LYNNWOOD — David E. Smith grew up in a fundamentalist Baptist family, but slowly began to turn away as he began to grow older.
“Over about a 15-year period when I was a younger adult, I just gradually evolved into a very progressive thinker,” Smith said.
“It was slow, and very painful because I was deeply committed to that world view when I was younger,” he said.
Smith, who lives in Edmonds, now teaches religion and philosophy, principally through the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute at the University of Washington.
He sometimes takes his show on the road, as he is doing now, starting Thursday at the Lynnwood Library. Smith is holding a free four-part course on world religions, with one session being held each month.
He held a similar lecture in Lynnwood in 2015, focusing mostly on issues of human rights in Christianity and Islam.
While Smith identifies himself as a progressive skeptic, he still sees religion as an important lens to view society through.
“I worry about religious literacy in our culture. We can’t understand the world without it,” he said.
“I continue to see some truth and wisdom in the Bible, but I also see inconsistencies and offensive things as well,” he said. “It’s how I see all global religions.”
The lectures will focus on the four largest world religions, two western and two eastern: Christianity, Islam, Hinduism and Buddhism.
“They’re giving me one hour per religion,” he joked. “I’m used to doing this, taking whatever time a venue gives me and making it work.”
In his lectures he plans to talk a little about the basic beliefs and history of the religion, a little about scriptures (“I’m fascinated with sacred texts,” he said), and a little about the religion in contemporary society.
Comparing the religions is also necessary, he said. Both Christianity and Islam have common roots, while Buddhism grew out of Hinduism — Buddha himself originally was Hindu, Smith said.
“That’s when we realize there are some common universal values that bind us all together as human beings,” he said.
He’ll also provide his own scholarly commentary and take questions.
His usual course in world religions through Osher runs 8-10 hours and covers other faiths such as Judaism, Chinese religion (a combination of Buddhism, Confucianism and Taoism) and Mormonism. A list of his courses is on his personal website, beliefsandethics.com.
Chris Winters: 425-374-4165; cwinters@heraldnet.com. Twitter: @Chris_At_Herald.
Lecture series on world religions
David E. Smith is holding a four-part lecture series on world religions at the Lynnwood Library, starting at 7 p.m. Thursday . Smith will cover Christianity, then continue with sessions on Islam on Feb. 23, Hinduism on March 23, and Buddhism on April 27. All the events are free and open to the public. The library is at 19200 44th Ave. W.
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