The Podcast For Inquiry: Recent Episodes
Centre For Inquiry Canada
A podcast for scientific, skeptical, secular, rational and humanistic inquiry. They’ve got answers? We’ve got questions.
Dr. Kelly Weinersmith (@FuSchmu) is the co-author (with her husband Zach) of Soonish and A City on Mars. Kelly maintains that while having humans living off Earth would be awesome, we're simply not ready for it yet. She answers many of Leslie's questions: Why can't we go to Mars if we have the will? Why can't we all just get along? Why should we expand? Why is building a habitable space station harder than settling on Mars or the moon? What laws would apply in any off-Earth settlement? Where should we focus our space research efforts?
Kelly also goes on a rant about Helium 3.
There are two great conferences taking place in Ontario in August 2026:
- World Humanist Congress August 7-9 in Ottawa https://www.worldhumanistcongress.org/
- BAHACON August 21-23 in Sarnia 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 podcast@centreforinquiry.ca.
After years of research, David Fitzgerald has come to a surprising conclusion: that all the main characters in the world's major religions are entirely the product of human imagination. While many have long doubted the supernatural feats that religious figures are purported to have done, the assumption that these are grounded in at least a kernel of historical fact is widely held. David explains how the stories we are familiar with today accreted over time, and the utter lack of evidence that any of the major figures of Christianity, Judaism, Islam, Hinduism, Jainism, or Buddhism ever actually existed.
There are two great conferences taking place in Ontario in August 2026:
- World Humanist Congress August 7-9 in Ottawa https://www.worldhumanistcongress.org/
- BAHACON August 21-23 in Sarnia https://bahacon.com/
Podcast for Inquiry is brought to you by the Centre for Inquiry Canada. Join today! Produced by CFIC volunteers. Support Podcast for Inquiry on Patreon: https://patreon.com/PodcastforInquiry. Send your thoughts and feedback to podcast@centreforinquiry.ca.
All life on earth ultimately depends on energy and how it flows between biological and geochemical systems on the planet. Katherine Richardson and her team identified nine boundaries which need to be respected if our planet is to remain conducive to human thriving. Climate change is just one of them.
We are exceeding six boundaries, and in recent years they are all getting worse.
Katherine discusses how she and her team identified the nine planetary boundaries and why it is essential to consider how they interact, instead of viewing them as independent issues. The effects of exceeding planetary boundaries are affecting life today, disrupting air travel, causing severe flooding, and contributing to more frequent and powerful storms. (For the most up to date overview, read Planetary Boundaries guide humanity's future on Earth, published in Nature magazine on November 8, 2024.)
We have the knowledge and technology to live within the planetary boundaries; the question remains whether we have the will, and the time, to implement them.
The nine planetary boundaries are:
- Climate change
- Biosphere integrity
- Stratospheric ozone depletion
- Ocean acidification
- Phosphorus and nitrogen biogeochemical flows
- Land system change
- Freshwater change
- Atmospheric aerosol loading
- Novel entities
There are two great conferences taking place in Ontario in August 2026:
- World Humanist Congress August 7-9 in Ottawa https://www.worldhumanistcongress.org/
- BAHACON August 21-23 in Sarnia 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 podcast@centreforinquiry.ca.
Lizzie Wade is the author of APOCALYPSE: How Catastrophe Transformed Our World and Can Forge New Futures. She is a science writer focusing on archaeology and anthropology, a contributing correspondent for Science, and her work has also appeared in Wired, Archaeology, National Geographic, and Slate. Follow her work via The Antiquarian newsletter at theantiquarian.email
The conversation starts with how ancient Egypt, which was very hierarchical and funneled lots of resources to its ruling class, collapsed when a prolonged drought struck. Lizzie explains how the Mayan civilization still very much existed when it was first contacted by the Spanish, despite the centralized state dissolving centuries earlier. Lizzie ponders whether there are grand themes in the study of history, or if it's just one damn thing after another. According to Lizzie, contemporary society is facing its own apocalypse, but there are options available to us to address it.
There are two great conferences taking place in Ontario in August 2026:
- World Humanist Congress August 7-9 in Ottawa https://www.worldhumanistcongress.org/
- BAHACON August 21-23 in Sarnia 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 podcast@centreforinquiry.ca.
Leslie spoke about CFIC for a few minutes at the 2026 WeCanReason conference in early May. The brief talk wasn't recorded but seemed to resonate with many attendees, so today's bonus episode is Leslie recreating the speech for Podcast for Inquiry subscribers.
As with all Diatribes, the opinions expressed are Leslie's alone and do not represent CFIC or any other organization.
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 podcast@centreforinquiry.ca.
Dr. Caroline Brookfield is an author, speaker, and entrepreneur. Caroline helps "non-creatives" connect with a creative mindset to build confidence in change, buffer against burnout, and leverage individual originality for adaptability and problem-solving, even when facing the most perplexing challenges.
Today's conversation starts with a definition of creativity. Caroline distinguishes between Big C, small c, and mini-c creativity. Can AI be creative? Is scientific investigation a creative act? Caroline delves into her DANCE model - the five habits that will allow anyone to harness their creative energy.
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 podcast@centreforinquiry.ca.
Dr. Christopher Labos is a cardiologist and an affiliate member of the Department of Global and Public Health of McGill University. He is a columnist with the Montreal Gazette and Medscape, featured on the Sunday Morning House Call on CJAD radio, and has a regular TV segment with CTV Montreal and CBC Morning Live. He hosts the award-winning podcast "The Body of Evidence." He is the author of "Does Coffee Cause Cancer?" a story about food epidemiology and why food headlines are usually wrong. Occasionally, he finds time to practice as a cardiologist so he can buy groceries.
Christopher starts by answering the question his book asks - Does coffee cause cancer? We then talk about how nonexperts can reasonably interpret studies, and whether there is any benefit to listening to health advice beyond "Don't smoke, exercise, and eat lots of fruit and vegetables." Leslie shares one of his favourite xkcd web comics when Christopher describes various sources of bias in studies and the difference between frequency and Bayesian analysis when interpreting results.
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 podcast@centreforinquiry.ca.
Dr. Anthony Pinn is a professor, prolific author and much sought-after lecturer committed to academic rigor. Known internationally as a leading expert in the field of African American religion, Dr. Pinn's teaching and research interests span liberation theologies, black religious aesthetics, religion and popular culture, and African American humanism.
On today's episode, I speak with Dr. Pinn about his book The Black Practice of Disbelief. We start with how he defines religion, which might differ slightly from what many Inquirers understand. We talk What distinguishes Black Humanism from Humanism in general, and the need to partner with progressive theists to achieve the social change Humanists strive for. Black Humanists are often considered outsiders even within the Black community, a minority within a minority. Nonetheless, according to Dr. Pinn, Black Humanism is always about what we can do to reduce suffering in this world.
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 podcast@centreforinquiry.ca.
Richard Carrier is the author of Sense and Goodness without God, On the Historicity of Jesus, The Scientist in the Early Roman Empire, and many other books, chapters, and articles. With a Ph.D. in ancient history from Columbia University, he specializes in the modern philosophy of naturalism, the origins of Christianity, and the intellectual history of Greece and Rome.
In today's episode, Richard defends the premise that a government run along secular humanist principles is the best form of societal governance. His two core tenets are that human interests matter above all, and that rational, evidence based reasoning makes everyone better off. Richard and Leslie explore these two concepts in depth, then compare secular humanism to other possible governing philosophies.
Further reading and watching:
- The Christian Nationalism vs. Secular Humanism "Debate" (more of a harangue, and does a poor job of representing either perspective) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HwJOsq2tI80
- Richard's analysis of the "Debate" https://www.richardcarrier.info/archives/38824
- Richard's written debate on animal experimentation: https://www.richardcarrier.info/archives/18837
- Richard's paper: Objective moral facts exist in all possible universes https://www.mdpi.com/2077-1444/16/8/1061
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 podcast@centreforinquiry.ca.
Linda Silver Dranoff is a precedent-setting lawyer, an empowering author about law, public policy and women's rights, and a successful feminist activist for equality and family law reform. She is the author of Fairly Equal: Lawyering the Feminist Revolution. Linda has been honoured with the Order of Canada, Order of Ontario and Law Society Medal.
Her latest effort is Fairly Equal: Conversations Toward a Feminist Future - A new web series that looks at today's threats to women's equality rights and warns that we cannot take past advances for granted.
Linda begins the conversation by describing how women were viewed by the law well into the 20th century. Women were considered property - effectively owned by their husbands - under the law until the 1970s.
We talk about the many areas women's rights have advanced in the intervening decades - including progress in bodily autonomy, family law, employment equity, and more. But equality between men and women is still a distant goal. Even though laws pay equity laws have been on the books for four decades with the infrastructure to enforce them, women's wages have advanced from 64 cents for every dollar men earn to only 68 cents.
Linda concludes our conversation by providing some advice for those coming up in the world who want to continue working towards the goal of equality between the sexes.
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 podcast@centreforinquiry.ca.
No issue has split the secular community in Canada like Quebec's Bill 21. Several secular organizations have come out strongly in favour of the legislation, with some saying its only flaw being that it doesn't go far enough. Many other secular groups, including CFIC, have come out strongly against Bill 21. It was challenged in court immediately after its passage in June 2019, and the Supreme Court is in the midst of hearing from a record 38 interveners as this episode is released.
In January, the New Enlightenment Project organized an online conversation between Michel Virard, founder of the Association humaniste du Québec, and Leslie Rosenblood, Secular Chair of CFIC. The conversation was moderated by Robert Hamilton.
This was an informed discussion between committed secular activists with a similar worldview and many shared values, yet who vehemently but respectfully disagree about the merits of Quebec's Bill 21. I hope you learn from and enjoy this conversation as much as I did.
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 podcast@centreforinquiry.ca.
In 1975, Najla Mohamed-Lamin's grandmother fled Moroccan troops entering Western Sahara. For 50 years, Najla's family, and 200,000 of the Saharawi people, have lived in refugee camps in western Algeria.
Despite a clear legal case under international law for self-determination and a promise from Morocco to hold a referendum on the future of Western Sahara, the Saharawi people remain separated from their land, and are almost invisible to the international community.
In 2023 Najla was one of the BBC's one hundred most influential women in the world, and she is today's guest on Podcast for Inquiry.
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 podcast@centreforinquiry.ca.
Dr. Jackie Nemni is a physician specializing in respiratory medicine and spent decades looking after patients in the ICU. She retired from active practice in 2023 and has since been working part time as a MAiD assessor and provider. It is the most meaningful and rewarding thing she has ever done and wishes she had started sooner. Jackie is also an officiant with Humanist Canada and serves on its board of directors.
