So, uhh, exactly what do you affirm in this thing?

Exploring the natural universe, we start with Galileo’s emphasis on our senses, reason, and intellect. That runs contrary to how I grew up as a fundamentalist Christian. The more deeply I dug into my Biblical literalism as a devoted evangelical, the more I found holes big enough to sink Noah's ark. Beyond their purely subjective, emotional appeal, all my rationales and arguments for theism (and any form of supernaturalism) gradually crumbled.

At the same time, I kept finding not only a growing majority of the data, but also the better quality of most arguments, stacking up much higher for naturalism. Here the tools of science help us explore ourselves and our habitat. That's the core of this site.

Only slightly oversimplifying it all: reason trumps revelation.

(By the way, making that shift in worldview took me more than 30 years.)

Some skeptics/naturalists flatly oppose all things religious or spiritual, anything of faith. Well, it depends on how you define those terms. I've known of staunchly non-theistic world-class empiricists expressing their reverence for life and the cosmos as a spiritual experience. More conventional faith traditions offer a subjective, emotional context for introspection. Religious communities can serve as vehicles for social change. Many spiritual and meditative disciplines enhance physical, mental, and emotional health. So I appreciate any well-informed religious viewpoint that embraces and promotes the best in constantly evolving modern knowledge, including a rational recognition of all scripture and tradition as creations of the people, by the people, for the people. (Unfortunately, this has an obvious flip side: most religion goes in exactly the opposite direction, spawning horrific results. More on that as we go along.)

And as for "faith," I affirm a deep faith: faith in myself, faith in this life here and now, and faith in our capacity as homo sapiens to keep learning, and to make a difference. Granted, there's ample reason for disputing that last bit, given the U.S.' presidential fiascos of 2000 and 2004, but ya gotta keep on trying.

And who do you think cares?

Anyone who values reason, freethought, healthy skepticism, and puts intellectual integrity above personal comfort and social convenience. That includes theists whose honest inquiry and reflection keep them finding more and more problems with traditional beliefs.

Anyone who responds positively to words like humanist, naturalist, scientist or sciencephile, empiricist; agnostic or atheist; progressive theist, recovering fundamentalist; butcher, baker, candlestick maker.

Anyone who's interested in "How can someone believe THAT?" — on either side of the stereotypic divide — and who wants to learn more about how our arts and sciences, politics and religion interact as we scurry about on our pale blue dot.

On whatever basis, if you enjoy getting into these things, and especially if you bring new shades of reason to the canvas, you’re welcome here.

OK, fine. But why another website on all this stuff?

Yeah, why a gazillion sites and ONE MORE? Already you can find plenty of podcasts that feature professionals and experts, researchers, professors, writers, and thinkers. Great stuff. So why this one?

Because these things matter today more than ever before. We need as many good resources as possible, offering different points of entry, useful in their own way. In addition to some well-known thinkers, writers and speakers (at least a few more, I hope), I'll introduce to you some other individuals who also offer some really good information and perspectives; they go overlooked by the big-name sites precisely because they're not national or international figures.

Likewise, that also points to one advantage of my own amateur status: Since I don’t have a world-class professional reputation to maintain, I can have maybe a little more fun. Try the introduction.

As much as anything else, I’m doing this to help myself keep on sifting through the incessant stream of new data. Lots of the facts bump into each other and argue over who sits where. Maybe you can sort through it all if you have degrees in Biology, Physics, Chemistry, Theology, Philosophy, History, and Interior Design. I don’t. I promise only that I make an honest effort to stay informed, and I’m trying to bring together some of all that here. Maybe this is just my personal little tiny, um, monolith. (A littlith?)

So you've got it all worked out, eh, bubba?

Oh, yeah, sure. Thousands of scientists, philosophers, historians, and theologians have squabbled over these things for millennia, and I'm going to settle it all right here. Mmm-hmm.

I've done my homework and I feel confident in my convictions, but I’m not an expert, and I'm certainly not so delusional as to think I have all the answers. Especially regarding the sciences, I have to struggle to keep straight what I have learned. The first time I ever heard of the Laws of Thermodynamics, I thought they meant something like installing an airconditioning system that starts cooling the house an hour before you get home. Obviously my brain could use a little more oxygen. So if you find any objective errors, misquotes, etc, I’d very much appreciate your emailing me a correction.

What to Expect

I’d like to keep most programs focused on the affirmative, moving ahead. Sometimes the discussion will intrinsically call for confronting and debunking misinformation and superstition.

For episodes featuring interviews or public talks, sometimes I’ll just present that content on its own, maybe adding a sidebar. In addition to professionals in the sciences and academics, I hope to share some conversations with other individuals who have their own unique insights, whether we agree or not.

Some specific focal points I aim to develop: