The Atheist Experience

Welcome back to The Atheist Experience. Today’s show features Matt Dillahunty and ShannonQ. Both hosts are on point today!!Up first, Ivan in Croatia wants to talk about the many problems with secular humanism because it advocates using reason to solve moral problems but people aren't always rational. What other system eliminates people's irrationality? Religion’s “moral system” isn't remotely good and forcing people to adhere to it is horrible and just indoctrination.Jelmer in the Netherlands argues there is a 3rd option to a dichotomy. God exists/doesn’t exist is a true dichotomy, there is not a 3rd option. The true nature of reality is a separate issue.Peter in India argues the bible has a lot of evidence for the existence of god, claiming only god can speak “Jesus said, unless a man is born again, he can not reach the kingdom of god”. Saying words isn’t evidence of anything. The bible proves the bible doesn’t fly here.Michael in MA claims god has been saving mankind from conjuring nations, as said in the haggadah. This is confirmation bias. Why isn’t god doing anything about this persecution? Lots of groups of people are persecuted. Your heritage does not mean god is real, the plural of anecdote is not data.Anthony in PA thinks that agnosticism is more rational than atheism & theism. Knowledge is a subset of belief. Knowledge is something that is justified and true and discovering it is wrong is worldview altering. Saying no god exists has no moral value. Anthony goes on to argue if the universe is irrational then rationality can’t be used. Only concepts can be irrational, the universe is not a concept.Austin in TX asks if atheists pray. We don’t but some people do a “call out to the cosmos” or meditate. Praying is sending a request to something outside yourself, we don’t believe that. Austin says calling someone theist is offensive, it creates an outgroup scenario. We’re the minority, we didn’t create that system.David in UT wants to talk about biblical zombies and Lazarus’s resurrection makes him as special as jesus. Do you believe anyone has ever resurrected from the dead? No? Then why are we here?Billy in TX argues he found peer reviewed articles that the genome is a code. We mean it is not a code from one intelligent mind to another. Billy then says there is no way nature can’t sequence a genome. There is a difference in a simulation hypothesis failing and something being impossible. Listen back, why can’t you say science has not discovered its impossible that the genome can produce through natural means.Lastly, Rae in MI reports that her neighbor sent a letter saying “you said that you just believe in being good, that's good but not good enough. You need to have a relationship with a higher power”. It really set her off and made her cry. Matt’s mom sent letters/emails and he had to set a boundary to never send mail again, its 1 way communication.To quote Rae, “god ain't going to show up for us, we gotta show up for each other!” Well said. Stay safe, get vaccinated, continue to wear masks, and we’ll see ya next week!Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-atheist-experience--3254896/support.

Welcome back to The Atheist Experience. This Sunday we have Matt Dillahunty hosting with Katy Montgomerie’s debut on AXP. Check out her new show, The TransAtlantic Call-In Show hosted on The Line.Up first, Mike in the Czech Republic asks if some people are more inclined to be believers. Everyone believes for different reasons. Try working on re-rationionalizing your way through when you have these feelings and check out books on skeptically thinking. Give yourself some time.Shelby in ME encourages Matt to reread the bible because he feels the bible is true. Is 4 times enough? WAIT, you haven’t even finished it?Steve in OH made a bet with Matt and claims to have paid up. However, Matt has no idea what you are talking about.Don in CA is grieving the loss of his son and is struggling with the lack of resources for atheists. Religions have a privileged position in society but they often provide false comfort in platitudes like “God needs another angel”. That minimizes the one and only life we know we have. Check out secular therapy project and grief beyond belief.John in CA asks about the fairness of trans women fighting in ciswomen’s events, like MMA. People say trans women just dominate cis women in sport but we don’t have this epidemic that is represented in media. There are a lot of performance factors, weight class, divisions, etc. It is fair that trans women compete in sports.Seleste in FL argues that the fabric of reality is made out of a crystal that has memory and emotions. Something smaller than an atom is not a crystal and rainbows don't come from crystals. Now water is made of crystals? Atoms and quarks are made of crystals too?? Holy crap.Buzz in WA thinks Matt was wrong in saying nothing exists out of time, arguing that photons exist out of time. Photons move at the speed of light, that denotes time. What difference does this make? Try calling a physics show.Arnie in WA is an ex-mormon and asks if he is guilty of the no true scotsman fallacy when he gets upset that other “mormon” callers say they believe in hell. You can define what is a mormon but the fallacy is excluding someone from that label based on unrelated things. For example, no true Mormon lives in Canada or no real christian murders people.Lastly, Scott in Mexico asks how to tell the difference if someone is mistaken or lying when they tell me they are a trans person. It’s akin to sexual preference or left handedness in that we can’t just outright tell if someone is lying. Most people don’t lie about these things but its’ pretty uncommon. We haven’t had examples of people lying about their gender identity in top level sports.That’s all for this week. Check out more from Katy at youtube.com/c/KatyMontgomerie Stay safe, get vaccinated, continue to wear masks, and we’ll see ya next week!Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-atheist-experience--3254896/support.

