The Atheist Experience

Have the ultimate Atheist Experience today with Johnny P. Angel and John (Godlessengineer)! They wrestle with an argument from popularity right before diving into another theist argument from ignorance with all the chemical gaps being filled with no other but god himself.  Bernard, a theist in NYY, presents two options for the writing of the Old Testament: god or human. What is your criteria for determining this is actually the word of god? How did you rule out these scriptures are not just from people telling each other stories that describe how they thought the world exists? Why do you accept that this book is accurate? How do you explain all the different ways god is referred to such as Yahweh and Jehovah that indicate different writers of the first five books? Why is it supposed to be persuasive if a book references history? Large amounts of people believing in something has no bearing on how true it is. Mike, a theist in SC believes that because of the complexity of DNA, that it had to be designed, and proceeds to lay out his argument using chromosomes as a start. How do proteins come together? What is your definition of information as it pertains to DNA? Why are we replacing chemistry with magic? Why does any of this require a divine intelligence? When was the last time you looked up how many possible life supporting planets there are? What is the nature of the supernatural existence responsible for this design? If god is all powerful, why do genetic disorders exist? God has some explaining to do for this shoddy craftsman work. How is it fair that a kid dies of leukemia and why can’t god intervene to prevent this? Is it because he doesn't care or he doesn't exist? We think you are better than your god. Rachel, a skeptical agnostic in AZ, was told by her friend that she can only accept advice from other Christians. Why do Bible thumping folk think they cornered the market on correct action? It can be helpful to ask the person how they reconcile the genocides mentioned in the Bible such as Numbers 31,  with moral actions. Thank you for tuning in this week!  Prompt for the week is: What should you NOT say to a friend that is trying to deconvert?Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-atheist-experience--3254896/support.

Show notes upon receipt.Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-atheist-experience--3254896/support.

Have an Atheist Experience today as Secular Rarity (SR) and Armin Navabi, sort through questions of “creation”, differences in Quran scriptures, and ponder the unfalsifiable simulation claim. Jasmine, a theist in Ohio, says that all of existence including us, is part of god and that everything is created through god. How can everything be created through god and be god at the same time? How can something that does not make sense be convincing? Is there a way you can build a claim without using language that is so vague? Rick, a theist in TX, asks how atheists explain the creation of the universe and the world. There are people dedicated their lives studying how this happened and their explanation does not include a deity. The framing of this question assumes there is a creation and that we as atheists have an answer. Why do atheists need to come up with an explanation when we are not making any claims? Even if things did have a beginning, does not make it true there was a creation. We do not have to have any justification for not believing something. Why do you think the scriptures such as the Bible or Quran will have any validity with atheists? If you were to be shown something that shows how the universe got here, and that does not include a god, how would that change your beliefs and certainty there is a god? If justifiable evidence were to be provided for the existence of god, we would believe, however, worshiping that god will be a another story. Armin and SR have a different opinion on this. Abdur Rahman, a Muslim in NY, has laid out three criteria: logical theological framework, preservation of the original text of the Quran, and miracles. There is a ton of evidence showing the Quran has not been preserved perfectly. How do we explain the different versions of the Quran that actually differ in the commandments of Allah? If there were Quranic verses in two separate versions that were so radically different that it changes the commands of Allah and can’t be harmonized, would that make you no longer accept that the Quran is perfectly preserved? Why do we need the opinions of the scholars to make this harmonious? How do you explain these differences without changing the commandment of Allah and committing a sin? Steve in NE wants to talk about the collapse of the wave function, how things will exist in the fuzzy quantum state until they are observed, and the Second Law of Infodynamics which requires information entropy to remain constant or decrease overtime. He wonders if these things are indicators of a simulation program. How are you connecting these things? It doesn't really matter if we are in a simulation or not because our reality is indistinguishable from a base reality. We don’t believe there is anything that can rule this claim out, making it unfalsifiable. Thank you for hanging out with us today and remember the prompt of the week is: Create the next god!Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-atheist-experience--3254896/support.

