Intersections with Phil Allen, Jr.    

Episode: 032 “What is ‘Freedom’ Anyway?”                   

Airdate: September 15, 2021

Length: 40:49

Guests: Phil Allen Jr.

Back from over four months on hiatus, Phil gets right into reflecting on the first eight plus months of 2021 and the issues that have fatigued many people. The main topic addressed in this episode is the confusion around the idea of freedom and why it has become such a hot topic for many Christians (particularly on the Right). What is freedom anyway? There are some factions of the country, and the church more specifically, who claim their freedoms are being taken away by government mandates. In doing this they conflate the American idea of freedom with the biblical idea of freedom. Phil dives into this to make the distinctions clear.

This same group who remain obstinate about mask-wearing, social distancing, and getting vaccinated is the same group that makes it more of a challenge to get on the other side of the pandemic (as we thought we were earlier in the summer). Their unwillingness to follow guidelines like mask-wearing, social distancing, and getting vaccinated pose the challenge. Because we are still fighting this Covid battle and unnecessarily losing many lives in the process, many people are struggling with mental health issues. Phil introduces the new series on wellness and mental health from the conditions brought about by the pandemic, social unrest, political division and vitriol, and isolation.

In this episode, while addressing the distressing rhetoric around freedom that many attach God’s name to, Phil segues to how the spirit of it all adversely impacts the health of the nation. Depression has increased. Suicide ideation has increased. Get ready for an informative and transforming series on wellness and mental health.

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Phil Allen, Jr. is a Los Angeles-based author, poet, social justice activist, and filmmaker. Allen’s book Open Wounds explores the murder of Nate Allen—Phil Allen’s grandfather—in the Jim Crow era of South Carolina and how that traumatic event resonated through generations of his family. Open Wounds – which is based on the Allen-produced documentary of the same name – was published on February 9, 2021. Allen is a Ph.D. candidate studying Christian ethics at Fuller Theological Seminary in Pasadena, CA.