In today’s episode of the Atheist Experience, Armin Navabi and JMike exist only in god’s imagination as callers discover that you just can’t get to an all powerful god from the Kalem or patterns in books.

Peter in IL proposes that if god exists, then we are imaginary and are entirely within god’s mind. What is the reason that brought you to this conclusion and what argument do you have to support this? Describing more details is not the same as providing evidence. How do you know that other scenarios where god exists are not true? Are we being made imaginary to solve the problem of evil? What is the problem with two competing good things? Does god have reasons for evil to exist? It is important to spend time thinking of things that are real, and not just things that could be real. If you study how logical fallacies work and take some time to understand how the scientific method works it will help you build a stronger position.

James in MI claims there is evidence for god in the book of Numbers and that Christ, Jesus and Messiah are the three words that prove it. How are the three words evidence for your claim? How do you get from patterns in a book to an all powerful god that is the creator of the universe? If the Quran has patterns as well, why does that not make it the word of god? Why does this only work in English?

Robert in CA asks if Arabic has changed as much as English has since the sixth century, when the Quran was written. Early Arabic would be unreadable for Arabic speaking people today. The evolution of the Quran is more complicated than what Muslim narratives say, and it seems that some of it came from pre-Islamic periods and other languages than Arabic. The vast majority of Muslims do not speak Arabic and will need to read the translation of the Quran. There are many competing translators of the Quran and can be different from each other.

Roger in the UK asks why the Kalam cosmological argument is not taken seriously, and how to determine the difference between “no evidence” and “non convincing evidence". The difference resides within how language is used. No good evidence for something is essentially the same as no evidence. There is evidence for everything if bad evidence counts. Can you give an example of anything that has no evidence at all? What if someone dreams of a square circle and calls that evidence? What in the Kalam gives you the attributes and characteristics of god such as being all knowing? If you want to just call random things god, then anything can be god. Nothing from the Kalam will prove god based on your own definition of god.

Yeshua in the UK believes the universe only exists in the mind of god. How can you support this belief with a coherent sentence? Questioning the hosts does not support the view or produce an argument. Personal incredulity does nothing to support your claims.
Thank you for tuning in this week!

Prompt for the week is: Name a weird thing that god gets offended by.

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In today’s episode of the Atheist Experience, Forest Valkai and Jamie the Blind Limey sort through the creationist talking points while someone admits that sicking bears on kids is okay as a regular caller once again tries to prove god by using the seven day week.

Jonathon in CO asks how the hosts decide who to talk to. The hosts must consider how productive the conversation will be. They think through who they are actually talking to and what the goal is. Someone with bigoted talking points will always be debated, and it may not be pleasant. If not the caller, somebody listening may change their mind.

Mr. Le Cook in Canada uses several premises including the seven day week to claim the Bible proves god, as usual. You know the seven day week dates back to hundreds of years before Jesus, right? Did this become a global practice because of divine intervention? Or was it that one culture steamrolled accross the earth committing genocide against those that disagree? Is the seven day week the only power your god has? Trying to continue to sell your show to other hosts and constantly repeating yourself does not get through. If we changed to an eight day week would you stop believing in god? The only cultural religious practice that matters is yours, just like how your condescending seven day special dish is undercooked, contains empty calories, and lacks any kind of seasoning or reasoning. You are serving us something that is deeply weird and your position is irrational.

David in CA asks what the hosts consider to be knowledge and what they consider evidence. We think we know where this is going. Something that is verifiable in everyday life is knowledge, and beliefs can be more subjective. If god exists, then that creature would know what it takes to get someone to someone and present that as evidence. If Jamie’s eyes were to be fully healed, how do you know what god to attribute that to? How did you come to the conclusion there is only one god? If you were born in Saudi Arabia, would you have the same beliefs you have today? How do you deal with the inconsistencies, inaccuracies, and atrocities contained in the Bible? If you derive your faith from the Bible, why do you not practice all of it? Would it be cool for Jamie to sick bears on children who laugh at him being bald? If you think so, we are deeply disturbed by this and are not taking you seriously.

