Podcast for Inquiry Celebrates Two Incredible Years

Leslie Rosenblood

It’s been two amazing years of Podcast for Inquiry. It continues to be a source of tremendous pride to host fascinating conversations every two weeks. We brought you 25 discussions in 2023, plus three bonus episodes featuring a defense of secular principles in various contexts. 

We kicked off the year with a passionate defense of morality on secular grounds from Phil Zuckerman. This remains one of my favourite conversations to date. At one point, professor Zuckerman launches into a defense of secular values and governance with a passion and eloquence that rivals anything I’ve heard from Dawkins or Hitchens. If you haven’t already listened to this episode, you’re missing out.

Religion and cults were recurring themes in 2023, including conversations with:

Dr. Joshua Bowen on Biblical [in]accuracy
Chris Shelton on Scientology and destructive cults
Philippa Carter on what is a religion?
Noah Rasheta on Secular Buddhism
Seth Andrews on Christians acting in un-Christian ways (this was the year’s most popular episode on YouTube, with 40,000+ views and over 200 comments!)
David Fitzgerald claiming Solomon, Jesus, and Mohammed are all fictional

Science also featured prominently:

Ashely Esakin on gardening in any environment
Allan Offenberger on the Current State of Fusion Research
Dana Korneisel on tetrapods (and axolotls!)
Tara Moriarty on communicating scientific knowledge during COVID

We also delved into politics:

Srishti Hukku on misogyny in Humanism
Tonya Callaghan on homophobia in Catholic Schools
Eunju Kim on escaping North Korea

Economics was also scrutinized:

Paris Marx on how “Don’t be Evil” no longer applies
Dr. Evelyn Forget on basic income
Gretchen Morgenson on how private equity runs and wrecks America

A couple episodes demonstrated the benefits of research and critical thinking: 

David McRaney on how minds change
Dr. Teale Phelps Bondaroff on whether cities listen to the Supreme Court

And finally, we offered three bonus episodes where I expound upon secular values in various contexts:

A debate on God’s role in politics (against a Catholic scholar and lawyer)
A presentation to the International Humanist Conference on Humanism in Children and Women’s Rights
A diatribe about what Canadian Catholic hospitals consider ethics

We have a couple incredible episodes to kick off 2024: a conversation with an Australian philosopher about our post-liberal world, and an intimate view into the life of Omer, a Pakistani refugee (sponsored by CFIC) waiting to come to Canada.

We’d love to hear your feedback. Let us know what you loved, what you didn’t, how we can improve, and what you want to hear on Podcast for Inquiry. I can always be reached at podcast@centreforinquiry.ca.