The Cosmic Citizen

 WellWEWeWsksks ?Well, it's almost 2013 and while some predicted the end of the world, we are still here. It appears we still have some work to do to ensure a better future for the next generation. It's fitting that our last show of 2012 is the third and final installment on family as the master civilizer. A listener reminded us that Jesus said that "it is the divine will that men and women should...

We posed the question last week:  In these troubled times how can we maintain strong families?   We dug deeply into The Urantia Book’s teachings on the family and civilization and spoke on the family’s significance and what constitutes a “good” family creating worthy adult children and world citizens. This week we address Michael of Nebadon’s inspiration of tens of thousands of trillions of human...

 WThe Urantia Book says, "While religious, social, and educational institutions are all essential to the survival of cultural civilization, the family is the master civilizer. A child learns most of the essentials of life from his family and the neighbors. It further says, "The family is the fundamental unit of fraternity in which parents and children learn those lessons of patience, altruism, tol...

This week we are delighted to have one of our favorite guests, PHYLLIS TICKLE. In celebration of her new book, Emergence Christianity-What It Is, Phyllis has arranged a national conversation on the emergence of our faith, January 11-12 in her hometown of Memphis, Tennessee and she'll tell us all about it. Phyllis, is the founding editor of the Religion Department of PUBLISHERS WEEKLY, the internat...

Please join us this Saturday for a very dynamic show with 7 guests who will tell us about The United Urantia Family Festival which will be held next summer over Jesus’ birthday fromAugust 20 to 24, 2013 at Yosemite Park in California. Our guests will be our esteemed colleagues, Charles Laurence Olivea, Mary Anne Brundage, Liz Craig, Jeffrey Wattles, Meredith Tenney, Ron Craig and Pato Banton! Plea...

In preparation of our upcoming interview with PHYLLIS TICKLE we are replaying our original interview with her of 3 years ago. Phillys is the founding editor of the Religion Department of PUBLISHERS WEEKLY, the international journal of the book industry. She is frequently quoted in print sources like USA TODAY, CHRISTIAN SCIENCE MONITOR, NY TIMES as well as in electronic media like PBS, NPR, THE HA...

This week we will discuss Jesus' amazing achievements in spiritual growth by age 20 and hopefully aspire to these spiritual growth milestones too, no matter how old we are. By age 20 Jesus had learned to: bear responsibility, carry on in the face of disappointment, bear up bravely when his plans were thwarted and his purposes temporarily defeated, be fair and just even in the face of injustice, ad...

This week is a repeat of our show with guest Steve McIntosh on his new book: Evolution's Purpose: An Integral Interpretation of the Scientific Store of Our Origins Does the science of evolution really prove that life, humanity, and the universe as a whole are meaningless accidents? On the contrary, science has increasingly shown how everything in the universe is subject to evolution. And as we com...

This week on the Cosmic Citizen, in honor of the upcoming presidential election, we are exploring Paper 71, Development of the State. The Melchizedek who purportedly authored this paper, deals directly with the evolution of the state, democracy and representative government. The paper is fascinating, susinct and insightful.  For instance, consider these intriguing quotations from Paper 71 of the U...

This week we will be interviewing Shane Hipps, the Emergent Christian author and minister, about his new book, Selling Water by the River: A Book About the Life Jesus Promised and the Religion that Gets in the Way. (Jericho Books/Hachette Book Group, 2012). In Selling Water by the River, Shane reveals the true purpose of Jesus' life, apart from what Christianity has made it out to be. The book dis...

This week returning guest Steve McIntosh will be discussing his new book: Evolution's Purpose: An Integral Interpretation of the Scientific Store of Our Origins Does the science of evolution really prove that life, humanity, and the universe as a whole are meaningless accidents? On the contrary, science has increasingly shown how everything in the universe is subject to evolution. And as we come t...

This week returning guests Pato Banton and Ben Bowler join us to discess the U Day Festival, set to begin on the evening of  December 22nd, 2012. The event promotes the values of intercultural kinship, racial unity and spiritual fraternity. Set in Chiang Mai, Thailand, the U-Nite concert featuring Pato Banton will open the event on the evening of Dec. 22nd, and the U DAY multi-faith ceremony will...

