Dr. Shepherd's special guest is Alison Dreith, interim director at NARAL Pro-Choice Missouri. NARAL's mission is to guarantee women the right to make personal decisions regarding reproductive choices, including preventing unintended pregnancy, bearing healthy children, and choosing legal abortion. She has had many positions in related fields, including working at a health center and as their grassroots organizer. Before coming to NARAL Missouri, she was the statewide organizer at Missouri...

Dr. Tom’s special guest is a seasoned veteran in the field of juvenile justice. Officer Blu Nicholson has 25 years' experience in the field of juvenile justice in both corrections and law enforcement. He received a bachelor's in criminal justice from Texas A&M and a master's in counseling from Amberton University. Officer Nicholson currently holds a State of Texas Master Peace Officer certification and a Texas Juvenile Probation Officer certification. Officer Nicholson has served as a...

Dr. Tom's special guest is a seasoned veteran in the field of juvenile justice. Officer Blu Nicholson has 25 years' experience in the field of juvenile justice in both corrections and law enforcement. He received a bachelor's in criminal justice from Texas A&M and a master's in counseling from Amberton University. Officer Nicholson currently holds a State of Texas Master Peace Officer certification and a Texas Juvenile Probation Officer certification. Officer Nicholson has served as a...

A middle-aged man is admitted to the hospital, suddenly plucked from familiar surroundings and given a bunk in a public building, like a stranger in a strange land. People stick him with needles, almost at whim. A train of uniformed workers swing in and out of his room like it was a station stop on a commuter line. Then another stranger arrives, announces herself as the chaplain, and asks, “How are you doing?” The patient immediately thinks: Great. They send in the angel of the Lord—am I...

A middle-aged man is admitted to the hospital, suddenly plucked from familiar surroundings and given a bunk in a public building, like a stranger in a strange land. People stick him with needles, almost at whim. A train of uniformed workers swing in and out of his room like it was a station stop on a commuter line. Then another stranger arrives, announces herself as the chaplain, and asks, "How are you doing?" The patient immediately thinks: Great. They send in the angel of the Lord-am I...

Dr. Tom's guest this week is John Lindsay-Poland, peace activist who has written about, researched, and organized action for human rights and the demilitarization of U.S. policy, especially in Latin America, for more than 30 years. From 1989 to 2014, Lindsay-Poland served the interfaith pacifist organization Fellowship of Reconciliation. Since May of 2015 he serves in the Wage Peace program of the American Friends Service Committee (Quakers). He is the author of several books including...

Health care generates ongoing controversy in the United States, but what are the issues for biomedical ethics when insurance companies dictate what treatment may or may not be administered by withholding payment for necessary drugs, tests, or procedures? And where should our society spend its health care dollars—to sustain life at the ending stages or improve the whole quality of life by emphasis on wellness and disease prevention? What about allowing suffering patients with no hope of...

Health care generates ongoing controversy in the United States, but what are the issues for biomedical ethics when insurance companies dictate what treatment may or may not be administered by withholding payment for necessary drugs, tests, or procedures? And where should our society spend its health care dollars-to sustain life at the ending stages or improve the whole quality of life by emphasis on wellness and disease prevention? What about allowing suffering patients with no hope of...

Dr. Tom’s special guest this week is Episcopal Priest Denise Vaughn. She graduated from the University of South Florida in 1976 with a bachelor's in political science and minor in business. She earned her Master of Divinity from the Seminary of the Southwest in Austin, Texas, and today serves the 158-year-old Grace Episcopal Church in Chillicothe, Missouri, as rector (senior minister). She cofounded a residential homeless shelter in Chillicothe. Rev. Vaughn also works in prison ministry. She...

Dr. Tom's special guest this week is Episcopal Priest Denise Vaughn. She graduated from the University of South Florida in 1976 with a bachelor's in political science and minor in business. She earned her Master of Divinity from the Seminary of the Southwest in Austin, Texas, and today serves the 158-year-old Grace Episcopal Church in Chillicothe, Missouri, as rector (senior minister). She cofounded a residential homeless shelter in Chillicothe. Rev. Vaughn also works in prison ministry. She...

