Humanize Me

No defaults. That's how Dedeker Winston, and her romantic partners Jase and Alex, see the foundation of their relationship structure: conscious, intentional choice around a lifestyle that works for the people involved in it, rather than defaulting to the monogamy (or serial monogamy) of our culture. As a former evangelical Christian, Dedeker not only left behind her faith but also many of the idea...

It's a line Bart Campolo uses a lot in this podcast and elsewhere, that the essence of life is cultivating loving relationships with other people. Today's question asks how to begin the process of doing that, including the line, 'I’m never sure what he means or what I’m supposed to do.' Bart borrows heavily from Dale Carnegie's classic advice, which he uses to break it down to a single, basic poin...

It's often noted that Alcoholics Anonymous sounds like a religious movement, with its appeal to a 'Higher Power'. But Joe C. is the founder of a group called AA Beyond Belief, which he says exists to provide a space for AA agnostics, atheists and freethinkers worldwide. Bart Campolo has wanted to have a conversation with a secular person deep in the AA world for a long time, and Joe C. is that per...

Bart Campolo thinks his kids are the best in the world. Well, not objectively speaking, right? Well, sort of! I mean, he really prefers his kids to your kids. But he hopes you do too. Is that right? Is that okay? And is there any problem with that sort of 'us-them' mentality?

It's not a term most people use every day, but street epistemology is a thing. Anthony Magnabosco is one of its more prominent ambassadors, largely because he routinely captures his efforts on video and posts them on the internet. What is street epistemology? It's a conversational tool which uses Socratic questioning to help people expose the underlying methods by which they arrived at their belie...

This week's question comes from a listener who has a very difficult time being alone. 'When my girlfriend goes away on business trips,' he writes, 'I experience a ton of anxiety. And it isn't that I'm jealous of her - I'm I'm totally glad that she's having these experiences - but I get really anxious and my tendency is to want to immediately fill that space with with someone so that I don't have t...

Curating peoples' secrets. It's a decidedly odd vocation, but Frank Warren has been doing it for a long time now through his ever-popular online art project, PostSecret.com . People anonymously send Frank their most intimate, private, beautiful, scandalous, horrifying, amazing, unspoken thoughts on postcards (yes, through the mail!) and Frank posts a new batch of them every Sunday on the site.

In this episode Bart takes a question that, he joked upon hearing it, may easily have come from his Christian father: 'What is the basis for your morality?' And why?

Charles Vogl helps leaders transform loneliness and separation into connection and belonging. His book, The Art of Community, is the book Bart Campolo says he always wished he had to recommend to people who wanted to build their own groups and nurture them.

Bart answers a question from a listener called Erin, who called our ‘Q Line’ to ask how to start to make new connections with someone she wants to be friends with.

Human centered design (HCD), and its closely-related sibling, impact design, is about understanding challenges facing people or society, and working with others to design solutions to those challenges. Design thinking is an interdisciplinary thing, a collaborative process and a highly skilled area. Kate Hanisian and Ramsey Ford are the co-founders of Cincinnati-based 'Design Impact', leading a tea...

On this week’s Q&A episode, Bart answers a question from a listener called Matt concerning his 5 year-old son, who was given an abrupt - and nasty - theology lesson from his 6 year-old cousin recently.

Glenda Jordan makes money by being sexy, and dancing on stages in a form of adult entertainment. But that doesn't mean that she is merely a sex object, or that she gives up her humanity to do it. So what's the difference between objectification and empowerment? In this conversation with Bart Campolo, Glenda talks about how the female body is seen by males from the early stages of a woman's life, t...

Suicide is on the minds of the many after some prominent ones in the past week or two. So today, we get to a question close to the hearts of the rest of us: what does this teach the rest of us?

Like Bart, Kent Dobson had a prominent Christian father, and, like Bart, Kent finds himself a post-evangelical. But, although their journeys share some similarities, these two have not ended up in the same place. In this wide-ranging conversation, Kent talks about his current work with a values-based community that includes believers and non-believers, being part of (and pastor of) the Michigan me...

Bart Campolo doesn’t believe in God anymore. But recently, while attempting to ride a new tandem bicycle for the first time, he fell, damaging his wrist, and immediately cried out: 'Why? Why me!' It seems to be instinctive behavior for homo sapiens, but how should we think about it? Is it good to ‘lean in’ to these instincts, or should we try to avoid personifying the universe and crying out for h...

Have you ever wanted to get into the outdoors more but been a little intimidated by other groups who do? Or do you find it hard finding groups where everybody is open to new friendships? Women Who Explore is a community dedicated to getting women into the outdoors, and it’s ended up creating hundreds of new friendships in the process, all in the past year. Its co-founder, Lindsay MacNevin, is a Ca...

When you're asked for money by a homeless person, or pass someone who appears to be homeless standing in a doorway or on a street corner, how should you respond? That's the topic addressed in this, the first of Humanize Me's Q&A episodes. Bart Campolo is joined by the podcast's producer John Wright to attempt to answer the question, which came in from a listener called Mark.

Well, are we? It’s a weird thought that the experience we all share – of making our own decisions, freely choosing our next move – is nothing more than an illusion. But the science leans that way, and Dan Barker has engaged with the subject more than most. Dan is an activist, an author and speaker who serves as the co-president of the Freedom From Religion Foundation. He’s sued the government, tal...

In this episode Bart talks (a lot) with new pal Mike McHargue, aka Science Mike, whose two podcasts, Ask Science Mike and The Liturgists (with Michael Gungor) are huge among the still-kinda-Christian-but-with-lots-of-questions crowd.

It's here! For all of you who have been waiting patiently to see the documentary film Leaving My Father's Faith  – capturing Bart's conversation with his dad Tony Campolo on the subject of his leaving Christianity – the film is streaming now on Amazon Prime Video and Vimeo On Demand. This episode is a chat between Bart, Tony via phone and John Wright, the director of the new film. They reflec...

Daniel Bogard is a Jewish rabbi who’s passionate about building bridges across faith and cultural borders. He’s also a deep thinking, warm feeling, easy talking person with whom Bart has a terrific conversation about, well… a whole bunch of stuff.

Jennifer Wright-Berryman is a suicidologist in the School of Social Work at the University of Cincinnati and is currently the lead researcher for a peer-to-peer, school-based program called Hope Squad. Jennifer is an assistant professor at the University of Cincinnati and has a PHD in Social Work from the University of Indiana.

Ryan Bell is a former pastor who became an atheist after spending a year without God as an experiment. He started and hosts the popular blog and podcast Life After God and is now both the National Organizing Manager for the Secular Student Alliance, as well as the new Humanist Chaplain at the University of Southern California, a position that Bart held before moving back to Cincinnati.

What does a real apology look like? What is the difference between remorse and regret? Between saying sorry and asking for forgiveness? Bart talks about how to make an authentic apology and shares some stories from his own life that have shaped his own apologies.