Welcome back to The Atheist Experience. This Sunday we have Dave Warnock back with us and Jim Barrows hosting. Such a pleasure to have Mr. Warnock back, check out more at www.daveoutloud.com!Up first, Joseph from NV asks why humans can’t interbreed with humans since we share 98% DNA, given that other animals that are similar can interbreed. We recommend doing some more scientific research, you haven’t come close to proving evolution wrong. You misunderstand genetics and evolution. Even if you disprove evolution today, which you can’t, how does that prove god?Alejandro in CA asks if there is a third state other than exists/does not exist, arguing you can’t say I don’t know. There are 3 positions you can take on any claim. Accept the claim, accept the claim as false, or say I don’t know. Atheism is a response to a claim of god/s, not a statement that there is no god. No one has presented sufficient evidence to believe in a god, so our position is we don’t know until the claim is proven. Paw in FL claims he witnessed an exorcist of a demon and he received a miraculous healing of his broken toe. You need to think more about your god’s selective healing, when we have people dying from disease or famine across the globe….but he is going to heal your toe. Even if we received a healing, you couldn’t conclude that god did it. Elizabeth in The UK joined a church and after her son died of covid 19, they were only concerned with his beliefs and said he was going to hell and that any good mother would make sure he made it to heaven. We are so sorry. God job telling them off, we wouldn’t want to be in heaven with those people either. Check out recovering from religion. Anton in MD asks if morality should be taught in school? We agree, they should teach more ethics and epistemology in schools as long as they don't attach religion to it. We have a lot more ethical questions today than we did. Paul in MI asks who decides what is moral given we don’t have an arbiter for morality. We base morality on empathy and happiness/wellbeing. You think hell is moral? It’s not justifiable to have an infinite punishment for a finite “crime”, not that disbelief is a crime. We reject the concept of sin, let alone infinite sin. If you would kill your own kid if a god told you, you are immoral. Lastly, Lee in CA doesn’t believe and was diagnosed with apraxia, he can’t shake that sense that he has earned this affliction. Sounds like you still have baggage from those beliefs. Dave quotes Maya Angelou “Do the best you can do until you know better, when you know better, do better.” Life happens and sometimes people get sick, live the best life you can and try not to look back. Carpe the f!?king diem!That’s all for this week. Stay safe, get vaccinated, continue to wear masks, and we’ll see ya next week!Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-atheist-experience--3254896/support.