Dr. Tom’s special guests this week are Gregory Stahr, soon-to-be middler year student at Unity Institute® and Seminary, and his son Christopher Stahr, who is graduating from high school/homeschooling today. Christopher talks about his experiences in homeschooling and public schooling and discusses what it's like to grow up in the Unity church. Greg, his excitedly proud poppa, shares stories about their time together and Christopher's passion for a good education. This is a great family show....

Dr. Tom's special guests this week are Gregory Stahr, soon-to-be middler year student at Unity Institute® and Seminary, and his son Christopher Stahr, who is graduating from high school/homeschooling today. Christopher talks about his experiences in homeschooling and public schooling and discusses what it's like to grow up in the Unity church. Greg, his excitedly proud poppa, shares stories about their time together and Christopher's passion for a good education. This is a great family show....

It’s hard to believe the Vietnam War came to an unsatisfying conclusion 40 years ago this week. Dr. Tom and both his special guests have personal experience with the era. Unity Institute® and Seminary senior Nhien Vuong Dougherty was born in Vietnam and brought to the United States by her parents at the fall of Saigon in 1975; she was 2 years old. First-year UI student Don Ray served with the U.S. Army in Saigon during the infamous 1968 Tet Offensive. Also, Dr. Tom flew medical evacuation...

It's hard to believe the Vietnam War came to an unsatisfying conclusion 40 years ago this week. Dr. Tom and both his special guests have personal experience with the era. Unity Institute® and Seminary senior Nhien Vuong Dougherty was born in Vietnam and brought to the United States by her parents at the fall of Saigon in 1975; she was 2 years old. First-year UI student Don Ray served with the U.S. Army in Saigon during the infamous 1968 Tet Offensive. Also, Dr. Tom flew medical evacuation...

Dr. Tom’s guests will be three Unity Institute® and Seminary students preparing for Unity ministry—Michael Perrie, Elise Cowan, and John Beerman. They will share stories about how their ecological consciousness has grown throughout the years, plus facts and trends in environmental awareness, global warming, pollution of land and sea, and hopes for recovery from humanity’s dependency on trash-producing activities and fossil fuels. A program worth listening to year-round.

Dr. Tom's guests will be three Unity Institute® and Seminary students preparing for Unity ministry-Michael Perrie, Elise Cowan, and John Beerman. They will share stories about how their ecological consciousness has grown throughout the years, plus facts and trends in environmental awareness, global warming, pollution of land and sea, and hopes for recovery from humanity's dependency on trash-producing activities and fossil fuels. A program worth listening to year-round.

Dr. Tom’s guest this week is Richard Belous, a student in the second year of the three-year Master of Divinity residency program at Unity Institute® and Seminary. Prior to enrolling in the Institute, he earned his bachelor's at Columbia University, and master's and Ph.D. in economics from The George Washington University. Dr. Belous is an advisor to Unity Worldwide Ministries on philanthropic, social, and economic trends, and research issues. He is also an adjunct professor in economics at...

Dr. Tom's guest this week is Richard Belous, a student in the second year of the three-year Master of Divinity residency program at Unity Institute® and Seminary. Prior to enrolling in the Institute, he earned his bachelor's at Columbia University, and master's and Ph.D. in economics from The George Washington University. Dr. Belous is an advisor to Unity Worldwide Ministries on philanthropic, social, and economic trends, and research issues. He is also an adjunct professor in economics at...

First the first time in the history of LTAI, Dr. Tom has no guest to interview. Instead, the program is devoted to sharing insights from his book Good Questions (Unity Books, 2009), based on his Unity Magazine® column. With customary humor and wide-ranging interests, Dr. Tom shows why his column consistently has been called everyone's favorite feature in Unity Magazine.

Dr. Shepherd's special guests include a seminary student and an undergraduate. Dinah Chapman is a senior at Unity Institute® and Seminary. As an African American, she painfully recognizes the problems both communities-black and white-are facing. Her insights are gracious yet sharp-edged, patient yet insistent. Dr. Shepherd's other guest is a "seriously white" undergraduate whose parents are German and Scandinavian. She is preparing to become a public school teacher through studies at...