I thought the woman who discounted theistic models of the universe in order to promote an overtly "scientific" but pregnantly pantheistic vision of "Life" as cosmic organizing principle provided a good example of this confusion at work. While her biotic cosmology is undoubtedly rich and deeply rewarding as a way to explain and appreciate childbirth, natural selection, and other awe-inspiring biological systems, this very sublime character drives it to converge -- despite her vocabulary-driven assertions to the contrary -- with at least a quasi-religious point-of-view. Change "God's" name to "Nature" and you are still worshipping a transcendental force, only according to a somewhat different rite. Likewise, replace the "Big Bang" with "the Prime Mover," and where are you?

Given the topic of the show, it's not surprising that the callers seemed so entirely concerned with the question of God, but I found it striking that there were so few allusions...
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