Today's episode is about MAiD in Canada - that is, Medical Assistance in Dying. Jackie and I start by discussing two Supreme Court of Canada rulings twenty years apart, and how the latter one opened the door to MAiD. Since MAiD was legalized in 2016, the criteria have expanded so that more people are eligible. Jackie describes the difference between Track 1 and Track 2 MAiD, and the safeguards in place to prevent coercion and abuse. She also addresses several of the arguments employed against MAiD, and a current court case that might forbid health institutions from preventing its patients from accessing MAiD services.
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 podcast@centreforinquiry.ca.
Jesse Brown is the founder and editor of Canadaland, Canada's largest independent podcast network. We start our conversation talking about the state of journalism in Canada, four years after Podcast for Inquiry's inaugural episode with Jonathan Kay on the same topic. The bulk of our conversation is focused on Jesse's latest investigative reporting series, What Is Happening Here. Jews in Canada are the targets of hate crimes radically disproportionate to their numbers in Canada, which has been the case for many years but made worse since the start of the Hamas - Israel war. Jesse talks about why he created the series, analyzes some possible reasons why hatred against Jews is so much more pronounced in Canada than other countries, and suggests that open and honest conversations are a necessary step toward living together in peace and harmony.
Leslie also recommends Canadaland's investigative series on WE Charity, called The White Saviors.
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 podcast@centreforinquiry.ca.
Daniel is a professor of physics at UC Irvine, researching particle physics at CERN's Large Hadron Collider. He is the co-host of the podcast 'Daniel and Kelly's Extraordinary Universe' and the author of several books about physics for a general audience, including "Do Aliens Speak Physics?" And "We have no idea".
In today's episode, Daniel explores many questions, including:
- Would we recognize an alien message if we received one?
- If aliens landed in Central Park, would we be able to communicate?
- How can we catch a baseball if we ignore all the interactions at the quantum level?
- Why is even our best physics only an approximation?
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 podcast@centreforinquiry.ca.
Dr. Rodney Schmaltz is a professor in the Department of Psychology at MacEwan University. His research focuses on the psychology of belief, with a particular interest in how people evaluate extraordinary claims. He is committed to helping people develop strong critical thinking skills and an appreciation for the value of scientific evidence in everyday life. His work aims to improve scientific literacy in both academic and public settings, using research-based strategies to help people separate good information from bad.
In today's episode, Rodney explains the importance of critical thinking - though he prefers the term scientific skepticism - and why we should expand science education to include how we know what is true, and not just the facts and frameworks of scientific knowledge. We talk about how being intelligent and educated is not related to belief in pseudoscience, and how it's dangerous to dismiss someone you disagree with as a "conspiracy theorist" in a world where some conspiracies are real.
If you learn half as much as Leslie did from this conversation, you're going to love today's episode of Podcast for Inquiry with Rodney Schmaltz.
Email: rodney.schmaltz@macewan.ca
Website: https://www.rodneyschmaltz.com
LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/rodneyschmaltz
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/rodney.schmaltz.9/
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 podcast@centreforinquiry.ca.
Steve Ghikadis is a Humanist Officiant, who conducts secular marriages, memorials, and other life affirming celebrations. Raised as a freethinker, Steve has been married to a Christian for over a decade. Steve serves as an Ambassador for Humanist Canada, Recovering from Religion, and Sunday Assembly.
Leslie speaks with Steve about his book, Humanism from the Heart. They discuss the many themes and ideas in Steve's book, including:
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Why Steve tried to become a believer many times throughout his life
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Purpose, meaning, and destiny
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What "soft determinism" means
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The dynamics of a family with one Christian and one Humanist parent
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The value of the answer, "I don't know".
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 podcast@centreforinquiry.ca.
Leslie's conversation with Jasmin Faulk begins with what Saudi Arabia was like when she was growing up, and what has and hasn't changed since then. Jasmin talks about the fire of youth, the wisdom that comes from age, and how society needs both activists and advocates to move forward. She also shares her desire to have genuine and difficult conversations with people with very different worldviews in an attempt to find, or create common ground.
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 podcast@centreforinquiry.ca.
Corporate scandals are depressingly common, and it's all too easy to chalk them up to individual bad apples. Unfortunately, this simple explanation is not accurate. Guido's research led him to write The Dark Pattern: The hidden dynamics of corporate scandals, which details the nine building blocks that lead otherwise good people to do bad things. He explains the importance of context, why psychopaths are wildly overrepresented in corporate boardrooms, and the societal structures that too often lead to egregious behaviour from companies across the globe.
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 podcast@centreforinquiry.ca.
Andrew Coyne (@acoyne) is a columnist for The Globe and Mail and author of The Crisis of Canadian Democracy. In today's episode, Andrew makes the case that Canadian democracy is headed for a crisis. He talks about the problems of Canada's first past the post or "winner takes all" election system. The conversation includes an analysis of a wide range of issues: the diminishing contributions that MPs are allowed to make; how candidates, cabinet members, and even party leaders are selected; and the ever increasing concentration of power within the Prime Minister's Office. Andrew outlines steps that can be taken to increase democratic representation in Canada that may avert a potential looming crisis of legitimacy.
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Society of Freethinkers is hosting Humanism in Action II on Sunday, November 22 2025 in Kitchener Ontario. More details and registration information are available at: https://sofree.ca/2025-humanist-conference/
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 podcast@centreforinquiry.ca.
Leslie's conversation with Sarah starts with the connections between mathematics and literature, including references to Shakespeare, Herman Melville, George Eliot, Lewis Carroll, Douglas Adams, and more. Good writing has structure, and structure can be understood in mathematical terms, and Sarah explains how mathematics can greatly enrich one's enjoyment of literature. Sarah also describes how mathematics can be used to obfuscate rather than clarify, and how being a female mathematician today is different - and similar! - as in the 19th century.
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 podcast@centreforinquiry.ca.
Donald Robertson (Substack) is a writer, cognitive-behavioural psychotherapist, and trainer. He is one of the founding members of the Modern Stoicism nonprofit, and the founder and president of the Plato’s Academy Centre nonprofit in Athens, Greece.
Leslie's conversation with Donald traces the path from ancient Stoicism to the modern day. The word stoicism had come to mean something very different over time, but that has started to change as Stoicism the philosophy has been more popular in recent years. Stoic principles lie at the heart of cognitive behavioural therapy, and we talk about how incorporating Stoic principles into one’s own life can lead to more emotional resilience, a greater sense of satisfaction, and more meaningful relationships with others.
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 podcast@centreforinquiry.ca.
Justin Ling (@justinling.ca) is an investigative journalist who writes the Bug-eyed and Shameless newsletter and recently published the book The 51st State Votes.
The conversation begins with the right wing media ecosystem, and its effect particularly on US politics. Justin explains why there isn’t really a counterpart on the left, and what makes Canada different from the United States in this regard. Leslie and Justin move on to democracy and authoritarianism on the international stage, and how to develop healthy media consumption habits in today’s world.
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 podcast@centreforinquiry.ca.
Sabrina Little is a philosopher, ultra-runner, and the author of The Examined Run: Why Good People Make Better Runners. She is a five-time U.S. National Champion in trail and ultrarunning, a former American Record Holder, and World Silver Medalist.
In today’s episode, Sabrina answers the question: Why do good people make better runners? What are the performance enhancing virtues, and do they outweigh the performance enhancing vices? She talks about the difference in taking a short vs long term perspective, the importance and challenge of balancing the multiple areas of life that need your time and attention, what being competitive means, and how the same behaviours can be described in very different ways.
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 podcast@centreforinquiry.ca.
What is Private Equity, and how does it work? Gretchen Morgenson (@gmorgenson) is a Pulitzer-winning journalist whose latest book is These are the Plunderers. Gretchen exposes the bad and often illegal activities of Private Equity firms, and tries to explain why they have been allowed to get away with it for so long. She explains how Private Equity firms operate behind the scenes to ensure the loopholes that substantially reduce their tax bills are never closed, and details recent events that might give cause for hope.
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 podcast@centreforinquiry.ca.
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 podcast@centreforinquiry.ca.
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 podcast@centreforinquiry.ca.
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 podcast@centreforinquiry.ca.
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 podcast@centreforinquiry.ca.
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 podcast@centreforinquiry.ca.
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 podcast@centreforinquiry.ca.
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 podcast@centreforinquiry.ca.
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 podcast@centreforinquiry.ca.
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:
- Reduce or eliminate human consumption of beef and lamb (See https://ourworldindata.org/global-land-for-agriculture)
- Remove legal and regulatory barriers to genetically modified organisms (GMOs)
- 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 podcast@centreforinquiry.ca.
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 podcast@centreforinquiry.ca.
Vass Bednar is the Executive Director of McMaster University’s Master of Public Policy program, and the co-author of The Big Fix: How Companies Capture Markets and Harm Canadians. Our conversation starts with the observation that many sectors in Canada’s economy are dominated by one or only a few firms. Vass and Leslie discuss whether that is good or bad for Canadians, including an analysis of cinemas, grocery stores, and banking. They debate the role of government, the tools it has at its disposal, and what the future might hold.
Relevant resources:
- NICE, the Network of Independent Cinema Exhibitors: https://www.nicecinema.ca/2024/03/12/report-the-state-of-independent-film-exhibition-in-canada
- Access to Markets https://accesstomarkets.org/about/
- Statistics Canada and Canadian Competition Bureau paper on markups: https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/en/catalogue/11F0019M2025001
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 podcast@centreforinquiry.ca.
In 2019, Brian and Brent (members of the Calgary-based Rocky Mountain Atheists) joined a “Group of Five (G5)” sponsorship committee (one of the ways Canada allows private citizens to resettle refugees in Canada) to bring a UN recognized refugee, Omer, to Canada.
When Omer expressed doubts about his faith, he had to flee his native country of Pakistan due to threats on his life. Omer has been living in hiding in Nepal for several years.
Though Omer’s should have been a straightforward case, the experience of navigating the bureaucracies of several nations - as well as the COVID-19 pandemic - has been anything but. Brian and Brent describe the challenges they have experienced with bringing Omer to Canada, as well their insights in Canada’s overall refugee system.
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 podcast@centreforinquiry.ca.
Jonathan Stea (BlueSky, Facebook) is a full-time practicing clinical psychologist and an adjunct assistant professor in the Department of Psychology at the University of Calgary. In today’s episode, Jonathan reveals that many mental health practitioners have no scientific grounding for their treatments, which can lead to disaster - yet it can be very difficult for an layperson to distinguish between a new technique they don’t understand that works, and a new technique they don’t understand that is gibberish. “Quantum neurological reset therapy” should get your spidey sense tingling, and Jonathan shares a few other signs of pseudoscientific grift as well.
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 podcast@centreforinquiry.ca.
