Micah Redding interviews Jonathan Rauch on Christianity, the role of religion in liberalism, and why Christians should embrace Jesus to save democracy.

Jonathan Rauch is a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution in Washington; a contributing writer of the Atlantic; and the author of numerous books on public policy, culture, and government. His latest book is "Cross Purposes: Christianity's broken bargain with democracy".

Talking points:
- The rapid decline of both Mainline and Evangelical Christianity in America
- The corresponding rise of illiberalism, authoritarianism, polarization, and dangerous pseudo-religions
- The symbiosis between Liberal Democracy and Christianity
- Why even secular society needs Christians
- The Christian case for Liberal Democracy
- The network epistemology of Karl Popper and Charles Sanders Peirce; and how that touches on faith and science
- Institutions as the infrastructure of knowledge, and the foundation of technology
- How can Christians help save democracy?

Watch on Youtube

How can we love religion when so many are hurt?
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Is God an AI?

Moritz Bierling & Micah Redding discuss the self, the second brain, and the process of individual and group transformation.

Derek Webb gets inside the head of the first A.I. waking up to consciousness.
Also: the oncoming future, laws, the Amish, hippies, Kevin Kelly, and the iPhone 13.

Taryn Southern teaches AI to sing, releases the first song on the blockchain, and talks about how to use VR for good.

Taryn Southern is a digital artist and filmmaker. She is co-directing a documentary about the brain, and recently unveiled her AI/human collaborative album, I AM AI. As a YouTuber, she has produced more than 1000 videos and garnered more than half a billion views online.

“We could create literally anything—and we've chosen to create this world.” <-- tweet this

David Pearce lays out a plan for building heaven on earth, shows us why vegans need more science fiction, and explains why computers may never become conscious.

David Pearce is a philosopher, a founder of the World Transhumanist Association (now called Humanity+), and the author of The Hedonistic Imperative.

"Computers may never become conscious." <-- Click to tweet

"The pain-pleasure axis exposes the world's metric of value." — @webmasterdave

"Every child born today is a unique genetic experiment." — @webmasterdave

"Ending suffering for good entails tackling its genetic-biological roots, i.e. a programming solution." — @webmasterdave

"All that matters is the pleasure-pain axis." — @webmasterdave

Justin Lee navigates being gay & Christian, talks about Paul, the Bible, and Christian ethics, and bridges the ultimate divide: geeks vs nerds!

Justin Lee is an American author, speaker, and LGBT Christian activist known for his focus on building bridges. He is the author of "Torn: Rescuing the Gospel from the Gays-vs.-Christians Debate" and the director of a 2009 documentary, "Through My Eyes". He is the founder of the Gay Christian Network, and the current executive director of Nuance Ministries. His latest book is "Talking Across the Divide: How to Communicate with People You Disagree with and Maybe Even Change the World".

Ilia Delio explains how Jesus is like the Singularity, shows us why Christianity is the religion of evolution, and explores the thought of Teilhard de Chardin—the 1930s priest who foresaw the internet.

Ilia Delio is a member of the Franciscan Sisters of Washington, D.C.,
is the Josephine C. Connelly Endowed Chair in Theology at Villanova University, and the author of 17 books, including The Unbearable Wholeness of Being: God, Evolution, and the Power of Love.

"Jesus is like a new Big Bang. Jesus is the Singularity." <-- Tweet this

"Christianity is the religion of evolution."

"Christians are not separate from the whole. Christians are to be the prime evolvers."

"Our humanness is the ability to grow out of suffering."

"The comparative power of religious creeds may be measured by their respective power of evolutive activation." — Teilhard

(Watch the video of this conversation)