Unreasonable

"Secularism Without Cynicism" with Sasha Sagan

Podcast Unreasonable Season 2 Episode 40

As we enter what promises to be an era of American-style Christo-fascism, it's hard for secular people -- people of reason, of science, who believe that faith is earned by evidence -- to not be cynical of those whose deeply held yet unproveable (indeed, improbable) beliefs will soon be determining our laws and dictating our behaviors.

Yet, without hope there is only despair. So as we turn the page on 2024, a year of frustration followed by cautious optimism followed by grief for some/surrender for others, we at Unreasonable are like moths seeking the light. Our flame? Sasha Sagan.

Sasha is a television producer, filmmaker, writer, and speaker on the ways science can inform our celebrations and how we mark the passage of time, inspired in part by the work of her parents, Carl Sagan and Ann Druyan.

Her podcast “Strange Customs” explores why we practice the rites of our ancestors, act them out, teach them to the next generation, often without questioning them. 

"When we take a step back, however, what can seem bizarre, arbitrary…can also be, sometimes, profoundly beautiful.”

Our holiday gift to you: a ray of reason-based sunshine for these gloomy times. 

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