Yasmine Mohammed is a human rights activist and author of Unveiled: How the West Empowers Radical Muslims. Yasmine is one of the most prominent and vocal figures supporting persecuted freethinkers across the globe, from elevating the voices of marginalized freethinkers on her podcast, to creating a global network of allies across religious and political divides through the CLARITy Coalition.
Yasmine shares how her childhood was dramatically changed when her mother became an unofficial “second wife” to a devout Muslim man, and how Canada failed to protect her due to the bigotry of low expectations. She describes her journey from non-practicing Muslim to becoming an open atheist, and how the trauma of her childhood continued to haunt her as an adult. We also discuss how countries suffer under Islamic rule, the particular hatred of Jews that is a core element of Islam, and the origin of and problems with the term Islamophobia.
Learn more about Yasmine and support her efforts:
Free Hearts Free Minds
Yasmine Mohammed Podcast
Unveiled: How the West Empowers Radical Muslims
Clarity Coalition
Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, BlueSky
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 podcast@centreforinquiry.ca.
John E. Moores (X, Bluesky) is a planetary scientist and associate professor at York University. He is a member of the Royal Society of Canada, formerly served as the Science Advisor to the President of the Canadian Space Agency and has contributed to five NASA and ESA-led space missions. He is the co-author of Daydreaming in the Solar System, which imagines a future when visiting other planets is as common as hiking in a national park. The book is also grounded in the latest scientific knowledge about planetary geophysics. In addition to talking about the book, John answers some of Leslie’s pressing questions about the solar system, including: How do planets and moons become tidally locked? Why are most planets in the solar system aligned in a plane? Why are there gaps in Saturn’s rings? Is there life elsewhere in the solar system, or in the universe?
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 podcast@centreforinquiry.ca.
Gaia Vince (@wanderinggaia) is an award-winning science writer and author. She is particularly interested in the interaction between human systems and Earth’s planetary systems. Her research has taken her around the world. Gaia’s latest book is Nomad Century: How Climate Migration Will Reshape Our World. We are already at 1.6 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial temperatures, with significantly more to come. The four horsemen of the anthropocene - fire, heat, drought, and flood - will lead human migration on an unprecedented scale. Gaia describes what we must do, individually and collectively, to prepare.
Podcast for Inquiry is hosted by Leslie Rosenblood and brought to you by the Centre for Inquiry Canada. Join today! Support Podcast for Inquiry on Patreon: https://patreon.com/PodcastforInquiry. Send your thoughts and feedback to podcast@centreforinquiry.ca.
Maureen Bulbrook and Christina Ninham are Indigenous lawyers who know from direct experience that Canada has never stopped discriminating against its First Nations people, from the Doctrine of Discovery at the time of contact to current day (with Prime Minister Harper arguing that residential school records should be destroyed even as he apologized for Canada’s treatment of Indigenous peoples and Prime Minister Trudeau failing to deliver on his promise of clean drinking water in all Indigenous communities). Canada passed a law in November 2024 banning forced sterilization because of the ongoing commonplace practice of doing so to primarily Indigenous women.
For reliable information about First Nations people, visit:
- Canadian government websites
- First Nations community websites
- APTN https://www.aptn.ca/
- Truth and Reconciliation Commission recommendations
- Murdered and Missing Indigenous Women final report
Podcast for Inquiry is hosted by Leslie Rosenblood and brought to you by the Centre for Inquiry Canada. Join today! Support Podcast for Inquiry on Patreon: https://patreon.com/PodcastforInquiry. Send your thoughts and feedback to podcast@centreforinquiry.ca.
Paco’s thesis is a provocative one: plants are, in a meaningful sense, intelligent. Paco discusses what intelligence is, and how we might recognize it in other beings. People used to believe that only humans are intelligent. Over time, other mammals were deemed to also think and feel. Today, most people grant that many animals, such as birds and octopi, exhibit intelligent behaviours. Paco extends this to plants by detailing what science has to say - both theoretically and empirically - about the hypothesis of plant intelligence. The conversation concludes with some thoughts about the moral and philosophical implications if plants are found to be truly intelligent.
Podcast for Inquiry is hosted by Leslie Rosenblood and brought to you by the Centre for Inquiry Canada. Support Podcast for Inquiry on Patreon: https://patreon.com/PodcastforInquiry. Send your thoughts and feedback to podcast@centreforinquiry.ca.
Why do scholars now refer to early Christianities instead of early Christianity? How has the meaning of the word “Heresy” changed from its original definition to taking on its current connotations? Why did Christianity grow from a fringe cult with few followers and disdained by the intelligentsia and people in power to becoming the largest religion in the world today? What did humanity lose with Christianity’s rise?
Catherine Nixey answers all these questions and more as she discusses her new book, Heresy, on Podcast for Inquiry.
Podcast for Inquiry is hosted by Leslie Rosenblood and brought to you by the Centre for Inquiry Canada. Support Podcast for Inquiry on Patreon: https://patreon.com/PodcastforInquiry. Send your thoughts and feedback to podcast@centreforinquiry.ca.
All life on earth ultimately depends on energy and how it flows between biological and geochemical systems on the planet. Katherine Richardson and her team identified nine boundaries which need to be respected if our planet is to remain conducive to human thriving. Climate change is just one of them.
We are exceeding six boundaries, and in recent years they are all getting worse.
Katherine discusses how she and her team identified the nine planetary boundaries and why it is essential to consider how they interact, instead of viewing them as independent issues. The effects of exceeding planetary boundaries are affecting life today, disrupting air travel, causing severe flooding, and contributing to more frequent and powerful storms. (For the most up to date overview, read Planetary Boundaries guide humanity’s future on Earth, published in Nature magazine on November 8, 2024.)
We have the knowledge and technology to live within the planetary boundaries; the question remains whether we have the will, and the time, to implement them.
The nine planetary boundaries are:
- Climate change
- Biosphere integrity
- Stratospheric ozone depletion
- Ocean acidification
- Phosphorus and nitrogen biogeochemical flows
- Land system change
- Freshwater change
- Atmospheric aerosol loading
- Novel entities
Podcast for Inquiry is hosted by Leslie Rosenblood and brought to you by the Centre for Inquiry Canada. Support Podcast for Inquiry on Patreon: https://patreon.com/PodcastforInquiry. Send your thoughts and feedback to podcast@centreforinquiry.ca.
Many people - especially those in skeptical organizations like CFIC - talk about the importance of critical thinking. But what is it? How can we use it effectively? How do people navigate complex subject areas without developing deep expertise? Melanie Trecek-King, creator of Thinking is Power, discusses how people internalize beliefs, how they can be a part of one’s identity, why some issues become politicized, what constitutes good evidence, and much, much more.
Podcast for Inquiry is hosted by Leslie Rosenblood and brought to you by the Centre for Inquiry Canada. Support Podcast for Inquiry on Patreon: https://patreon.com/PodcastforInquiry. Send your thoughts and feedback to podcast@centreforinquiry.ca.
In his first appearance on Podcast for Inquiry, Dr. Josh Bowen compared what we know about history from archaeology and contemporaneous literature with the stories from the Old Testament.
In today’s episode, Dr. Bowen reveals what the Bible has to say about slavery and genocide, and goes a bit outside his comfort zone to talk about whether the Old Testament should be considered a guide to a moral and ethical life.
Referenced during the conversation:
- Read Dr. Bowen’s latest book: Did the Old Testament Endorse Slavery? (Extensively Revised and Expanded Second Edition)
- Watch Josh rap about Gilgamesh
- Subscribe to Megan Lewis' podcast Misquoting Jesus with Bart Ehrman
Podcast for Inquiry is hosted by Leslie Rosenblood and brought to you by the Centre for Inquiry Canada. Support Podcast for Inquiry on Patreon: https://patreon.com/PodcastforInquiry. Send your thoughts and feedback to podcast@centreforinquiry.ca.
Kate Cohen talks about her journey from privately knowing she was a non-believer to writing We of Little Faith: Why I Stopped Pretending to Believe (And Maybe You Should Too). She discusses how being an atheist and a commitment to honesty informed how she raised her children, and how being forthright about her lack of belief in social interactions has simplified her life. We also talk about some of the challenges associated with being an open atheist.
Kate is a Washington Post columnist and some of the articles she references in the conversation are below.
A Car Ride with Lena
In America you have to opt out of religion in public life. That's backwards.
America doesn't need more God. It needs more atheists.
Podcast for Inquiry is hosted by Leslie Rosenblood and brought to you by the Centre for Inquiry Canada. Support Podcast for Inquiry on Patreon: https://patreon.com/PodcastforInquiry. Send your thoughts and feedback to podcast@centreforinquiry.ca.
5Greg Oliver, founder and president of the Canadian Secular Alliance, believes that governments should not favour one faith over another, nor believers over non-believers. That three Canadian provinces continue to this day to fully fund a Separate school system for a single faith - Catholicism - is an egregious violation of secular principles that should guide our public policy. Greg explains why Catholic schools are funded, how two provinces stopped funding sectarian schools, addresses many myths about the separate school system, and what we can do about it. (Check out the new organization Alumni to Amend Section 93.)
Podcast for Inquiry is hosted by Leslie Rosenblood and brought to you by the Centre for Inquiry Canada. Support Podcast for Inquiry on Patreon: https://patreon.com/PodcastforInquiry. Send your thoughts and feedback to podcast@centreforinquiry.ca.
Everyone is vulnerable to fallacies that can lead to misunderstanding scientific topics. In her book (written with Barbara Hofer), Science Denial: Why It Happens and What To Do About It, Gale investigates many of these, including:
- Cognitive biases
-
Emotions
-
Motivated reasoning
- Identities
Gale also explains what all of us can do to increase our scientific literacy. Science is better understood as a process, with different disciplines advancing knowledge via different means, employing various techniques. It is much more than just a collection of facts to be understood. We can also move from an absolutist view of the world to a more evaluative perspective, and with that additional complexity and nuance comes a deeper and more accurate understanding.
Learn more at https://www.sciencedenialbook.com/.
Podcast for Inquiry is hosted by Leslie Rosenblood and brought to you by the Centre for Inquiry Canada. Support Podcast for Inquiry on Patreon: https://patreon.com/PodcastforInquiry. Send your thoughts and feedback to podcast@centreforinquiry.ca.
Anti-natalism is the philosophical idea that choosing to have children is an unethical act. Mark explains what anti-natalism is, as well as what it isn’t, and describes how he came to subscribe to anti-natalist thought.
Learn more about anti-natalism from the Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy (https://iep.utm.edu/anti-natalism/) and Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/parenthood/#AntiNata)
Podcast for Inquiry is hosted by Leslie Rosenblood and brought to you by the Centre for Inquiry Canada. Support Podcast for Inquiry on Patreon: https://patreon.com/PodcastforInquiry. Send your thoughts and feedback to podcast@centreforinquiry.ca.
