Humanize Me
309 episodes - English - Latest episode: 7 days ago - ★★★★★ - 202 ratingsA podcast about making the most of this life by reframing your story, building better relationships, and cultivating wonder and gratitude. Hosted by longtime counselor and community builder Bart Campolo, the show features warm, thoughtful conversations about generating love and meaning in a universe that doesn’t always provide it.
Homepage Apple Podcasts Google Podcasts Overcast Castro Pocket Casts RSS feed
Episodes
503: Rituals and our nature, with Sasha Sagan
February 02, 2020 22:19 - 1 hour - 97.5 MBIn previous episodes of this podcast, we've established that rituals are important. But why? And how is it connected to our own nature, and the nature around us? Sasha Sagan has written a book all about the subject. It would be hard to imagine a more 'Humanize Me' book, and by such a gifted communicator! In this conversation, Bart Campolo talks with Sasha about the kinds of rituals we have, how they operate for secular people, encouraging deeper thinking about why we mark the occasions we do...
502: On answering your questions
January 22, 2020 18:47 - 47 minutes - 53.9 MBBart Campolo has been a counselor in one context or another for many decades. As listeners to this podcast, we invite you to submit your questions! Are you looking for advice about a relationship in your life? Got a friend in a predicament? Want to know how to handle a situation? Call us at the number on our site - HumanizeMePodcast.com - or write your message at BartCampolo.org/Contact.
501: 'A Cripple's Dance', with Gabriel "Freaque" Rodreick
January 14, 2020 06:04 - 57 minutes - 65.4 MB'How are you not freaking out?' is the question Gabe asks in one of the two songs we play in this inaugural episode of 2020. Gabe is an artist, musician, poet and more. His C5 spinal injury, incurred when he was 15 years old, left him paralyzed from the armpits down. What more could there be to freak out about? In this conversation, Bart talks with Gabe about finding a room of one's own in a hostile world, his art including an electronic rock opera telling the story of his life, sexuality an...
439: Faith and the post-believer
December 30, 2019 16:37 - 33 minutes - 37.9 MBIt's an end-of-the-year podcast from Bart Campolo, who answers a question from a listener called John. John wants to know whether faith (of a sort) can still be useful for a post-Christian, whether believing something without evidence can sometimes have its benefits. Bart answers with a riff on the difference between optimism and hope, and thinks about its applicability to the new decade we're going into this week.
438: Christian climate skeptics and why rhetoric matters, with Emma Bloomfield
December 23, 2019 22:12 - 1 hour - 71.1 MBEmma Bloomfield researches the intersection of science and religious rhetoric, particularly around issues of climate change, human origins and the body. In this conversation with Bart Campolo, Emma talks about how Christians tend to think differently about science and the environment, the three ‘types’ of religious climate skeptic (separators, bargainers and harmonizers), the similarities and differences between creationists and climate change skeptics, how language matters, how ideological ...
437: Three questions about navigating the holidays after faith
December 06, 2019 22:22 - 40 minutes - 46.7 MBThanksgiving has been and gone, and now we're into a whole month of Christmas in America. How does one navigate a time that can be very tricky for those who have deconverted from faith? In this Q&A episode of our podcast, Bart Campolo tries to answer three questions related to being post-faith at the holidays.
436: A Christian with 'Zero Theology', with John Tucker
November 13, 2019 22:26 - 1 hour - 74.5 MBJohn Tucker used to be a literalist Christian, but says he has now rejected the 'belief paradigm' to move beyond either accepting or rejecting the claims of religion. In this conversation with Bart Campolo, John lays out how he sees truth now, and says that he thinks religious claims should be expressed only as catch-22s. An example of a catch-22: 'The only acceptable evidence for religious belief is evidence that is unacceptable.' Confused by this, Bart explores what John means by it.
435: Thought-provoking science fiction
November 05, 2019 22:29 - 35 minutes - 40.8 MBBart and John answer a question about the sci-fi that humanists might love.
