The Atheist Experience

In today’s episode of the Atheist Experience, Matt Dillahunty is joined by the wonderfully amazing Don Baker. Before we get to calls, we have a topic to discuss from Don: ‘Are Christians Lazy?’Let’s get to calls. Andrew from California wants to discuss something that has never EVER been discussed on the show… Are you ready for it? Julian from Canada would like to break down (in a nonreligious way) that a god or deity or higher power exists. Are we ready to get dizzy? When pressed on the definition of god, he responds with “god created himself and creation.”Keyon from Utah is wondering how we had the first babies and how they came about. Ummm… they came from their moms? He also tries to argue against evolution, talk about divine human intervention through “visions” at church, and we are just denying god. Wait. what!? O.oCaller Dave is next wanting to talk about Christian laziness with Don. This will be great! Don asks for examples he would like to talk about and Dave claims it’s the atheists’ burden to bring those examples to the table. Hmmmm… how about no, you called us... right?Next up, David wants to convince us that the god particle actually proves god. Oh yeah David also says he's an atheist. That's a bold move, Cotton. Let's see how it plays out..Miner in Arizona claims to have an argument against atheism. Um, ok. Go on... He claims that because there are so many people on the Earth, there has to be a god. Correlation does not equal causation and I’m not following Miner’s line of thinking. Is this an argumentum ad populum?Oscar in Mexico would like to discuss the spiritual meaning of life if you’re an atheist. Is there a drive to do anything if there isn’t anything spiritual to inspire you? Matt tried to speak Spanish during this call!Ben in California asks about Jesus’ existence and is wondering why Matt doesn’t claim he doesn’t exist. How will Matt handle this one?Our last call, Cory in South Carolina believes in a god but is worried this god is an evil god. He claims he did some research and is calling back to talk to Matt and Don about what he has discovered. That’s our episode for today, please be safe and healthy out there folks. The world is way better with you in it. See you next week!Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-atheist-experience--3254896/support.

In today’s episode of the Atheist Experience, Matt Dillahunty is joined by Johnny Angel. Welcome back to the co-host chair Johnny! We loved having you on with us a couple weeks back, glad to see you again!Let’s get to calls. The first caller in the queue is a returning caller, Javier from Florida. He would like to discuss how he had a street discussion with a preacher against theism and it had him in a bit of a fluster. It sounds like he is almost on his way out and clinging to religion it seems. Good luck to you Javier!Next up, Dormand from New Jersey claims that he can prove a god and this god is all powerful. He’s called before and we’ve gone over this before with him. But this time he claims he can prove it with mathematics and philosophy! Show your work then, I’m waiting for the equations and eventual fallacies. Nathan is up next, claiming he has good reasons to believe in god, and it’s FAITH. It’s our problem we don’t believe because we are atheists, man. C’mon dude, give us something to work with here. You’re not providing us with anything to discuss here. FYI, faith is NOT a good enough reason.David had a vision in 1994! The room turned a hue of pink and was visited by someone (maybe Jesus) who was 10 feet tall. This person spoke and he provided instructions to not cut their hair and to meet them on a mountain in 2011. Hmmm… Was it drugs and alcohol? Why didn’t he explore this further? Sounds like an argument from personal experience… What the heck is in the water in Colorado??? Next up, Zachary in Alabama wants to talk about how incorrectly atheists assess evidence and have an inherent presupposition against believing that Christianity is true. He continues to say that it is “totally true.” It isn’t true until it is proven to be true and faith on it’s own is not a reliable path to truth. Oh boy and we end on the morality of slavery, Matt’s (so not) favorite topic. Our last caller of the day, Raul from Texas. He claims he can prove intelligent design. Look at the stars, especially the constellation Orion, The Big Dipper/Ursa Major, and Scorpio! We are blind to these constellations being figures that were constructed by god. Wow! Humans time over time look for patterns and this is definitely one of those times. Sigh.Have a great week folks, we’ll see you next week!Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-atheist-experience--3254896/support.

