Episode 21: Doubts, Deceptions and Dachau

I work with LGBTQ+ families of a conservative background who feel their world turned upside down. Currently there is a LOT of anti LGBTQ+, anti trans and anti drag legislation all across the US. This is significant enough that I chose to publish this episode and move the one I had originally scheduled.

A couple months ago, I had the opportunity to visit Dachau concentration camp located 10 miles north of Munich, Germany. I do not understand those who question whether the holocaust really happened. I can’t quite put into words what I felt for those several hours my family and I walked through the camp. It was sobering. It was heavy. It was dreadful. And I’m grateful there were those who risked much by keeping records so that I - and we as a society - can learn from and connect with their sorrow and pain from the not so distant past. Isn’t that why we keep our history so that we do not forget atrocities such as these and especially so we don’t repeat them?

In this episode, I share my thoughts on how allowing fear to get in our way of asking questions, questioning status quo and acknowledging doubts can affect societies as a whole. I propose that when the driving emotion is fear, the ability to discuss important topics in a way that feels safe or at least with reduced emotion will elude us. What if what is perceived as a threat is actually none at all. It’s hard to come to a neutral space to think rationally about a given topic when one is driven by fear. Fear inhibits us from tapping into our inner wisdom and claiming our God given sovereignty to guide us to getting to the core of matters which most often begins by asking questions.

Source cited: https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/dachau

The ⁠Beyond the Shadow of Doubt™⁠ is a proud member of the Dialogue Podcast Network which is a part of the Dialogue Journal. Go here for more info: DialogueJournal.com/podcastnetwork.

The Dialogue Journal was founded by Eugene England a Mormon writer, teacher and scholar.

“My faith encourages my curiosity and awe,” Gene wrote in the very first issue of the journal. “It thrusts me out into relationship with all creation” and “encourages me to enter into dialogue.”(you can read more at the website diagloguejournal.com)

My hope is that this podcast is an extension of this vision.