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Episode 0: My Atheist Experience

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Episode 4 focuses on defining religion, using a unified psychological and anthropological model of religion. This podcast is one of the more involved podcasts and feedback would be greatly appreciated. For more information about the development of the model addressed in this episode, the full article on the topic is available here. Related to this article, there is also another paper which utilizes the model to develop the concept of a newly identified religion which I refer to as Religious Rejectionism.« Continue »

Episode 4: Defining Religion

A lot of scientists claim that there is no direction to evolution, but I have argued that such a claim is not justified scientifically, and that there is indeed reason to believe that there is a direction to evolution. This episode summarizes that argument, but a more detailed analysis can be found in an older article that I wrote “On the Goals and Directions of Evolution.” The paper that this podcast addresses can be found here.
 

Episode 3: On the Direction of Evolution

When I was still taking courses, I decided one semester that almost every paper I wrote, regardless of the class, would be on alcohol. I ended up writing about alcohol in a course on bio-archaeology of food, a course on the anthropology of religion, and even an art history course. This podcast discusses the first paper, which focused on how alcohol and human evolution are interrelated. The full paper can be found here.

Episode 2: Alcohol and Evolution

Here’s a discussion on religion and bigotry. For a more detailed analysis of religiophobic bigotry, consider reading my article on the topic, found here. There are also a whole bunch of books on the anthropology of religion, many of which can be found on Amazon. Overall, religion has not been shown to be harmful. It does not make sense, from the standpoint of evolution, for religion to survive if it is harmful. Religion is not a delusion. A delusion must be contrary to one’s cultural understanding. Religion is not. Of course, science is useful, and criticizing religion should be done using a valid scientific framework, something which is usually not done. And finally, there’s no more justification for calling religion a disease or a mental illness, than there is for calling homosexuality one.

Episode 1: Criticizing Religion

The Spiritual Anthropologist

Episode 0: My Atheist Experience

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