Thanks for posting these KMO!

I decided a week or so ago to work my way through the back-issues of the podcast and downloaded the entire archive (up to 107, an impressive four days or so of continuous audio). It's been interesting to see how early some of the ideas for the podcast were touched upon and listening to the quality of the audio engineering rapidly improve.

Anyways, I'm mostly commenting to say something about episode 9. I'm an atheist, and I certainly agree that atheism requires faith. The idea that we only have the meaning we create for ourselves, that this life is all we get, that there is no external force imposing some sort of cosmic justice... those ideas are big, tough, and complex. It takes something to say, "These ideas are meaningful and good and say something about how I should live my life, and I'm going to figure out what that is and act accordingly," even as I subject my ideas to reexamination, even though I realize I could be wrong, and despite the easier route of apathy or indecision.

A few years ago, a class discussion raised the question "is science a religion?" After the class, I did some searching on the subject and found two things. The first is this Dawkins essay on that question, which was predictable and is certainly not his best work. The second piece, however, had a dramatic effect on how I think about faith. That was
this sermon, authored by Rev. Mike Young of the First Unitarian Church of Honolulu. Young points out that the word "faith" means two very different (even contradictory) things, which is why the rationalist attack on "faith" typified by the essay above often throws the baby out with the bathwater. I won't summarize any further, as I really think you should read that piece for yourself.