Brian D. McLaren is an author, speaker, activist, philosopher, mega church pastor, and public theologian. Named by Time Magazine as one of the 25 most influential people. FR. Richard Rohr calls him a spiritual genius. McLaren's writings include his acclaimed trilogy, A New Kind of Christian, also A Generous Orthodoxy, and more recently, Naked Spirituality. Brian joins us this week on The Cosmic Ci...

"It will suck people out of any kind of boredom, bring them to the edge of their seats and get them ready for discussion." — Brian McLaren Tony Jones spoke with us Thursday (we will play the pre-recorded interview at the start of the show) giving us an overview of a new resource from Spark House called "Animate Faith." Animate Faith is a seven-session adult course designed to engage the faith-hung...

"It will suck people out of any kind of boredom,  bring them to the edge of their seats and  get them ready for discussion." —Brian McLaren Conversations jumpstart a collaborative creative process: Animate Faith invites practitioners from across the country (and the globe) to develop new resources. In-person. Virtually. Whatever it takes to fulfill their mission. Tony Jones spoke with us Thursday...

Over and over again, people of all colors, creeds, social strata, incomes, political leanings, and genders get caught up in heated arguments because they don’t really understand the comments, behavior and attitudes of others. How can we see the issues clearly when the facts are totally muddled or sensationalized by media? The underlying problem is that we don’t know each other and often assume the...

This week will be of great interest to Urantia Book readers who wish to share the book's teachings with Christians. The Urantia Book Fellowship has sponsored two Wildgoose Festivals, which are premier Emergent events. Our guests this week were directly involved. Emergent Christians are religionists from many different Christian denominations that have crossed theological boundaries. They seek to l...

A retuning guest, Allison Zopel has authored a new book “The Angel Inside.” Tune in to hear the amazing story that starts with a terrible car crash on a cold winter's night and chronicles her inspiring return from a level 2 Coma over five years of gradually becoming conscious again. The angel within is what kept her going and recovering.   Her new book is just about to be published (within the nex...

This weekend on Cosmic Citizen we will interview Stevie Lynn Welch. Stevie has just returned to the USA from serving in India with the Sisters of Mercy organization, following in the footsteps of Mother Theresa of Calcutta.  Stevie volunteered with the Missionaries of Charity for three months.  Five days a week, sometimes more, most days averaging thirteen hours of hard work and prayer, Stevie fou...

This week's Cosmic Citizen is all about Urantia study groups and outreach. Our guests this week will include Canadian, Gaetan Charland. Gaetan is the President of the Urantia Association International. He started attending Urantia study groups regularly in 1987 and has pioneered a model of training study group leaders in Montreal. The UAI has made the creation and maintenance of study groups their...

Grab a cup of coffee or tea; a piece of toast with marmalade, some pancakes, or maybe just some raw fruit or veggies. Sit back and get comfortable and turn on ‘Cosmic Citizen’. www.blogtalkradio.com/cosmiccitizen   Please call in and share at least one of three thoughts with all the cosmic citizens today in the spirit of this remembrance "Birthday Brunch:" •What teaching of Jesus most speaks to yo...

In our continuing series on why we need to socialize our religion with others, we will focus this weeks program on why we gather on a regular basis to share our ideas and spiritual experience?  We will tune in live to some of the activities happening at the Summer Study Session in Chicago (SSS12) at Techny Towers.   Paula is there onsite, and Andre and Christilyn will run the board and the phone l...

Have you ever wondered why bad things happen to good people? Are you dealing with a crisis? Do you sometimes feel like the wheels are coming off of your life? Are you grieving the loss of a loved one or dealing with a debilitating illness in yourself or in someone you love? This week’s show is about how to cope with sorrow and adversity. The Urantia Book is full of thought provoking insights conce...

  This week we continue our topic from last week and will focus our discussion on the benefits of socialized religion.   Why do we crave human contact, socialization and association?  Why do people want to worship together or study a religious text, such as The Urantia Book, with a group of like-minded individuals?  We'll be reading the sections from the Religion Papers that expound on the values...

 This wThis ThisThhisTThhkThis week we will be discussing human association and the benefits of socialized religion. Why do we crave human contact, socialization and association?  Why do people want to worship together or study a religious text, such as The Urantia Book, with a group of like-minded individuals? We'll be reading the section from the Jesus Papers called The Art of Living, as well as...