Why do we believe in Gods? Why is belief in supernatural deities found universally around the world? This is a question that has baffled scientists and scholars for centuries. Dr. Connor Wood comes on today’s podcast to discuss some of today’s hottest theories and to fill us in on what might be the missing piece of the puzzle.
Building on conversations with recent guests, Stefani argues that there are two different kinds of self-esteem. One has the power to melt our societies to the ground; the other has the power to lift us up and progress with hope into the future. Which kind of self-esteem do you have?
You might not think about death very often, but the work of today’s guest has demonstrated that death plays a crucial role in our psychological make-ups. Sheldon Solomon is an expert psychologist and one of the world’s leading theorists in Terror Management Theory, which is a subfield of psychology that explores how pretty much everything we do and think is an attempt to evade the prospect of death. Death makes us feel vulnerable, so we become more entrenched in our cultural worldviews, more vio...
A lot of people in the world today think that all you have to do is make yourself happy. But is that any way to live? Is that actually how the world works? In this episode, Stefani tells the history of the debate, weighs the pros and cons of various arguments, and tells you eventually why yes, we are most certainly obligated to help change the world.
Continuing where we left off in episode 22, today philosopher Donald Crosby and I explore in depth all of the ways in which he thinks nature is better at meeting our spiritual needs than traditional religion. We discuss his new ideas about nature and God, morality, the flow of time, purpose, meaning, death, and more.
Did you know there is a whole academic field dedicated to the study of how to be spiritual and still believe in science? It’s called religious naturalism, and today I tell you all about it’s history, some of its forerunners, major themes, and what it can offer that traditional religion can’t.
Donald Crosby is the best philosopher you’ve never heard of. One of Stefani’s all time favorite thinkers, Crosby comes on the show today to discuss the problem of nihilism in today’s world: where does it come from, and how is it impacting us today? What do traditional religion and traditional conceptions of God have to do with it? As it turns out, everything. This is the first in a two-episode series with Professor Crosby.
How much are you personally persuaded by demagogues, emotional argumentation, and the crowd? How much is Stefani? In this episode Stefani takes and walks you through a quiz designed to answer these questions. Remember: be as honest with yourself as possible, and there are no wrong answers.
Arie Kruglanski was born in Nazi Poland is today one of the world’s leading experts on the psychology of extremism, terrorism, and close-mindedness. In this episode he chats with Stefani about how badly humans tend to need certain kinds of certainty and significance. Without them we (usually) become close-minded, easily persuaded by demagogues and the crowd, and begin to hate those who oppose us. These problems are especially important for the modern world. Listen in to get a keen understanding ...
Stefani explores one of the background principles of her current book--that uncertainty is often one of the most stressful and problematic things we can feel. She explains various experiments and theories in the field of psychology that lead her to believe the management of uncertainty is one of the keys to both having a better life and also saving the world.
How much do our beliefs--both conscious and subconscious--influence our society and politics? Today Stefani chats with Dr Michael Hogue about some fundamental beliefs we’ve inherited in the West: that humans are separate from nature, that God is separate from Creation, and especially that God is an all-powerful being. Hogue argues that these beliefs are the cause of our current political and environmental crises. What do we need to overcome them? New kinds of gods.
What does it mean to be saved? Who can be saved? In today’s episode, Stefani shares one of the innovations she is contributing to the study of religion: a completely new theory of salvation.
Join Stefani in a smart, fast-paced, and passionate conversation with James Hill Jr., who studies the industry of creating holographic images of deceased black recording artists. Learn all about the world of bringing musicians back from the dead, and also Colin Kaepernick, black culture in America, censorship, and more.
Frustrated with the debate on political correctness, I discuss what I perceive to be common blind spots on both the right and the left. I take the common ‘left’ view that taking care of others and deconstructing discriminatory norms is important but argue A) that care must be understood in context and B) that the policing of language is not always productive.
Today’s topics: free speech, religious freedom, the decline of civility, and the culture of WINNING in the age of the Trump. What’s wrong with American political discourse today? How did we end up like this? I chat with expert in American religion and politics Finbarr Curtis to get to the bottom of it.
Do you have a purpose in life? Maybe! In today’s episode I take a look at the history of cultural factors that make Westerners feel like we need to find a “purpose” -- and why it might all be wrong.
