I am pretty excited to announce that on Thursday October 5th, 2017 author, speaker and podcaster Mike McHargue (known in some corners of the internet as ‘Science Mike’) will be coming to MIT. I want to introduce Mike and share why I am so excited that he’s coming to spend time with us.

Events:

• WORKSHOP: A Skeptic’s Guide to the Neurocognitive Payoffs of Religion and Spirituality
  3:30-5:00 PM, Marlar Lounge (37-252)
• KEYNOTE: How Science Ruined and Rescued My Faith with ‘Science Mike’
  7:30-9:30 PM, 54-100

SCIENCE MIKE’S STORY: Using Science to Deconstruct and Reconstruct Faith

Mike has a really fascinating and unusual spiritual journey. He was a fundamentalist Christian who was a well-respected leader in his faith community. A unexpected family crisis caused Mike to urgently read the entire Bible four times in one year. Each time he found more contradictions and had more trouble holding onto his faith. One day Mike’s belief in God collapsed and he admitted to himself he was an atheist.

Atheism was a very liberating experience for Mike. He no longer needed to see his non-believing friends as hell-bound, he could be fully open and affirming to LGBTQ people, he discovered and could embrace the beautiful and inspiring lifestance of secular humanism and, most significantly, he could finally give oxygen to his keenly scientific mind that he had always had to suppress.

So Mike was pretty happy being an atheist¹it wasn’t all rosey, of course, but I’ll let Mike tell that part of the story, but he was kickstarted into a renewed spiritual exploration by a profound mystical experience. This triggered in him an intense curiosity to understand what was happening in his brain during this time. He began to study the neuroscience of spiritual experience and religious belief. He is extremely knowledgeable and insightful on this topic.

One of the challenges that Mike faced after this mystical experience was how he could be open to the idea of God and still feel intellectually honest. To address this conundrum, Mike developed his famous “Axioms about Faith” to serve as a rational, intellectual scaffolding that his scientific mind could accept while giving his spiritual self permission to explore. These axioms have since been helpful to thousands of people wrestling with the existence of God.

The type of faith that Mike developed through this process is a bit tricky to label, but “non-theistic mystic” or “spiritual skeptic” might get somewhere in the neighborhood. It’s a faith that is still focused on God and Christ, but much more expansive and inclusive than his previous brand of Christianity. It’s a faith that totally embraces whatever science can teach us while still leaving room for mystery and mystical experience. And it’s a faith that, rather than drawing dividing lines, is in solidarity with all people and groups trying to maximize love, harmony and peace in our world.

CREDENTIALS PLEASE: What’s So Sciencey about Science Mike?

At first, I was pretty skeptical of ‘Science Mike’ because he’s NOT a scientist and didn’t even finish college! But he’s completely open and humble about this fact (see video below). And while not having formal higher education, he is the epitome of an autodidact and is an excellent ‘science communicator’ with an impressive ability (even by MIT standards) to understand, recall and explain fairly complex and subtle scientific phenomena. Mike also does a great job of blending values for science, spiritual meditation and social justice²The hip hop artist Propaganda once described Mike as “the most stay-woke white boy I’ve ever met in my life.”. And he does so in a way that’s both whimsical and sincere, with great stage presence.

As a podcaster and speaker, Mike has found A LOT of resonance with the increasing population of people who feel “spiritually homeless or frustrated”—which includes many who have found their faith communities too narrow and stifling and also many who have never been part of a faith community but are spiritually curious. He co-hosts a podcast called The Liturgists that has quickly grown to over a million downloads per month.

His experience as an atheist and his refreshing, inclusive approach to faith allow him to dialogue with secularists and skeptics in very congenial and productive ways. Mike makes no efforts to proselytize, convert or persuade anyone. He’s supportive and affirming to people anywhere on the religious-secular spectrum. Mike simply shares his story and gives us fascinating new perspective on how our brains are wrestling with these questions of ultimate truth.

I like how Pete Holmes (host of the You Made it Weird Podcast and star of HBO’s Crashing) describes Mike:

“Science Mike is way too funny to be as smart as he is and way too honest, touching, insightful and entertaining to be ignored. What I mean is, I resent his multiple talents. Any time he’s speaking my ears perk up like a dog hearing a can opener, and yours should, too. Also, feed your dog.”

Speaking of Pete Holmes and Science Mike, the episode of You Made It Weird where Mike is interviewed is awesome and is a great way to get a feel for Mike. But if you want something faster, just check out the first 5 minutes of Mike’s recent talk at Google:

You can also hear Mike’s story in the context of The Liturgists Podcast in the episode called “Lost and Found” (part 1, part 2).

CURRICULUM VITAE: Some official-sounding, impressive stuff:

Mike is:

• the author of Finding God in the Waves: How I Lost My Faith and Found It Again Through Science which debuted at #1 in the science and religion category (and currently has 4.6 out of 5 stars on Amazon with 182 reviews);
• co-host of The Liturgists Podcast which averages 2 million downloads per month (4.9 out of 5 stars on iTunes with 573 ratings);
• host of the Ask Science Mike Podcast which has over 250,000 subscribers (5.0 out of 5 stars on iTunes with 453 ratings);
• a highly sought-after speaker has spoken to sold-out audiences in New York, Chicago, and London. Recently he’s spoken at the University of Georgia and Google.
• a contributor to the Huffington Post, CNN, BioLogos, the Washington Post and the Human Rights Campaign. He has been featured in recent interviews on SiriusXM and NPR.