Welcome back to The Atheist Experience. This Sunday’s show features Matt Dillahunty and Jenna Belk tackling your calls and arguments!Up first, Chris in CA asks if something willed the universe into existence or if it was just random chance. Why assume god as a default? Try starting out with “I don't know” and go from there. There doesn’t seem to be a way that anything could exist out of time and space. There is nothing about god that necessitates creation of the universe. What if god simply does not exist?Jackson from LA asks if being an atheist means you hate lots of things? Nope, it simply means you don’t believe in any gods. Atheists aren’t necessarily bad nor are they primarily gay. You need to interact with more atheists, check out some online communities. Dane from Australia asks if we think there is order in the universe, asserting that god is the creator of order? There is evidence of some order but none for a god. Repeat caller, Michelle in UT claims beauty wouldn’t exist without god. Complain all you’d like, but you still haven’t proven beauty comes from god.Xeno in NC asks if we think it's irrational to believe in these deities with regards to how much we don't know about the universe. We don’t currently know if a god exists or could exist, the time to believe is after it has been demonstrated. How can you experience your god if you claim it chooses not to reveal itself? Jonathan in AZ asks if secular morality is objective. The foundation, well being, is a subjective decision. However, the assessments we make in comparing consequences of that action to that goal can be objective. We have no evidence of any gods existing, pointing to a god solves nothing. Intrinsic morality has not been demonstrated. God doesn't solve moral problems, isn’t rape/slavery in the bible? Kevin in MI argues that Jesus Christ is real using evidence of the holy spirit. Speaking in tongues is not evidence of the holy spirit. If the holy spirit told you what to tell us, it doesn’t understand evidence. Ask your god for a fallacy free, evidence based argument and call back.Lastly, Andrew in WA is doubting his christianity and wonders our take on christians saying atheists are controlled by satan. Some atheists don’t struggle when losing their faith, but a lot do. A fear of god's wrath or hell can be a tactic used by some religions, we recommend calling recovering from religion. That’s all for this week. Stay safe, wear masks, and we’ll see ya next week!Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-atheist-experience--3254896/support.

Welcome back to The Atheist Experience. Today, we have Matt Dillahunty and ShannonQ teaming to answer your questions!Up first, Michelle in UT claims she saw god in creation even before she started reading the bible. We have evidence to explain how houses were created, we have no other universes for comparison. Appealing to creation as common sense is a fallacy called argument from incredulity. Have you heard of the Dunning-Kruger effect by chance?Alejandro in CA claims “I don’t know” or “I don't believe” does not correspond to reality.Asaf in Israel argues we perceive many things but actually there is only 1 thing in existence. Please define what the “one thing” that exists? Bad arguments for theism...Xeno in NC claims that there is scientific evidence for god. “Could be something” is not a definition of god. NEXT!Seth in OR claims religions all came from the same place, the first civilization, Atlantis. What evidence is there for Atlantis. Call Truth Wanted if you want to argue Atlantis.Charles in The UK claims there could be a god because of mass extinctions but doesn’t want to define god. Mike in Canada claims he believes in a creator, not a god. You have to prove that everything needs a creator. You don’t get to assert time and space were created by a creator, demonstrate it. You do not have a valid or sound argument. Khaled in Egypt argues that god is necessary based on the contingency argument. Sounds a little Canadian and/or Catholic. Ricky in UT argues the book of mormon is spot on and Jesus visited the Americas. Native Americans thought white people were gods...is this an argument that Jesus is white? Because the Book of Mormon says something is not a valid argument. Asaf in Israel calls back to tell us “me” is the one thing that exists and tries to argue that everything is everything. Why did you call back to tell us that??Tristan in TX claims there is an intrinsic morality. Morality is not an emergent property, it’s all about actions and consequences. Is there intrinsic moral value for a can of soda? Please explain why you think there is an intrinsic good in the universe.Kyle in CA argues theism has better explanatory power than naturalism, saying there is something that necessarily exists. We reject the premise that perfection is necessary at all. The fact that naturalism may not offer an explanation does not give any credit to the supernatural. Lastly, David in TX says his church therapist tells him that he won’t have any peace or joy without god. Using a moment of weakness to proselytize religion is disgusting. Lots of red flags here, you need to find a new therapist. Check to see if he is registered with the state. What a wild show this week! Thanks for tuning in, see ya next week.Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-atheist-experience--3254896/support.

