In today’s episode of Talk Heathen, the entertaining pair of ObjectivelyDan and Forrest Valkai are live today. They work through questions about evolution and the age of the earth.

First is Tom from MI who identifies as a deist and believes god exists but is not involved in his life. He is hopeful and wishful that god exists because it makes him happy. Why should we believe god exists? Does wishing something to be true make it true? Would you use this line of thinking for anything else? Do you actually believe this as a fact or is it just something that makes you happy? Does it matter that things are true? We don’t just believe stuff because it makes us happy, even if it feels good. There must be some reality in there somewhere.

David from CA wants to give the hosts a chance to prove evolution since no one has ever heard of it in history. We have mountains of proof and this is one of the most well documented theories in science. Why should we care what one person’s family thinks about evolution? If the Bible has no mention of something does that mean it does not exist? Individuals don’t evolve; it is the whole population. When an advantage is gained in one environment, fitness is lost in another environment. As Forrest calmly describes how things work, the caller insists that it is all science fiction. He also thinks the planet was designed for humans and does not understand why we protect endangered species. Does the puddle say that this hole in the ground was designed for me? The hosts ask the caller how radiometric dating works, and no answer is provided. If you don’t understand the basic principles of how biology works, how can you possibly critique it?

Mark in NY is trying to keep an open mind about theism and sees a strong line of reasoning that god exists because god is the explanation for why there is anything at all. Human beings want there to be an answer even when we don’t have one. The Cosmological Argument lies within metaphysics and any kind of claim can be made with this. Unless we have material words, we are just taking ideas out of thin air. These types of things are unfalsifiable. We can’t give metaphysics special pleading.

Yasir from India explains how the science teacher in school would not talk about evolution and tells the students to study it on their own. He has questions about speciation, and Forest gladly explains the steps. There is no single set definition of what a species is. Family lines are also arbitrary, for instance, look up the definition of a fish. If you arrange these tax groups in a certain way, you could call everything on land fish. We are not more evolved than other species. Everything that is currently alive, has evolved. We change the definitions of groups as we learn more. Forrest recommends a book called, The Ancestor’s Tale by Richard Dawkins.

Thank you everyone for tuning in. Please have your grandma call next week because we are pro-grandma.

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