CJ in KA claims Genesis 1 contains evolution and that Genesis 2 is scientifically accurate. There are problems with birds coming from water and insects coming from earth. Why are things coming from the wrong places? Why is there no mention of fungi and why are these things in the wrong order? This sounds a lot like post hoc rationalization. How is making a person out of a rib scientifically accurate and not just magic? Did birds come from water like in Genesis 1 or did they come from earth like in Genesis 2? Why should we believe myths of people being made out of clay written by a bunch of goat herders? How do you explain what does not line up with scientific reality such as the timing of day and night? Why is the creation story not made to be something more understandable? Justifying a book is not the same as asking questions.

Thank you for tuning in to this crazy show! Question of the week is: What is a modern sin that god did not know about 2,000 years ago?

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In today’s episode of the Atheist Experience, Jim Barrows and Armin Navabi battle the problem with evil, as they commit blasphemy right after discovering that only men have the breath of life because ideas must be real.

Mike in SC asks about free will and the problem of evil. Is violating someone’s freewill the only way to prevent someone from doing something bad? Is it rational to believe in things for which you have no evidence? How do you know that the eyewitness testimonies presented in the Bible are not just part of the story? If god is omnipotent, why do people have to burn for not believing? How is the Bible a guide for life if it can’t even get the answer for what we can and can’t eat right? Can you provide evidence without just repeating what you are saying? Are all the ancient gods that changed cultures and performed miracles real?

Michael in GA asks why atheists say that a baby is not a person before it takes its first breath. He also believes that only men have the breath of life since god breathed into a man, not a woman. Your Bible does not even use masculine terminology until after Eve so Adam is gender neutral. Nobody has the right to tell you how to use your body, otherwise we are creating slaves. Bringing up the race of the fetus will do nothing to further your case. In fact, take a wild guess of what that kind of trolling will do for you. Bye!


Rami in Hawaii reads out of the Bible as evidence of the holy spirit’s presence. Why do you need the holy spirit to attain positive qualities? Why is it okay to blasphemy against Islam by not believing that Mohammed is the profit, but not okay to blasphemy against the holy spirit? We are all going to hell in somebody’s religion. You know that right? If god is real, he is a narcissistic monster and should be jailed for crimes against humanity. Is it good or evil to create an organism that is spread by mosquitoes and kills billions of people? Did god create everything including malaria? If we are good people, and do not believe in Jesus, what happens to us when we die?

Oliver in the UK asks what right atheists have to question someone else's reality, if ideas are real. Just because an idea is real, does not mean that it is true. What makes you think atheists don’t have the right to ask questions? Why would Muslims have the right to say that Allah is real, but don’t think that atheists have the right to say that Allah is not real?

Thank you as always for tuning in this week. Question of the week is: Why is god really mad at Satan?

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

Hello Gals and Ghouls! Welcome to the Atheist Experience with Spooky Sofia Spina & Jump-Scare Johnny P. Angel.

Let’s say hi to Daniel from the Lone Star state, a former atheist who is now a believer. His argument is that morality is just intuitive and objective, so it has to come from a divine force, correct? Nope. Johnny & Sofia explain how morally wrong things are simply wrong because we don’t want harm coming to us and we extend that empathy to others. 

Second call is from Art from Pennsylvania, who wants to talk about how consciousness forms our reality through the process of sensations, which also leads to identity, which gets us to solipsism. An interesting conversation to say the least.

Michael from Texas gives us an account of having a series of exorcisms performed on him due to his schizophrenic episodes being terribly mistaken as demons possessing his body. He also describes the baptism rituals that people had died from. Johnny and Sofia offer sympathy and kindness to Michael and encourage him to seek professional help. Mental illness mistaken for supernatural possession can cause deep harm and trauma. We need to encourage good mental health instead of superstitious thinking that causes real damage to people, even if it is done through love.

Coming in from New Mexico, it’s Dusty who wants to discuss not only did he try to find the “truth” when he was his younger self, but through becoming an avid reader and skeptic discovered that guess what? There is no divine truth or evidence of a God. Weird how education works that way, Also he remarks on our hosts patience when dealing with our theist callers which yes, we can all behold as something to admire.

Welcome John from Canada where his hot take is that the reason the shooting in Maine happened and other acts of violence in the USA is because people lack faith. Now, this is a post-hoc explanation for why bad things happen. Faith or lack thereof can lead to good things and bad things. John obviously doesn’t know his history (the Crusades anyone?). Since we were formed all the way up to the year of our Lord 2023, people have the capacity for violence and/or kindness. John is off his A-game again!