Dr. Kelly Weinersmith (@FuSchmu) is the co-author (with her husband Zach) of Soonish and A City on Mars. Kelly maintains that while having humans living off Earth would be awesome, we’re simply not ready for it yet. She answers many of Leslie’s questions: Why can’t we go to Mars if we have the will? Why can’t we all just get along? Why should we expand? Why is building a habitable space station harder than settling on Mars or the moon? What laws would apply in any off-Earth settlement? Where should we focus our space research efforts?
Kelly also goes on a rant about Helium 3.
Podcast for Inquiry is hosted by Leslie Rosenblood and brought to you by the Centre for Inquiry Canada. Support Podcast for Inquiry on Patreon: https://patreon.com/PodcastforInquiry. Send your thoughts and feedback to podcast@centreforinquiry.ca.
Carolyn Biltoft received her PhD in World History from Princeton University in 2010. Her work fuses the tools of world history, intellectual history, cultural studies and critical theory. Carolyn has thought deeply about the nature of truth, and realized that each person necessarily has an incomplete understanding, because we only experience a small aspect of reality first hand. Therefore, we need to trust the reports of others to gain a complete worldview. Misplacing our trust will compromise the accuracy of our model of reality. Carolyn delves into the implications of this insight, describes the similarities and differences between scientific and religious mindsets, and how this should impact our educational system.
Podcast for Inquiry is hosted by Leslie Rosenblood and brought to you by the Centre for Inquiry Canada. Support Podcast for Inquiry on Patreon: https://patreon.com/PodcastforInquiry. Send your thoughts and feedback to podcast@centreforinquiry.ca.
Robin Reames is the incoming Culbertson Chair of English at Indiana University. She researches and writes about the history of ideas, particularly lost ideas from the ancient Greek rhetorical tradition that can enrich our lives today. Leslie and Robin talk about her book, The Ancient Art of Thinking for Yourself: The Power of Rhetoric in Polarized Times, starting with the question: What is rhetoric? Robin goes on to explain why emotions and values are more compelling persuaders than facts. Leslie and Robin discuss whether media outlets report on events as they happened, or condition you to respond in a particular way. Robin describes the power of the word “alternative”, as well as the power of fear. There is much we can learn from ancient Athens.
Podcast for Inquiry is hosted by Leslie Rosenblood and brought to you by the Centre for Inquiry Canada. Support Podcast for Inquiry on Patreon: https://patreon.com/PodcastforInquiry. Send your thoughts and feedback to podcast@centreforinquiry.ca.
Dr. Ralph Lewis is an Associate Professor at the University of Toronto, a practicing psychiatrist, and blogs for Psychology Today. Leslie and Dr. Lewis explore the themes in his book, “Finding Purpose in a Godless World: Why We Care Even if the Universe Doesn’t”, including addressing some key questions:
- Does the universe have a purpose?
- Why are we humans so prone to believe that the universe is inherently purposeful?
- If the universe has no purpose, does that mean human lives are meaningless and don’t matter?
- How do we make moral judgments if we have no external or objective foundation for them?
Podcast for Inquiry is hosted by Leslie Rosenblood and brought to you by the Centre for Inquiry Canada. Support Podcast for Inquiry on Patreon: https://patreon.com/PodcastforInquiry. Send your thoughts and feedback to podcast@centreforinquiry.ca.
Andrew Seidel (@AndrewLSeidel) is the author of The Founding Myth: Why Christian Nationalism is un-American, and works for Americans United for Separation of Church and State. He and Leslie discuss the birth of the United States and its founding documents. Andrew reveals that America was not intended to be in any way a Christian nation, yet a significant minority has come to believe that is not the case. Andrew also talks about the very real threat that today’s Christian Nationalists pose to American democracy.
Podcast for Inquiry is hosted by Leslie Rosenblood and brought to you by the Centre for Inquiry Canada. Support Podcast for Inquiry on Patreon: https://patreon.com/PodcastforInquiry. Send your thoughts and feedback to podcast@centreforinquiry.ca.
The Ten Commitments come from the American Humanist Association’s Center for Education. They “represent our shared humanistic values and principles that promote a democratic world in which every individual’s worth and dignity is respected, nurtured, and supported, and where human freedom and ethical responsibility are natural aspirations for everyone.”
Leslie speaks with Kristin Wintermute, Director of Education, and Emily Newman, Senior Education Coordinator, about each of the Ten Commitments and how they can be put to practical use in day-to-day life.
The Ten Commitments:
Altruism
Critical Thinking
Empathy
Environmentalism
Ethical Development
Global Awareness
Humility
Peace and Social Justice
Responsibility
Service and Participation
Podcast for Inquiry is hosted by Leslie Rosenblood and brought to you by the Centre for Inquiry Canada. Support Podcast for Inquiry on Patreon: https://patreon.com/PodcastforInquiry. Send your thoughts and feedback to podcast@centreforinquiry.ca.
Kat McLeod is passionate about dispelling misinformation, especially regarding herbal remedies. Taking herbal supplements nearly killed her, so she volunteers at the University of Alberta as a mentor for pharmacy and medical students, arming them with the knowledge that can hopefully prevent the kind of suffering she has endured.
Kat and Leslie talk about some of the problems in Canada and elsewhere with standard medical practice, then delve into how herbal supplements are often mislabeled, concealing (in her case) an unlisted potent steroid. They also discuss other aspects of the alt-med industry, and steps Canada can take to improve the safety and well-being of all Canadians.
Health Canada report on Natural Health Products:
Report 2—Natural Health Products—Health Canada
“Overall, Health Canada’s oversight of natural health products available for sale in Canada fell short of ensuring that products were safe and effective.”
Vanessa's Law (which aims to strengthen safety oversight, improve reporting, and increase transparency for therapeutic products in Canada):
Protecting Canadians from Unsafe Drugs Act (Vanessa’s Law)
Podcast for Inquiry is hosted by Leslie Rosenblood and brought to you by the Centre for Inquiry Canada. Support Podcast for Inquiry on Patreon: https://patreon.com/PodcastforInquiry. Send your thoughts and feedback to podcast@centreforinquiry.ca.
Leslie gave the keynote address at the Centre for Inquiry Canada’s Annual General Meeting in March. That address is today’s special episode of Podcast for Inquiry. Leslie talks about the principles underlying the podcast, the rules and guidelines they led to, and some of the difficult decisions those working on the podcast had to make. Leslie also delves into freedom of expression, applying how different levels of censorship have affected Podcast for Inquiry.
Seth Andrews, host of The Thinking Atheist (and Podcast for Inquiry guest), is coming to Toronto on August 11. Details and tickets are here: https://seth-andrews-toronto.eventbrite.ca
Podcast for Inquiry is hosted by Leslie Rosenblood and brought to you by the Centre for Inquiry Canada. Support Podcast for Inquiry on Patreon: https://patreon.com/PodcastforInquiry. Send your thoughts and feedback to podcast@centreforinquiry.ca.
Perry Bulwer (Facebook) speaks about his part-memoir, part-exposé book, Misguided: My Jesus Freak Life in a Doomsday Cult. Perry describes what first attracted him to the cult, and why he stayed in it for nearly 20 years. Perry recounts the lasting damage from his time in the Children of God, to himself and especially to those born into it.
Podcast for Inquiry is hosted by Leslie Rosenblood and brought to you by the Centre for Inquiry Canada. Support Podcast for Inquiry on Patreon: https://patreon.com/PodcastforInquiry. Send your thoughts and feedback to podcast@centreforinquiry.ca.
In this bonus episode of Podcast for Inquiry, Leslie speaks with Bob Barnes and Jeff Brooks of Bluewater Atheists, Humanists and Agnostics about the third annual BAHACON, to be held in Sarnia, Ontario on August 9-11, 2024. Leslie hopes to see you there!
Podcast for Inquiry is hosted by Leslie Rosenblood and brought to you by the Centre for Inquiry Canada. Support Podcast for Inquiry on Patreon: https://patreon.com/PodcastforInquiry. Send your thoughts and feedback to podcast@centreforinquiry.ca.
Kevin Mitchell (@WiringtheBrain) is Associate Professor of Genetics and Neuroscience at Trinity College Dublin and writes the blog Wiring the Brain. His book, Free Agents, argues that evolution gave us Free Will. Kevin begins by describing free will, how life has it but rocks do not, and the gradient of choice from paramecia to humans. He talks about the thought experiment of “Rewinding the Tape” and whether someone could have done otherwise under identical circumstances. Kevin discusses the fundamental indeterminacy woven into the fabric of the universe at the quantum scale, and how that combines with chaotic systems to make many aspects of the universe both unpredictable and undetermined. Finally, Kevin speculates about the ramifications of his research and findings on social intuitions and institutions.
Podcast for Inquiry is hosted by Leslie Rosenblood and brought to you by the Centre for Inquiry Canada. Support Podcast for Inquiry on Patreon: https://patreon.com/PodcastforInquiry. Send your thoughts and feedback to podcast@centreforinquiry.ca.
Dr. Julien Musolino is a cognitive scientist and author of The Soul Fallacy. He explains why the intuitively, commonly-held notion of free will - known as “libertarian” or “contra-causal” - is scientifically incoherent. This has some implications for how we view ourselves and how we treat others, but on many levels it also doesn’t matter. Julien restores the concept of free will by providing a different definition of free will at a higher level of abstraction. Along the way, Julien and Leslie delve into ideas from philosophy, morality, politics, and sociology.
Publications referenced in the conversation:
- For the law, neuroscience changes nothing and everything, by Joshua Greene
- Moral Responsibility Reconsidered, by Gregg D. Caruso
- Free is as real as baseball, by Sean Carroll
CFIC also hosted a talk three years ago by author Gregg D. Caruso, on his book Rejecting Retributivism: Free Will, Punishment, and Criminal Justice. You can watch the video here.
Podcast for Inquiry is hosted by Leslie Rosenblood and brought to you by the Centre for Inquiry Canada. Support Podcast for Inquiry on Patreon: https://patreon.com/PodcastforInquiry. Send your thoughts and feedback to podcast@centreforinquiry.ca.
Maryam Namazie (@MaryamNamazie) is the spokesperson for One Law for All and the Council of Ex-Muslims of Britain. In December 2023, the CEMB released The Paris Appeal, calling for Laics of all countries to unite. Maryam explains the purpose and content of The Paris Appeal, and along the way gets into the difference between laïcité and secularism, and reveals the religious court system in England that denies many women the rights they ought to enjoy. Maryam also talks about World Hijab Day, what the hijab means, and concludes with a passionate analysis of Québec’s religious symbols law.
Podcast for Inquiry is hosted by Leslie Rosenblood and brought to you by the Centre for Inquiry Canada. Support Podcast for Inquiry on Patreon: https://patreon.com/PodcastforInquiry. Send your thoughts and feedback to podcast@centreforinquiry.ca.
