Sasha Sagan is an author, television producer, and filmmaker. She is the daughter of Carl Sagan and Ann Druyan. Her book “For Small Creatures Such as We” was published in 2019. The name is a play on “For small creatures such as we, the vastness [of the universe] is made bearable only through love,” wrote Carl Sagan in his classic bestselling book, Cosmos.
‘How often have you asked yourself: What is the meaning of life? Sasha Sagan finds it everywhere – with her family, around the world, and especially among the stars… Read her work; you’ll have a deeper appreciation for your every step, every bite, and every breath.’ – Bill Nye, CEO of The Planetary Society
All things are ultimately perceived in the mind. Sometimes we can experience vivid hallucinations induced by psychotropic drugs such as LSD or grief. It can be nearly impossible to differentiate between that which can seen in the mind or experienced with our senses.
Whereas Christianity began with a vision on the road to Damascus, Islam claims its own vision. Mohammed was 40 years old when he had a vision of being visited by an angel at the cave in Hira in Saudi Arabia. The experience was profound and sparked the creation of the world’s second largest faith which today has over 1 billion followers. On a side note, the fungus Histoplasma capsulatum is found in bat guano in caves and when the fungus infects the brain it can induce psychotic behavior and hallucinations.
The resurrection of Jesus is often given as the reason to believe in Christianity. But the single biggest event in Christianity maybe Saul’s vision on the Road to Damascus. That vision so dramatically changed Saul’s life that he changed his name to Paul and travelled the Mediterranean proclaiming the Gospel. Paul Enz, a former conservative Christian, puts forward a theory of how Christianity may have begun with no supernatural interventions.
Dan Barker is a former ordained minister who preached the Gospel for nineteen years. He believes that he was deluded. Today he is co-president of the Freedom from Religion Foundation which is a nonprofit dedicated to separation of church and state.
Drew McCoy is a former Christian who reluctantly deconstructed his faith as few years ago and started a YouTube channel to help people like himself. I’m an atheist, but even more than that, I’m a skeptic. I have strict standards of evidence, and hold doubt as a virtue. To those skeptical toward religion: I urge you to apply similar rationality to the claims of alternative medicine and other pseudo-science. To religious individuals who are skeptical toward pseudo-science: I implore you to extend your skepticism into the realm of faith. Evaluate claims, demand evidence, scrutinize the absurd, and stay skeptical.
Former Christian and founder of Skeptic Magazine Dr. Michael Shermer speaks at Oxford Union makes the argument that beliefs in God are socially constructed… and not true from an ontological perspective. He supports his argument that “humans created god and not vice-versa” with evolutionary theory, social psychology, comparative religion and mythology studies. Dr. Shermer explains why people believe the way we do and asserts that superstition may have had an evolutionary advantage.
In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters. And God said, Let there be light: and there was light.- Genesis
Though there are over 200 creation myths, the one in Genesis is most widely known. It stands to reason that a creation needs a creator and philosopher William Paley put forth the gold standard of arguments from design. God is the ultimate Watchmaker. Richard Dawkins would address this argument in book entitled “The Blind Watchmaker” that was published in 1986. YouTuber Stephen Woodford of Rationality Rules does job of summarizing the argument and addressing it.
What if there was a secret code that resided in you that provided the blueprint to your entire being. This code was not written by unknown Bronze age authors 4000 years ago instead but is millions of years old. Endogenous retroviruses are invasions into the code that get replicated. They are markers, not unlike typos or coffee stains that get photocopied. Since the Human Genome project was recently completed, scientists have been able to compare the DNA of modern humans, Neanderthals and Chimpanzees. Using these comparisons they are able to determine approximately when our evolutionary lines diverged. This is perhaps the single biggest and conclusive proof for evolution and the notion that we are all “family”.
Neil deGrasse Tyson is an American astrophysicist, planetary scientist, author, and science communicator. Tyson studied at Harvard University, the University of Texas at Austin, and Columbia University. From 1991 to 1994, he was a postdoctoral research associate at Princeton University. Since 1996, he has been the director of the Hayden Planetarium at the Rose Center for Earth and Space in New York City. The center is part of the American Museum of Natural History, where Tyson founded the Department of Astrophysics in 1997 and has been a research associate in the department since 2003.
Samuel Harris is an American philosopher, neuroscientist, author, and podcast host. His work touches on a wide range of topics, including rationality, religion, ethics, free will, neuroscience, meditation, psychedelics, philosophy of mind, politics, terrorism, and artificial intelligence. Harris came to prominence for his criticism of religion, and Islam in particular, and is known as one of the “Four Horsemen” of New Atheism, along with Richard Dawkins, Christopher Hitchens, and Daniel Dennett.
Richard Dawkins FRS FRSL is a British evolutionary biologist and author. He is an emeritus fellow of New College, Oxford, and was Professor for Public Understanding of Science in the University of Oxford from 1995 to 2008. Dawkins first came to prominence with his 1976 book The Selfish Gene, which popularized the gene-centered view of evolution and introduced the term meme. In The Blind Watchmaker (1986), Dawkins argues against the watchmaker analogy, an argument for the existence of a supernatural creator based upon the complexity of living organisms. Instead, he describes evolutionary processes as analogous to a blind watchmaker, in that reproduction, mutation, and selection are unguided by any designer. In The God Delusion (2006), Dawkins contends that a supernatural creator almost certainly does not exist and that religious faith is a delusion. Dawkins’s atheist stances have sometimes attracted controversy.
Dr. Andrew M. Henry, is a scholar of religious studies. His research focus is early Christianity and late Roman religion. He earned his PhD at Boston University. Religion for Breakfast is an educational channel dedicated to the academic, nonsectarian study of religion. Its mission is to promote improving the public’s religious literacy by exploring humanity’s beliefs and rituals through an anthropological, sociological, and archaeological lens. Religion for Breakfast does not endorse any particular religious tradition or non-religious perspective.
The concept of a literal hell is believed by most Christians.. At the same time, most believe that they are not going there choosing to believe it is a place for others. How did this idea come into being? Does the bible actually address this issue?
Dr. Bart Ehrman is a world-renowned Bible scholar. He has written six New York Times best-selling books including “Misquoting Jesus” and “How Jesus Became God.” Dr. Ehrman frequently posts about early Christian scribes and manuscripts, the writings of Paul, the gospels, the historical Jesus, the “other” gospels, ancient “heresies,” how we got the Bible, and more.
This interview may blow your mind.
This interview may blow your mind.