The Atheist Experience

In today’s episode of the Atheist Experience, Jim Barrows and Secular Rarity take on calls about divorce, single parents, trans women, and technology before Armin Navabi flies in to help.Andrea in FL calls to claim that atheism leads to higher divorce rates and that Christians have more satisfactory sex lives than atheists. How do you explain the Pew Research Center studies that contradict this claim? Is it more important to stay married and be miserable for the children or is it better to teach them about happiness? What is it specifically about being married and not getting a divorce that makes people better?Otari in the nation of Georgia proposes that children of single parent households are more likely to be delinquent. What studies do we have that single parent households are radically problematic? Could the problem be linked to only one income for the household and poverty? Other than income, how are two parents raising a child better than one? Is the real problem divorce, or is it socioeconomic status?

Today’s Atheist Experience is live in the studio with Forest Valkai, JMike, and Johnny P. Angel! They operate as a triple host power team to help us work through pubic angles, Biblical interpretations, more pubic angles, bad design, and casting off religious weights.Evan in VA knows Jesus is true because the Bible says so, and asks the hosts how they know if something they believe is true. Simplicity works for philosophy and evidence works for science. If there is not a good reason to know something, we either stop believing, or look for evidence to see what we should believe. Functionality works if we are not trying to shoehorn something into our beliefs. The perceived reality that we live in has facts that are true and can be tested. Which version of the Bible is true? How do you know that the red lettering are the words of Jesus? Amanuel in TX says that the teachings of the Old and New Testaments are consistent with each other. In Judaism, was the Messiah a concept of a dying and rising god? How do you kno

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In today’s episode of the Atheist Experience, Johnny P. Angel and Hemant Mehta work through calls of free will, the supernatural, and morality. Art in PA says god is believable because people have seeked thousands of gods over thousands of years and you still have to believe in god to give up the Bible. Just because people were looking for something does not mean they were on the right track for what they are seeking. Wanting something to exist does not make it true. Why would an appeal to popularity make something true? If you care about truth, what is the best thing to do? David in Ireland asks how to deconstruct supernatural beliefs when using things such as Tarot cards or crystals. Going through a ritualistic process can put yourself in a different mental state of focus, but does not mean the items used in the ritual have any special powers. How do you know these items are helping more than any other practice? If all these tools you use disappear, would you end up in the same place? The power is within yo

In today’s episode of the Atheist Experience, Secular Rarity(a.k.a. "Schmike") and Jmike get philosophically fun as callers discuss deconstruction and free will.Devon in CA calls to discuss how worshiping in two religions at one time does not make sense. Some religions have beliefs that are mutually exclusive, but there are also some that are not. How often do you run into people who have dual beliefs? When you see this, analyze the two and compare the contradictions. What is the criteria used to pick these two different beliefs? It is important to have consistency to help not hold two contradictory beliefs. Austin from TX informs us that Alex Grey is building a Chapel of Sacred Mirrors in NY, and this work of art encompasses all the theist ways of being. How do you arrive at this being what your religion is about? What are they doing to demonstrate their truth claim of there being a god? How do you determine what is true from religions to incorporate into your world view? How would this be independently veri

Today’s Atheist Experience has Objectively Dan and Christy Powell in the studio take audience questions in between wrestling with concepts from callers.God’s Sign in CA calls to say that Christianity is not immoral because it teaches one to be selfless. Why does this need to be Christianity and not the Boy Scouts or some other organization? Many people have a moral problem with the scriptures, including the words of Paul from the New Testament. If Jesus was god, was the crucifixion really a sacrifice? How do you feel about the extortion threat of hell?Gene in TX brings up Matthew 10 where Jesus tells the disciples to not preach his message to anyone but the people of Israel, and that some of them will still be living when he returns. There are weird differences in each of the gospels. Gene also tells us about Southern Baptist groups called the Royal Ambassadors(RAs) and Girls Auxiliary(GAs) that seem to be somewhat of a mystery. Lee from the audience asks why it takes some people longer to figure things out w

Welcome to The Atheist Experience! Our hosts Secular Rarity and David Warnock are looking for proof of God. Or Allah. Or Jesus. Or even Thor. Will they get it? Probably not, but you will be entertained!Peter from MA wants to talk about blasphemy, having humility, and where does that come from. Our hosts discuss how human beings need to be “checked”. That science shows us where we are wrong and to learn from being wrong. We all have limits in our knowledge, and that’s a good thing. We are all human after all.Mason from Florida is asking why we care for animals, children, each other, etc? Unless some God or other outside entity gives us that love? Does this sound like circular reasoning? Yes reader, you are correct, it is.Lisa from CO is on the journey! YAY! And like many, has had these thoughts, moments, feelings that feels “outside” their own thinking/experience/perspective. So, how do we differentiate between what is our own minds and something “outside” of our minds? The hosts walk through the philosophy an

Let’s welcome our first caller Michael, whose limited understanding of quantum mechanics somehow equals consciousness and that leads to God existing. Now, if this seems like a leap in logic, well because it is. This also has something to do with abiogenesis and life wouldn’t be likely without a God? Well dear audience, this seems a bit confusing & a bit of a gish gallop. Let’s watch our hosts walk Michael through the flaws in his thinking shall we?Hey Arnold from Texas! Our number two caller brings to our hosts the probability of God due to the predisposition of human beings to believe in a God. Emma gives a great response on the flaws in evolution, animals having supernatural beliefs, and how socially we used religion/beliefs to form cultures still doesn’t prove a God/Gods.Jimmy, our third caller from the great state of Texas asks our hosts, does rationality lead to an atheistic perspective? The hosts argue that rationality and intelligence does not mean atheism comes afterwards, nor is it a perfect tool

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

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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.

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 tha

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

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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 su

In today’s episode of the Atheist Experience, Jim Barrows and Christy Powell are live in the studio! They will discover different economic systems through absolute morality before performing a thought experiment with god as the arbiter of morality. This god is responsible for the high level grammar of the Quran and the fine tuning of the universe. We know this because we can’t replicate abiogenesis and the messianic prophecy is all we need for proof of Jesus. Julia in Florida would like to hear input on other gods that we have in our society such as different systems. Economic systems can be one of these things. Look at what you are willing to do to support what you believe. Audience Question- Kathy wants to know about absolute morality. Morality is a judgment of behavior. How do you prove that an animal is acting out of forethought and no instinct? Michael in GA presents a thought experiment. If there was a god, then that god must be the arbiter of all morality. The god of the Bible is not only imaginary but