Canada allows organizations that do nothing but “advance religion” to be classified as charities. This policy decision costs Canadians at least $5.6 billion every year, according to CFIC’s Cost of Religion reports. Sandra Dunham explains what this amount includes, how it was calculated, and the many benefits that religious institutions enjoy in addition to this figure.
Podcast for Inquiry is hosted by Leslie Rosenblood and brought to you by the Centre for Inquiry Canada. Support Podcast for Inquiry on Patreon: https://patreon.com/PodcastforInquiry. Send your thoughts and feedback to podcast@centreforinquiry.ca.
Canadians with group benefits covered by Manulife will soon be able to fill certain prescriptions only at Loblaw-owned pharmacies, such as Shoppers Drug Mart.
In today’s Diatribe, Leslie fulminates against this blatantly anti-competitive, coercive arrangement that harms everyone it affects except the profits of two of Canada’s largest companies. Leslie explains why this deal ought to be a violation of Canadian law, and predicts that, if allowed to stand, much more - and worse - is to come.
As with all Diatribes, the opinions expressed are Leslie’s alone and do not represent CFIC or any other ogranization.
Podcast for Inquiry is hosted by Leslie Rosenblood and brought to you by the Centre for Inquiry Canada. Support Podcast for Inquiry on Patreon: https://patreon.com/PodcastforInquiry. Send your thoughts and feedback to podcast@centreforinquiry.ca.
“Omer” (a pseudonym) was born and raised in Pakistan, but his life was threatened when he expressed doubts about the inerrancy of Islam. He survived a manhunt by the Pakistani government, and now lives as a refugee in Nepal. Omer is the first Pakistani atheist to reach 100,000 subscribers on his YouTube channel. He has been accepted by Canada as a permanent resident, but exit permit issues mean Omer cannot leave Nepal for an indeterminate period. You may contribute to supporting Omer (who is not allowed to work in Nepal) by making a donation to CFIC.
Podcast for Inquiry is hosted by Leslie Rosenblood and brought to you by the Centre for Inquiry Canada. Support Podcast for Inquiry on Patreon: https://patreon.com/PodcastforInquiry. Send your thoughts and feedback to podcast@centreforinquiry.ca.
Russell Blackford (@Metamagician) is a philosopher, literary critic, and widely published author. Russell talks about how the philosophical principle of Liberalism runs through his two most recent books, The Tyranny of Opinion and How We Became Post-Liberal. Our conversation starts with a definition of how Liberalism emerged over the past few centuries, and delves into two of its core concepts: free speech and toleration. We also discuss how group dynamics can lead to polarization and how society can return to liberal values.
Podcast for Inquiry is hosted by Leslie Rosenblood and brought to you by the Centre for Inquiry Canada. Support Podcast for Inquiry on Patreon: https://patreon.com/PodcastforInquiry. Send your thoughts and feedback to podcast@centreforinquiry.ca.
Gordon Precious was born in Hamilton, Ontario in 1924. As a teenager he became a born-again Christian but as he travelled the world he began to question why he believed his faith was the only true one. As his 100th birthday approaches, Gordon shares his insights on vaccines, technology, humanism, and death.
Podcast for Inquiry is brought to you by the Centre for Inquiry Canada. Hosted by Leslie Rosenblood. Support Podcast for Inquiry on Patreon: https://patreon.com/PodcastforInquiry. Send your thoughts and feedback to podcast@centreforinquiry.ca.
What is Private Equity, and how does it work? Gretchen Morgenson (@gmorgenson) is a Pulitzer-winning journalist whose latest book is These are the Plunderers. Gretchen exposes the bad and often illegal activities of Private Equity firms, and tries to explain why they have been allowed to get away with it for so long. She explains how Private Equity firms operate behind the scenes to ensure the loopholes that substantially reduce their tax bills are never closed, and details recent events that might give cause for hope.
Podcast for Inquiry is brought to you by the Centre for Inquiry Canada. Hosted by Leslie Rosenblood. Support Podcast for Inquiry on Patreon: https://patreon.com/PodcastforInquiry. Send your thoughts and feedback to podcast@centreforinquiry.ca.
After years of research, David Fitzgerald has come to a surprising conclusion: that all the main characters in the world’s major religions are entirely the product of human imagination. While many have long doubted the supernatural feats that religious figures are purported to have done, the assumption that these are grounded in at least a kernel of historical fact is widely held. David explains how the stories we are familiar with today accreted over time, and the utter lack of evidence that any of the major figures of Christianity, Judaism, Islam, Hinduism, Jainism, or Buddhism ever actually existed.
Podcast for Inquiry is brought to you by the Centre for Inquiry Canada. Hosted by Leslie Rosenblood. Support Podcast for Inquiry on Patreon: https://patreon.com/PodcastforInquiry. Send your thoughts and feedback to podcast@centreforinquiry.ca.
Is secularism church-state separation or government neutrality in matters of religion? What does state religious neutrality look like? When the Supreme Court of Canada issues a ruling, is that the final word? What is the difference between a welcome, a traditional greeting, a cultural practice, and a prayer, especially in the context of indigenous nations and reconciliation?
Dr. Teale Phelps Bondaroff (@TealePB), research coordinator at the British Columbia Humanist Association, answers all these questions and more. His team at the BCHA contacted every municipality in British Columbia, Manitoba, and Ontario to determine whether they are in compliance with the Supreme Court of Canada’s 2015 Saguenay ruling, which unambiguously decreed that opening municipal council sessions with a prayer was unlawful. He describes how some municipalities try to sneak in religious content with “stealth prayer”, and why ecumenical prayers, non-denominational prayers, or rotating prayers from different religious groups, are bound to fail if the goal is to have an inclusive democracy.
Podcast for Inquiry is brought to you by the Centre for Inquiry Canada. Hosted by Leslie Rosenblood. Produced by Lee Shields, Zack Dumont, and Martin Zielinski. Graphic design by Nikolay Nikitushkin. Music by Anthony Lazaro. Support Podcast for Inquiry on Patreon: https://patreon.com/PodcastforInquiry. Send your thoughts and feedback to podcast@centreforinquiry.ca.
Dr. Evelyn Forget is Canada’s foremost expert on Basic Income, and the author of Basic Income for Canadians: From the COVID-19 Emergency to Financial Security for all. Dr. Forget describes what Basic Income is, and how it differs from UBI (Universal Basic Income). She talks about the results of a Basic Income pilot conducted in Canada, and answers the question: If Basic Income is such a great idea, why aren’t we doing it already? Finally, Dr. Forget explains what a Canadian Basic Income program would look like.
Podcast for Inquiry is brought to you by the Centre for Inquiry Canada. Hosted by Leslie Rosenblood. Produced by Lee Shields, Zack Dumont, and Martin Zielinski. Graphic design by Nikolay Nikitushkin. Music by Anthony Lazaro. Support Podcast for Inquiry on Patreon: https://patreon.com/PodcastforInquiry. Send your thoughts and feedback to podcast@centreforinquiry.ca.
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 brought to you by the Centre for Inquiry Canada. Hosted by Leslie Rosenblood. Produced by Lee Shields, Zack Dumont, and Martin Zielinski. Graphic design by Nikolay Nikitushkin. Music by Anthony Lazaro. Support Podcast for Inquiry on Patreon: https://patreon.com/PodcastforInquiry. Send your thoughts and feedback to podcast@centreforinquiry.ca.
Paris Marx (@parismarx) is a critic of Silicon Valley business practices and the impact they have on workers and society at large. Paris writes the Disconnect newsletter and hosts Tech Won’t Save Us, an award-winning critical technology podcast.
In today’s episode, Paris explains the flaws in each category of the tech sector, including:
- Blockchain and crypto currencies - Bitcoin, Ethereum, Dogecoin, Tether
- Asset-light service firms - AirBnB, Uber, Lyft
- Amazon
- Fully digital free services - Google, Facebook / Instagram, Twitter / X
Podcast for Inquiry is brought to you by the Centre for Inquiry Canada. Hosted by Leslie Rosenblood. Produced by Lee Shields, Zack Dumont, and Martin Zielinski. Graphic design by Nikolay Nikitushkin. Music by Anthony Lazaro. Support Podcast for Inquiry on Patreon: https://patreon.com/PodcastforInquiry. Send your thoughts and feedback to podcast@centreforinquiry.ca.
Dr. Tara Moriarty (@MoriartyLab) was happy being a research scientist, studying how Lyme disease bacteria travel to different parts of our body using the bloodstream. Then the COVID-19 pandemic struck, and she saw a vast need for disseminating accurate information to the public. So she founded COVID-19 Resources Canada (www.covid19resources.ca) and learned on the fly to become a science communicator. Dr. Moriarty describes the reaction from the scientific community and the public, and shares some surprising statistics about the current state of the COVID-19 pandemic in Canada.
Podcast for Inquiry is brought to you by the Centre for Inquiry Canada. Hosted by Leslie Rosenblood. Produced by Lee Shields, Zack Dumont, and Martin Zielinski. Graphic design by Nikolay Nikitushkin. Music by Anthony Lazaro. Support Podcast for Inquiry on Patreon: https://patreon.com/PodcastforInquiry. Send your thoughts and feedback to podcast@centreforinquiry.ca.
Leslie talks with David McRaney (@davidmcraney) about his book, “How Minds Change”. They explore how social context is critical when people form their opinions. People don’t change their minds in a vacuum, and David describes how network effects lead to social cascades, such as how widespread resistance to equal marriage flipped to widespread acceptance in an astonishingly short period. David quizzes Leslie about the most recent movie he watched as a demonstration of how to get people to think differently. They discuss the role of truth in persuasion, and the utter failure of the “information deficit hypothesis”. You can learn more from David via his podcast You Are Not So Smart and on his website at davidmcraney.com.
Podcast for Inquiry is brought to you by the Centre for Inquiry Canada. Hosted by Leslie Rosenblood. Produced by Lee Shields, Zack Dumont, and Martin Zielinski. Graphic design by Nikolay Nikitushkin. Music by Anthony Lazaro. Please contribute to Podcast for Inquiry at https://centreforinquiry.ca/donate. Send your thoughts and feedback to podcast@centreforinquiry.ca.
Catherine is a humanist activist, and believes the two go hand in hand. Catherine talks about the inherent tension within the Catholic Social Justice Movement, and her own journey out of Catholicism. She describes the link between Christofascism and Incels (see her article in Free Inquiry). Catherine’s activism today is focused on The Kimberley Project, a Canadian charity dedicated to the prevention of violence against women.
Podcast for Inquiry is brought to you by the Centre for Inquiry Canada. Hosted by Leslie Rosenblood. Produced by Lee Shields, Zack Dumont, and Martin Zielinski. Graphic design by Nikolay Nikitushkin. Music by Anthony Lazaro. Please contribute to Podcast for Inquiry at https://centreforinquiry.ca/donate. Send your thoughts and feedback to podcast@centreforinquiry.ca.
