Catherine Nixey is the author of The Darkening Age, which documents how early Christians burned texts, defaced or demolished statues, and became increasingly intolerant of any thought or behaviour that deviated from their interpretation of Scripture. Catherine and Leslie discuss religious pluralism in the Roman Empire and how it changed after the Emperor Constantine’s conversion to Christianity - and why Christianity, despite its similarity to many other cults that arose at that time. It is a rare book that is well-researched, engrossing, on an interesting topic, and superbly written, but The Darkening Age is all of these.

Podcast for Inquiry is hosted by Leslie Rosenblood and brought to you by the Centre for Inquiry Canada. Join today! Produced by Zack Dumont, Martin Zielinski, and Leslie Rosenblood. Support Podcast for Inquiry on Patreon: https://patreon.com/PodcastforInquiry. Send your thoughts and feedback to [email protected].

Seth Andrews (@SethAndrewsTTA) is the host of The Thinking Atheist, a very popular podcast and online resource for nonbelievers. Seth talks about his life as an evangelical Christian and what led him to leave his faith. He and Leslie talk about how many Christians embrace seemingly un-Christian beliefs and policies, and what Humanists need to do to make the world a better place.

Podcast for Inquiry is hosted by Leslie Rosenblood and brought to you by the Centre for Inquiry Canada. Join today! Produced by Zack Dumont, Martin Zielinski, and Leslie Rosenblood. Support Podcast for Inquiry on Patreon: https://patreon.com/PodcastforInquiry. Send your thoughts and feedback to [email protected].

There are many critiques that people have made about the AI industry: privacy, piracy, electricity and water usage, hallucinations, and more. Leslie focuses on one aspect he doesn’t understand at all: Where does the money come from? Each AI datacentre costs tens of billions to build - hundreds of billions have been spent across the industry. And answering each question, or generating each image, sound, or video - is also very expensive. Hardly any consumers, and very few companies, are paying for AI services. If they’re not profitable, and there’s no clear path to become so, why are the market capitalizations of AI firms so high? 

Leslie asks these questions, and more, in his latest diatribe. 

Opinions in this bonus episode are Leslie’s alone, and are not shared by others on the Podcast for Inquiry team or the Centre for inquiry Canada.

Podcast for Inquiry is hosted by Leslie Rosenblood and brought to you by the Centre for Inquiry Canada. Join today! Produced by Zack Dumont, Martin Zielinski, and Leslie Rosenblood. Support Podcast for Inquiry on Patreon: https://patreon.com/PodcastforInquiry. Send your thoughts and feedback to [email protected].

PfI is on hiatus for the summer, so we're bringing you some of our favourite episodes from our back catalogue. New shows will resume in September.

Phil Zuckerman is a professor of Secular Studies at Pitzer College. Phil describes what the Secular Studies program entails from philosophical, political, and sociological perspectives. Phil is the author of What It Means to be Moral, and he and Leslie discuss how leading an ethical life does not require a religious foundation. Phil is the Executive Director of Humanist Global Charity, and you can read his most recent articles and essays on Psychology Today. 

Podcast for Inquiry is hosted by Leslie Rosenblood and brought to you by the Centre for Inquiry Canada. Join today! Produced by Zack Dumont, Martin Zielinski, and Leslie Rosenblood. Support Podcast for Inquiry on Patreon: https://patreon.com/PodcastforInquiry. Send your thoughts and feedback to [email protected].

Leslie speaks with Aaron about many issues related to transgender people, or the Trans+ community. They discuss how the perceived binaries of sex, sexual preference, gender, and gender expression are more complicated and nuanced in reality. Aaron details how many people identify as transgender and nonbinary in Canada, and provides insights into many current controversies including pronouns, sports, puberty blockers, and incarceration. 

Dr. Aaron Devor, PhD, FSSSS, FSTLHE, is an internationally recognized leader in Transgender Studies who has been studying and teaching about transgender topics since the early 1980s. He established and holds the world’s first Chair in Transgender Studies; initiated and hosts the international, interdisciplinary, and intergenerational Moving Trans History Forward conferences; and founded and is the subject matter expert for the world’s largest Transgender Archives. He has published widely on transgender topics and has received numerous awards for his research and advocacy work. His opinions are frequently sought by the media, and he has delivered more than 40 keynote and plenary addresses to audiences around the world. He is a national-award-winning teacher, a former Dean of Graduate Studies, and a professor of Sociology, at the University of Victoria.

Podcast for Inquiry is hosted by Leslie Rosenblood and brought to you by the Centre for Inquiry Canada. Join today! Produced by Zack Dumont, Martin Zielinski, and Leslie Rosenblood. Support Podcast for Inquiry on Patreon: https://patreon.com/PodcastforInquiry. Send your thoughts and feedback to [email protected].