In today’s episode of the Atheist Experience, Jenna Belk is joined by Anthony Magnabosco. Here’s his channel: https://www.youtube.com/user/magnabosco210/ and here is his website: https://streetepistemologyinternational.org/ Ready for round two Anthony? We are so glad you are here. It should be a good show!Let’s get to calls. The first caller is Trudy from Texas. She is all over the place on this call and super difficult to follow; babies are miracles, she has an Atheist best friend, she experienced an NDE. Listen in and challenge yourself to figuring out what her point is because I’m totally lost.Next up, Debbie in New England is calling in with her son Eric who was on a mission trip in Australia and is now home. He was encouraged to call in with his mom as an update from their last call. He talks about his reconversion and his experience within the LDS church. He was convinced of these two things: The LDS church and their message/teachings made sense and was appealing to him. Ooooh boy.Adam calls in saying he is about to be kicked out of his home due to watching the ACA shows. Our hearts go out to you Adam, please stay safe and take care of yourself first, then work on coming out. Also, please reach out to the Recovering from Religion, they may have some great resources for you. Jack is coming in hot with a huge amount of claims about the Bible, Jesus is real, Evolution is false and we Atheists are wrong. Dodging and deflecting left and right. We first try to establish who is an expert and Anthony tries to figure out his confidence level on his “studies.” We dropped the call because Jack refused to listen and have a dialogue. Call back (or don’t) when you’ve calmed down. And NO, we aren’t scared, you didn’t “own” us, and you didn’t provide anything close to a good argument. Next up, Jack in London claims that truth is something we experience first hand, and belief is something we don’t but we think it to be true without evidence. Umm… I’m a bit lost here. That doesn’t sound quite right.Dean in North Carolina ponders the strengths and weaknesses of street epistemology. The strength that Anthony could see is that it is something that everyone can use. A weakness in this method is two willing participants. If one isn’t willing to interact in this way, it can become a difficult conversation.That’s all folks for today! Thanks for tuning in, stay safe and healthy out there!Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-atheist-experience--3254896/support.

Welcome back to The Atheist Experience! Today’s show is hosted by Matt Dillahunty & Shane Isgrig. We have a little pre-show chatter, but most important is we have Secular Survey results! https://www.secularsurvey.org/executive-summaryCharles is curious whether our hosts accept any sort of supernatural phenomenon, then explains that God is as clear as the cause of a scraped knee!David wants to talk about Aristotle’s reason for believing in God, assuming we care specifically about Aristotle’s opinion.Andre has an argument from quantum mechanics. The call ends quickly and Matt and Shane discuss these odd “proofs for God” from quantum mechanics. What an interesting follow up from quantum gods. Michael says God exists, doesn’t exist, is mathematics, and is reality. Uh...what?!Brian believes Matt’s position on how likely a god is to exist changed, and Matt clarifies this misunderstanding of his own positions.Glenn says the whole show is pointless, because God doesn’t exist and no one will ever call in with evidence of God!Vladimir has proven God: a creation needs a creator. He’s got us. Pack it up.Matt in Indiana has an equation that MAY prove god, he thinks. I have an idea on which side of “MAY” the answer will end up.Kanyon is saying she’s had a lot of unexplained things happen to her, and for that reason she thinks “something” must be behind it.Daniel in Toronto insists that, since there are so many alien abduction stories, some of them must be true! He also says that there is evidence of alien technology on earth. Ooh, aah!That’s our show today! If you want to support the show you can check out https://www.patreon.com/theatheistexperience for a monthly subscription to podcasts with NO ADS, or https://tiny.cc/aenmerch for ACA merch! Matt is on Twitter @Matt_Dillahunty and Shane is on YouTube (https://www.youtube.com/user/shanemysterio).Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-atheist-experience--3254896/support.