You will have the ultimate Atheist Experience today as JMike and Darante’ Lamar discuss the moral standards of not throwing babies off roofs. They jump right into a discussion about Moses writing the Old Testament and then they have a short wrangle with Satan Incarnate. Daniel in NC responded to a video where JMike and the caller were discussing if throwing a baby off the roof is wrong in a world where there is no god, and a world where there is a god. Daniel agrees that this action is wrong in both worlds. What is the logical contradiction in a world where there are moral facts? It does not make sense to describe a world with independent obligation. What is the standard for god’s absolute morality? How do you explain the morality that people have who don’t hold a god belief? God has to be defined and shown to exist before you can prove that morality flows through god. Claims that are snuck in such as god being the creator need to be proven as well. Why is there a different standard of morality for god than there is for us? Why is it morally acceptable that god tells people to kill their children?Bernard in NY attempts to demonstrate that god wrote the first five books of the Bible through Moses, who he says also wrote the Old Testament. Where is the scripture that says this?  This call just did not get anywhere. Devon in PA relied on the Bible during a tough situation and references the verses that name, “Philadelphia”. This verse helps clear his name because he is Satan incarnate with black curly hair and a star under his eye. Dude! Why do you think this? Calum in Canada had two near death experiences as a teenager and saw an afterlife that was identical to what his mother described that included a “split” with a choice of where to go. Why did this experience not convince you there was an afterlife? It is rare that we hear this perspective from an atheist. Keith in OR asks what the hosts think when someone is healed at the same moment as the person who did the arm is asking forgiveness. We would ask for evidence of this taking place and would also be intrigued.  Could god create a backdoor to allow for such things to happen just so we can ask for forgiveness? Compares the story of Job to the 1919 World Series with the Chicago Black Sox. If god is omniscient, why would he not bet on Job? God does come down, talk to Job, and stack the bet, just for the record. Thank you for tuning in this week! Have a fun week thinking of why it is wrong to throw babies off roof, and make sure to think about our question of the week: What NOT to say if you meet Jesus.Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-atheist-experience--3254896/support.

In today’s episode of the Atheist Experience, Secular Rarity and Johnny P. Angel contemplate how numerology proves everything (in specific situations)Moses in FL goes right into a classic…how do you prove love is real. Secular Rarity gives us some examples like past relationships and medical technology can scan your brain to see brain activity during these love feelings. Sure, the bible says god is love but it also contradicts that fact by wrathful acts. What's loving about eternal damnation? Moses then moves onto proving god is everything we experience is god's love, for example The White House is in between Virginia and Maryland so mash those names together and you get Virgin Mary. So what if there are weird coincidences James in MI needs more evidence to not believe in god because god exists in maths and grammar. He claims Christ Jesus revealed himself in numbers, for example April 17, 4 was the day Jesus was conceived. You can find examples of patterns giving different messages but it's useless if it only works on the english translation. This is just remembering the hits and ignoring the misses. The message should be universal and not just a very cherry picked pattern.Zatoichi444 in MI claims that our world is made by a lesser god, one reason is that everything can be mathematically plotted and explained and a real god would do better. DMT, a powerful hallucinogen, is not a way to find truth. Why won’t you accept that different people have contradictory experiences on DMT so it can’t be a good methodology for finding truth. We don’t doubt you had this experience or that you came away with this belief.Mike in NY says that god existing is a moot point as he can’t be discovered in the natural world. We should stop wasting time arguing about religion. There are real people affected by these ideologies and their actions matter in the real world.Steve in Nebraska introduces us to the WOW signal of terrestrial genetic code, a study claiming to prove intelligent design in our genetic codes. Steve dives into some numerology to prove a pattern in the genetic code. The paper is based on the WOW signal SETI discovered in 1977, they compare that signal to our genetic code and fudge some numbers and voila, intelligent design. The WOW signal is very interesting but you should research more into the comparisons of that pattern and try debunking your numerology, it doesn’t seem to hold up to scrutiny.Thank you for joining us this week! Question of the week is: Why do people REALLY hate atheists?Call the show on Sundays 4:30pm-6:00pm CT: 1-512-991-9242 or use your computer 💻 http://tiny.cc/callaxp and tell us what you believe and why!We request pronouns as part of the call screening process on our shows, and we display the pronouns our callers provide. If you see a caller with no pronouns indicated, this is because they chose not to provide us with any, and we respect that decision.Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-atheist-experience--3254896/support.

