We discuss the biggest questions: "what's real?", "who matters?" and "how to make a better world?" with scientists, celebrities, activists, writers and philosophers. The Sentientism worldview is "evidence, reason and compassion for all sentient beings." It's a simple, yet radical, philosophy that's grounded in reality (naturalistic epistemology) and has compassion for all sentient beings (mostly human and non-human animals). Naturalism & sentiocentrism combined.
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Pearl describes herself as “poly-vocational”. She is a foreign relations & management consultant with an MA in International Relations & an MBA in International Business. She is a vegan whole foods advocate via her “Le Twisted Spoon” club. Pearl is also a community organiser, public speaker & sometimes a political candidate!
In Sentientist Conversations we talk about the two most important questions: “what’s real?” & “what matters?”
Sentientism is “evidence, reason & compassion for all sentient beings.” The video of our conversation is here on YouTube.
We discuss:
00:00 Welcome
01:17 Pearl’s Intro
– Foreign relations consulting & #vegan activism
02:55 What’s Real?
– Growing up in #kansas USA
– A traditional African-American household
– “There’s a connection between people clinging to religion & #poverty”
– “This disparity between what was taught on Sunday and what people practiced throughout the week”
– “Unsavoury” behaviour by church leaders
– Poverty, moving frequently, homeless shelters
– Church charity (food, paying bills)
– “As an adult I feel much more #spiritual & less religious”
– “If it didn’t make sense to me I had a problem with it”… Santa Claus etc.
– Open-minded mum
– Church corruption & money “You have to pay to pray”
– Disparities in the #bible
– Churches teaching Jesus but not following his example
– “Everything was taken away from the people who came over [slavery] and it was replaced with this [Christianity]”
– “I still believe there’s something higher than myself”
– Christianity’s role in colonialism
– #religion ‘s allure for those suffering (“your suffering in this life doesn’t matter because *heaven*!”). “A lot of really bad things have been allowed to happen because of that principle…”
– Compassion vs. status, in-out groups, hierarchy
– Three experiences “I have zero explanation for that”
– “Is there someone bigger than myself that clearly loves me – I know that for sure”
– The problems of suffering & unanswered prayers “It doesn’t add up rationally”
– “The kind of god I want to worship & love wouldn’t behave in that way”
– Jesus’ teachings vs. Jesus as a god
– Husband became #christian by listening to Christian radio in Paris
– Church food banks & real help
– “I don’t think that maybe ‘Christian’ is the right term to describe myself these days”
– Even #jesus threatened non-believers with hell
– Child abuse in religious groups. Risks of authority/power/groupishness
46:03 What and Who Matters?
– Growing up – “family matters”
– “If you have something you should share it”
– “Unless you piss me off” 🙂
– US Marine Corps scholarship & a sense of nationality
– Justice & equality
…and much more. Full show notes at Sentientism.info.
Sentientism is “Evidence, reason & compassion for all sentient beings.” More at Sentientism.info. Join our “I’m a Sentientist” wall via this simple form.
Everyone, Sentientist or not, is welcome in our groups. The biggest so far is here on FaceBook. Come join us there!
Thanks Graham.
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