Show 693: Naturalistic Support

Should we Listen to our Elders II

There are some things we can learn from our elders and some things that we cannot.  Join us to explore how to connect with seniors in ways that are satisfying and rewarding.

Listen to show #89 below!

Show 692: Naturalistic Support

Should we Listen to our Elders

There are some things we can learn from our elders and some things that we cannot.  Join us to explore how to connect with seniors in ways that are satisfying and rewarding.

Listen to show #88 below!

Show 690: Naturalistic Support

The Challenge of Identity II

Our personal identity can be based on a wide range of characteristics including race, ethnicity, religion, skin color, sexuality, gender, neighborhood, and beliefs.

There is also a transcendent, universal, human identity which all of us share.

The way we balance our tribal and human identities may determine the future of humankind.

Listen to show #86 below!

Show 689: Naturalistic Support

The Challenge of Identity

Our personal identity can be based on a wide range of characteristics including race, ethnicity, religion, skin color, sexuality, gender, neighborhood, and beliefs.

There is also a transcendent, universal, human identity which all of us share.

The way we balance our tribal and human identities may determine the future of humankind.

Listen to show #85 below!

Show 688: Naturalistic Support

Harmonizing with Nature II

We continue our consideration of humanity’s role in the destruction and, hopefully, the preservation of life.

We frequently regard humankind as being in perpetual conflict with nature.  And while no other animals have transformed the earth so profoundly, humans are also life’s best hope.

Only humans can transform life so that sentience, experience, and cognition will continue to flourish even when the home of its origination becomes uninhabitable.

Pursuing this quixotic endeavor may become humanity’s highest purpose.

Listen to show #84 below!

Show 687: Naturalistic Support

Harmonizing with Nature

In recognition of Earth Day, we consider humanity’s role in the destruction and, hopefully, the preservation of life.

We frequently regard humankind as being in perpetual conflict with nature.  And while no other animals have transformed the earth so profoundly, humans are also life’s best hope.

Only humans can transform life so that sentience, experience, and cognition will continue to flourish even when the home of its origination becomes uninhabitable.

Pursuing this quixotic endeavor may become humanity’s highest purpose.

Listen to show #83 below!

Show 686: Naturalistic Support

Reimagining God II

It is entirely possible to be a Naturalistic Humanist and to believe in God, but it does involve giving our concept of God an update.

Throughout human history, as societies changed, people have adjusted their understanding of God.  But the God that most westerners worship presently, was envisioned centuries ago – long before social science, and neuroscience radically changed our understanding of why we behave as we do and what we need to support the fullest expression of our human potential.

If God is omniscient then it’s reasonable to assume that God also has this knowledge. Therefore, the better we understand ourselves the better we can appreciate how God understands us.

Listen to show #82 below!

Show 685: Naturalistic Support

Reimagining God

It is entirely possible to be a Naturalistic Humanist and to believe in God, but it does involve giving our concept of God an update.

Throughout human history, as societies changed, people have adjusted their understanding of God.  But the God that most westerners worship presently, was envisioned centuries ago – long before social science, and neuroscience radically changed our understanding of why we behave as we do and what we need to support the fullest expression of our human potential.

If God is omniscient then it’s reasonable to assume that God also has this knowledge. Therefore, the better we understand ourselves the better we can appreciate how God understands us.

Listen to show #81 below!

Show 684: Naturalistic Support

Free Will & Sin

In just a few days millions of Christians all over the world will celebrate the most important holy days of the Christian liturgical year – Good Friday, Holy Saturday, and Easter Sunday.  The paschal triduum celebrates the crucifixion, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ.  Jesus’s ordeal is based on the belief that humankind is profoundly sinful – so sinful that we could never satisfy our debt to God, so by suffering and dying Jesus redeemed us.  And how do we know we are redeemed?  We are assured that we are redeemed by the fact of Jesus’s resurrection.

Setting skeptic considerations aside, the impact this Eastertime narrative has on our society is seriously damaging.  Not only does it get human nature completely wrong, it also assumes that the law of cause and effect, applicable to everything else, does not apply to humans.

The terrible consequences of these erroneous ideas are everywhere.  From the mean-spirited begrudging way we treat marginalized people to the excessive wealth and power we allow others to take.

In this two-part Easter Special we will discuss alternatives to believing in free will and sin.  We’ll play our traditional Jesus vs. The Easter Bunny Debate, and we’ll be taking your calls as well.

Listen to show #80 below!