The Patrick Coffin Show | Interviews with influencers | Commentary about culture | Tools for transformation

As a long time reader of GetReligion.org, I know you'll understand why I know you'll appreciate this interview with journalist Terry Mattingly, the "GetReligionista in Chief." Terry is a Russian Orthodox Christian with great sympathy for the worldview of Catholics and other Christians of the small-o orthodox stripe. We can't seem to get a fair hearing in the media, and Terry is the best commentator on this sorry state of affairs. Yet, as you'll learn in this interview, he is neither a doom-and-gloomer nor a paranoid conspiracy theorist. He knows well that some Christians will always do scandalous things worthy of negative press coverage. In this episode, you'll learn: The scandalous ignorance of so many religion reporters. The apathy of so many MSM editors regarding getting the facts right about religious faith (as compared with, say, the high standards of accuracy in matters of science, sports, or politics) How to spot biases when it comes to religion reportage (how about the "bad" Christianity of Tim Tebow and the "good" Christianity of Colin Kaepernick? Rather than succumb to the temptation of throwing a nerf brick at your TV set (or laptop screen), do what I do and learn from Terry Mattingly. Enjoy and share! Resources mentioned in this episode: Pop Goes Religion: Faith in Popular Culture by Terry Mattingly My new free e-booklet, How To Handle Haters: Seven Tips for Christian Culture Builders. Click here to download it. Join the Conversation Question of the week: Why do you think religion reporting is so poor in quality?

This interview with counter-terrorism expert and former international FBI Special Agent Tim Clemente provides unique insights into the mass murder perpetrated by Stephen Paddock last Sunday. Clemente has been a SWAT team sniper, a firearms expert, and was one of the first FBI agents on the scene after American Airlines Flight 77 crashed into the Pentagon. He is now a Hollywood writer and producer (The Unit, Criminal Minds, NCIS: Los Angeles). As a serious Catholic, Clemente's analysis of the Vegas massacre brings a supernatural perspective to this kind of pure evil. Where other pundits opine about gun laws and conspiracy theories, in this interview you will hear a balanced understanding that doesn't exclude the reality of faith. Busy father of nine that he is, the interview was conducted from his pick-up truck during a break in some construction work for his mother-in-law. Enjoy and share! Don't forget to Subscribe to the show here in YouTube, as well as the podcast so you can get the weekly show updates. Please leave an honest review of the show in iTunes or Stitcher. Ratings and reviews are extremely helpful and greatly appreciated! www.patrickcoffin.media/itunes www.patrickcoffin.media/stitcher Connect with me: Facebook: www.facebook.com/patrickcoffin.media Instagram: realpatrickcoffin Twitter: @Patrick_Coffin

The news media invariably give a skewed version of Islam as a world of tolerance and open-minded toward the differently-minded. Derya Little can tell you otherwise from growing up in Turkey in a 99% Muslim milieux. Her dramatic, at times, harrowing story is told in her spiritual autobiography From Islam to Christ: One Woman's Path Through the Riddles of God. As you'll learn from the interview, Derya discovered that Christianity is essentially a loving relationship with a divine Person as opposed to the Islamic idea of Allah as master and the reality of Islamic government as theocracy. And what a story: divorced parents; atheist worldview; living la vida loca at university; an abortion; another abortion. Then an encounter with Christ as an evangelical -- huge. Discovery of sacred Tradition and the sacraments, especially of Confession -- even more huge -- with a denouement of finding lasting love in the Sacrament of Matrimony and the bosom of holy Mother Church. Derya vulnerably tells her tale of transformation with interesting asides in this very personal interview. Kindly share with friends.