How does one survive in an authoritarian regime, where you are sent away for education if the frame holding a picture of the Dear Leader gets dirty? When no one has enough to eat? Eunju Kim is the author of A Thousand Miles to Freedom, which describes her harrowing escape from North Korea to Seoul. She and Leslie discuss how the Kim dynasty is worshiped in North Korea, much like a God. Eunju details how escaping from North Korea is much harder today than it was when she fled. Today Eunju works for Freedom Speakers International, helping North Korean refugees settle into their new lives in South Korea.
Podcast for Inquiry is brought to you by the Centre for Inquiry Canada. Hosted by Leslie Rosenblood. Produced by Lee Shields, Zack Dumont, and Martin Zielinski. Graphic design by Nikolay Nikitushkin. Music by Anthony Lazaro. Please contribute to Podcast for Inquiry at https://centreforinquiry.ca/donate. Send your thoughts and feedback to podcast@centreforinquiry.ca.
Welcome to the second episode of Leslie’s Diatribes, a sounding board for Leslie to fulminate on topics he is passionate about. Today’s topic is the Health Ethics Guide, a publication of the Catholic Health Alliance of Canada. Employees in Catholic health care facilities in eight provinces are told to sign this code of ethics every year, and many do so without reading it. Leslie highlights some salient aspects of its contents, and encourages those who object to what it demands to refrain from agreeing to it.
The opinions expressed in this episode are Leslie’s, and do not represent CFIC or any other organization.
Podcast for Inquiry is brought to you by the Centre for Inquiry Canada. Hosted by Leslie Rosenblood. Produced by Lee Shields, Zack Dumont, and Martin Zielinski. Graphic design by Nikolay Nikitushkin. Music by Anthony Lazaro. Please contribute to Podcast for Inquiry at https://centreforinquiry.ca/donate. Send your thoughts and feedback to podcast@centreforinquiry.ca.
Why do publicly funded Catholic schools exist in Ontario, Saskatchewan, and Alberta? Does the government or the Church actually run them? Leslie speaks with Dr. Tonya Callaghan, author of Homophobia in the Hallways, about systemic homophobia in Canadian Catholic schools. They discuss the long struggle to establish Gay-Straight Alliances, the oddly selective enforcement of Catholic doctrine, and the contradiction at the heart of professing compassion for all at the same time as demanding lifetime celibacy from those with same sex attraction.
Podcast for Inquiry is brought to you by the Centre for Inquiry Canada. Hosted by Leslie Rosenblood. Produced by Lee Shields, Zack Dumont, and Martin Zielinski. Graphic design by Nikolay Nikitushkin. Music by Anthony Lazaro. Please contribute to Podcast for Inquiry at https://centreforinquiry.ca/donate. Send your thoughts and feedback to podcast@centreforinquiry.ca.
What is a tetrapod? What is a homologue, and how does it differ from convergent evolution? Dana answers Leslie’s many questions about animal development from embryo to adult, talks about her research on amphibians and axolotls, and how her book, “Dana Digs Dinosaurs”, was inspired by the excitement of a seven year old.
Podcast for Inquiry is brought to you by the Centre for Inquiry Canada. Hosted by Leslie Rosenblood. Produced by Lee Shields, Zack Dumont, and Martin Zielinski. Graphic design by Nikolay Nikitushkin. Music by Anthony Lazaro. Please contribute to Podcast for Inquiry at https://centreforinquiry.ca/donate. Send your thoughts and feedback to podcast@centreforinquiry.ca.
Roy Speckardt is the past executive director of the American Humanist Association. He speaks with Leslie about his latest book, Justice-Centered Humanism. Conversation topics include:
- Roy’s journey to Humanism
- How to get Humanists involved in activism
- How Humanism leads to Social Justice
- Environmentalism
Sentientism (referencing the PfI episode with Jamie Woodhouse in March 2023) - Secularism
Podcast for Inquiry is brought to you by the Centre for Inquiry Canada. Hosted by Leslie Rosenblood. Produced by Lee Shields, Zack Dumont, and Martin Zielinski. Graphic design by Nikolay Nikitushkin. Music by Anthony Lazaro. Please contribute to Podcast for Inquiry at https://centreforinquiry.ca/donate. Send your thoughts and feedback to podcast@centreforinquiry.ca.
Do people in the Humanist movement live up to their stated ideals? How does sexism and misogyny persist within Humanist circles? Srishti Hukku has been a humanist activist for close to two decades, and shares her experiences and insights with host Leslie Rosenblood in a personal and penetrating conversation.
Podcast for Inquiry is brought to you by the Centre for Inquiry Canada. Hosted by Leslie Rosenblood. Produced by Lee Shields, Zack Dumont, and Martin Zielinski. Graphic design by Nikolay Nikitushkin. Music by Anthony Lazaro. Send your thoughts and feedback to podcast@centreforinquiry.ca.
Noah Rasheta integrates Buddhist philosophy into every aspect of his life. He talks with Leslie about Secular Buddhism, and they compare and contrast Buddhist teachings with Christian thought and Stoic philosophy. They discuss Noah’s book “No-Nonsense Buddhism for Beginners”, delving into aspects that Leslie heartily agreed with and others that required further clarification for genuine understanding.
Podcast for Inquiry is brought to you by the Centre for Inquiry Canada. Hosted by Leslie Rosenblood. Produced by Lee Shields, Zack Dumont, and Martin Zielinski. Graphic design by Nikolay Nikitushkin. Music by Anthony Lazaro. Send your thoughts and feedback to podcast@centreforinquiry.ca.
Steve Ironside is the Ambassador Program Director for Recovering from Religion, an organization dedicated to providing hope, healing and support to those struggling with issues of doubt and non-belief. Steve describes the several services RfR offers free of charge to people trying to reconcile aspects of their lives that may not be fully consistent with their faith. Recovering from Religion hosts RfRx, a secular-themed event modeled after “TED talks”, every Monday at 8 PM ET.
Podcast for Inquiry is brought to you by the Centre for Inquiry Canada. Hosted by Leslie Rosenblood. Produced by Lee Shields, Zack Dumont, and Martin Zielinski. Graphic design by Nikolay Nikitushkin. Music by Anthony Lazaro. Send your thoughts and feedback to podcast@centreforinquiry.ca.
Marie-Claire Khadij (FB, IG, Twitter) was born into a devout Roman Catholic family, and was a practicing Christian for much of her early life. She describes her journey from faith to agnosticism to Humanism, as well as how and why she joined the Canadian Armed Forces - first as a Roman Catholic chaplain, and then as its first Humanist chaplain. Learn more about becoming a Humanist chaplain through Humanist Canada.
Podcast for Inquiry is brought to you by the Centre for Inquiry Canada. Hosted by Leslie Rosenblood. Produced by Lee Shields, Zack Dumont, and Martin Zielinski. Graphic design by Nikolay Nikitushkin. Music by Anthony Lazaro. Send your thoughts and feedback to podcast@centreforinquiry.ca.
Philippa Carter (@PhilippaCarter) has her PhD in Religious Studies, is a professor within McMaster’s Society, Culture & Religion degree program, and teaches a course called, “What on Earth is Religion?” Yet there is no simple answer to this straightforward question. The conversation ranges from religions to cults, philosophies, creeds, and worldviews, with stops at free expression and secularism along the way.
If you enjoy this conversation, you might also like the Podcast for Inquiry episodes featuring Catherine Francis, Caroline Russell-King, and James Turk.
Podcast for Inquiry is brought to you by the Centre for Inquiry Canada. Hosted by Leslie Rosenblood. Produced by Lee Shields, Zack Dumont, and Martin Zielinski. Graphic design by Nikolay Nikitushkin. Music by Anthony Lazaro. Send your thoughts and feedback to podcast@centreforinquiry.ca.
Jamie is a leading advocate for Sentientism (“evidence, reason, and compassion for all sentient beings”) as a worldview and as a global movement. Jamie and Leslie discuss what Sentientism is along with its philosophical, ethical, and practical implications. Learn more through the Sentientism Podcast and YouTube channel, the global Sentientism Facebook community, and on Twitter @JamieWoodhouse and @Sentientism.
Podcast for Inquiry is brought to you by the Centre for Inquiry Canada. Hosted by Leslie Rosenblood. Produced by Lee Shields, Zack Dumont, and Martin Zielinski. Graphic design by Nikolay Nikitushkin. Music by Anthony Lazaro. Send your thoughts and feedback to podcast@centreforinquiry.ca.
In February 2015, Leslie Rosenblood participated in the second Chesterton debate, organized by the Archdiocese of Toronto, arguing against the motion that God should play a significant role in political affairs. Iain Benson, a Roman Catholic legal philosopher and consultant, took the opposing position. The moderator was Lorna Dueck. The debate was rebroadcast on Salt and Light TV and Podcast for Inquiry is proud to bring it to you as a special bonus episode.
Podcast for Inquiry is brought to you by the Centre for Inquiry Canada. Hosted by Leslie Rosenblood. Produced by Lee Shields, Zack Dumont, and Martin Zielinski. Graphic design by Nikolay Nikitushkin. Music by Anthony Lazaro. Send your thoughts and feedback to podcast@centreforinquiry.ca.
Chris Shelton was raised within the Church of Scientology, which he left a decade ago. Since then, he has dedicated his life to helping those seeking to escape coercively controlling environments. Chris explains how all cults use the same playbook to recruit and keep members, techniques to which we are all susceptible. Chris shares how one can avoid falling for the traps they set, and how to recognize if you might already be in one. You can learn more about Scientology and cult recovery on Chris’ YouTube channel.
Podcast for Inquiry is brought to you by the Centre for Inquiry Canada. Hosted by Leslie Rosenblood. Produced by Lee Shields, Zack Dumont, and Martin Zielinski. Graphic design by Nikolay Nikitushkin. Music by Anthony Lazaro. Send your thoughts and feedback to podcast@centreforinquiry.ca.
In December 2022, fusion research achieved a major accomplishment: more energy resulted from a controlled fusion reaction than was put into it. Allan explains why this is more a symbolic milestone than a sign that commercial fusion is imminent. Allan describes the current state of the art in fusion research, and the many ways fusion differs from fission, the existing nuclear energy technology. Allan explains that fusion is moving from science to engineering, and the many technical hurdles that must be overcome before fusion, for all its promise, can make a significant practical difference in the world.
For more information, visit the Fusion Energy Council of Canada, ITER, or the Fusion Industry Association.
Podcast for Inquiry is brought to you by the Centre for Inquiry Canada. Hosted by Leslie Rosenblood. Produced by Lee Shields, Zack Dumont, and Martin Zielinski. Graphic design by Nikolay Nikitushkin. Music by Anthony Lazaro. Send your thoughts and feedback to podcast@centreforinquiry.ca.