If uranium in a nuclear power plant emits so much radiation it boils tons of water, how safe is it for workers? Given the huge facilities required and massive mining efforts, is nuclear truly carbon neutral? Is there enough uranium in the earth for nuclear energy to be a long term source of electricity? If we build more nuclear plants, will we retire fossil fuel sources of electricity or simply increase our electricity usage accordingly? 

Jason Donev answers all these questions, and more, in our second conversation on nuclear energy. 

References from our conversation:

• https://www.world-nuclear-news.org/articles/what-is-the-budget-for-canadas-first-smr-project
• https://energyeducation.ca/simulations/radiation_dose_calculator/index.html 
• https://xkcd.com/radiation/ 

Prof. Jason Donev is tenured at the University of Calgary. He leads the world’s largest and most used energy resource for adults, EnergyEducation.ca. Prof. Donev works to help people understand nuclear power's role in providing reliable energy without emitting greenhouse gasses.

Podcast for Inquiry is hosted by Leslie Rosenblood and brought to you by the Centre for Inquiry Canada. Join today! Produced by Zack Dumont, Martin Zielinski, and Leslie Rosenblood. Support Podcast for Inquiry on Patreon: https://patreon.com/PodcastforInquiry. Send your thoughts and feedback to [email protected].

The fourth BAHACON is coming in a little over two month’s time. Leslie speaks with Jeff Brooks about the conference’s location, speakers, and other attractions that makes the Bluewater Atheists, Humanists, and Agnostics conference so popular for attendees from across North America. Learn more and register at https://bahacon.com/

Podcast for Inquiry is hosted by Leslie Rosenblood and brought to you by the Centre for Inquiry Canada. Join today! Produced by Zack Dumont, Martin Zielinski, and Leslie Rosenblood. Support Podcast for Inquiry on Patreon: https://patreon.com/PodcastforInquiry. Send your thoughts and feedback to [email protected].

Prof. Jason Donev is tenured at the University of Calgary. He leads the world’s largest and most used energy resource for adults, www.EnergyEducation.ca. As a reviewer for the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, Prof. Donev works to help people understand nuclear power's role in providing reliable energy without emitting greenhouse gases.

Jason talks about how much energy people around the world use, with a reminder that electricity is only a fraction of our overall energy budget. Jason describes nuclear energy’s advantages and disadvantages compared with the other major sources of electricity. We also discuss some concerns people have about nuclear energy, including its overall safety and storing its waste products.

Podcast for Inquiry is hosted by Leslie Rosenblood and brought to you by the Centre for Inquiry Canada. Join today! Produced by Zack Dumont, Martin Zielinski, and Leslie Rosenblood. Support Podcast for Inquiry on Patreon: https://patreon.com/PodcastforInquiry. Send your thoughts and feedback to [email protected].

Mark Lynas is the author of several environmental books, including Seeds of Science (2018), Our Final Warning (2020), and the forthcoming Six Minutes to Winter. Until 2024 he was research and climate lead with the Alliance for Science at the Boyce Thompson Institute, an affiliate of Cornell University. Mark is now the policy lead with the pro-science environmental campaign network WePlanet, launched in 2021 and now active in 18 countries. 

Our conversation starts with a recognition of the dire emergency presented by climate change, and that human food production is a significant contributor to humanity’s greenhouse gas emissions. Three changes can greatly reduce the environment impact of feeding ourselves: 

1. Reduce or eliminate human consumption of beef and lamb (See https://ourworldindata.org/global-land-for-agriculture)

2. Remove legal and regulatory barriers to genetically modified organisms (GMOs)

3. Remove legal and regulatory barriers to precision fermentation 

Mark believes a brighter future is possible if we allow our policy decisions to be guided by the best scientific knowledge and insight we have available.

Podcast for Inquiry is hosted by Leslie Rosenblood and brought to you by the Centre for Inquiry Canada. Join today! Produced by Zack Dumont, Martin Zielinski, and Leslie Rosenblood. Support Podcast for Inquiry on Patreon: https://patreon.com/PodcastforInquiry. Send your thoughts and feedback to [email protected].

Mubarak Bala was born in Nigeria's Kano State, on the southern coasts of the Sahara Desert, in 1984. He was schooled in both the Islamic and modern education system. This makes him an outlier, since most families believe the two school systems are mutually exclusive. Boko, Western Education, is Haram, or unIslamic.

When Mubarak started doubting the existence of demons, he was told that displaying any doubt was denying the word of the prophet. When his beliefs evolved to atheism, he paid an enormous price for saying so publicly. We talk about his experiences and also about Nigerian society, the Humanist Association of Nigeria, and Mubarak’s plans for the future.

Read Mubarak’s essay, Resolve of a Right-Thinking Nation: https://www.thehuman.team/the-almajiri 

Podcast for Inquiry is hosted by Leslie Rosenblood and brought to you by the Centre for Inquiry Canada. Join today! Produced by Zack Dumont, Martin Zielinski, and Leslie Rosenblood. Support Podcast for Inquiry on Patreon: https://patreon.com/PodcastforInquiry. Send your thoughts and feedback to [email protected].