Men in Gorilla Suits
Men in Gorilla Suits Ep. 75: Last Seen…Talking about Religion

It's a rare topic we're apprehensive to talk about, but there was a little, "Hmmm...are we really the best people to discuss religion?" in the air when we started this one. If you listen, you know that Christopher is a life-long atheist and that Shawn is agnostic. Maybe not the best people to talk about religions and sacred beliefs. Or...are we?

We begin by defining what we mean when we talk about "religion" -- and then we discuss why we think people are religious. From there, it's only fair to establish if we are now, or have ever been, religious people.

Next, we talk about what we think is the best thing about religion...and the worst thing about religion. From there, we talk about our thoughts on those who are not religious.

Anyone with an Internet connection knows there are those out there -- religious and not religious -- trying to win others over to their sides. Find out if we think that's worthwhile...or just a wasted effort? (Also, you will hear what might be the funniest/craziest attempted conversion story you will probably ever hear.)

The Quran contains over 530 instances of cruelty and violence; The Bible has over 1300!  Wars have been launched in the name of religion for centuries. Is religion dangerous? (Find out where we stand.)

As polarized as many have become, some say science and religion cannot coexist. But...can they? We spend some time talking about that before addressing another sweeping statement that's not too hard to find online: has atheism and a strong trust in science become its own kind of religion?

Many have said that without religion there would be no morals. Find out if we believe that is true? (Hint: Shawn tells Christopher that he's one of the most moral people he knows.) Many others have come to say in recent years, "I'm not religious--I'm spiritual." We discuss that before talking about what we find to be the weirdest religions.

And we wrap up this week's episode posing this question to each other: "If you had to pick a religion to follow, what would you pick?"

As always, the comments are your playground -- have fun!

Direct download: migs75.mp3
Category:Pop Culture -- posted at: 7:11pm CDT