The Paths To Understanding Podcast

In our last episode of Challenge 2.0, we opened a conversation examining the growing ‘rights of nature’ movement. Advocates assert extending legal personhood to corporations while withholding it from ecosystems has led to what they call a ‘plunderverse’; that is, a planet where resources are being rapidly depleted, leading to mass extinctions and threatening the survival of all but the wealthiest humans. In this conversation, we look at where this movement is headed, both in the Pacific Northwest and beyond.

Four hundred years ago, scientists and philosophers asserted that animals were merely machines-that what might be interpreted as a dog’s cry of pain wasn’t an expression of feeling. The philosopher Rene Descartes taught such a cry was no different than a clock striking the hour-a purely mechanical reaction. That view was fundamental to reducing animals and nature to ‘things’, not ‘beings’ that existed only to fulfill human wants and needs. Some science and some faith traditions now discredit that human-centered view, leading to a growing ‘rights of nature’ movement. In this episode of Challenge 2.0, we talk with the Washington-based Director of Legal Advocacy for Earth Law Center, Attorney Elizabeth Dunne.

In last week’s edition of Challenge 2.0, we began a conversation with Sociologist Pepper Schwartz to understand the hyper-vanity and hyper-masculinity of the Manosphere. We continue that conversation this week, exploring related movements, their implications and constructive responses.

It’s called Lookmaxxing, and the measures taken by it's adherents would be ludicrous if they weren’t so dangerous. They include ‘bonesmashing’, men breaking their facial bones with hammers for a more sculpted appearance, injecting themselves with plastic cement fillers, even spending thousands on height-extension surgery. This exaggerated form of vanity is preached through various media collectively called ‘the manosphere’, with links to sex traffickers and men seeking to remove the rights of women and people of color. In this episode of Challenge 2.0, we turn to a Seattle area sociologist to understand the foundation of this movement, its’ threat and constructive responses.

Women make up twenty percent of the U.S. military. They pilot helicopters and tactical aircraft, and serve in special operations forces such as the Army Rangers and Green Berets. Five of the eighteen US soldiers reported killed in the war on Iran have been women. Their deaths and the active service provided by thousands of other women come at a time when the Trump administration has fired high ranking women in the military and refused to promote others, despite the recommendations of professional military leaders. In this episode of Challenge 2.0, we meet a retired Air Force pilot to learn her perspective of how women contribute to our nation’s defense, and the impact of new policies discriminating against women in the Armed Forces.

Black Americans make up seventeen percent of post-9/11 members of the military, which exceeds their proportion of the U.S. population. Although black Americans have served in every conflict since and including the American revolution, they have faced discrimination, disrespect and even physical intimidation and violence-trends that have increased since 2025. Two widely reported examples include was the removal of the portrait of four-star general Daniel James from the U.S. Air Force Art Gallery. James was the first black American to reach that rank; and the removal of General C.Q. Brown as chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. In this edition of Challenge 2.0, we speak with a prominent member of the National Association of Black Veterans about the impact of such actions on men and women actively serving in the military, those who have completed their service, and those who might consider enlisting.

Hate crimes and hate groups have increased sharply since the year 2000. Although hatred is often described as an emotion, psychologists assert it’s actually a learned behavior-a behavior that damages those that hate as much as those who are the subject of that hate. In this edition of Challenge 2.0, faith leaders from Christianity, Judaism and Islam examine the costly culture of contempt in the U.S., and possible ways to break the cycle that feeds it.

Fewer Americans vote in elections than in most other western democracies. A Pew Research study ranked U.S. voter participation 31st out of 35 western democracies. It pointed to restrictive voting laws and manipulation of voting districts. Analysts have called current efforts to eliminate, reduce or manipulate voting as effectively gagging American citizens, preventing their ability to influence their future and that of their children. In this episode of Challenge 2.0, we speak with leaders from the League of Women Voters-a group that has a long history in effectively confronting threats to voting rights.

In last week’s edition of Challenge 2.0, two Seattle area faith leaders examined the controversial claim that ‘God approves of the U.S. attack on Iran’. This week, we continue that conversation, examining whether war and violence can be divinely inspired, and what faith requires of each of us. 

More than 200 American soldiers from all branches of service have filed formal complaints against the US military, alleging their commanders told them the Iran war was ‘part of God’s plan’. One complaint quoted an officer as saying President Trump had been anointed by Jesus to light the signal fire in Iran to cause Armageddon and mark the return of Jesus to earth. The pushback from leading faith leaders was strong and immediate. Pope Leo of the Roman Catholic Church stated “No one can use Jesus to justify war”. In this episode of Challenge 2.0, two leading Seattle area faith leaders offer perspectives on this conflict within a conflict.