There's a new high priestly caste in the cultural worship space whose function is to spout a new ideology, replacing what was once called "science." The new ideology is a form of propaganda and political control, and you deviate from it at your peril. From the statistics relating to the proportion of homosexuals in society, to the "facts" about global warming (rebranded as "climate change" when the oligarchs saw that too few were buying the old brand), to the realities of abortion, population control, genetically modified food -- for starters! Austin Ruse has compiled an impressively researched array of counter facts to push back against the purveyors of quasi-scientific fakery in his new book, Fake Science: Exposing the Left's Skewed Statistics, Fuzzy Facts, and Dodgy Data. If you want a comprehensive summary of the major fiefdoms of fake science and how fake news aids and abets it, this interview is the place to start. Enjoy and share! Don't forget to Subscribe to the show in YouTube, as well as the podcast so you can get the weekly show updates. Please leave an honest review of the show in iTunes or Stitcher. Ratings and reviews are extremely helpful and greatly appreciated!

Venerable Pope Pius XII was the pope from 1939 to his death in 1958, straddling an extremely dangerous and unstable time in modern history. He was universally lauded as a hero after World War II for his brave and often risky strategy to counter the reckless Reich machine controlled by Adolph Hitler. Many Jews in particular wrote glowing tributes to this Pope, born Eugenio Pacelli. But a funny thing happened in 1963. A mediocre communist playwright named Rolf Hochhuth came out with an off-off-off Broadway play called The Deputy in which the Holy Father was portrayed as the Fuhrer's lackie. That was the beginning of a PR campaign to smear the late great pope's person and legacy. Professor of Law at Ole Miss, Ron Rychlak has specialized in telling the truth and countering the bold lies about Pope Pius XII. Rychlak's work has been praised by an eclectic array of scholars and leaders, including the Jewish Gary Krupp and Rabbi Eric Silver. If you've ever been tongue-tied when you hear solemn nonsense about "Hitler's Pope," this is the interview for you. Professor Rychlak has written or edited books that make good use of his legal mind with lots of meticulous research, including the very readable, Hitler, the War, and the Pope No one has a better grasp of the facts, and your grasp will get stronger after hearing this. Enjoy and share!

Joseph Sciambra says porn made him gay. At least, it was a major causal factor in his dark journey from shy Catholic kid to appearing in amateur gay porn and doing degrading things in leather bars. Joseph has told his story to anyone, any media outlet, willing to listen. Including Howard Stern, on whose raunchy show Joseph appeared as a guest in 2013. But Catholic media? Not so much. Perhaps that his backstory is so dark and raw, that the redemption part of the story takes longer to land. Perhaps it's that Sciambra is committed to focusing laser-like on the astonishing inroads made by LGTB activists in parishes and dioceses across the country. Few writers provide as much brutally candid insights into the homosexualist movement, the bodily, psychic, and spiritual wounds that attend homosexual acts, and the widespread failure of Catholic leaders to acknowledge the room's neon elephant. In this interview, you'll learn a new way to approach the "gay topic" from someone who is committed to reaching those still in the lifetstyle through his street ministry, "Jesus Loves Gay Men." Three questions for you to ponder and comment below, -Why do you think he's found it hard to get invited to Catholic conferences when evangelicals are willing to collaborate with his ministry? -What are you thoughts on how the "LGBT" agenda has been so successful in embedding itself at the diocesan level in places like Los Angeles, San Francisco, Chicago, and Newark, NJ? -Have you ever thought you faced a seemingly insurmountable obstacle to success — yet somehow found a way? Find out more at his blog/website, www.josephsciambra.com.

You would never know it from listening to him lecture or watch him on EWTN, by literary scholar and biographer Joseph Pearce did two stints in the British prison system for his involvement in a violent Aryan-nation style group called the National Front. The news footage of the recent violent riots at Charlottesville, VA, gave Pearce a serious case of deja vu, and i this remarkable interview, he tells what it's like to BE one of those activists -- angry (mostly young) men with chaos and anarchy on their minds. His racism and deep-seated hatred of all non-whites, Jews, and Catholics ("I hated all of the above," he says) was finally overcome after he discovered the writings of G.K. Chesterton, Thomas Aquinas, and J.R.R. Tolkien. The darkness of his prison cell led into the light of Christ and His commandment to love God and neighbor -- and to forgive one's enemies. His unlikely story is filled to the brim with providential interventions, ironies, and a cast of characters you normally only see in movies. To find out the full tale, his spiritual autobiography is Race With the Devil: My Journey From Racial Hatred to Rational Love. If you want an inside look into the mindset of Antifa and its doppelganger the violent alt-right from a convert to the Faith, this interview is the place to be. Don't forget to Subscribe to the show in YouTube, as well as the podcast so you can get the weekly show updates. Please leave an honest review of the show in iTunes or Stitcher. Ratings and reviews are extremely helpful and greatly appreciated!