Val from Canada gives us a very amusing call about her recent Renaissance Wedding (Huzzah!) and due to a comedy of errors, she said a prayer to the Goddess Fryda to release some of that wedding stress. We all have our ways of releasing tension and though she said it was weird, she did feel better and could have a laugh. From one atheo-pagan to another, no shame in your game Val. Sometimes you just gotta pray to the non-existent sky Gods.

Marsh calls in from India and he is wondering where consciousness comes from? Now the easiest answer is the mind. But, our hosts took the philosophical reason route. The conversation goes into AI, our own experience of consciousness, and the experience of reality. Also, Star Trek which gives us our nerd cred.

WHAT IS THE ATHEIST EXPERIENCE?
The Atheist Experience is a weekly call-in internet show in Austin, Texas geared at a non-atheist audience. The Atheist Experience is produced by the Atheist Community of Austin. 

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, Forest Valkai and JMike hoped to experience miracles as they wrestled with miracles, animals, morality, failed preachers, gender, and apes.

Ben in Utah has seen some miracles such as praying and fasting for a person to come back to church that worked, and the person came back. How do you know this happened supernaturally? How do you know there was not something in their life that happened to cause this? If this god is real, what is it doing and why is it useful to us? Apply the same rules of logic that you would for everything else when it comes to god.

Levi in Canada asks why it does not undo the concept of morality when atheists believe we are no different than animals. Non-human animals have plenty of morality such as empathy, grief, fairness and equality. The desire to obtain human well being is a source of morality for some, “Survival of the Fittest” causes more harm than good, falls into Social Darwinism, and is complete BS. If there is a being that has the ability to stop harm, wouldn’t you expect the being to prevent the harmful action? If god knows the future and everything that is going to happen, how can we have free will? If god is infallible, then it logically follows that god wants evil to happen.

Rick in Canada calls to challenge JMike’s position that Jesus is a failed apocalyptic preacher. Luke and John had to reinterpret what was being expressed in Mark’s account. It is not enough to cite the proof text. How do you know which red lettering in the Bible are the words that Jesus said? Early Christians had apocalyptic messages like Paul, and later believers had to re-interpret that as a spiritual notion. Reality exists outside of the Bible and we can check what happened.

Mike in Canada asks if Forest believes that genders are categories that we invent, and inquires about his earlier statement about nature fuzzy that we draw boxes around. Gender varies culturally and generationally so it is impossible to say how a man or woman should behave. Gender is something that we do, and not something that we are. Can you give us a definition of man or woman that is exclusively and solely based on physical characteristics? Just because nature is fuzzy, does not mean Biblical lines can be drawn to classify humans differently than animals. Based on the available data at hand, humans are primates, mammals, and animals. Also, sex and gender are two different things. This is not comparable to the arbitrariness of using the Bible.

James in California explains that if god did intervene, he would have to punish all of us because we became immoral. Could you freely not have sinned the last time you sinned? Was it logically possible for Adam and Eve to make the right choice? Could they have freely chosen good over evil? Is god a being that can instantiate any state of affairs that does not contain a contradiction? How are we not just tools for the end?

Thank you for tuning in! Question of the week: What is the real definition of the soul?

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.

Hello all you spooky spectators! In today’s episode of the Atheist Experience, Secular Rarity is joined by our guest co-host, the Cross Examiner. 

Checkmate Atheists! Joe, our first caller of the show, wants to explain how nouns prove God? This is a new argument! It’s crappy, but we can suppose it is an argument.

Jenny is our second caller from Washington. She is curious how to have discussions with believers and how to politely yet firmly shut them down. The hosts discuss discrimination of non-believers and their safety, also what motivates us to have these discussions. Jenny offers her perspective as an atheist and how to stand up for yourself in a dignified way.

Third up is Dave from Connecticut who wants to discuss if the Bible has any actual history in it and if so, does that lead to the claims of a God? SR and Cross Examiner show their patience with this call and kindness as Dave goes through his beliefs, why, and how he claim to his conclusions and also, push back against just because a book has real world things in it, doesn’t mean all the things in the book are true/real. 