In today’s episode of the Atheist Experience, The Cross Examiner and Kelley Laughlin unravel the meaning to life, count marbles that can’t be seen, ask who gave us all these instructions and discuss mangos with a caller led by god.Moses in FL feels like god has led him to send the message of how god is trying to manifest himself in our lives and is hidden in our hearts. If he wants us to know him, why has he hidden himself? How do you decide who hears the message? What is the mechanism of being “led”? Would it be cool if I asked you for $10K to invest in a bank account that will grow to $10M if you just believe it, yet you will never see it? How do we tell the difference between magical, invisible things when they all offer the same promises? If the Christian God reaches people through different religions, why is there a need for different messages? What happens to logic when you believe conflicting things within a religion at the same time? We need measurable evidence, not reasons or stories, that supports your belief in god.Landy in FL says that Genesis 1:29 are instructions that prove vegetarian diets are part of the answer to increased mutations and can be medically beneficial. What makes you think there are tests in Egypt that predate the Summerian texts in Cuneiform? Why can’t you tell us who gave the instructions contained in the Bible? Why do you want to rush through points rather than have a genuine conversation? What do we infer or conclude from god instructing us to have a vegan diet that is medically beneficial? What if it were shown this is actually bad for you and how do you feel about all the bad medical advice in the Bible?Andrew in India does not believe that people can be both atheist and agnostic. Atheism is simply not being convinced there is a god where being agnostic is not truly knowing if there is a god. What is the point about these terms knowing that language can evolve? Belief and knowledge are just points on a scale and don’t necessarily support one another. Can we be wrong about our beliefs? Agnostic is not the same as anti-gnostic and the two are commonly conflated.Gene in TX uses a jar full of yellow marbles with one red marble that we can’t see to describe the possibility of god. Possibilities need to be demonstrated before we can accept them.Mike in SC just went to a funeral that caused the question of why atheists don’t find meaning in life if atheism is true. Why would we look for meaning if we already found it? Where would you be in a life that lacks a belief in god? Are you looking for a meaning in life or are you looking for meaning in an afterlife? What does the meaning of life mean and how do you obtain this? What happens if the relationships that give you meaning to life end? We might find more similarities in how we see meaning to life than it seems.Thank you for joining us this week! Question of the week is: (Wrong answers only) What was god’s motivation to flood the earth?We request pronouns as part of the call screening process on our shows, and we display the pronouns our callers provide. If you see a caller with no pronouns indicated, this is because they chose not to provide us with any, and we respect that decision.Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-atheist-experience--3254896/support.

Have an Atheist Experience with Secular Rarity and Armin Navabi as they work through callers determined to prove god’s existence. Moses in FL says our lives are the manifestation of god’s truth. Why should emotions override the data? How is it that living our lives shows the truth of god? How do the narratives contained within religion affect a person’s self respect? What is the point of using logic if it is not to achieve better things and progress? When those who follow Jesus are supposed to be good people, why do Christians still do terrible things? What kind of love uses threats of eternal fire and torture? Caleb in OH tries to prove that god exists by stating the universe has a beginning because it is expanding. We don’t know if the universe had a beginning or not. What was the second law of thermodynamics like before the big bang happened? How do you know that other people besides the disciples didn't write the Gospels? Even in modern times with video recordings, people come up with all kinds of narratives of how they perceive current events. What do you think it was like 2,000 years ago? Landy in FL wants us to know that we are all beings of light and science is catching up to what the Bible tells us. Why do letters in a text adding up to a certain number matter with anything? Why should we believe this is any kind of code? Every religion uses number games within their scriptures. Why should we believe one over another? What Biblical information is science just catching up to? James in CA asks what the hosts think about Paul’s argument for Christ being the Messiah. Paul, Mohamed, and Joseph Smith all said the same thing and we reject all of them. How can we believe Paul’s claims if he is not even an eye witness? Why is Paul’s revelation moment any more true than those that others have had? Thank you for joining us this week. Question of the week is “What is Jesus's Secret hobby?Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-atheist-experience--3254896/support.

Today you will have a total Atheist Experience as the one and only Shelley Segal treats us to the best start to the show ever! Jim Barrows and JMike walk us through what does and does not matter when providing evidence just before learning there are holograms in our brains! Shelley provides a beautiful concert to conclude our show. Nick in WI believes that he has found god in the same way he would find a specific car in a car lot. If you were to search for god, what reason would you have to think god exists before you start searching? Why would we care about the characteristics if this god has not been demonstrated to exist? How do you explain a Christian foundation’s findings that say prayer has no more effects than a placebo? What does “spiritually alive” mean? Considering the history of the Cananites, how did they get from polytheism to theism? Why blame god for something that is part of you and wanting to know as many true things as possible?Mac in CA has the argument from perennialism to prove god and is described as god has been contacting humans through history. The sound trailed off into underwater territory. Sura in India says there is a strong force that is driving all religions. All religions attempt to explain things we have no control over is a more reasonable explanation than adding a supernatural god to the equation. Why postulate a god for natural phenomena? How do the percentages of people that believe something have any bearing on the truth?Oliver in FL wants to know what science or LGBTQ has to do with atheism and atheists use faith for not having evidence for god. By your definition of faith, what am I believing in as an atheist that I can’t substantiate or confirm? What is the entailment for when we continue to ask for evidence? Why would Einstein saying anything get us to believe in this useless god of Spinoza?Angus in NE,  Jesus Mythicist asks what the hosts think of Yahwey or Yesua never saying anything. The same thing can be said of The Hobbit or other stories. What does what someone says prove anything about their existence? Dave in India asks the hosts if they would consent to the point that there is a hologram in their brains. How would that point to god? Personal experience does nothing to move the needle here. How does your brain making you see stuff get us to god? Under what circumstances should we assume the supernatural is real? Why would you believe our lives as atheists are meaningless?That was awesome wasn’t it? Thank you for hanging out with us this week! Question of the week is: Why did god really go no contact with people?Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-atheist-experience--3254896/support.

