Podcast For Inquiry - Centre for Inquiry Canada

A podcast for scientific, skeptical, secular, rational and humanistic inquiry.

You’ve got answers? We’ve got questions.

A podcast for scientific, skeptical, secular, rational and humanistic inquiry.

You’ve got answers? We’ve got questions.

Dr. Teale Phelps Bondaroff: Do cities listen to the Supreme Court?

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.

October 25, 2023

Dr. Evelyn Forget believes Canadians need Basic Income

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.

October 11, 2023

Seth Andrews, host of The Thinking Atheist, on the un-Christian behaviour of many Christians

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.

September 27, 2023

“Don’t be Evil” no longer applies, with Paris Marx

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

September 13, 2023

SciComm in the time of Covid, with Tara Moriarty

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 (http://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.

August 30, 2023

How Minds Change with David McRaney

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.

August 16, 2023