The Atheist Experience

In today’s episode of the Atheist Experience, Christy Powell and Jimmy Jr., are live with fun words of encouragement! Darius in CA asks about how to have a conversation with believers at his grandmother’s funeral. This is the time to be with family and get through this rather than discuss beliefs. How upsetting are ideas of the afterlife or lack thereof for you? Be mindful of your own experiences and how painful this can be. Arthur in NY asks how religious extremists and atheists can get to a place where they can harmonize. It takes these conversations to move the needle. There will always be diversity which means conflict, but we are getting better by working together as a species. We can create a more harmonious society in part by having these discussions. JR. in WA asks about private revelations leading to public revelations, and if god is pushing towards the model of prophets. Which god would it be that is pushing this model? How can you tell the difference between a visit from your god or something that was made up? It would be good to understand what your own thoughts sound like and how to figure out how to differentiate between those thoughts and god’s revelation. Frank in NC does not believe in the god that commands violent actions, but the god that is about love and freedom. Who is the god you believe in and how do you know it wants love and freedom for everyone?Christian in MI has changed beliefs and come out to his wife and this is causing problems with the in-laws and asking for advice about raising children. Alongside the magical stories your children are receiving, teach critical thinking. This can be a conflict heavy situation, and there will be sacrifices made, just don’t harm yourself in the process. Christian in GA asks why the hosts think the gospels are unreliable. We can start with the four contradicting each other, and then look at how they tend to progress in a mythical way. Why would something contradict itself if it is inspired by god? How is Christianity consistent with the message we are supposed to receive in the New Testament? How is this stone age poetry that is supposed to be the perfect word of god not perfect? If the four gospels are not the word of god, then what makes them so special? Ellis in Canada asks if there is any value in a person not identifying with social stereotypes and the usage of pronouns. A lot of these ideas are about functionality so we should be descriptive and not proscriptive. If one were to lose a bunch of weight, we don’t like people giving commentary on how we express ourselves. Felix in GA states that human corruption is the problem and not religion, and that religion is a tool to reduce anxiety. How does the crime that is done in the name of religion factor in with this concept?Thank you for tuning in this week. The question of the week is: What is an inappropriate thing to say at the crucifixion?Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-atheist-experience--3254896/support.

Forrest Valkai and Seth Andrews join the show to discuss various interesting topics including the disturbing passage in the Bible commanding the slaughter of the Amalekites, the comedic nature of the Old Testament, changing Bible verses to alter their meaning, highlighting harmful actions of Abrahamic religions, the abusive nature of Christian ideology, the worth and value of individuals, encounters with religious apologetics, inconsistencies in the resurrection narrative, and the importance of embracing skepticism in personal journeys.

In today’s episode of The Atheist Experience, for the first time ever, Johnny P. Angel and Armin Navabi discuss what makes Johnny face-palm, the hypocrisy of atheists accepting trans experiences but not claims about Muhammad, and the existence of religious characters.James from CA claims that homosexuality is physically harmful and should be banned in the same way that environmentally damaging actions are banned.Xavier from FL claims that the hosts are hypocrites for accepting the experiences of trans people and not the supernatural claims of Paul or Muhammad.Ahmad from OH is shocked that the hosts don’t believe that Paul and Muhammad existed in their religiously claimed form.Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-atheist-experience--3254896/support.

In today’s episode of The Atheist Experience, Jim Barrows wrestles with multiple callers that trigger the best Forest Valkai science rants ever. First caller is Art in PA who says that atheists are quitters because they skip a step. We are at a point where the god explanation is no longer needed. The first attempt to explain the natural world is oftentimes the worst attempt. Atheists have one less assumption than theists do. Mikal in CO asks how to reply to someone that says atheists must have faith for what they believe. Faith and belief are not the same things and we proportion our beliefs to evidence. Not believing someone does not require faith. Atheists do not have the TV on any channel; it is simply off. Elias in TN asks how to respond to people when they claim that sex is binary since gametes production determines sex. What if someone does not have gonads? Does that mean they do not have a sex? This is not new science and is undergraduate level stuff. This has only recently become a hot topic issue that is controversial. The model of sex is useful and helps explain nature, and nature does not care about our explanations. Binary for lack of a better word, is just not good enough. Dan in Canada asks why the Laetoli footprints were huge when Lucy was supposed to be small, and not bipedal. No part of Lucy’s skeleton tells us she was ever a knuckle walker. The size of the foot does not change much about the big picture or disprove evolution. What the footprints tell us is that 3.5 million years ago there was something like us walking in this area. It is recommended you go to https://humanorigins.si.edu/ to learn more. Humans are apes, primates, mammals, and animals! Do you believe any part of the Bible is wrong? Were humans created before or after animals? In the Book of Genesis, is Chapter 1 correct or is it Chapter 2? When you try to justify the many things in the Bible that are not true, it is like carrying around a miltone. Would you use faith based thinking for anything else? Why would you not use faith to start your car?David, an educator in AZ, asks how to respond when students ask about his beliefs. When in a public setting, it would be unethical to talk about religion or politics in any capacity to a captive audience. This would be a misuse of public funds and trust. Answering these questions will change the way the students see you and can take away their objectivity. Thank you for tuning into the show and never stop learning! The question of the week is: What did the caller say to make Johnny P Angel look distraught?Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-atheist-experience--3254896/support.

