The Podcast For Inquiry

All life on earth ultimately depends on energy and how it flows between biological and geochemical systems on the planet. Katherine Richardson and her team identified nine boundaries which need to be respected if our planet is to remain conducive to human thriving. Climate change is just one of them. We are exceeding six boundaries, and in recent years they are all getting worse. Katherine discuss...

Lizzie Wade is the author of APOCALYPSE : How Catastrophe Transformed Our World and Can Forge New Futures.  She is a science writer focusing on archaeology and anthropology, a contributing correspondent for Science, and her work has also appeared in Wired, Archaeology, National Geographic, and Slate. Follow her work via The Antiquarian newsletter at theantiquarian.email The conversation starts wit...

Leslie spoke about CFIC for a few minutes at the 2026 WeCanReason conference in early May. The brief talk wasn't recorded but seemed to resonate with many attendees, so today's bonus episode is Leslie recreating the speech for Podcast for Inquiry subscribers.  As with all Diatribes, the opinions expressed are Leslie's alone and do not represent CFIC or any other organization. Podcast for Inquiry i...

Dr. Caroline Brookfield is an author, speaker, and entrepreneur. Caroline helps "non-creatives" connect with a creative mindset to build confidence in change, buffer against burnout, and leverage individual originality for adaptability and problem-solving, even when facing the most perplexing challenges. Today's conversation starts with a definition of creativity. Caroline distinguishes between Bi...

Dr. Christopher Labos is a cardiologist and an affiliate member of the Department of Global and Public Health of McGill University. He is a columnist with the Montreal Gazette and Medscape, featured on the Sunday Morning House Call on CJAD radio, and has a regular TV segment with CTV Montreal and CBC Morning Live. He hosts the award-winning podcast " The Body of Evidence ."  He is the author of "...

Dr. Anthony Pinn is a professor, prolific author and much sought-after lecturer committed to academic rigor. Known internationally as a leading expert in the field of African American religion, Dr.  Pinn's teaching and research interests span liberation theologies, black religious aesthetics, religion and popular culture, and African American humanism.    On today's episode, I speak with Dr. Pinn...

Richard Carrier is the author of Sense and Goodness without God, On the Historicity of Jesus, The Scientist in the Early Roman Empire, and many other books, chapters, and articles. With a Ph. D. in ancient history from Columbia University, he specializes in the modern philosophy of naturalism, the origins of Christianity, and the intellectual history of Greece and Rome.    In today's episode, Rich...

Linda Silver Dranoff is a precedent-setting lawyer, an empowering author about law, public policy and women's rights, and a successful feminist activist for equality and family law reform. She is the author of Fairly Equal: Lawyering the Feminist Revolution . Linda has been honoured with the Order of Canada, Order of Ontario and Law Society Medal. Her latest effort is  Fairly Equal: Conversations...

No issue has split the secular community in Canada like Quebec's Bill 21. Several secular organizations have come out strongly in favour of the legislation, with some saying its only flaw being that it doesn't go far enough. Many other secular groups, including CFIC, have come out strongly against Bill 21. It was challenged in court immediately after its passage in June 2019, and the Supreme Court...

In 1975, Najla Mohamed-Lamin's grandmother fled Moroccan troops entering Western Sahara. For 50 years, Najla's family, and 200,000 of the Saharawi people, have lived in refugee camps in western Algeria.  Despite a clear legal case under international law for self-determination and a promise from Morocco to hold a referendum on the future of Western Sahara, the Saharawi people remain separated from...

Dr. Jackie Nemni is a physician specializing in respiratory medicine and spent decades looking after patients in the ICU. She retired from active practice in 2023 and has since been working part time as a MAiD assessor and provider. It is the most meaningful and rewarding thing she has ever done and wishes she had started sooner. Jackie is also an officiant with Humanist Canada and serves on its b...

Jesse Brown is the founder and editor of Canadaland , Canada's largest independent podcast network. We start our conversation talking about the state of journalism in Canada, four years after Podcast for Inquiry's inaugural episode with Jonathan Kay on the same topic. The bulk of our conversation is focused on Jesse's latest investigative reporting series, What Is Happening Here . Jews in Canada a...

