Our event starts at 11 am on the 2nd floor of the Koffler House (569 Spadina Avenue)
In the year 2018, we can now boast an incredible level of self-awareness and understanding for why we do the things we do. Among our more incredible academic achievements, we now understand a great deal about how and why we human animals believe in spiritual ideas. We have come to learn about the social psychology of religious behaviors, the personal psychology of individuals engaging in these practices and how both are played out in the brain on a biological level. With this data in hand, we are in a much better position, right now, to investigate how social changes throughout history have affected the way we think – predictably altering how responsive we have been to different spiritual ideas over time. Research shows that as social groups have become relatively safer, more technologically advanced, more interconnected, more prosperous and better able to survive comfortably, the selection advantage for traditional, literally-interpreted supernatural faith seems to become less powerful on a long enough timeline. Not surprisingly, here in the present day, most of these factors are the best they’ve ever been for a greater proportion of the world’s population. Join Marc Schaus in exploring the effect these changes will have on religious practice for major faiths on an international level, with a tradition more resembling today’s secular humanism arguably being the strongest candidate for a “spiritual” path to survive into the long-term future.
Marc Schaus is a Canadian author and academic researcher. His 2017 book, Post Secular: Science, Humanism and the Future of Faith outlines the growth of secularism and nonreligion currently ongoing around the world with projections for both leading into the future. Marc’s work has previously been featured in Free Inquiry magazine, Patheos and The Huffington Post. His upcoming book This World First: Dispatches on Secular Progress Around the World will feature twenty of the planet’s leading authorities on secularism and outline a clear path forward for secular issues on an international level.
For our featured musician, we are so enthused to have Abigail Lapell on the Oasis stage this Sunday! Check out a sampling of her music at https://www.abigaillapell.com/. It’s awesome! Abigail Lapell is a Toronto folk noir songwriter who draws from roots, indie and punk rock traditions. Hailed as an artist to watch by NOW Magazine, she’s toured across North America and Europe, performing on vocals, piano, harmonica and finger style guitar. Closer to home, she’s completed tours by bicycle, canoe and train. Lapell won the 2017 Canadian Folk Music Award for Contemporary Album of the Year and the 2016 Colleen Peterson Songwriting Award from the Ontario Arts Council. Her new album, Hide Nor Hair, is out now on Coax Records.
To RSVP to this event please visit our Meetup page.