435:Thought-provoking science fiction
November 05, 2019 19:47 - 35 minutes - 40.8 MBIt's a Q&A episode! And this week, the question is: "Hey Bart, you humanists seem to really love science, so I’m wondering... do you love science fiction too? If so, what do you love and why?" - Marianne Bart Campolo talks with producer John Wright about sci-fi and the thoughts it can provoke. In the process, he strongly recommends a book that is controversial, poorly-written and probably wrong, and which made him consider the benefits of fascism. — Follow this podcast to stay up-to-date:...
434: Unveiled, with Yasmine Mohammed
October 25, 2019 22:09 - 1 hour - 99 MBYasmine Mohammed wore the hijab from the age of 9, but never felt comfortable as a Muslim. Now, having been out of the faith for many years, she's able to reflect on her remarkable life, on the Islamic world and on religious indoctrination in general. In this conversation with Bart Campolo, Yasmine talks about the differences between Islam and Christianity, the powerful, debilitating effect she felt of being covered from head to toe, how easy it is to indoctrinate children, how western gover...
433: Should it worry me that the government is demonizing secular people?
October 17, 2019 22:32 - 35 minutes - 32.8 MBThe question being asked this week: 'Hey Bart, I listened to a speech by Attorney General William Barr at Notre Dame University, in which he denounced ‘militant secularists’ and said they were trying to destroy the ‘traditional moral order’. Does this worry you as much as it does me?' Bart Campolo sits down with John Wright to answer this question, and - spoiler - it's a resounding 'Yes.'
432: The meaning of cartoons, with Josh 'Phantom' Strider
October 08, 2019 18:30 - 59 minutes - 47.5 MBJosh 'Phantom' Strider is an Australian YouTuber known for his commentary on cartoons. He's also an avid listener of the Humanize Me podcast and one of our supporters on Patreon! In this conversation with Bart Campolo, Josh talks about the secularism of Disney, the messages of VeggieTales, the importance of cartoons for those like him on the autism spectrum, the business model of YouTube, Hank Green and the online content ecosystem.
432: The meaning of cartoons, with Josh "Phantom" Strider
October 08, 2019 18:30 - 59 minutes - 47.5 MBJosh "Phantom" Strider is an Australian YouTuber known for his commentary on cartoons. He's also an avid listener of the Humanize Me podcast and one of our supporters on Patreon! In this conversation with Bart Campolo, Josh talks about the secularism of Disney, the messages of VeggieTales, the importance of cartoons for those like him on the autism spectrum, the business model of YouTube, Hank Green and the online content ecosystem. Check out Josh's YouTube channel on YouTube under PhantomS...
431: SALMAGUNDI!
September 24, 2019 18:49 - 34 minutes - 31.8 MBA solo podcast by Bart Campolo with poetry, songs and nepotism.
430: What It Means to Be Moral, with Phil Zuckerman
September 09, 2019 20:39 - 1 hour - 63.8 MBHow do we decide whether it's good or bad to intervene in global warming or growing inequality? Or how to treat our dog? Phil Zuckerman has written a new book giving a foundational framework for secular - nonreligious - morality. In this conversation Phil talks with Bart Campolo about the four reasons you can't get morality from God, and the ways to build a secular ethic that, he thinks, is a better one. They discuss the problems with a God-based morality, the Euthyphro Dilemma and the natur...
429: Changing Minds Part II, with David Fleischer
August 27, 2019 23:15 - 1 hour - 74.6 MBIn Episode 423 of this podcast, David Fleischer talked with Bart Campolo about changing minds with the methodology of 'deep canvassing.' In this episode, David returns! He and Bart talk about the next election, Trump as the opposite of loving and humanist, how to encourage people to vote without shaming them about not voting last time, how the lessons of deep canvassing relate to the conversations people are having about faith in God, and more.
