Humanize Me

Leah Helbling is a close friend of Humanize Me and a member of the team at the humanist community Cincinnati Caravan with Bart Campolo. In this episode, the two chat about Leah's instinct to attempt to 'deconvert' those who are questioning their faith, and Bart's belief that many people are better off staying where they are. The friendly disagreement started when Bart answered a question in Episode 504 from a listener called Craig who found himself in that position.

In this solo episode, Bart talks about seeing the current wave of protest and uprising - the most significant moment ever for the Black Lives Matter movement - in the context of collective trauma.

After talking a bit about insomnia, shaking hands with a local dog owner and dating in the pandemic, we turn to a voicemail asking Bart's opinion of anti-natalism, the philosophical position that ascribes a negative value to having babies.

Where did our popular ideas of heaven and hell come from? Did Jesus teach a doctrine of eternal torture? How did our ideas of the afterlife evolve? Bart Ehrman is the author of over 30 books, including six New York Times bestselling books explaining critical biblical scholarship to a popular audience. In this conversation with Bart Campolo, Ehrman talks about the difference between agnosticism and atheism and why he considers himself both, why the words translated 'hell' don't mean what we think they do, how Jesus talked of 'eternal life', the early church theology of heaven and hell, how Jews of the 1st century understood bodily resurrection, the origin of the devil, our ideas of the afterlife and cosmic justice, whether we should try to deconvert people who are wavering in their faith, and more.

Two questions about missing prayer and church during the COVID-19 pandemic. Includes an update on life during lockdown.

Bart reflects on two recent episodes that have generated the most mail ever for this podcast, and offers some thoughts on how to improve relationships during this extended lockdown.

It's been a hard week for Bart! Episode 509 of this podcast featured his conversation with Michael Dowd, a fellow 'apocalyoptimist' who shares Bart's belief that a great societal collapse is inevitable, and that the current pandemic represents the beginning of a difficult time for humanity. Bart's son Roman Campolo listened, and hated the episode. Not only did Roman have strong criticisms of Dowd, collapse-thinking, and the tone and content of the conversation itself, but he feels that Bart is wasting his unique skill set and intellect on apocalyptic thinking at a time when he could be applying himself to this moment more effectively.

Three years ago to the week, Michael Dowd talked with Bart on this podcast about our modern way of life, sustainability and the future of civilization. When the coronavirus pandemic hit, Bart could think of nobody he wanted to talk to about it more than Michael, so he's back! In this conversation, Bart and Michael talk about their shared sense that the pandemic will be followed by an economic recession or even depression, and that it signals the beginning of the end of our current way of life.

Bart and John are socially distancing, like most of America. What does that mean for our all-important human connections? In this episode, Bart talks about his humanist community, Caravan in Cincinnati, and how they're handling the crisis. Bart emphasizes the importance of listening to each other, reaching out, asking how people are doing and genuinely hearing the answer, and more.

It was a bad week to be away. But while Bart Campolo was gone on a family trip, the world changed. After coming back, Bart shares his thoughts about the emerging global crisis being caused by COVID-19. Quick note: We briefly talk about our worst fears for our modern way of life, including Bart's long-held belief that the economy is unsustainable and could collapse into an economic depression. If you don't want to hear negative thoughts right now, and want to go straight to the more hopeful and practical stuff, skip at 9:42 and resume at 14:35.