We’re happy to report that we have video recordings from the anarchism and Christianity conference to share—and they are free. Thanks to videographer and producer Ljuba Miltsova (Cation Productions), you can see this year’s presentations by Layla AbdelRahim (“A Lullaby for the Planet: Undressing Ourselves for a Viable Parenthood”) and John Zerzan (“Anarcho-Primitivism versus a Darkening Reality”). Ewuare Osayande’s session on “Jesus & the Money Changers: Rioting Against the Economic Crisis” will also be posted soon.

Although the videos are available for no charge, we are asking folks to consider making a “free-will offering” toward the project and the conference. Half the funds will be given to Ljuba in gratitude for all her hard work over the past five months, and the other half will go toward next year’s event. To give a gift or to inquire about DVDs of the sessions, visit the conference video area.

In addition to the videos, the Anarchism and Christianity Primer MP3 is also available as a free-for-all download. Thanks to Jonas for the idea.

Update 1/3: Ewuare’s video has been added.

The Open Forum is an unstructured time at the Jesus Radicals conference for people to gather for conversation based on shared interests. This year, Layla and John agreed to have an extended conversation with attendees who were interested in their presentations, their critique of civilization and their work on alienation, domestication and anarcho-primitivism more broadly. In the first discussion, which rand for an hour and eighteen minutes, participants asked a range of questions, leading to rich discussions on everything from violence and property destruction to Derrida and post-modernism to children’s literature and zoos–and that’s in the first half-hour.

Layla and John also participated in an additional Open Forum conversation with several participants. The thirty-three minute discussion also touched on a number of issues, including international development, parenting, adoption and teaching among others.

These are the first MP3s from the conference that have been edited to get the best audio quality possible. More will be added to the conference MP3 page in the coming weeks.

On Tuesday, John Zerzan, who was one of our key speakers at this years anarchism and Christianity conference, took up nearly half of his show to talk about the conference this past weekend. Sometimes when Zerzan goes to conferences, he comes back and goes on his radio show and says it was a waste of time, the conference was a bunch of liberal reformists who didn’t even want to hear what he had to say. That was not his reaction to the Jesus Radical Conference.

We had over 250 people show up, but we were only expecting about 150 people. It was a tremendous turnout and there was respectful, serious discussion about a range of topics. It was by far the most successful and engaging of the conferences we have hosted, and with some modesty I say that we have had some good meetings in the past. But they have built up to this.

Zerzan was, quite frankly, impressed. He took it all in and is wondering what we were about. To be clear, the point of the conference was not to convert non-Christians. The point of having non-Christian anarchists come is so we can learn. And this year in particular we worked very hard to pull in people who would be challenging. We Christians need to hear these critiques. We need to be converted because we are part of a tradition that too easily jumps into triumphalism and war-mongering, sometimes with good intentions, but often with evil ones (the result is the same).

We are grateful he shared with us. I am on fire from the conference this year. The gathering coming up in Philadelphia will in some ways be a continuation of this conversation. I hope to see a lot of people there too.