Welcome back to The Atheist Experience! Today’s show is hosted by Matt Dillahunty with guest Dave Warnock. Dave is an ex-pastor turned atheist who was recently diagnosed with ALS, a terminal illness. He now travels the world talking to interested groups about dying as an atheist, embracing life’s “moments,” all wrapped up in one statement: Dying Out Loud. (https://www.daveoutloud.com/) Dave also advocates death with dignity, which allows those with conditions like his to choose when they’re ready to go, when they have had enough pain.Javier wants to know what Dave and Matt think about the concept that religious leaders often are the catalysts of religious followers losing their faith.Marcus claims to have a syllogism that proves theists and atheists are just as rational as one another. He then explains that a bad argument isn’t necessarily one that leads to a wrong answer, as if we didn’t already know and say that on this show...constantly.David calls in to ask Dave a specialised question: What should I do to prepare my religious family for my death? Dave gives a recommendation toward the Final Exit Network (https://finalexitnetwork.org/).Amanda was adopted, and her biological older brother recently found her. Since then, that part of her family has been seemingly trying to convert and question her, and she’s wondering how to have these conversations without “scaring them off.”Will in Florida calls to ask if it makes sense to be a theist who believes in evolution...then asks if he should believe in god. What answer was he expecting?Richard starts off by asking what counts as “you?” He then stretches this out to mean that somehow one human is humanity. That’s our show today! If you want to support the show you can check out https://www.patreon.com/theatheistexperience for a monthly subscription to podcasts with NO ADS and other fun goodies, or https://tiny.cc/aenmerch for merch from all of the ACA’s shows! Matt is on Twitter @Matt_Dillahunty, and Dave is there @dwwarnock. Thanks for watching/listening!Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-atheist-experience--3254896/support.

Greetings folks! Today’s episode of the Atheist Experience is brought to you by, I can’t think of anything clever to say, so it’s brought to you by virtual hugs. Virtual Hugs to all! Today’s episode of the Atheist Experience is, Matt Dillahunty and Jenna Belk. It’s going to be a great show!Let’s get to calls. Our first caller is Bug from Texas. He wants to discuss how he is convinced there is no deity helping us make our decisions. He also rambles a bit and it was difficult to really follow what the topic was, but he seems very sincere. Good luck to you Bug!Next up, Phillip from Florida would like to speak about “the Absence of God Paradox”, claiming if there are no divine laws, God doesn’t exist, and religion is wrong. That’s not a paradox though? The following caller is Javier from Florida. What is going on in Florida?… don’t answer that! He posits that the foundation for morality is subjective. Matt then says “There is no objective reason to care about well-being, nor what you think your God wants.” Pretty quick call, but good.The next caller in the queue is Ernesto from Georgia wanting to discuss his questioning of his faith. He is trying to understand and how to better communicate with his significant other about how he feels about where he is.Next up, Amene in Texas advocates for the God of the Old Testament. Ok, and... What’s your point? Having a bunch of people believe it isn’t enough of a reason to believe in a God. Afterwards we have Hunter from Texas. He wonders about having to give a religious eulogy. He is expected to give one for family. It’s up to him to decide on how open he is with his Atheism to his family. Perhaps Recovering from Religion would be most helpful. https://www.recoveringfromreligion.org/ Our last caller of the day, Wilbur in New York would like to discuss how people experience the Holy Spirit and possibly how folks in crowds may feel a certain way due to collective delusion. But there can be euphoria with all sorts of things that aren’t religious. Jenna, you are wonderful! Matt you are fantastic! The crew is amazing! The ACA is here to give you structure by producing our shows remotely for you to enjoy, and we appreciate all of you! Stay healthy, stay home, and wash your hands.Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-atheist-experience--3254896/support.

Welcome back to The Atheist Experience! Today’s show is hosted by Matt Dillahunty and Jim Barrows! We start the show with a little more COVID-19 talk, as has become an unfortunate tradition in recent days. Jim addresses an earlier comment he made about suicide as a sin in the Catholic church.Our first caller, Tony in South Africa, thinks that atheists (he uses the strong definition of believing there is no god) and theists can both be correct about God. There is a god, but also...there isn’t. Maybe.Aligaz in San Antonio claims to have undeniable scientific proof of god, but things get squirrely when Matt asks for a definition of god. We get to all-powerful, and Aligaz’s response to whether or not God can create a rock so big he can’t lift it is surprising.In what immediately sounds like a strange re-definition of “god,” Tony in Illinois (who claims to be neither atheist nor theist) says that men are gods, but have to earn the title. Turns out he means people will figure out how to overcome the end of the earth and “choose to exist” to become gods.Juan in Colombia tells us that basic axioms get us to god, but doesn’t quite flesh out those axioms or their relation to God.Wes in the Middle East calls to talk about infinity, but seems to have a pretty severe misunderstanding of infinity as a concept.Our final caller, Kevin in Mississippi, seems to have come across a few basic arguments for God and found them quite compelling. He goes down a list of different arguments, from, “The universe is complex,” to, “A lot of people believe it.” It turns out Kevin has been interested in some of our videos and is essentially hanging by the thread of Pascal’s wager...he may be calling in as a de-convert soon.That’s our show today! If you want to support the show you can check out https://www.patreon.com/theatheistexperience for a monthly subscription to podcasts with NO ADS and other fun goodies, or https://tiny.cc/aenmerch for merch from all of the ACA’s shows! Hosts can be found on Twitter @Matt_Dillahunty and @JimBarrows. Thanks for watching/listening!Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-atheist-experience--3254896/support.

