Winning Slowly

Thinking about Carl Sagan's views on belief, and how they relate to religion and science Contact, Carl Sagan Show Notes After reading Carl Sagan’s 1985 novel Contact and watching the 1995 movie of the same name, we discuss a major epistemological question: what are the acceptable grounds for belief? Are religious belief and scientific proof compatible? Sagan’s surprisingly nuanced views give us interesting ways forward. Things we mentioned on the show, in the order we mentioned them: Carl Sagan Cosmos: TV show and book Non-overlapping Magisteria More commentary on Sagan’s complex and complicated relationship with religion One of many episodes of the Bible Project talking about God working through history Richard Dawkins “Verily I say unto you, they have received their reward in full” (Carradini version, a mashup of the KJV and NIV translations of Matthew 6:2) Sagan’s views on religion and nuclear war Jenkins and LaHaye dispensationalist eschatology, otherwise known as the Left Behind series Postmillenialis