Welcome back to The Atheist Experience. Today, we have Truth Wanted’s ObjectivelyDan joining Matt Dillahunty to tackle your calls! Up first, Travis in PA recounts a story of a paranormal experience of something flying around in his room. He now feels people can be justified in concluding the supernatural. Why couldn’t it just be a bat flying around? Right now, the best you can say is that you don’t know what it was.Alex in MO asks why Matt holds the “hard atheist” position, meaning believing there are no gods.. The world doesn't look like the world created by a god. As far as we can tell, people made up every god and only evidence will change our mind. If a god is “hiding” from view, from our perspective it's indistinguishable from a non-existent god. Heath in SC thinks there is good evidence for god, but not scientific evidence as he is supernatural. Since there is no way to prove the supernatural, how is there good evidence for a god? Faith and reason are not the same thing, faith is the excuse when you don’t have a good reason. Your misunderstanding of the infinite monkey theorem is not a good reason to believe in any god. Robin in DC claims that you won't have grounds to make any predications without being able to identify what is ultimate. We don't work in ultimates here. Robin claims god is the personal creator of all temporal states of affairs. How do you know that is the property of any god? You can’t prove direct revelation is from a god, tell god to speak to everyone…Adam in IL asks if there are logical reasons to be an atheist. No one has proved a god, so the default position is disbelief. There is no evidence the bible is the word of god. Hoo boy, the ol’ “building needs a builder so creation needs a creator” argument… Now onto “something from nothing” retort, you don’t understand big bang cosmology. Harmon in MI claims the concept of the third eye came from DMT released from the pineal gland and the pineal gland has been known since ancient times. Ancient people weren’t idiots, however the age of belief lends no credence to the belief itself. DMT is a natural process in our bodies, the body is a complex organism and we don’t fully understand every process. Olivia in TX asks why so many eye witnesses died for their religion if their religion is a lie. How do you know if there were any eye witnesses? What we have are stories designed to make you ask that question. The real question is DID it happen?Lastly, Russ in MO claims theists and atheists have misconceptions, claiming everything in the universe is in a perfect order. We didn't believe that before or after a god belief. Good luck telling us that we believe what we don't believe. I guess you have misconceptions about how to remain a guest on our show...That’s our show, thanks for tuning in!Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-atheist-experience--3254896/support.

Welcome back fellow Atheist Experience lovers. Today Matt Dillahunty is Jim Barrows, such a great duo! Our first caller, Sarah in OR is an atheist but believes in reincarnation and argues that e-meters work to show past lives. There is no scientific basis behind e-meters, it’s complete BS. Sarah has no other evidence than personal experience. We don’t believe in something without any evidence. Duke in IN claims to be a skeptic but retains belief in god, arguing peculiar experiences with a ouija board opened his mind. We wouldn’t know the cause of a ouija board getting every answer right, let alone less impressive examples. Being skeptical means refraining from belief until the claim is demonstrated. Manuel in OH asks why atheism is better than any other religion. It's not a religion, it's a label for people who do not accept the religious claim. If religions aren’t true and you believe it was a limitation on your life, all belief has a consequence. Noah in OR is a believer that became a skeptic but argues that the odds are astronomical against the big bang. If the only thing keeping you believing in god because no one has been able to prove god, thats a bad reason. Just because the odds are against something, doesn’t mean that thing didn’t happen.Michael in CA argues that god is a rational concept and has logical arguments. He goes on to define god as a mind like entity that has the ability to affect physics in a teleological direction. What is a mind-like entity?? If you can’t define your god, try again next time.Patrick in FL claims there is a problem claiming there is not scientific evidence of a supernatural god. Science is not able to investigate the supernatural, because no one knows what it is. If you advocate for a non supernatural god, that is something we can investigate. You defined the universe as a natural god, but the universe is not conscious. Cliff in MI asks advice about an attack against the kalam, arguing things coming into the universe are just reformulations given that the universe is the thing that came into existence. It could be a good rebuttal but they will try to claim there is something that did not begin to exist. Todd in CO argues science isn’t the only method to observe reality. There are plenty different methods to view facts of the world, science seeks to minimize the likelihood of being correct using rigorous investigation. “True for me” does not sound like a good method to view reality, sounds like a wild ass guess. Allan in NY asks why we won’t permit cherry picking in the bible. If the bible is the inerrant word of god, you don’t get to pick and choose. Cherry pickers are just basing it on their own preference. Last up, Chris in CA argues for the supernatural and there is something out there that reads our minds. He tells of a story of having lunch with coworkers, or thought they were coworkers. We were on a good call, or so we thought.That’s our show, thanks for tuning in!Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-atheist-experience--3254896/support.

