026 - What is Conversion? with Susan Jacoby

This week I speak with author and public intellectual, Susan Jacoby, about her new book, "Strange Gods: A Secular History of Conversion." Jacoby explains how stories of famous conversions throughout history are almost always accompanied significant social turmoil and compulsion of one kind or another. Even today, religious conversion is often heavily influenced by socio-political factors.We talk about how the experience of "deconversion" is similar and different from what we usually mean by conversion and whether that is the right word to describe the process.Buy "Strange Gods: A Secular History of Conversion" here: http://amzn.to/1T5CY8w