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Show 212: Michael Perelman – “Markets, Competition and Economics”

Audio here!

About Michael Perelman:

Although I earned a degree in agricultural economics from the University
of California, Berkeley, I never could bring myself to accept the
ideological framework of conventional economics. When I looked more deeply into the environmental, social, and economic costs of the current agricultural system, I discovered how the profit-oriented agricultural system created hunger, pollution, serious public health consequences, and environmental disruption, while throwing millions of people off the land.

“Why do those whose work is most essential, such as farm workers, earn the least? Why are natural resources exploited in ways that do not take account of their scarcity? These are the disarmingly straightforward questions that dissident economist Michael Perelman directs at the discipline of economics–exploring the whole history of its development in his search for answers. In the process he has created one of the most revealing and accessible critiques of the narrow mind-set that constitutes conventional economics.
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Show 211: Fund Drive Show – “Evolution, Religion & the New Atheism” w/ David Sloan Wilson

Fund Drive Show – “Evolution, Religion & the New Atheism” w/ David Sloan Wilson

Audio here!

What does the Judeo-Christian, Islamic religious world view tell us about human nature and our place in the universe?

What does Evolutionary Biology and Scientific Naturalism itself tell us about human nature and our place in the Universe?

Where do these two worldviews merge – if they merge – and where do they differ… and how important is that difference?

And that all said, what does religion have to do with humanity’s evolution and how ought we view religion as our troubled societies move into post 9/11 times?

PODCAST/AUDIO for Interview Only
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Show 210: Stephen Prothero – Religious Literacy

From Publishers Weekly:

Audio here!

(Stephen) Prothero (American Jesus), begins this valuable primer by noting that religious illiteracy is rampant in the United States, where most Americans, even Christians, cannot name even one of the four Gospels. Such ignorance is perilous because religion “is the most volatile constituent of culture” and, unfortunately, often “one of the greatest forces for evil” in the world, he writes.

Prothero does more than diagnose the problem; he traces its surprising historic roots (“in one of the great ironies of…history, it was the nation’s most fervent people of faith who steered Americans down the road to religious illiteracy”) and prescribes concrete solutions that address religious education while preserving First Amendment boundaries about religion in the public square. Prothero also offers a dictionary of religious literacy and a quiz for readers to test their knowledge.
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Show 209: Call-In Special w/Chip Walter – Humanity through a Naturalistic Lens

One Hour Call-In Special w/Chip Walter – “Humanity through a Naturalistic Lens”

Audio here!

To be skeptical merely about the value of religion, faith, and belief in the supernatural, and not call into question the overwhelming influence which such ways of seeing the world have had upon our understanding of what it means to be human, is to ignore their most damaging aspects. What happens if we discard traditional assumptions of human sinfulness, and cynical beliefs about human’s inherent tendency to be corrupt and greedy, and try to find a more accurate description of the human experience?

Helping us explore our topic will be Chip Walter author of Thumbs, Toes and Tears and Other Traits That Make Us Human; we will be opening the phone lines to hear your ideas on this crucially important topic.