Ever see a bully and want to stand up to him, but couldn't quite do it? Maybe fear got in the way, or you figured the net result wouldn't be worth it. Obianuju ("Uju" for short) Ekeocha has mastered the art of standing up to bullies in the form of those who push the culture of death onto her beloved Africa. In 2012, Uju had had enough of well-meaning First World leaders injecting contraception and abortion requirements into foreign policy to "help the poor Africans" and she wrote an Open Letter to Melinda Gates, wife of Bill. That Letter went viral and the foundress of Culture of Life Africa (www.cultureoflifeafrica.com) soon found herself debating pro-abortion advocates on the BBC, advising African Members of Parliament, and speaking at conferences around the world. In our interview, she shares insights into best practices for effectively and persuasively arguing on behalf of the culture of life. Uju is working on a major book by Ignatius Press, titled Target Africa, and is crowdfunding a documentary. Inspiring! Don't forget to Subscribe to the show in YouTube, as well as the podcast so you can get the weekly show updates. Please leave an honest review of the show in iTunes or Stitcher. Ratings and reviews are extremely helpful and greatly appreciated!

His 15-year-old hands were shaky on the steering wheel of the family van. Not old enough to legally drive, he stepped on the gas and gained speed. He heart raced, too, but more from dread than excitement, his eyes narrowed with dark zeal. He felt part zombie, part ghost, as though watching from outside himself as the nearest object loomed ahead, rushing toward him – an oncoming car. He yanked the wheel sharply into it, at 60 miles an hour. It was the day Luke Maxwell tried to commit suicide. From that terrible crash came a remarkable "upward bounce" to recovery and restoration. Luke spoke to me about the traits and feelings that indicate clinical depression, including the MMD (major depressive disorder) with which he was diagnosed in the hospital, almost on the spot. Today, at 20, he talks to teens, parent groups, and various conferences about saying no to shame and yes to accepting the help you need if you suffer the scalding effects of depression. Do you know someone who might be depressed? Want to find out how to spot the signs? Listen on… Don't forget to Subscribe to the show in YouTube, as well as the podcast so you can get the weekly show updates. Please leave an honest review of the show in iTunes or Stitcher. Ratings and reviews are extremely helpful and greatly appreciated!

Most people are unaware of the mutual admiration and friendship John Paul the Great had with President Reagan. With differing on Christian teachings, they were acutely aware they had the same Teacher. Both survived close-up attempts at assassination, both immediately forgave their attackers, and both were passionate about bringing down the godless Soviet Communist leviathan that Reagan tagged, "the evil empire." Their partnership, based on moral authority and transcendent truth, did bring down the Soviet Union and all its pomps and works. Yes, there were other players in that drama, and one of them is Ven. Fulton Sheen. Another is Our Lady of Fatima. That's right. Fatima. As you'll find out, not only did President Reagan learn about Fatima and its prophetic message about the spread of Russia's errors from his dear friend the Polish Pope, he (Reagan) identified his life work in some way as being involved in a divine plan, which he nicknamed "DP." The fascinating details are found in Kengor's definitive double biography, A Pope and President: John Paul II, Ronald Reagan, and the Extraordinary Untold Story of the 20the Century. This is a really interesting conversation with a natural born story teller and historian, Paul Kengor, complete with plenty of sidebar excursions into Things Sheen. Don't forget to Subscribe to the show in YouTube, as well as the podcast so you can get the weekly show updates. Please leave an honest review of the show in iTunes or Stitcher. Ratings and reviews are extremely helpful and greatly appreciated!