The Michael Shermer Show Charles Murray: Why I'm Taking Religion Seriously
Charles Murray, a Harvard-educated policy analyst and author, explores his intriguing late-life shift toward religious belief. The conversation delves into Bayesian theism, where he places the afterlife's probability at just over 50%. They discuss the historical grounding of Jesus, the problem of evil, and moral law's implications in light of science and atheism. Murray also reflects on terminal lucidity and how it challenges strict materialism, encouraging skeptics to thoughtfully engage with compelling near-death experiences. A mind-bending exploration awaits!
01:43:55
Intellectuals Growing Out Of Scientism
- Murray calls the 20th century the adolescence of Western intellectuals who embraced scientism and discarded religious inquiry.
- He argues the 21st century shows a corrective reappraisal, reclaiming some religious questions as legitimate.
Harvard's 'Smart People Don't Believe' Moment
- Murray recounts arriving at Harvard from a small Iowa town and absorbing the zeitgeist that 'smart people don't believe' in religion.
- That social environment shaped his earlier agnosticism until later life reconsideration.
Fork In Mouth GRE Moment
- Murray recounts meeting his future wife and the early conversational reveal of GRE scores as a humorous intelligence-flagging moment.
- He uses it to illustrate how intellectuals reveal status and value intelligence socially.
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Intro
00:00 • 4min
Why Smart People Rejected Religion
04:12 • 9min
What I Mean By Belief and Bayesian Theism
13:41 • 4min
Fideism, William James, and Emotional Reasons to Believe
17:25 • 4min
Not Anthropomorphizing God and the Problem of Evil
21:15 • 6min
Historic Grounding of Jesus and the Resurrection
27:30 • 15min
Jesus as 'God-in-a-Jar' and Quaker Influence
42:15 • 13min
Cosmic Fine-Tuning and the Moral Law
55:06 • 9min
Evolutionary Accounts of Altruism vs. Divine Moral Imprint
01:04:22 • 19min
What Might the Afterlife Be Like?
01:23:17 • 2min
What Is Terminal Lucidity and Its Significance?
01:25:00 • 5min
How Neuroscientists Explain Lucidity Alternatives
01:29:44 • 5min
How Skeptics Should Tackle Strong Cases
01:34:36 • 5min
Science, Progress, and Intellectual Humility
01:39:57 • 38sec
How Emerging Technologies Will Change Society
01:40:35 • 3min
Outro
01:43:08 • 39sec
#54537
The Incredible Afterlives of Dr. Stevenson
One Scientist's Epic Quest for Evidence of Reincarnation, Apparitions, Poltergeists, and Other Matters of the Soul
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This book tells the untold story of Ian Stevenson, an iconoclastic psychiatrist who spent decades documenting cases of reincarnation, apparitions, and poltergeists in an effort to understand consciousness after death.
Jesse Bering offers a balanced and humane portrait of Stevenson, connecting his scientific rigor with his personal quest to explore the mysteries of the soul.
The narrative covers Stevenson's early psychedelic studies, his groundbreaking research on birthmarks and the 'psychophore,' and his lasting impact on the study of the afterlife.
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The book examines the Nicene Creed and explores topics such as the nature of humanity, the concept of God as creator, the Big Bang Theory, and the presence of the divine within reality.
Polkinghorne approaches faith as a journey of intellectual discovery akin to scientific inquiry, rigorously explaining how he came to embrace Christian beliefs from a bottom-up perspective.
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These numbers, defined during the Big Bang, govern the universe's shape, size, and texture.
Rees explains how slight changes in these numbers would make life as we know it impossible.
He considers the fine-tuning of these parameters and discusses the multiverse hypothesis as a possible explanation for their values, although he acknowledges that science cannot fully explain this fine-tuning.
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Sebastian Junger
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Lewis and Augustine of Hippo.
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Believe
null
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Jonathan Rauch
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Losing ground
American social policy, 1950-1980
Charles Murray
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Non-Zero
null
Robert Wright
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Gender, Race, Class, and Genes
Charles Murray
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Coming Apart
The State of White America, 1960-2010
Charles Murray
Michael Shermer sits down with Charles Murray (author of The Bell Curve, Coming Apart, and now Taking Religion Seriously) for a riveting 100-minute conversation about Murray's late-life turn from Harvard-bred agnosticism ("Smart people don't believe that stuff anymore") to Bayesian theism ("I put the afterlife at just over 50%").
This wide-ranging discussion explores the evidence for the existence of God and the afterlife, the problem of evil, and the historical growth of Christianity. They also delve into topics such as the nature of consciousness, terminal lucidity, and even evolutionary vs. religious perspectives on love.
A thought-provoking exploration for skeptics, seekers, and anyone wondering whether the universe has a purpose.
Charles Murray is a policy analyst educated at Harvard and MIT and currently serves as the Hayek Emeritus Scholar at the American Enterprise Institute. He is the author of several influential books, including the controversial The Bell Curve, Coming Apart, and Facing Reality. His most recent book is Taking Religion Seriously.