Humanize Me

Thanksgiving is here in the United States, set aside for the emotion of gratitude. We wonder what other emotions would be worth setting aside some time to express? Mentioned in the episode: this video and this 'emotion wheel.'

A 'Q&R' episode where a listener question about truth leads to morality via Dan Dennett.

Kate Cohen is a contributing columnist at The Washington Post whose new book, We of Little Faith: Why I Stopped Pretending to Believe (And Maybe You Should Too), is of obvious interest to us at Humanize Me. Kate's book can be found on Amazon and wherever else books are sold.

Bart talks with prominent evangelical Christian author Philip Yancey, whose books have been instrumental in supporting the faith of many Christians and whose recent memoir, Where the Light Fell, led to this conversation. In it, the two talk about their upbringings, their faith journey and Bart's deconstruction of faith, their values and more.

Is it right, or not, to have biological children? The last time Bart addressed this issue in the podcast (Episode 514), it generated lots of passionate replies, including one listener in particular whose angry email we read aloud in this episode. Since we didn't feel we did the subject justice last time, or the people for whom it's an important question, we're revisiting it, having received some newer emails seeking clarification on whether Bart thinks humanists should be having biological children. (Content warning: there are a few swears within this episode.)

Back from a summer vacation and into a wide-ranging conversation with Lisa Kentgen, a psychologist who's written a book called The Practice of Belonging: Six Lessons from Vibrant Communities to Combat Loneliness, Foster Diversity, and Cultivate Caring Relationships.

Robert Rooks is the CEO of REFORM Alliance, a criminal justice organization focused on transforming probation and parole systems. In this conversation with Bart Campolo, he talks about seeing the hardships in his community growing up, and how he became inspired to start to work on systemic change. In the process, Robert lays out some solid, practical things that listeners can do to help.

A listener asks: "Hi Bart, I just want to encourage you by communicating how much your podcast has helped me and is sustaining me in my deconversion journey. In your conversation earlier this month with Ursula Goodenough, you talked about a reverence and awe for the natural world, and I couldn’t help but think of a bible verse admonishing Christians to worship the Creator, rather than the created. I could see my Christian friends using that verse to tell we humanists that we’re guilty of worshipping the wrong thing. What do you think of this and how would you respond?"

They say you should never meet your heroes, but this conversation with Ursula Goodenough proves definitively that it isn't always true! Bart first read Ursula's book, The Sacred Depths of Nature, almost immediately after deconverting from Christianity many years ago. It was a massive influence on his thinking, providing a scientific basis for a rational devotion to life, and forming the narrative around which he based his version of secular humanism. A new edition of the book has just been released, so it's a perfect time for a conversation with its author! Ursula is a Professor of Biology Emerita at Washington University in St. Louis who was recently elected to the National Academy of Sciences. Links to Ursula's work: ⁠sacreddepthsofnature.com⁠ ⁠religious-naturalist-association.org

It was only a matter of time before we got drawn into the burgeoning conversation about recent advances in artificial intelligence. A listener called Steve asks: "What do you think are the implications of AI for those of us devoted to the human experience?" Although he doesn't have a clear answer, and admits a catastrophist's bias, Bart shares some initial thoughts in response and argues that, even if the rise of AI is a very bad thing for the world, it can nevertheless reaffirm our existing humanist values and amplify the reasons to create supportive communities. Featuring a 'cold open' by an artificial Bart-like interloper. Were you fooled?