Many of us love to walk and hike. And hiking might seem like a strange way to think about religion and nonreligion in society. As we’ll see in this episode, though, hiking can actually tell us a lot about how people understand the world around them, their relationships with others, and their most deeply held values.

In this episode, we’ll hear from Ryan Cragun, a professor of sociology at the University of Tampa; Dawn Hollis, historian and author of Mountains Before Mountaineering: The Call of the Peaks before the Modern Age; and Evan Clark, Executive Director of Atheists United.

For more on Ryan Cragun: https://www.ryantcragun.com/

For more on Dawn Hollis's book: https://thehistorypress.co.uk/publication/mountains-before-mountaineering/

For more on Atheists United and Atheist Adventures: https://www.atheistsunited.org/adventures

Learn more about the NCF's Trekking project here: https://nonreligionproject.ca/trekking/

The Lifestances Podcast is part of the Nonreligion in a Complex Future (NCF) Project, a SSHRC-funded, international research project based at the University of Ottawa, Canada. For more on the NCF, see our website: ⁠⁠⁠⁠https://nonreligionproject.ca/⁠⁠ ⁠⁠

The Lifestances Podcast is hosted by Lori G. Beaman and produced by Nathan Alexander.

Death is an experience that all humans will share, yet this experience is both deeply individual and shaped by the societies we live in. While historically religion offered a framework for understanding death and the afterlife, with the rise of nonreligion, our attitudes toward death are changing. In this episode, we learn about how obituaries have changed over time, how beliefs about the afterlife are being reshaped, and how death cafés offer places to talk intentionally about death and dying.

We hear from Chris Miller, a postdoctoral fellow with the Nonreligion in a Complex Future Project, Christel Manning, a professor of sociology at Sacred Heart University, and Martina Steiger, a death café facilitator.

For further reading on this episode, see: https://nonreligionproject.ca/episode-5/

The Lifestances Podcast is part of the Nonreligion in a Complex Future (NCF) Project, a SSHRC-funded, international research project based at the University of Ottawa, Canada. For more on the NCF, see our website: ⁠⁠⁠https://nonreligionproject.ca/⁠⁠ ⁠

The Lifestances Podcast is hosted by Lori G. Beaman and produced by Nathan Alexander.

In the face of the environmental crisis, rethinking human relationships with the natural world is becoming more important than ever. While some religious and nonreligious narratives have placed humans on top of a hierarchy of beings, in this episode, we explore alternative ways of thinking about our relationship with the natural world.

To address these issues, we’re joined by Nancy Menning, a visiting scholar at Ithaca College, Victoria Enkvist, an associate professor of law at Uppsala University in Sweden, and Anita Krajnc, a Toronto-based activist who is the co-founder of Toronto Pig Save and the global Animal Save Movement.

For further reading on this episode, see: https://nonreligionproject.ca/episode-4/

The Lifestances Podcast is part of the Nonreligion in a Complex Future (NCF) Project, a SSHRC-funded, international research project based at the University of Ottawa, Canada. For more on the NCF, see our website: ⁠⁠https://nonreligionproject.ca/⁠⁠

The Lifestances Podcast is hosted by Lori G. Beaman and produced by Nathan Alexander.