On Becoming

You've probably never thought that the workplace could be a cult. After all, we usually assume that cults are strange religious things. But, in this episode, I consider the case laid out by Carolyn Chen that many of the tech firms in Silicon Valley perfectly fit the definition of a cult. Her book is titled Work Pray Code: How Work Becomes Religion in Silicon Valley. She doesn't argue that work is 'like' religion; instead, she claims that, for many people in Silicon Valley, work has effectively become their religion, a religion so encompassing and demanding that it can be defined as a cult.

Does it sound crazy to you that football (in both the American sense and the way the rest of the world uses the term) can be considered a religion? In this episode, we consider how football functions as a religion for many people. Along the way, I have important things to say about the human brain and how we come to our values--the things that really matter to us. I'll also be showing both how and why the 'New Atheist' conception of religion is fundamentally incorrect. The entire discussion is designed to help you come to a better understanding of what religion is and how it functions. As will become clear, it will likely never be possible for human beings simply to dispense with religion. Instead, religion is something that is constantly being improvised in many ways and pervades our lives. But you can only come to see that point if you're willing to rethink your concept of religion. 

Although many of my listeners live in someplace other than the United States, I've chosen to add an 'extra' podcast to discuss the race in the state of Georgia between Herschel Walker and Raphael Warnock. What might seem to be simply a contest between two people running for the US senate turns out to be a study in how Evangelicals portray themselves as the 'true' Christians. But I argue that Warnock, the candidate that Evangelicals don't like, is a much better candidate for the title 'true follower of Jesus'.

Most people assume that religion and evolution are seriously at odds with one another. However, in this podcast you'll come to see how religion played a highly significant role in our evolution as human beings. Indeed, religion seems to be one of the major factors in the development of human language and it's hard to imagine that human beings could have developed so significantly apart from religion.

Everyone knows what religion is. Or do we? In this episode, we'll take a look at how our conception of religion developed over many centuries. We'll discover that the term 'religion' is based on the Latin term 'religio', a term that offers important clues for how we might re-think the very notion of religion.

Is Chrisitianity finished in the US? The most recent Pew Report on religion in the United States shows that Christianity is in a steep decline. In this podcast, I examine the stats and consider what this means for the future of Christianity. 

In this episode, we consider how practice and doctrine relate in Christianity. I argue that practice is foremost.

How does one become a follower of Jesus? In this episode, we examine the surprising and complex things that Jesus says about following him.

In this episode, I use the interview with Russell Moore as a springboard for my own thoughts regarding Evangelicalism.

An introduction to the podcast