Daniel is a professor of physics at UC Irvine, researching particle physics at CERN's Large Hadron Collider. He is the co-host of the podcast 'Daniel and Kelly's Extraordinary Universe' and the author of several books about physics for a general audience, including " Do Aliens Speak Physics ?" And "We have no idea". In today's episode, Daniel explores many questions, including: Would we recognize...

Dr. Rodney Schmaltz is a professor in the Department of Psychology at MacEwan University. His research focuses on the psychology of belief, with a particular interest in how people evaluate extraordinary claims. He is committed to helping people develop strong critical thinking skills and an appreciation for the value of scientific evidence in everyday life.  His work aims to improve scientific li...

Steve Ghikadis is a Humanist Officiant, who conducts secular marriages, memorials, and other life affirming celebrations. Raised as a freethinker, Steve has been married to a Christian for over a decade. Steve serves as an Ambassador for Humanist Canada , Recovering from Religion , and Sunday Assembly . Leslie speaks with Steve about his book, Humanism from the Heart . They discuss the many themes...

Leslie's conversation with Jasmin Faulk begins with what Saudi Arabia was like when she was growing up, and what has and hasn't changed since then. Jasmin talks about the fire of youth, the wisdom that comes from age, and how society needs both activists and advocates to move forward. She also shares her desire to have  genuine and difficult conversations with people with very different worldviews...

Corporate scandals are depressingly common, and it's all too easy to chalk them up to individual bad apples. Unfortunately, this simple explanation is not accurate. Guido's research led him to write The Dark Pattern: The hidden dynamics of corporate scandals, which details the nine building blocks that lead otherwise good people to do bad things. He explains the importance of context, why psychopa...

Andrew Coyne ( @acoyne ) is a columnist for The Globe and Mail and author of The Crisis of Canadian Democracy. In today's episode, Andrew makes the case that Canadian democracy is headed for a crisis. He talks about the problems of Canada's first past the post or "winner takes all" election system. The conversation includes an analysis of a wide range of issues: the diminishing contributions that...

Leslie's conversation with Sarah starts with the connections between mathematics and literature, including references to Shakespeare, Herman Melville, George Eliot, Lewis Carroll, Douglas Adams, and more. Good writing has structure, and structure can be understood in mathematical terms, and Sarah explains how mathematics can greatly enrich one's enjoyment of literature. Sarah also describes how ma...

Donald Robertson ( Substack ) is a writer, cognitive-behavioural psychotherapist, and trainer. He is one of the founding members of the Modern Stoicism nonprofit, and the founder and president of the Plato's Academy Centre nonprofit in Athens, Greece. Leslie's conversation with Donald traces the path from ancient Stoicism to the modern day. The word stoicism had come to mean something very differe...

Justin Ling (@ justinling.ca ) is an investigative journalist who writes the Bug-eyed and Shameless newsletter and recently published the book The 51st State Votes .  The conversation begins with the right wing media ecosystem, and its effect particularly on US politics. Justin explains why there isn't really a counterpart on the left, and what makes Canada different from the United States in this...

Sabrina Little is a philosopher, ultra-runner, and the author of The Examined Run: Why Good People Make Better Runners. She is a five-time U.S. National Champion in trail and ultrarunning, a former American Record Holder, and World Silver Medalist.  In today's episode, Sabrina answers the question: Why do good people make better runners? What are the performance enhancing virtues, and do they outw...

What is Private Equity, and how does it work? Gretchen Morgenson ( @gmorgenson ) is a Pulitzer-winning journalist whose latest book is These are the Plunderers. Gretchen exposes the bad and often illegal activities of Private Equity firms, and tries to explain why they have been allowed to get away with it for so long. She explains how Private Equity firms operate behind the scenes to ensure the l...

Catherine Nixey is the author of The Darkening Age, which documents how early Christians burned texts, defaced or demolished statues, and became increasingly intolerant of any thought or behaviour that deviated from their interpretation of Scripture. Catherine and Leslie discuss religious pluralism in the Roman Empire and how it changed after the Emperor Constantine's conversion to Christianity -...

Seth Andrews ( @SethAndrewsTTA ) is the host of The Thinking Atheist , a very popular podcast and online resource for nonbelievers. Seth talks about his life as an evangelical Christian and what led him to leave his faith. He and Leslie talk about how many Christians embrace seemingly un-Christian beliefs and policies, and what Humanists need to do to make the world a better place. Podcast for Inq...