Welcome back fellow Atheist Experience lovers. Today Matt Dillahunty is joined by Dr. Josh, known as Digital Hammurabi. Check out more videos at https://www.youtube.com/c/DigitalHammurabiOur first caller, Ayham in Toronto grew up Jehovah Witness and was diagnosed with schizophrenia and asks our take on if Jehovah is god. Why would that god speak to you if it can be written off as a medical issue? We can’t prove one way or another if the voice you hear is god. If your medicine makes the god visions go away, is god less powerful than your meds?Michael in Germany asks if claims of religious experience is reason enough for atheists to look into it. It depends on the claim, it may make us look into it more but it's not evidence of their claim. Regarding “gods morality”, we can’t evaluate what the god says but we can evaluate what the bible says.Mickey in NY argues that theists are rationally justified in believing in god. Your 4 premise argument does not prove god and can be rejected out of hand. You are rushing to say your argument is sound, it is not. Try again another day.Pablo in AZ asks if we have completely ruled out god/s. We don’t know how one could completely rule out any deity, we are not absolutely certain about anything. The world doesn’t appear to support any deity. We have been doing this show since 1997, no evidence of gods yet…Wade in LA picks Dr. Josh’s brain about Shamhat in the Epic Of Gilgamesh, focusing on a scene of man on woman sex. What’s the point? As fun as this is, it's not relevant to our show.Elvis in CA argues that every moral a political belief is just intuition which is post hoc justified. That is not true of EVERY belief. We don’t just intuit something and try to justify it after the fact. Some people just distrust vaccines out of hand, but we can show the science behind it. The default position is disbelief until evidence is shown.Harry in England asks why we wouldn’t afford an unborn baby special rights? We don't give special rights to anyone. Harry goes on to ask about setting up a secular society. See if the secular student alliance has ties in the UK, let the group be what the people need and grow from there, make sure the president of the group is not a senior.Bob in VA makes the claim that atheism is a psychological issue. “That’s bullshit” is not an argument...good luck next time.Last up, Mike in CA is an atheist and gives his assertion of a creator. You don’t just assume the universe is created to prove a creator. “If there was no creator, there would be no creation”...Prove that assumption. “It exists therefore it’s created” Gee we’ve never heard that one.That’s our show, thanks for tuning in! Matt predicted the big game for Kansas City 31-20...let's see if he is correct.Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-atheist-experience--3254896/support.