428: High profile deconversions and secular 'churches'
August 19, 2019 19:30 - 48 minutes - 38.9 MBJoshua Harris's well-known 1997 Christian book, I Kissed Dating Goodbye, shaped the relationships and sexual ethics of many of the young people who read it. In recent years, Harris has apologized for the impact of his book, which he now regards as largely negative. Earlier this summer, it emerged that Harris has separated from his wife and no longer considers himself a Christian. Marty Sampson was a worship leader and singer-songwriter with Hillsong United, a band born at Hillsong church in ...
427: Recovering from Religion, with Gayle Jordan
August 06, 2019 22:50 - 1 hour - 61.7 MBGayle Jordan is the Executive Director of the nonprofit organization Recovering from Religion, which connects people with support on their journeys out of religious faith. In this conversation with Bart Campolo, Gayle talks about her own deconversion story, the work of her organization, the helpline it operates, the common issues people face after losing or leaving faith, and encouraging people to get involved.
426: Most meaningful episodes of other podcasts
August 01, 2019 20:01 - 30 minutes - 27.7 MBIn this episode, Bart Campolo talks about the most meaningful or humanizing episodes of other podcasts. It's 20 minutes of thoughtful recommendations! Here are the individual episodes we recommend most highly. To hear why they're recommended, listen to the episode! Enjoy. Hidden Brain: Creating God and The Vegetable Lamb RadioLab: From Tree to Shining Tree WTF with Marc Maron: Irwin Winkler The Daily: The Legacy of Rachel Held Evans On Being: Rebecca Solnit and Alain de Botton The Moth...
425: Fathers and their sons, with Roman Campolo
July 26, 2019 19:56 - 48 minutes - 44.1 MBNot every family allows you to listen in on their personal conversations. But in this episode, Bart Campolo sits down with his son Roman where they talk about fathers and sons, Bart's relationship with his dad Tony, competitiveness, choosing diplomacy over conflict, Bart's self-identity as a guy who doesn't put his best effort into succeeding, and the question of whether changing situations is easier than changing your resilience to them. Part 2 of this conversation can be found on Patreon.c...
424: Making the most of life, with Hemant Mehta
July 15, 2019 18:33 - 1 hour - 82.8 MBThis classic conversation with The Friendly Atheist, Hemant Mehta, is one of the most shared episodes we've ever done. Hemant talks with Bart Campolo about squeezing more life out of our awareness of death, and making the most of the precious opportunity we have in our moments of consciousness.
423: How to change someone's mind, with David Fleischer
July 05, 2019 16:27 - 58 minutes - 66.9 MBWant to change someone's mind? David Fleischer, of the Los Angeles LGBT Center, has discovered more reliably than perhaps anybody else how to do it. As he puts it: 'We’re the first to reduce any form of prejudice in a measurable, long-lasting way with a relatively simple intervention: a 10 minute one-on-one conversation that we call deep canvassing.' In this episode of Humanize Me, David joins Bart Campolo for a conversation about his background story, how he started experimenting with diffe...
422: What if I find other people boring?
June 26, 2019 16:09 - 41 minutes - 47.3 MBOn Episode 420, we answered a question from a listener about gaining confidence in social situations. Bart Campolo's advice centered around showing curiosity in others, and making the interactions about the other people. But what if you don't find other people interesting? What if you're not curious at all about the people in these social settings? How should one cultivate such curiosity? In this episode, Bart has lots of thoughts in a row.
421: 'Leaving the Witness', with Amber Scorah
June 18, 2019 20:43 - 1 hour - 111 MBAmber Scorah was raised as a Jehovah's Witness. She tells the story of her 'deconversion' in her book, 'Leaving the Witness: Exiting a Religion and Finding a Life'. In this conversation with Bart Campolo, Amber talks about what it was like to believe fully, what it's like to disbelieve now, how her relationships were affected, the death of her young son Karl on his first day in childcare, her views on life now, and much more.
