Humanize Me

Ryan Meeks is the founding pastor of EastLake Community Church outside of Seattle, Washington. A couple of years ago, EastLake became one of the first evangelical megachurches in America to support full inclusion and affirmation of LGBTQ+ people. In the process, Ryan also transitioned out of evangelicalism. The fallout was huge but still hundreds stayed.

Sammy Rangel is a transformed man: a former far-right extremist who had a powerful change in his life and is now the Executive Director of Life After Hate, a nonprofit that works with ‘radicalized' individuals in extremist movements and assists them in leaving the movements and reforming their lives (among other things).

How do men take the natural thoughts and urges they have and channel them appropriately? How do men grapple with their nature, while remaining safe and steadfast for the women in their lives?

Bart tells a story from his days as a Christian evangelist after having been to a storytelling workshop. In this episode he talks about storytelling as one of the most powerful tools that we have, and which binds us together as a tribe.

Bart checks in from Cincinnati, his old neighborhood made new again. Catch up on current happenings, future plans and more.

Jennifer Howd is an author, a developmental editor, and a UCLA-certified mindfulness facilitator. In this episode, Bart and Jennifer talk about her book, her work and how the principles she's developed can help people live a better and more fulfilling life.

Megan Rosenbloom tells Bart about Death Salon, a knowledge and art project she directs and curates in an attempt to open up conversations and engagement with the subject of death. What is death denial? How has death been sanitized and hidden in popular culture?

Kester Brewin is no longer a believer in a God, but holds some 'theology' and 'Christianity' even so. Bart and Kester have a transatlantic chat about life after belief and how they've both ended up in different places.

How can secular people care for each other when the chips are down? Jason Callahan is the chaplain for the Thomas Palliative Care Unit at VCU Massey Cancer Center in Virginia and instructor for the Departments of Patient Counseling and Pastoral Care at VCU. Jason is a seminary-educated secular chaplain, endorsed by the Humanist Society and nationally board-certified by the Association of Professio...

Bart eats some humble pie with an apology he felt compelled to make after the realization that he hasn't always come across the way he intended.

Listener questions abound on this episode, posed in real time by Humanize Me producer John Wright, featuring topics raised on the podcast's Facebook group. On this episode: When to come out as an unbeliever to your pastor, what Bart's been reading lately, whether atheists can enjoy worship music, and who to thank for the pleasure of living, among other things.

Gleb was involved in starting it. Bart signed up to it. Now, they're both committed to it. What is the Pro-Truth Pledge? How do we separate fact from fiction? And why did a group of scientists come together at this moment in history to do this?

Bart chats with Vanessa Zoltan, a research assistant at Harvard Divinity School where she graduated who has been involved with the Humanist Hub at Harvard University and is well-known for her approach to reading books like Harry Potter as a sacred text.

Bart’s son Roman joins him for this chat, recorded on Father’s Day, in which they contemplate the nature of ‘fathering’ and the attributes of an ideal father figure in someone’s life. What are the factors that make someone a good mentor? How can fathers establish a reality model for the person they’re mentoring but stretch to understand their world too? Is religion based on a father complex? To wh...

Like Bart, Drew Bekius is a former Christian minister who stopped believing and left the faith he held for so long. Bart and Drew talk about their journey, the view on the other side of faith, the plight of unbelieving clergy, compassion for those in that position and what they're both doing now that they're no longer evangelical pastors.

Ex-Mormons. Ex-Scientologists. Ex-Jehovah Witnesses. Ex-Evangelicals. They were all there at sunset at Morris Bird's bi-annual gathering on the beach, cooking ribs and meeting each other. Some had travelled for hours to get there, desperate for community with those like them. On this episode, Bart chats with Morris about such communities and how they may be inspired by those who are doing it alrea...

What kind of sex are Americans having? Will the Americans of the future have different sexual values than Americans of the past? What should our sexual values be, anyhow? Lisa Wade is a world expert – maybe the world expert – on hookup culture among U.S. college students. Her book, American Hookup, details her research into a culture that a growing number of people worry about.

Hank Green is a digital creator and content producer with popular YouTube channels such as Vlogbrothers and Crash Course. He reached out to Bart with some interesting thoughts about the digital age and humanism, leading to this podcast, in which the two explore things like: shared values and what helps people flourish, Hank’s approach to productivity, Bart’s technophobia, and the challenges of how...

In our second episode intended to help those who want to start their own local secular community, Bart warns against manifestos, vision statements, lists of values and other formalized statements of belief for emerging secular groups.

Is society going to suffer a collapse from unsustainability worse than the Great Depression sometime in the not-too-distant future? Both Bart and his guest for this episode, self-described ‘apocaloptimist' Michael Dowd, think so.

Bart talks with former Hollywood jack-of-all-trades turned super-cool master facilitator Jared Seide about Council, an age-old practice that involves bringing people together in a circle for candid and heartfelt conversations. Participants speak one at a time, sharing their personal stories and experiences, rather than opinions, and listen intently while others do the same.

In this - the first of two episodes on the topic - Bart talks about taking the first steps to starting your own secular community wherever you are. Consider it a practical guide to the first moves Bart recommends making, and how to talk about it to your friends and family.

In this episode, Bart shares an email from a listener who called him a 'just another liberal do-gooder.' Bart responded with kindness at the prompting of a student called Katie, and lessons were learned.

A brief update from Bart on the latest going on, including how he ended up losing all his emails, the release of his new book co-authored with Tony Campolo, and some new podcasts you can hear Bart on as a guest.

Bart doesn't believe in a god. And he's no fan of the new U.S. President, Donald J Trump. So what could he possibly mean by urging people to pray for the president?