Welcome back, the ladies have taken over this episode of The Atheist Experience! We have Jenna Belk and ShannonQ talking to our callers, this is going to be good.Our first caller, Hugh in The USA asks the definitions of Theism/Atheism/Antitheism. Theism/Atheism deal with truth beliefs about a deity, whereas antitheism is a supplemental belief about religion and religious practice. Hugh believes deities are imaginary proclaims himself an antitheist. Kenny in CA want’s to tell us that he believes in the biblical god and why he believes it. He can’t seem to describe god but stating he is the self existing Yahweh. “All of history supports it” is not evidence, that is a ridiculous reason. Mike in Austria claims he can use mathematical logic to prove the unprovable, arguing if you have a set of axioms, arriving from those axioms you can never get all true statements. To what end are we having this conversation? How is asking for proof illogical?Solomon in WA argues that abortion should be illegal becuase it’s taking a life from another person, defining life starting with a heartbeat. You are placing life at the wrong stage of fetal development. There is a notable difference in a fetus and 4 month old baby. It boils down to bodily autonomy, no one has consent to use your body...inside of birth or out. Jack in AZ believes that god does provide evidence, saying “interesting” coincidences can point to bigger truths. Jack tells a story where the number 3435 resonated with his mother. How is that proof of god? Listen to Shannon on this one, there is no thinking with your heart and gut bacteria doesn’t make you believe different things. Defining god as everything means nothing to us, why use the label god then?.Christian in CA asks whether atheists have the duty to deconvert people. You have to pick your moments, family would be the last place to start. You can casually mention it and gauge their interest. You are the one that decides when beliefs are causing your harm. Don’t give anyone time in your life that uses your lack of belief as a cudgel to abuse you. Last up, David in CA claims that everyone operates on faith, because we just trust our parents from birth. You should not just blindly trust your parents. We require a higher burden of evidence of claims you may just trust. We use source methodology and logic to find the truth in a claim. We investigated the claims of religion and found it lacking sufficient evidence to believe. That’s our show, thanks for tuning in!Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-atheist-experience--3254896/support.

Welcome back to The Atheist Experience. Today Matt Dillahunty is joined by Jim Barrows! Today’s show is going to be a good one, get ready!Our first caller, Bo in MT is surprised we would respond that we wouldn’t worship god if proven real. We don’t have the baggage of “god is good” and, if real, has a lot to answer for. The god of the bible has acted atrociously toward humans and does not deserve reverence. Raphael in Sweden asks, hypothetically, if Hitler would have been correct in wiping out a race of humans if it did the world good? Was he correct though? Rafael asks who defines morality. It’s not a matter of who, it's a matter of maximizing happiness and wellbeing and applying that across society. Kaden in WA asks what is the value of morality if this world is all we’ll get? That’s like asking what good are the rules if we are only playing 1 game. Is it better to be polite to someone or punch them in the face upon first meeting them? Kaden thinks he is a psychopath without his god belief. Good luck, get some help, and keep believing. Aaron in VA thinks he would fall in line if the Christian god presented himself to be real, fearing damnation. Would It be more moral to kill your kid or burn in hell? The moral thing is to tell that god to go fuck themselves. We can see what happens when a dictator is worshiped as a god, people do what they can to survive. Mohammad in Australia claims a creator is the most logical explanation for consciousness. It’s true consciousness came from either something conscious or nonconscious. However, simply thinking the other option is not reasonable is not a good reason to believe anything. James in The UK argues that, secularly, abortion is wrong. Abortion is simply the termination of pregnancy. Do you agree we should allow people the autonomy to make their own decision? A born human doesn’t have a right to anyone’s body. We are not willing to grant special rights to a human in utero. Calvin in CA asks if time is the enemy in creating life in laboratory conditions, how can you come to the conclusion that evolution is correct? What we can/can’t do in a lab is irrelevant to what happened in the course of our history. Michael in FL has been listening to more atheist content and has been trying to address issues in his faith. Should we work towards the best heaven, or the worst hell? It’s best to say I don’t know, if the god is good then they shouldn’t fault you for living the best life you can. John in KY believes there is a god because of a near death experience but can’t even tell of his experience. Last up, Jeremy in CO finds his Aunt’s cured cancer as a miracle and thinks the best explanation is a god did it but agrees god has never been proved. Faith is not a good path to finding the truth. You can just say I don’t know, that is reserving judgement. That’s our show, thanks for tuning in!Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-atheist-experience--3254896/support.