In today’s episode of the Atheist Experience, Matt Dillahunty is joined by two very distinguished guests and friends of the ACA, Nick Fish and Debbie Goddard of American Atheists. They definitely have some experience being atheists and we are happy to have them join us today! Also, happy zombie day to all, keep your brain safe by staying inside and away from everyone. Let’s get to calls. The first caller is Guardy from Canada. He believes that some people need God because they also need defined rules given to them. And he’s an atheist? This is interesting and may potentially melt your mind. Good for zombie day I guess?And we are done, we have our Sundays back folks. Dewitt has historical proof of Jesus. Though, his name was Yeshua, and oh he probably didn’t exist... nevermind. hmmm… how historic is this claim because I have serious doubts? I’ve noticed lately that we get this kind of call quite a bit. But because we get this sort of argument frequently doesn’t make it true. Even though we are done here and have our Sundays back, Amene has called in saying God through the Holy Spirit has encouraged him to call us. Yeah, no.Murray is conflicted because they are fearful about how to get through the current situation we are all in without God. Having religion there is definitely a source of comfort, and without it can be troubling. It’s not easy to let go and it is very legitimate to feel this way. “Draw strength from the relationships and community you have.” - Debbie GoddardNext up, Marquel in Georgia is calling again (he called during Talk Heathen when Andrew was on: Clip! https://youtu.be/g1dftovY7CY ) talking about how he is the ONLY person who has experienced pre-existence, spoke life into existence before time began, and had a race with god. Yeah, sure you are. He claims to have met god during this pre-existence. Yeah, um… ok. Afterwards we have Amin from New Jersey. He thinks the things that protect us from the COVID-19 outbreak may usher in the beast in his mind. He continues to give a laundry list of events and he’s lost me in the conspiracy. Wow this one… are we having fun yet?Greg in Florida ends the show with the eternal question about why we are here. He claims we are here to Worship! He also claims that King James did a great job writing the King James Bible. (facepalm.) The bible makes no sense when explaining why we are here, it’s a horrible miss-mash of stories that really have no bearing on why we are here. What is our intended purpose of being here?And that’s all folks. Have a wonderful zombie day! Stay Safe, Stay Home, Stay Healthy. Wash your damned hands and wear a mask if you go out for quarantine supplies!Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-atheist-experience--3254896/support.