420: How to be confident in social situations
June 12, 2019 00:13 - 41 minutes - 47.6 MBThis question is one about confidence: 'I love the stuff you guys are doing about friendship, but I think it assumes a level of confidence in social situations that I don’t feel. How do I generate the kind of confidence that will enable me to initiate conversations or hold my own in social settings?' Bart has no fast-track to universal confidence to offer, but in this episode he shares a multi-point strategy that will give you a solid footing in social situations and lead to higher confidenc...
419: Restoration after tragedy, with Dr. Kate Wiebe
June 05, 2019 20:17 - 49 minutes - 56.7 MBWhen a tragedy happens, people tend to run from the pain. Dr. Kate Wiebe runs toward it. Kate is the founder and director of the Institute for Trauma and Growth, which started with a focus on faith communities and has since expanded. When a mass shooting, disaster or other tragedy strikes, Kate and her team deploy to teach leaders restorative strategies for personal and group growth. In this episode, Bart Campolo talks with Kate about what she's learned about trauma and crises, why people do...
418: How to grow your inner circle
May 30, 2019 19:33 - 40 minutes - 46.8 MBOn this week's episode of Humanize Me, Bart Campolo answers this question: "I just read an article saying that, like me, the average American has just one close friend, and 1 in 4 of us have none at all. I want to fight the 'loneliness epidemic' and have decided to make a really big effort to seek out more meaningful connections. Over the years, I've been letting my average friendships naturally die in order to concentrate on finding people with whom I more deeply connect, but potential soul...
417: Dave Warnock is dying out loud
May 24, 2019 18:26 - 1 hour - 70.4 MB'I’m in no hurry to exit this world. I love this world, I love life, I love people, I love community, I love humanity, I love conversations, I love sex, I love all the things that make life good. I love a good cigar, I love to have my bourbon, I love a good meal, I love seeing a sunset at the ocean.' - Dave Warnock on Humanize Me. Dave is a former pastor turned humanist who earlier this year was diagnosed with ALS. In response to his diagnosis, a community of secular people rallied around Da...
416: Why do we hurt those we love?
May 08, 2019 00:46 - 44 minutes - 60.8 MBWhy are we meanest to those we're closest to? 'Facebook Bob' asks whether we're monsters for this tendency, or whether we simply don't think there'll be any significant consequences for lashing out. Bart Campolo and John Wright talk about it, and the need for greater self-awareness.
415: The social impact of the internet, with Hank Green
May 01, 2019 23:20 - 1 hour - 116 MBWay back in April 2017, Hank Green joined us on the podcast. But chances are, many of you who listen in 2019 have never heard it! On this week's episode, Bart Campolo introduces that classic conversation, in which he and Hank talk about individuals versus groups, how to get on the same page with people in your life, how to make the most of your talents and opportunities, and how to humanize the internet. Hank Green is a web content producer, vlogger, and now author. His new book, out now, is...
414: Where was Bart last week? Grief and the Platinum Rule
April 24, 2019 03:15 - 42 minutes - 48.2 MBWhere was Bart last week, why didn't he answer anyone's emails or calls, and why didn't we release a new episode of the podcast? That's what producer John Wright demands to know at the start of this week's Q&A episode. In response, Bart lets us in on a week of private grief, and some of the thoughts that accompany it. We finish the episode with a 10-minute guided meditation / thought exercise with the aim of helping us love others more effectively.
413: Help! My daughter is interested in a boy!
April 10, 2019 22:29 - 42 minutes - 58.8 MBA listener question prompts Bart Campolo to give some advice about how to open up good conversations with your children about sex and relationships. Our listener is the mother of a 12 year-old girl, who, it is discovered, is interested in a boy at school. The girl's father is panicking and concerned while the mother simply wants to ask how to keep her daughter out of trouble.
412: Don't panic about porn! with Dr. Marty Klein
April 05, 2019 01:50 - 1 hour - 73.2 MBSex expert and therapist Dr. Marty Klein has a lot to say about pornography. In this conversation with Bart Campolo, Marty talks about porn and relationships, how people are ultimately responsible for the narrative they're telling themselves, the importance of novelty in human sexuality, the 'contracts' people have in relationships, how people respond to the aging process, and how to take the first step in addressing conflict over pornography. Marty has been a certified sex therapist for ove...
