“While people are occasionally motivated to do wonderful things on the basis of their faith, faith generally speaking provides bad reasons to do good things when good reasons are actually available.”
Can a Christian and an Atheist have a civil and constructive dialogue about the future? For the past 20 years, neuroscientist and philosopher Sam Harris has been one of the leading thinkers of the New Atheism Movement. Van Jones, on the other hand, is a man of deep Christian faith. Despite this seemingly stark divide, Sam and Van both share an interest in life’s big questions: How can people come together to create positive change? What does it mean to live a good life? How do people achieve a sense of belonging, especially during times of crisis?
In this episode, Van and Sam confront their differences as they discuss the pitfalls of dogma in religion and atheism. They both affirm the importance of some form of spiritual practice - whether through religious worship or through meditation and mindfulness. Wherever you fall on the spectrum of belief, there is something for you in this episode..
New episodes of Uncommon Ground with Van Jones release weekly, every Wednesday.
What are your views on religion? How much of a role does rationality play in your day-to-day life? Call 347-770-2785 and leave Van a voicemail. Your comment or question will be recorded, and may be played and answered on a future episode of Uncommon Ground!
See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
Popular Podcasts
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com
On Purpose with Jay Shetty
I’m Jay Shetty host of On Purpose the worlds #1 Mental Health podcast and I’m so grateful you found us. I started this podcast 5 years ago to invite you into conversations and workshops that are designed to help make you happier, healthier and more healed. I believe that when you (yes you) feel seen, heard and understood you’re able to deal with relationship struggles, work challenges and life’s ups and downs with more ease and grace. I interview experts, celebrities, thought leaders and athletes so that we can grow our mindset, build better habits and uncover a side of them we’ve never seen before. New episodes every Monday and Friday. Your support means the world to me and I don’t take it for granted — click the follow button and leave a review to help us spread the love with On Purpose. I can’t wait for you to listen to your first or 500th episode!