Alex is caller four and gives the show a call and wants to talk about how his wife’s family members are still involved in a cult and how her sister has come out as bisexual. Alex wants to discuss with SR and Cross Examiner how to navigate these waters where challenging members beliefs and to support his sister-in-law as a queer person. Navigating these waters are indeed difficult, but good on Alex for standing up for his sister-in-law and working to settle this conflict within the family. 

Number five and feelin’ alive! Anonymous Joe is calling in to discuss how we have respectful conversations with people esp. with believers.  SR explains that we as atheists, skeptics need to separate the person from the belief. We need to meet them where they are at, but also we have our limits. We aren’t under any obligation to convince anyone, but if we choose to, we must approach it from a compassionate manner, that coming off “holier than though” will not cause a shift in thought. Be patient, be kind, pick your battles.

Down to number six! Carlos is calling from Puerto Rico baby! Our fellow atheist gives us a call and discusses just like in the USA, the issue of the rising threat of Christian Nationalists not only in the USA, but also the threat in Puerto Rico. Here in the USA, there are many great organizations like the ACA, the Freedom of Religion Foundation, and others we can channel our advocacy in. Cross Examiner speaks to Carlos wanting to do more advocacy in his home country. Raising awareness about people wanting to force religion into public spheres onto the populace at large, we have to be the ones to fight against it. No Gods, No Masters! 

WHAT IS THE ATHEIST EXPERIENCE?

The Atheist Experience is a weekly call-in internet show in Austin, Texas geared at a non-atheist audience. The Atheist Experience is produced by the Atheist Community of Austin. 

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, Armin Navabi and Jim Barrows unravel circular thinking of callers who just can’t stop using the Bible to prove the Bible.  #islam #bible #faith #religion 

D in NC is our first caller who asks why in Islam women have to be fully clothed in black, yet men wear white. The whole point is for men to protect their property from other men by covering up their women. In Islam, you can buy and sell your slaves, but not the wives, even though one still has full control over the wives. The Quran clearly says that you must beat your wife if she is disobedient. 

Death-is-conquered in TX tries to validate Christianity by using one book of the Bible to confirm another. Internal consistency within a book saying something is true does not mean anything. How do we know any of these people actually existed in the first place? How is the Bible being a collection of books any different from The Hobbit? How do you know the people who wrote the books of the Bible are telling the truth? Is it possible that Paul’s Jesus is not the same as Peter’s Jesus? Is there something outside of the Bible that validates these stories? Why does morality prove the existence of god? How is god not evil for burning people that he destined to burn? You believe in an evil god and there is no way around it. 

Ollie in the UK asks how intolerance can be tolerated under humanism. We don’t need to be militant with secular humanism; we just need to keep asking questions. We need to be careful with what actions we take when it comes to intolerance. If we don’t oppose religious ideas, we are forcing them to live in the bubble they are in. Religion is anti-human so we can not tolerate religion.

Joey in TX says that only Jesus can save! Why should we not focus on having as much joy as possible for the moment? What is Jesus saving us from, and can you prove it? How do we know that any of the eyewitnesses died for what they believed? How would you prove that god inspired any of the stories? If we have faith that you are gerbils in a human suit, does that make it true? Why is faith a reliable method to determine if something is true? Any claim can be true with faith. You must tell us why you believe something, not just what you believe. Is it rational to believe something is true without evidence?

Mr. Yummy in Canada claims god is good because everything he does is morally acceptable and he is god. How do you define good? So was it cool then that he killed everyone in the world including animals and babies with the flood? God supporting slavery and creating a son just to kill him does not make him good, but makes him a moral monster. 

Martin in CA has a feeling that he is always being watched and asks how to overcome this. Is this feeling bothering you?  Why get rid of it if it is not bothering you? If you are being watched, you should just give them a good show! 

Thank you for tuning in this week! The question of the week is: In order to get right with god, one must do what?(Wrong answers only)

WHAT IS THE ATHEIST EXPERIENCE?
The Atheist Experience is a weekly call-in internet show in Austin, Texas geared at a non-atheist audience. The Atheist Experience is produced by the Atheist Community of Austin. 

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, Jim Barrows and JMike have fun with antinatalism, and most importantly, blasphemy!

Kirsten in TX asks about the benefits of religion providing community, and how secular communities can provide the same benefits. We now have many choices on social media where you just can find your community. You can even start your own group! You can use words like “critical thinker”. If we do not do this ourselves, it is not going to happen.

