34. Dr. Butch Ware: Is Capitalism Your Religion? Thinking With Your Heart, Finding a Spiritual Guide, The Weaponization of God and the Devil, and More.

Dr. Butch Ware: Is Capitalism Your Religion? Thinking With Your Heart, Finding a Spiritual Guide, The Weaponization of God and the Devil, and More.

Welcome back to Podcast Noor, enjoy a live podcast recording with Dr. Butch Ware! This conversation was recorded as part of a live event, our Virtual Ramadan Iftar in April 2023, where we gather hundreds from around the world to share an evening breaking fast and sharing conversation.

Dr. Butch Ware is a historian of West African Studies at UC Santa Barbara. His teaching focuses on Islamic thought, anti-slavery movements in West Africa and the African Diaspora. Dr. Ware is also the author of “The Walking Qur'an: Islamic Education, Embodied Knowledge, and History in West Africa.”

This conversation is very spiritual and there were so many times that I was broken wide open. We get into things like the difference between the mind and the heart, and how to engage your heart as your thinking organ. We talk about how, for a lot of people who claim to be practicing a specific religion or faith tradition, their religion is actually capitalism. We get into how to find your spiritual guides, and I even dare ask the question, “Who do you think the Devil really is?” rather than “what” the Devil is - what is the idea of the devil? What does it actually represent? 

Dr. Ware talks to us about the weaponization of God, and how sometimes parents use God as a weapon in their toolbox to try to control kids to obey them. In that sentiment, he also talks about his learnings in which he found that there really is no such thing as a “Muslim child”, and you can replace ‘Muslim’ with any sort of faith tradition. The power in that message is a really, really important one and one that I benefited from and I think it could do a lot of healing for others. 

I’m so happy that a lot of you have been sharing with me that you have been enjoying these spiritual conversations because I am very openly on this journey, asking these really big questions. So, here is Dr. Butch Ware. 

PS, since this was Live, you’ll hear me reference the Q&A portion but I did not keep it for this podcast recording because it was too long. Next time I guess you’ll just have to be there!

Welcome to this episode of Podcast Noor. 

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Transcripts + Listening: ⁠www.ays.media/podcastnoor/butchware

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🎶 Theme Music: "Thunderdome (W.T.A)" by Portugal. The Man / @portugaltheman 

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Some Questions Asked in This Episode: 

How do you engage with your Heart as a thinking organ?

Who do you think the Devil really is?

Do you sense that faith communities feel stuck today?

How could one go about engaging a spiritual guide? 

What happens when you ask yourself: What is the role I am playing in social injustice?

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