Can anyone become less racist? Can we teach people how to treat each other better? I was amazed to learn about the uniquely effective way of tackling racism and various injustices my guests Christopher Carter and Seth Schoen have created. Have they found the secret to something that actually works?
They often call us “Generation Me.” We are the generation that is selfish, narcissistic, and obsessed with getting Facebook likes. But why? Why are we this way? In this brief episode, I talk about the history of the West and the deep underlying fears that cause us to be so obsessed with our own image. (Note: narcissism here is used in the colloquial and not clinical sense.)
We usually think of religion as something that makes us good--but what happens when religion is something that enables us to be bad? In this eye-opening episode Professor Christopher Driscoll makes the unusual and important observation that the Western God acts as a buffer against limitations for white people. That is, it makes it easier for white people to marginalize and commit violence against everybody else. Tune in to take a hard look at yourself and your neighbors. We discuss lynching, dro...
We tend to radically over-simplify religions. This is especially the case with Christianity, which we often think of as being about irrational faith in a supernatural God. But it really isn’t--at least the majority of it isn’t--and it never has been. In this episode I trace some of the long lineage of Christian thinkers in history who thought it was actually impossible to understand anything about God.
We often talk about science like it’s going to deliver us final and certain answers--but is that really how it works? In this mind-blowing episode I chat with theoretical physicist and several times best-selling author Marcelo Gleiser about the open-endedness, adventure, and majesty of the scientific quest. Gleiser tells us how he ditched his intellectual comfort zones, why he has such a different view of science from other famous scientists, and how personal tragedy led him to experience the un...
In the last episode we established that “human nature” changes over time--in this episode Stefani shows you how. By briefly touring early hunter-gathering, the development of agriculture, early Christianity, the Enlightenment, Darwinism, fundamentalism, and the World Wars, Stefani demonstrates just how vastly our ideas of what it means to be human have changed--and not always for the better.
Do our phones rob us of our humanity? What about genetic engineering, or other technologies? Stefani chats with Columbia PhD candidate Joe Fisher about the wild ride we're on in a rapidly changing world. They discuss how human nature changes over time, how technology impacts our ideas and culture, and how today’s technology is over-turning everything we thought we knew about who we are.
Nowadays there are atheist meetups, atheist book clubs, and even atheist churches. Is atheism becoming a religion?! Today Stefani talks about the similarities and differences between American atheism today and fundamentalist Christianity. Ultimately, they are very different, but what they have in common is alarming and something we must pay attention to.
Hateful, anti-feminist rhetoric is on the rise in the West. What does atheism have to do with it? This week Stefani chats with Princeton PhD student of American religions Caroline Matas about how today’s atheism is becoming politicized by the right, the relationship between atheism and anti-feminism, the power of victimhood, and America’s religious and spiritual crises.
A testament to the potential for New Year’s Resolutions to do actual good, today Stefani tells the story of the year she resolved to be celibate. Tune in and learn about her history of traumatic relationships with men and how forswearing romance transformed her into a self-sufficient and happy human.
Is there a relationship between fundamentalist forms of religion and trauma? Stefani chats with fellow Oxford scholar Tyler Tully who grew up experiencing and witnessing severe trauma in an Evangelical community. These days Tully specializes in researching these kinds of suffering, so they get to the bottom of how and why trauma happens in religion. They also discuss how religion isn’t made to feel good, the importance of empathy, and Brad Pitt’s ideas about religion.
Most of us know Jesus wasn’t born on December 25th--but what else is mythical about Christmas? In this episode, Stefani walks you through the history of Christmas from ancient European wine making practices, to the medieval poor demanding luxuries from the rich, to the banning of Christmas in Boston, to riots in New York, and more. As it turns out, the history of Christmas is full of socioeconomic and political upheaval - from which there is much we can learn.
All cultures have their problems, but we can still learn from one another. In this brief episode Stefani discusses research that has been conducted on the differences in mental health and happiness between East and West, and the lessons we could learn from the Chinese about how to be happy.
We all know that the “East” and “West” are different--but just how deep do these differences reach? This week Stefani chats with fellow Oxford PhD candidate Mari Ovsepan about her personal experiences growing up in an Eastern culture that has a more extended, collective sense of self, and now living in the hyper-individualistic West. They discuss Mari’s experiences of coping with the West, the ecstasy of encountering others, why the medievals were right about imagination, and what each culture c...