Samuel in Canada asks how to talk with a pastor that believes there is no evidence for creation or evolution and to just decide based on faith. There is more evidence for evolution than there is gravity. Everything in biology and in medicine is related to evolution. Changes in allele frequencies in a population over a period of time is already a fact that evolution occurs, and we haven’t even got to natural selection yet.

Jon in Canada believes that evidence for god is that people have faith. Does the number of people who believe something have any bearing on whether it is true? If we have evidence that god exists, we will believe in god. We do not have anything against something that does not exist.
Queue in IL asks about the hard atheist stance with the belief that god does not exist and needing to provide the burden of proof. You can give a strong inductive case of why god is not probable. Every theist tends to make deductive cases for their god. Every phenomenon that we know of has a natural explanation or we just don't know how it happens. Even in places where naturalism might be improbable, it is just as improbable under theism with extra ontological baggage.

Amanuel in TX says there should be a restriction on freedom of speech or expression because of an experiment of his that showed panic caused when some hosts tore up the scriptures. What kind of experience do you have setting up these experiments and was there a control group? How is bias not built into your study if these were people you knew? Stating a position of non god belief is not blasphemy or causing harm. Your irrational fear that should not be someone else's problem is used to justify atrocities such as gay conversion therapy. How does a blasphemous meme harm you? Look at how the Islamic world goes nuts for drawing on magazines. Restricting freedom of speech and what artists can portray is the totalitarian way and downright wacky.

Andrew in FL calls to state that atheists tend to lean towards antinatalism and how they are damaging the population. Where do you get this claim? If this is true, why is atheism the fastest growing segment? If correlation is causation, then the increase of ice cream would increase the crime. Up until the last 10 years, the US was 90% Christian. The No True Scottsman fallacy does not work with the Baby Boomers messing up the population.

Thank you for tuning in this week and the question of the week is to capture the image shown on the screen by giving us a caption!

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In today’s episode of the Atheist Experience, ObjectivelyDan and Jamie the Blind Limey are live in studio wrestling with callers who believe the Bible is scientifically accurate and a progressive document.

Josh in FL asks about the Bible being taken literally. Do Christians literally heal people by laying on of hands? People make incredibly important decisions about their life, health and family by this flawed way of thinking. What positivity comes with prayer? How do you explain replacing people’s medical care with prayer? It is the secular values that have corrected Christianity, not the other way around. The atheists in this country did not fight to take away rights from people; can you guess what group has?

Somber in WA postulates that god is not real if the universe can be reduced to a non-dimensional point because there is no outside space and time for god to exist. A physical universe requires physical things to happen.

Sir Le Chef in Quebec believes the Bible is 100% true because there is nothing we can disprove that is in the Bible. How do you know this? Of course, he knows this because of the seven day week! You don’t get to just call into the show and say this without proving it; that is not how logic works. The seven day week existed before Jesus so we do not accept your premise. Is the creation narrative the word of god or not?

Rick in Canada says the Bible is 100% accurate because Jesus says that only the sick need a physician. How do you explain people who have cancer with no symptoms? If the disciples had magical powers, is every other Christian who claims to have these powers a liar because only the elite can do it? So the people who prayed for Jamie’s eyes(not faith) were not part of the special 144,000? There are people who pray to get better daily and we have never seen evidence that it works. Isn’t it interesting that cancer can go into remission, but blindness can’t? Can prayer regrow a hand that has been cut off? Can you find someone who can heal Jamie’s retinas through prayer?
Jose in TX says that god created a “snowglobe with a dome”, not the universe, and that theists try to make the myth work. Many cultures explained the world without knowing what was happening. The problems with Genesis are a mile high!

Andrew in FL says the Bible is a progressive document and just because it is not scientifically accurate that doesn’t mean god doesn't exist. We hope the god that inspired that book is not real because he is obviously not a nice person. Do you believe that god changes himself to suit the times? Does the Bible have literal falsehoods? Why do we even look at the Old Testament in the first place if it is so bad? Why should we care about Christianity any more than Islam or another religion? If cancer does not have intentions, why do you think it is evil? If you believe that god made us, why were we made with the capability of having cancer?

Thank you for joining us with these fun callers! The question of the week is: The hardest part about being an atheist is what?

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