Have an Atheist Experience with Secular Rarity and Forrest Valkai as they work together to catch a troll who won’t answer a question only to later have another transphobe try a bait and switch tactic with the call screeners. Kevin in GA asks the hosts why he is incorrect by believing there is an intelligent designer without having specific proof such as a video describing how a car is made. What do you have to compare a designed universe with? Not knowing something is not the same as magic. There are multitudes of different types of proof that are needed for us to believe that a creator designed the universe. We do know where things came from and they are all from natural sources. If there is no proof, what is it that leads you to accept it and why do you believe your god is real? Royal Trans Atheist in the UK asks about the morality of homosexuality under atheism. Why are you going out of your way to poke at people? What is your understanding of how reasoning and logic leads one to accept that being homosexual is how one is born? Overwhelming consensus is that it is not a choice but is part of the spectrum of human sexuality. At what point in your life did you decide to be straight? Do you believe that homosexuality is immoral? “Pleading the fifth” is now how this show works; if you are going to be a troll, at least be honest. Seethi in OH asks Forrest about a call where Forrest had said there is no gender of a sex. Forrest explains that gender is a social construct and changes throughout time. Using the proper terminology from a scientific perspective will be inclusive. Agreeing on the facts and agreeing on what the facts mean are two different things. It is important to be careful to not cause more harm when describing how gender does not line up with sex, even when trying to be well intentioned. Caleb in OH has evidence of the supernatural and asks the hosts their belief of the supernatural. Neither host believes in anything they do not have evidence for. How would accepting the universe having a beginning get us to god? Why would we believe anything contrary to the wealth of knowledge we already have about the universe? Mr. British in London asks the hosts if atheism is appropriating the word “theist” in a proper way? What could this possibly mean? Is it misappropriating the word “symptom” to use the word “asymptomatic”? Can a term be used to describe whether or not something possesses a particular quality? Why should we use the word “secularism” when it does not mean the same thing as atheism? Mike in SC asks SR about his prior belief and if he just grew out of religion. SR explains his deep belief and involvement early in life until an effective method was demonstrated to him. Forrest describes his exposure to a variety of churches and religions and how he applied the same rules to those beliefs as he did for anything else. Mike then asks if all atheists believe that gender is fluid. The majority care about gender identity, but as with other groups, there are atheists that are transphobic. If you are not willing to speak up against policies that are harming trans people, then we would argue you do not have a trans friend. Thank you for joining us this week! Remember to call the show and not just comment in the chat! The prompt for this week is: What is a good come back for, “You need Jesus”?Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-atheist-experience--3254896/support.

Have an Atheist Experience with Jim Barrows and The Cross Examiner and work through the current challenging issues that both theists and atheists continue to sort through. Chidumeei in PA asks how he is to tell atheists that they are not morally superior.  How do you deal with Christians that think they are morally superior? You take it one step at a time like you do everything else. Many people go through the angry atheist stage, and sometimes this is frustration from learning the Bible is wrong and realizing people have been lied to. If you slow the conversation down, ask for definitions, and look for understanding, people will realize the conversation is more important than the finger pointing. Miguel in CO asks about how society handles transgender people in sports. How does society reconcile the two established facts of transgenderism being real, and the hormonal treatment being good but not perfect? Sports matter more than we think it should, and solutions that we come up with for one sport may not work for another. Maybe early recognition of one being transgender will solve some of the issues. It would be insulting to all genders to just boil it down to not allowing men to compete with women. People do not on a whim just decide to change their gender. Be careful to weed out the lies such as “six year olds getting surgeries”. Brandon in CA wants to know why we embrace the trans community by using pronouns. What problem do you have with inclusion? How has the use of pronouns just come out of nowhere? We are hoping to build a society where it does not matter where you are dropped in, and the bottom rung of the ladder keeps going up so that everybody is included. What skin do you lose by using pronouns?Dan in Canada has just been through the loss of a service dog and wants to know if it is okay to be Catholic without proof of god. How do you feel about believing a story without evidence of your dog being in a better place? What is your community around you now like? You may consider calling The Secular Therapy Project for someone to talk with or Recovering from Religion. It is okay to go to a church; there are times when communities offer more benefits than risks. The thing to look forward to when you do not believe in a god, is the exciting prospect that the future is yours to make and do what you want. Chloe in MI says that the USA is not a Christian nation even though she is a Christian and does not see the attitude of Jesus and putting other people first. How do we define what a true Christian is? What do you think people mean when they say it is a Christian nation? In addition to legal meanings that are wrong on many levels, it could mean that people who are white evangelicals feel like they are losing their power. How do we determine whose interpretation of the Bible is correct? Who has the proper insight to know what the Bible means? We agree the United States is not a Christian nation. Thank you for tuning in this week! Prompt of the week is: How did god the father get out of paying child support? Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-atheist-experience--3254896/support.