The Winston Marshall Show Michael Shermer - “Religion is a practical and pragmatic truth!” Former-New-Atheist Intellectual on Morals Without God
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Feb 21, 2026 
Michael Shermer, science writer and founder of Skeptic magazine, debates reason, religion, and secular ethics. He explores Hume’s is-ought problem and argues survival and human flourishing can ground morality. They clash over Christianity’s role in Western values, pragmatic truths, and whether modern movements like wokeism or environmentalism function as quasi-religions.
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Religion Versus Institutions
- Winston Marshall argues Western individual rights have roots in Christianity but Shermer sees the political tools as orthogonal to religion.
- Shermer says free markets, property rights and rule of law, not theology, produce flourishing.
Social Structure Explains Religious Benefits
- Shermer explains higher longevity and generosity among religious people stem from social community, marriage and organizational capacity.
- He rejects supernatural causation and attributes benefits to social-structural factors.
Religious Stories As Moral Literature
- Shermer separates internal mythic truths from external empirical truths and treats religious narratives as literature with moral meaning.
- He suggests biblical stories can convey deeper moral lessons without literal historicity.