Welcome back to The Atheist Experience! Today’s show is hosted by Matt Dillahunty and friend of the show Dragnauct Sylvas. We start the show with discussion about the coronavirus and its effects on daily life, from isolation depression to grocery store gross-outs. Then, we get to caller numero uno!Dragnauct picks an interesting topic from Gavin, who says he wants to check in on his own rationale. Gavin says he believes in a soul, or at least something like it, based on some experiences he’s had in life, but he’s pretty sure something about that rationale is faulty. Is he right?Brian in Washington, DC calls in to convert Matt by asking, “What’s wrong with being a saint?” and using a version of Pascal’s Wager. When Matt and Dragnauct bring up the fact of Catholic cover-ups of child molestation, Brian starts to get a little squirrely.We have a few frequent callers, and one is coming back: Kamal in Alabama was brought into a Facebook intervention by his family, who tried to bring him back to Jesus. We’ve all had this experience, unfortunately, and it’s nice to relate to each other sometimes. We love you, Kamal.Carlos is another newly frequent caller, and his argument today is...well, it’s a little confusing. He says that God as described in the Bible gives life so he can determine how long it is for you. Then there’s an analogy from Batman. Essentially, Carlos thinks we shouldn’t see God’s action as distasteful if we read the Bible as fiction, because you’re not allowed to think fictional characters are bad guys, I guess?Can somebody say Clergy Project? https://clergyproject.org/ Well, not quite, but our caller is in that sort of predicament. Cade went to a Christian high school where he lost his faith, but he’s stuck in the church. No one knows about his non-belief, and he’s not sure what to do. Matt ends up turning this caller into a co-host for a moment!Laura in Michigan has personal access to God, and Matt attempts to use this access to have Laura ask God what she should say to convert Matt. Turns out, you just have to study the Bible and be open to love! We should have known.Our last call is an important one. Justin has a wife, and the two are currently awaiting a child’s birth. His wife has started to express concern about her child “being told there is no God,” or something along those lines. Dragnauct takes over most of this call, as his wife is also a believer, so he has some experience here. The key: communication between spouses, education for the child!That’s our show today! If you want to support the show you can check out https://www.patreon.com/theatheistexperience for a monthly subscription to podcasts with NO ADS and other fun goodies, or https://tiny.cc/aenmerch for merch from all of the ACA’s shows! Hosts can be found on Twitter @Matt_Dillahunty and @Dragnauct. Thanks for watching/listening!Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-atheist-experience--3254896/support.

SUMMARYWe look funny today, but it’s because our awesome crew figured out a way for us to continue the show from individual hosts’ and crew members’ homes! Thanks, guys! We start off with a bang: What do we do about church gatherings that could spread the corona virus more? If God isn’t real, why is religion influential? Can you even test science, and do the same forces that “created” the universe still exist? Isn’t there something “higher” that’s apparent? Why is Matt inconsistent with standards of evidence for others’ beliefs vs. his own? Ending the night with a beautiful summary of so much of this show’s history: Why don’t we believe in Jesus and his resurrection? But then technical issues cause us not to end the night, so we talk to Lana about her family’s gross treatment of her transgender daughter. And that ends our show.SHOW NOTESToday’s show looks different, because we’re all at home right now! Hosts, crew, all of us! Even me, writing these notes (although that’s no technical feat). Thank you to our wonderful Vern and Mark for making it possible for us to continue doing shows throughout the corona virus pandemic and Austin’s shelter-in-place ordinance.In relation to the pandemic, Dave in Austria asks a question of alarming importance: What do we do about all of these churches and religious groups having massive gatherings in tight spaces when the way to prevent this pandemic’s spread is staying home and social distancing? What can we do?Anthony in Florida has a kind of “gotcha” question: If God isn’t real, how is religion so influential? Checkmate, atheists!In what seems to be another attempt at a wording gotcha, Alex in Saskatchewan asks a couple things: Can we test science? Are the forces that created the universe still in the world? (He lists a few things that aren’t necessarily their own types of forces...there seems to be a misunderstanding here of what a force is.)A wild(ly confused) agnostic (atheist) appeared! (It’s okay to be confused. It happens.) Shawn in Minneapolis says he’s “between” believing and not believing to our call screener. He seems unable to let go of a concept of something “higher” as his first reason for not being an atheist is along the lines of, “Don’t you channel something higher when you play music?” Hm...I don’t think I do…You know what’s fun? Being accused of having different standards of evidence for beliefs you disagree with! Omar in California wants Matt to know that that’s exactly what he does! He provides awesome examples and Matt is forced to turn in his Atheist card and walk away in shame.Our final caller, Aaron in Arizona, wants to know why Matt and Jenna don’t accept Jesus and his resurrection.HAHA, we lied, that wasn’t the final call. Our show has to run long today...what a strange tech issue! Caller Lana is having issues with her family’s poor treatment of her transgender daughter, and she’s looking for advice.That’s our show today! If you want to support the show you can check out https://www.patreon.com/theatheistexperience for a monthly subscription to podcasts with NO ADS and other fun goodies, or https://tiny.cc/aenmerch for merch from all of the ACA’s shows! Hosts can be found on Twitter @Matt_Dillahunty and @Belk_Jenna. Thanks for watching/listening!Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-atheist-experience--3254896/support.