and where we come from in this country and where we're going to go in the future. Be blessed everyone and blessed be. © B Emily Beynon.