411: Why don't you become a Unitarian Universalist?
March 27, 2019 00:39 - 27 minutes - 31.9 MBA listener named Benjamin calls to ask why Bart feels the need to 'reinvent the wheel' with secular community-building, rather than simply join a Unitarian Universalist congregation. Benjamin says that he himself has found what he's looking for at a UU church. Bart responds to Ben's question, saying that he loves the UU movement but it didn’t feel like a fit for him personally. Bart goes on to talk about some of the potential differences between communities.
410: Insights of an openly atheist minister, with Gretta Vosper
March 19, 2019 21:25 - 1 hour - 70.8 MBGretta Vosper is an ordained minister of the United Church of Canada who, as a self-professed atheist, has survived an official review from her denomination and continues to serve as the pastor of her congregation. In this conversation, Bart Campolo talks with Gretta about the story of the last few years, why she stays in her church, what her congregation believes about a supernatural God (Gretta doesn't think it matters), whether the foundational narrative underlying the good morality Grett...
409: Climate change - a redo!
March 12, 2019 23:24 - 53 minutes - 61.6 MBIn episode 407, Bart and John attempted to answer the question of a 15 year-old listener who wondered aloud why people aren't freaking out more, and doing more, about climate change. In the wake of that episode, Bart heard from many other listeners who didn't think we nailed it. So, this is our attempt at a redo! Let us know what you think.
408: Is the paranormal proof of transcendent consciousness? with Mark Gober
March 07, 2019 23:27 - 54 minutes - 62 MBBart Campolo is a materialist, which means that he thinks that the physical universe and its movements are the basis of all reality, and that human consciousness, morality, meaning and everything else comes from physical nature. So you may consider it odd that Bart would have Mark Gober on his podcast, whose book argues that science has proven the existence of consciousness beyond the human body. Gober says that there is evidence for the existence of phenomena like telepathy, precognition, r...
407: How to cope with coming apocalypse
February 19, 2019 23:30 - 33 minutes - 46 MBThe earth is in trouble and nobody seems to care. That's the observation of Josie, 15, who called the podcast after hearing more and more about humanity's biggest challenges during science class.
406: Is pro-semitism a thing? with the hosts of Unorthodox
February 14, 2019 16:48 - 54 minutes - 49.6 MBIs it even a word? Bart Campolo’s reaction to the anti-semitic shooting in Pittsburg was to reach out to his Jewish friends and ask how they were doing. It made him wonder if there is a way to be actively pro-semitic, and to support Jews more. To answer this, Bart reached out to the hosts of the most popular Jewish podcast in existence, Unorthodox. Mark Oppenheimer, Stephanie Butnick and Liel Leibovitz chatted with Bart in this fun conversation about philo-semitism, stereotypes of Jewish peo...
405: Bart has a new community idea
February 06, 2019 17:55 - 39 minutes - 36.4 MBA letter this week from a listener who says he's hungry for community with like-minded secular people is just the latest one like it. But this one couldn't have come at a better time, or landed on more fertile soil. Two Sundays ago, Bart Campolo and a team of like-minded people held their first content-driven gathering at his new house in Cincinnati. The theme of the event was, 'Paying Attention.' They have decided to hold these meetings once every 2 weeks, with a different theme each week. ...
404: A deep dive into pyrotheology, with Peter Rollins
January 29, 2019 22:33 - 1 hour - 84.6 MBYou can be forgiven for not being familiar with 'pyrotheology', the lifelong philosophy project of Peter Rollins. In this episode of Humanize Me, Bart Campolo attempts a philosophical deep dive with Pete, a friend of the podcast for years. It’s a very lively, argumentative conversation on the differences between Bart and Pete on human drive and desire, humanism, religion, death, meaning and meaninglessness. Along the way, the pair touch on dialectics, human evolution, dual instincts, psychoa...