CFIC was invited to give a presentation on Humanism in Children and Women's Rights at the third International Humanism Conference for Social Justice in September 2022. Leslie spoke on Humanism in Children and Women's rights. Today's bonus episode is his speech at the conference.
Podcast for Inquiry is brought to you by the Centre for Inquiry Canada. Hosted by Leslie Rosenblood. Produced by Lee Shields, Zack Dumont, and Martin Zielinski. Graphic design by Nikolay Nikitushkin. Music by Anthony Lazaro. Send your thoughts and feedback to podcast@centreforinquiry.ca.
Dr. Joshua Bowen (@DJHammurabi1) is an Assyriology scholar and author of “The Atheist Guide to the Old Testament. Josh describes his journey from fundamentalist evangelical Christianity to atheism, and what motivated him to write two volumes (so far!) of the Atheist Guide. He and Leslie discuss the Old Testament book of Exodus, and its correspondence to what we know of the time from the fields of history and archaeology. You can learn much more about Josh’s work on his YouTube channel, Digital Hammurabi.
Podcast for Inquiry is brought to you by the Centre for Inquiry Canada. Hosted by Leslie Rosenblood. Produced by Lee Shields, Zack Dumont, and Martin Zielinski. Graphic design by Nikolay Nikitushkin. Music by Anthony Lazaro. Send your thoughts and feedback to podcast@centreforinquiry.ca.
Ashley Esakin is passionate about plants, and provides advice about how anyone - rural, urban, even those who live in apartments - can start their own garden. She and Leslie talk about how seeds both sense and manipulate their environment, efficiency and environmental challenges in modern agriculture (and how they are being addressed), and some common myths and misperceptions about gardening. You can learn more from Ashley on her YouTube channel, Gardening in Canada.
Podcast for Inquiry is brought to you by the Centre for Inquiry Canada. Hosted by Leslie Rosenblood. Produced by Lee Shields, Zack Dumont, and Martin Zielinski. Graphic design by Nikolay Nikitushkin. Music by Anthony Lazaro. Send your thoughts and feedback to podcast@centreforinquiry.ca.
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 OnlySky.
Bryan Van Norden (@BryanVanNorden) is a professor of Chinese philosophy. He and Leslie discuss the six titans of Chinese philosophical schools, along the parallels and differences with various Western philosophies. Bryan makes the case for studying Chinese philosophy in a world full of fascinating topics to learn about, and argues for incorporating a more diverse set of philosophical thought into the core canon. For those interested in a deeper understanding than was discussed in this episode, Bryan has compiled a bibliography of less commonly taught philosophies, written several books, and has a YouTube lecture series on Chinese Buddhism and Neo-Confucianism, from Confucius to Xi Jinping.
Podcast for Inquiry is brought to you by the Centre for Inquiry Canada. Hosted by Leslie Rosenblood. Produced by Matt Payne, Lee Shields, Zack Dumont and Martin Zielinski. Graphic design by Nikolay Nikitushkin. Music by Anthony Lazaro. Send your thoughts and feedback to podcast@centreforinquiry.ca.
David Robert Grimes (@drg1985) is a scientist and author of Good Thinking (The Irrational Ape in Europe and UK). David and Leslie talk about the centrality of critical thinking to human flourishing, and the many, many ways intuitive heuristics can mislead us. And yet, with training and diligence, we can overcome our biases, motivated reasoning, and logical fallacies to create the technologies that are part of modern life. David describes how and when to apply one’s critical faculties, and why doing so can save the world.
Podcast for Inquiry is brought to you by the Centre for Inquiry Canada. Produced by Matt Payne. Graphic design by Nikolay Nikitushkin. Music by Anthony Lazaro. Send your thoughts and feedback to podcast@centreforinquiry.ca.
Dr. Joseph Voros has been a professional futurist for over two decades. He and Leslie discuss what futures studies is, and the challenges in recognizing successful efforts that prevent catastrophes. Dr. Voros describes the difference between probable, plausible, and possible futures, how to classify them and what we can do to increase the probability of bringing about a future that we (and our descendents) will want to live in. This episode is audio-only to respect Dr. Voros’ privacy.
Podcast for Inquiry is brought to you by the Centre for Inquiry Canada. Produced by Matt Payne. Graphic design by Nikolay Nikitushkin. Music by Anthony Lazaro. Send your thoughts and feedback to podcast@centreforinquiry.ca.
Jasveen Brar is the Executive Directory of Youth Climate Lab, a “non-profit organization of youth mobilizing youth to create just, climate-resilient futures.” Jasveen explains why her organization focuses on people under 30, their accomplishments to date, and what they are planning for the future. She and Leslie also talk about the role of the individual, municipalities, and governments around the world in mitigating the effects of the climate emergency.
Podcast for Inquiry is brought to you by the Centre for Inquiry Canada. Produced by Matt Payne. Graphic design by Nikolay Nikitushkin. Music by Anthony Lazaro. Send your thoughts and feedback to podcast@centreforinquiry.ca.
Thomas Westbrook (@holykoolaid) was brought up as an evangelical Christian. Upon learning that truth should be able to withstand scrutiny, he eagerly looked at the tenets of his faith with a critical lens… and found it wanting. After realizing that science explained the world in a much more coherent manner than religion, he started his enormously popular Holy Koolaid YouTube channel and website. His favourite video series are Nothing Fails Like Bible History and Exposing Psychics.
Podcast for Inquiry is brought to you by the Centre for Inquiry Canada. Produced by Matt Payne. Graphic design by Nikolay Nikitushkin. Music by Anthony Lazaro. Send your thoughts and feedback to podcast@centreforinquiry.ca.
Welcome to the first of an ongoing occasional series of bonus material for Podcast for Inquiry subscribers. Leslie’s Diatribes will be a sounding board for Leslie to fulminate on topics he is passionate about. Today’s topic is vaccine patents. Covid-19 vaccines have saved tens of millions of lives globally - but the decision of governments to grant patents to pharmaceutical firms for research that was performed by public entities or funded with public money mystifies and infuriates Leslie.
The opinions expressed in this episode are Leslie’s, and do not represent CFIC or any other organization.
Podcast for Inquiry is brought to you by the Centre for Inquiry Canada. Produced by Matt Payne. Graphic design by Nikolay Nikitushkin. Music by Anthony Lazaro. Send your thoughts and feedback to podcast@centreforinquiry.ca.
Sandra describes the human rights abuses perpetrated by the Kim dynasty in North Korea, and why it is important to have them documented. Despite being considered a pariah nation by many, some defend the nation and the regime expends considerable effort to bolster its reputation internationally. Sandra and Leslie discuss the limits of national sovereignty, when it becomes a moral obligation to intervene, and the ramifications of the radically different approach taken to North Korean relations by the former US president, Donald Trump. For those who wish to get involved to support the people of North Korea, Dr. Fahy recommends HanVoice or Liberty in North Korea.
Podcast for Inquiry is brought to you by the Centre for Inquiry Canada. Produced by Matt Payne. Graphic design by Nikolay Nikitushkin. Music by Anthony Lazaro. Send your thoughts and feedback to podcast@centreforinquiry.ca.
Municipal council and school board elections in Ontario will take place on Monday, October 24, 2022. One Toronto District School Board (Toronto-Danforth) Trustee candidate, Matt Farrell (@Matt4TO_Trustee), will do something that no other public school trustee has promised - if he wins, he will initiate a process “culminating in a formal request by the TDSB to recommend a merged system to the Government of Ontario.” CFIC brings you this conversation to explore a new idea in the political realm, but does not endorse candidates.
Podcast for Inquiry is brought to you by the Centre for Inquiry Canada. Produced by Matt Payne. Graphic design by Nikolay Nikitushkin. Music by Anthony Lazaro. Send your thoughts and feedback to podcast@centreforinquiry.ca.
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 brought to you by the Centre for Inquiry Canada. Produced by Matt Payne. Graphic design by Nikolay Nikitushkin. Music by Anthony Lazaro. Send your thoughts and feedback to podcast@centreforinquiry.ca.
Andrew Copson (@andrewcopson) is the president of Humanists International, which published its Declaration of Modern Humanism earlier this year. Andrew describes the content of the Declaration and the process by which it was created, and he and Leslie talk about how it differs from its 1952 and 2002 incarnations.
Podcast for Inquiry is brought to you by the Centre for Inquiry Canada. Produced by Matt Payne. Graphic design by Nikolay Nikitushkin. Music by Anthony Lazaro. Send your thoughts and feedback to podcast@centreforinquiry.ca.
Christopher DiCarlo is a philosopher of science and the founder of Critical Thinking Solutions. He and Leslie start by discussing the potential future for Artificial Intelligence (AI); both to help humanity (through DiCarlo’s Onion Skin Theory of Knowledge (OSTOK) project, and how to avoid a robotic apocalypse. But they quickly realize that the most difficult question is: What would we want a perfectly functioning AI to do? This leads to a fascinating conversation about society, philosophy, and politics, before coming back to AI and our ability to integrate new technology into our mindset, outlook, and culture.
Podcast for Inquiry is brought to you by the Centre for Inquiry Canada. Produced by Matt Payne. Graphic design by Nikolay Nikitushkin. Music by Anthony Lazaro. Send your thoughts and feedback to podcast@centreforinquiry.ca
Eric Schnurer is the author of the essay Democracy Disrupted: Governance in an Increasingly Virtual and Massively Distributed World. In it, Eric argues that the Internet will revolutionize our society on a scale similar to the agricultural and industrial revolutions, but on a timescale of years instead of decades or centuries. Eric and Leslie discuss how Estonia points to how government services of the future may look, the importance (and eventual impotence) of antitrust enforcement, and how to reconcile the fact that most economic sectors are becoming more concentrated (with fewer competitors) with the unbundling and disaggregation that digitization allows.
Podcast for Inquiry is brought to you by the Centre for Inquiry Canada. Produced by Matt Payne. Graphic design by Nikolay Nikitushkin. Music by Anthony Lazaro. Send your thoughts and feedback to podcast@centreforinquiry.ca.
Brandon K. Gauthier (@bk_gauthier) wrote Before Evil, about the childhoods of six of the twentieth century’s most notorious dictators, to show that even the most vile among us share a basic humanity. We must remember that if we are to avoid becoming like them. Brandon and Leslie discuss the impetus for writing the book and Brandon reads a couple of excerpts. The passionate conversation ranges from the importance of democratic norms and structures in avoiding sliding into autocracy (reminiscent of PfI S01E05 with Miriam Mufti) and the importance of free expression while recognizing the difficulty of determining where its limits lie (echoing a discussion in PfI S01E06 with James Turk). Brandon emphasizes that we are all subject to ideologies that view others as less than human, and implores everyone to approach complex subjects with humility.
