Frank Schaeffer grew up in a Swiss Evangelical commune, the son of a fundamentalist theologian. He and his father helped found the Religious Right and were part of its power structure for many years, Then Schaeffer recanted. Today he's a liberal democrat who describes himself as "an atheist who believes in God." He outlines his disenchantment with Evangelical politics.
Intelligent. Optimistic. Curious.
Audio
Writer Terry Tempest Williams recommends the novel "Tracks" by Louise Erdrich. Erdrich, one of the great writers of the Native American Renaissance, is a member of the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa Indians.
Whose America is it? Writer Thomas King has strong feelings about that. He says Native Americans have been many things to white people. Slaves, stereotypes, savages. And always inconvenient.
Poet Christian Wiman says being diagnosed with cancer - and falling in love - spurred him to write.
In this conversation with Jim Fleming, he reads poems throbbing with life, and talks about finding future.
Stephen Asma tells Jim Fleming how today’s public institutions grew out of the bizarre private collections of people like Peter the Great.
Psychiatrist Mindy Fullilove has studied cities for decades. She says evictions destroy the social fabric of a community and are key to understanding why many cities and neighborhoods are so divided.
Sam Harris says religious certainty is not only irrational, it's dangerous. He says believing in Allah or Jesus or the God of Abraham makes no more sense than believing in Zeus.
G. Willow Wilson just won the World Fantasy Award for her novel, “Alif the Unseen”. Also, Marvel Comics is launching a new Muslim girl super-hero and Willow will be the series’ writer.
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