403: Can insignificance be liberating?
January 22, 2019 23:33 - 40 minutes - 46.7 MBOne of our listeners read an interview with Conan O'Brien in the New York Times last week, wherein Conan embraces the idea of his own coming irrelevance, and that of his work. Our listener finds it both 'liberating and depressing,' and Bart Campolo has lots to say about this, attempting to give an answer.
402: A humanist congregation, local issues, with James Croft
January 17, 2019 05:53 - 1 hour - 72.9 MBJames Croft is the Outreach Director of the Ethical Society of St. Louis, a longstanding humanist congregation, and one of the largest in the world. In this conversation with Bart Campolo, James talks about what his congregation is doing to engage with the issues of St. Louis, a place which has made many headlines in the past number of years for racial strife. James subscribes to 'deed before creed', an interest less in what people believe and more in what they commit to doing. His congregat...
401: Reflections from a new grandfather
January 09, 2019 01:31 - 58 minutes - 46.6 MBIt's a new year! A time for fresh ideas and new beginnings, and so much has been happening in Bart Campolo's life that this episode serves as an update and a reflection on various themes, including: how helping a parent cross life's finish line can focus the mind and change your plans, how the birth of a first grandchild a few days later can turn the whole thing into a 'circle of life' motif, while turning attention on the kind of world they're being born into, how suddenly becoming aware of...
338: Ho ho ho!
December 22, 2018 16:13 - 10 minutes - 8.63 MBA quick Christmas greeting from Bart Campolo, urging secular folks like himself to embrace the holiday for what it is, and be their best humanist selves during the season.
337: An old friend and a worldview challenged, with Matthew Rodreick
December 12, 2018 02:44 - 52 minutes - 41.8 MBBart Campolo's oldest and closest friend, Matthew Rodreick, is this week's guest on the podcast. Matthew's life has been shaped by his son Gabe's spinal cord injury, sustained around a decade ago when Gabe was 16.
336: Is there a truly selfless act?
December 03, 2018 23:35 - 33 minutes - 27 MBToday's caller was in line at a drive-through coffee place, and decided to pay for the people behind her in line. But she realized that, in the course of doing so, the rewarding feeling she got from the act may have been the reason she did it in the first place. And that led to her question: 'Is there actually an unselfish act? And if there isn't, are we doing it for the right reasons? Can there even be an unselfish act and if there is, would that be good?'
335: Is spiritual language disappearing? with Jonathan Merritt
November 28, 2018 00:20 - 48 minutes - 38.5 MBLanguage really shapes how we think about things. After Jonathan Merritt moved from the South to New York City, he discovered that the words he had always used to describe spiritual life didn’t resonate anymore! The more pluralistic and postmodern the society, he observed, the less language people seem to have for spiritual experience. Jonathan is so sure that this is a problem, he wrote a book about it - Learning to Speak God from Scratch - which he and Bart Campolo chat about in this episo...
334: Should we avoid talking politics over Thanksgiving?
November 21, 2018 02:14 - 41 minutes - 32.9 MBLet's be honest: Spending time cooped up with family and friends on holidays like Thanksgiving can present some interesting conversational challenges for many of us. With that in mind, our question this week is about the idea of putting a moratorium on political chat over the holidays, and whether Bart - as someone who famously had a very serious ideological conversation with his parents on Thanksgiving - has any advice about which topics work on that kind of occasion.
333: When I Spoke in Tongues, with Jessica Wilbanks
November 13, 2018 20:55 - 57 minutes - 46.4 MBJessica Wilbanks grew up in a fundamentalist Pentecostal church on the western shore of the Chesapeake Bay, and then, at 16, walked away from the church. Ever since, she's been haunted by the world she left behind and wrote a book about it, just released: When I Spoke in Tongues (available on Amazon). In this conversation with Bart Campolo, Jessica talks about growing up in her family, the "loss of an assumptive world" with her loss of faith, having a nervous breakdown in college, transcende...