Podcast for Inquiry is brought to you by the Centre for Inquiry Canada. Produced by Matt Payne. Graphic design by Nikolay Nikitushkin. Music by Anthony Lazaro. Send your thoughts and feedback to podcast@centreforinquiry.ca.
John Gleason is known online as the Godless Engineer (@GodlessEngineer Facebook) and has spent the past decade debunking religious apologists and anti-science beliefs. Leslie asks John about his journey to atheism, and whether Jesus was a historical or mythical figure. John describes how he chose the audience he wanted to reach, and how he strives to be both memorable and entertaining. He talks about how his activism has affected his career and relations with his family, and concludes by giving some advice to activists just starting to find their voice.
Dr. Allen-Vercoe (@EmmaAllenVercoe) talks with Leslie about how to think of microbe populations across different people, and why they are important for digestion and overall health. They discuss research on the microbiome of the Yanomami, and why it is important. The role of serendipity in scientific progress is often underemphasized, and Emma shares how one such moment led to an enormous grant for colorectal cancer research. She explains her role in improving a disgusting but effective medical intervention. Finally, Emma summarizes her extensive efforts to fight pseudoscience and the need for personalized medicine in the years to come.
Podcast for Inquiry is brought to you by the Centre for Inquiry Canada. Produced by Matt Payne. Graphic design by Nikolay Nikitushkin. Music by Anthony Lazaro. Send your thoughts and feedback to podcast@centreforinquiry.ca
David Good is the son of an American anthropologist father and a Yanomami mother. David shares with Leslie what it is like to have one foot in two very different worlds, and the experience of meeting his mother in the jungle after twenty years in suburban America. They talk about the Yanomami equivalent of laws and means of settling disputes, and what we can learn from them. Follow David online on Instagram and learn more about his efforts to protect the Yanomami way of life at The Good Project. Podcast for Inquiry is brought to you by the Centre for Inquiry Canada. Produced by Matt Payne. Graphic design by Nikolay Nikitushkin. Music by Anthony Lazaro. Send your thoughts and feedback to podcast@centreforinquiry.ca
Even as a young teenager, Dr. Steven Pinker (@sapinker) prized rationality as a virtue, and considered himself an anarchist. He changed that belief, however, when evidence indicated that anarchy was not a path to human flourishing. In this special episode, a co-production with the New Enlightenment Project, previous Podcast for Inquiry guest Lloyd Hawkeye Robertson returns as a co-host. Together, Lloyd and Leslie explore with Dr. Pinker whether universities are betraying their mission, how the human brain spectacularly fails while also working wonders, the loose connections between science and technology with social and moral progress, and what humanity needs to do to continue to thrive for the next 50-100 years. This episode of Podcast for Inquiry is brought to you by the Centre for Inquiry Canada and the New Enlightenment Project. Produced by Matt Payne. Graphic design by Nikolay Nikitushkin. Music by Anthony Lazaro. Send your thoughts and feedback to podcast@centreforinquiry.ca
William Davis is best known as the Cigarette Smoking Man on the popular TV show The X-Files. He is also the founder of The William Davis Centre for Actors’ Study and has just published a new book On Acting…and Life. William and Leslie discuss how his presence on The X-Files expanded from the silent portrayal he gave in the pilot to the series’ most frequent recurring role, the importance of seeing the world from the perspective of the character you are portraying, and how William’s undergraduate education in philosophy informed both his career and his worldview. They discuss many tips, tricks, and traps to help any aspiring actor, and William shares a few insights that did not make it into the book.
Podcast for Inquiry is brought to you by the Centre for Inquiry Canada. Produced by Matt Payne. Graphic design by Nikolay Nikitushkin. Music by Anthony Lazaro. Send your thoughts and feedback to podcast@centreforinquiry.ca
Howard Doughty has been a college professor for over 40 years and has grave concerns about the changes he’s seen in colleges and universities. Howard describes the nature, scope and limitations of academic freedom, and how that has changed over the decades. The increasing corporate influence in universities has in some cases supplanted the original purpose of the university, according to Howard. Leslie and Howard discuss how students are different today than when he started teaching, and whether they should view their post-secondary endeavor as an educational opportunity, or a glorified job training program. Podcast for Inquiry is brought to you by the Centre for Inquiry Canada. Produced by Matt Payne. Graphic design by Nikolay Nikitushkin. Music by Anthony Lazaro. Send your thoughts and feedback to podcast@centreforinquiry.ca
Julie Bindel (@bindelj) is a journalist, writer, broadcaster, and researcher. She joins Podcast for Inquiry to talk about her new book, Feminism for Women. Julie covers previous and current waves of feminism, the lie young women have been fed about feminism, and why she believes marriage can never be a feminist act. Julie and Leslie discuss men’s role in the feminist movement, Julie’s position on prostitution, and what’s next for the feminist movement. Feminism for Women is currently available in North America as an e-book and the paperback edition will be released on September 27, 2022. Podcast for Inquiry is brought to you by the Centre for Inquiry Canada. Produced by Matt Payne. Graphic design by Nikolay Nikitushkin. Music by Anthony Lazaro. Send your thoughts and feedback to podcast@centreforinquiry.ca
Matthew McManus (@MattPolProf) is a sessional instructor at the University of Calgary who discusses conservatism from a progressive standpoint. Matt and Leslie talk about seeking out those who disagree with you while being open to new arguments, evidence, and perspectives. Not everyone is willing to argue in good faith, but fortunately there are “tells” that signal this disposition before one makes a significant investment of time and energy engaging. There are pitfalls involved in such an effort, and Matt and Leslie examine ways they can be avoided. Podcast for Inquiry is brought to you by the Centre for Inquiry Canada. Produced by Matt Payne. Graphic design by Nikolay Nikitushkin. Music by Anthony Lazaro. Send your thoughts and feedback to podcast@centreforinquiry.ca
James Turk (@jameslturk) is the Director of the Centre for Free Expression at Ryerson University. James and Leslie discuss the importance of free expression in a democratic society, the futility and counterproductive nature of censorship, and what limits on expression are reasonable and justified. They also talk about the “marketplace of ideas” and how it informs free expression, and the surprising connection between monopolies and the stifling of speech. Podcast for Inquiry is brought to you by the Centre for Inquiry Canada. Produced by Matt Payne. Graphic design by Nikolay Nikitushkin. Music by Anthony Lazaro. Send your thoughts and feedback to podcast@centreforinquiry.ca
Dr. Mariam Mufti is an Associate Professor of political science at the University of Waterloo. She and Leslie discuss the various waves of democracy in the past century, and the backlash to them. They discuss the Russian invasion of Ukraine, and how most democratic countries have united against it (at least so far). They also talk about what has led to the recent decrease in trust in public institutions, and why democratic voters support authoritarian leaders like Bolsonaro, Modi, Erdogan, and Duterte. Mariam provides suggestions on what citizens and countries can do to protect democracy, and discusses whether there is an inherent contradiction between Islam and democracy. Miriam does her best to convince Leslie that, despite recent setbacks, democracy is not a lost cause around the globe.
The statistics from the Economist were cited by Steve Paikin in Exporting Western Democracy on TVO’s The Agenda, and that there are three times more autocracies in the world than democracy in 1972 is from Lucan Way and Steve Levitsky’s work. Lucan Way, Bessma Momani and Martin Regg-Cohn were the inspiration for the arguments Mariam made in support of democracy in the last question.
Podcast for Inquiry is brought to you by the Centre for Inquiry Canada. Produced by Matt Payne. Graphic design by Nikolay Nikitushkin. Music by Anthony Lazaro. Send your thoughts and feedback to podcast@centreforinquiry.ca
Host Leslie Rosenblood and Caroline Russell-King (https://carolinerussellking.com/) discuss the secular case for Bill 21, in the second instalment of a two-part series. Caroline describes the harms Bill 21 is intended to mitigate, and whether they justify the nontrivial limitations it places on religious expression. They discuss why Bill 21 has so split the secular community in Canada, and whether she sees any room for improvement.
Caroline is a playwright and an atheist/antitheist.
Podcast for Inquiry is brought to you by the Centre for Inquiry Canada. Produced by Matt Payne. Graphic design by Nikolay Nikitushkin. Music by Anthony Lazaro. Send your thoughts and feedback to podcast@centreforinquiry.ca
Quebec's Bill 21, which prohibits most government employees from wearing religious symbols, has split Canada’s secular community. The divide is largely geographic; most secularists within Quebec support Bill 21, while a majority in the rest of Canada oppose it, calling it a political act of discrimination or racism. In this first of a two-part series, host Leslie Rosenblood speaks with Catherine Francis, a Toronto lawyer, about her opposition to Bill 21. Starting with a history of the bill, from its introduction in Quebec's National Assembly through to its eventual passage, Catherine summarizes the numerous legal challenges it has overcome to date and the likely course of future court cases. Catherine explains why she does not consider Bill 21 to be a "secularism law" and why the legislation is bad for Quebec and Canada.
Podcast for Inquiry is brought to you by the Centre for Inquiry Canada. Produced by Matt Payne. Graphic design by Nikolay Nikitushkin. Music by Anthony Lazaro. Send your thoughts and feedback to podcast@centreforinquiry.ca
Indigenous scholar Lloyd Hawkeye Robertson (@LloydHawkeye7) and host Leslie Rosenblood discuss the importance of enlightenment values and defending them from attack. Lloyd is the President of the New Enlightenment Project, a Canadian humanist initiative, dedicated to free speech and civilized debate.
Leslie and Lloyd discuss: The moral obligation to advocate for change in our culture, whether cultural change can only come from within, online misinformation, changes Lloyd would like to see within Canadian aboriginal culture and in broader Canadian society, and a defense of Steven Pinker.
Podcast for Inquiry is brought to you by the Centre for Inquiry Canada. Produced by Matt Payne. Graphic design by Nikolay Nikitushkin. Music by Anthony Lazaro. Send your thoughts and feedback to podcast@centreforinquiry.ca
Host Leslie Rosenblood and Quillette editor Jonathan Kay (@jonkay) discuss the transformations Canadian media institutions have undergone over the past 20 years. Learn about the impact of the Internet, social media, divisive politics, increasing ownership concentration, legacy and current business models for the industry, and the future of journalism in Canada, especially in light of the seemingly endless cuts to newsrooms.
Podcast for Inquiry is brought to you by the Centre for Inquiry Canada. Produced by Matt Payne. Graphic design by Nikolay Nikitushkin. Music by Anthony Lazaro. Send your thoughts and feedback to podcast@centreforinquiry.ca
The Centre for Inquiry Canada is proud to present the Podcast for Inquiry, a series of conversations about science, secularism, critical thinking, and humanism. This teaser includes samples from our first few episodes. Subscribe now and be the first to listen to our premiere episode when it officially launches in January, 2022. https://centreforinquiry.ca/