Robert Wright ran up against his Southern Baptist upbringing when the theory of evolution was introduced in his 10th-grade biology class. He left that faith, but never those topics, and has been a champion of religion’s potential to propel social evolution toward the good. Wright, 52, is also a founder and editor of BloggingHeads.tv, a Web site devoted to intellectual discourse. His most recent book is “The Evolution of God.”


Do you consider yourself to be of a specific faith?

I do believe that there is some larger purpose unfolding that has so far carried humanity on balance toward the good. And I think for that reason you could say there’s a transcendent source of meaning. I’m not confident about the existence of God, but I don’t rule out the existence of something called divinity.