SHOW NOTESToday’s Atheist Experience is the “show of hair” with Jmike and Secular Rarity. They sort through philosophical naturalism, because morality changes when god creates evil that is spoken through the unfalsifiable Quran and the all inclusive Catholic Church. First caller is Matt from CA who tells us about The Secular Student Alliance Convention. Vist Secularstudents.org to register before it closes on Wednesday.Rogue Show in SC calls to clarify Jmike’s position on philosophical naturalism. Natural sciences exhaust natural reality. The simplest theory is the one with the least amount of axioms, commitments, and predicates. Unjustified assumptions do not hold up to stacks of evidence. Kevin in GA asks why we think we do not get morality from god and if morality changes over time. We see more benefit and less harm when looking at other moral systems compared to god’s system. Do you think that what is good is in virtue with god’s commands? Will the basics of mathematics be the same in the future?Slave of Christ in TX asks about the problem of evil and says that god is all good for only the chosen ones. Does god intend there to be evil? How do you believe in an irrational god that creates evil? Either god permits the impermissible or there is not anything that is impermissible. How do you resolve this contradiction? Why would you take commands from a villain? If a view is contradictory, would you agree that the view is false?Jamal in Ca does not know if the hosts are really atheists, and asks the hosts what proof is needed to believe god exists. How is what the Quran says about embryology true? There is nothing in this book that is novel. We are going to be tortured in hell for eternity under Allah’s view and so will you unless you can provide some evidence to convince us because our sins are yours now. The Quran places other people’s burdens on you. Mary in FL asks about the difference between ought and is and had some general questions about logical fallacies. Ought and “is” are unrelated except for when the premise contains both an “is” statement and a value. Descriptive premises do not follow value statements, and we can’t get prescriptions from descriptions. There must be more work put in to fill in the gap. Search for intro books about logic, inference rules, formal and formal fallacies, and propositional logic. Xavier in FL wants to know what is wrong with the Catholic Church. The church puts aside money that is specifically used for fighting against holding people accountable for abusing children. Enough said. Thank you for tuning in everyone! The question of the week : If it weren’t for ____________, I would still believe in God.Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-atheist-experience--3254896/support.

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

In today’s episode of the Atheist Experience, Jmike and Doctor Ben die for Jesus so immorality won’t cause riots from atheists with meaningless worldviews after disconnecting emotionally from religion. Davis in CO wants to know why people would die for Jesus if it was not true. What does the psychological state of your reasoning have to do with whether it is true or not? When death is the gateway to getting to a better existence, and people honestly believe it, they will embrace it. Huge amounts of people believing in something does not have any bearing on its truth. People are willing to risk their existence for smaller things than a reason for eternity. Patrick in AR experienced his wife having a vision after dying in his arms. After she was revived, he was told her recovery was miraculous. The treatment used at the facility such as epinephrine and CPR increase the chances of survival. We don’t know medically why someone survives in this state for so long, but we also don’t have a reason to believe it is supernatural. Statistically, the outlier events are going to occur, and there will always be someone who asks why that happens to them. Hug the people around you and love them. Trevor in MI has some questions about Biblical interpretations when having conversations with his dad. If you want to be correct about something, then you need to have a principle and intention of what was said. How do you validate anyone’s interpretation? You could follow a weird train of interpretation to the original which turns out to be a different denomination entirely. God is seemingly the author of confusion. Jon in Canada says that god is necessary for morality, and immorality is what causes riots. How do you explain wrong things that occur in god’s world? Can people do good things for bad reasons? What evidence do you have that supports the claim that people being immoral are the cause of riots? Icon in Canada presents a thought experiment where we attach reasonableness to time, where a belief is reduced by a percentage slowly over time. What metric would we use to assign the percentages? Adam in Saudi Arabia finds it unattractive to accept life being meaningless as part of atheism. If an intrinsic value is not forced on something, does that make it any less valuable? If everything has a purpose, then can we agree there is a reason for all events, good and bad? When babies die suddenly, are we going to say they need to die as some sort of a sacrifice for whatever a deity needs to prove? It makes no sense to simultaneously have evil and good if evil is the thing that leads to the good.Shi in the USA asks how to disconnect from religion emotionally after already disconnecting intellectually. What does emotional disconnecting mean to you? You may not need to entirely disconnect in that way.Thank you for tuning in this week! The question of the week is: What do you think is the weirdest prayer god has ever heard?Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-atheist-experience--3254896/support.