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.

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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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In today’s episode of the Atheist Experience, Johnny P. Angel and MD Aware work through questions from callers that range from evolution to morality.
Louis in FL says that scriptures are a revealed message from god to Moses that support evolution. How do you explain god creating plants before creating light? Call back when you are not driving or distracted.
Beast in CO describes how he was harmed by the church by sexual abuse among others, and how the pastor did not do anyting about it. What we end up seeing, is there are no reparations needed in this religion because of confession and the forgiveness of Jesus. Voices that report abuses are downplayed and diminished because the church has too much at stake. This is because if people start to ask if the church is wrong, then they will ask if its interpretations are wrong. Check out Recovering from Religion and the Secular Therapy Project for help and support.
Joseph in GA reads something to us that says atheists put too much trust and can limit the imagination. What do you think about how a healthy understanding of science can spark imagination? Imagination is key with science because we are trying to figure out the explanations for things, once we know the basics. If atheists are putting too much trust in science, what would be the alternative? How does atheism limit the imagination?
Ely in TX believes the historicity of the Bible is what makes it true. If the Bible is not true, does that mean that someone made it up? Could the people who wrote the Bible have been wrong? What is to be said about a useful character such as Jesus being used to tell stories that are trying to educate people about morality or ethics? We know that the Jewish people existed for a long time, but we don’t know that the fantastical claims such as the Red Sea parting happened. What evidence matters most and where is it found? When a book predicts something that happened that is in the same book, there is a problem. Are the witnesses that verified Joseph Smith and his magical seeing stones and golden tablets correct, are they mistaken, or are they liars? Just because brimstone is found in a location does not mean the mythical story is true. Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence.
Alok in CA says that the slow growth of atheism in the US is due to people on the fence not understanding where we get our morality, and people looking for some higher purpose that atheism does not offer. People made up the rules to both secular and Biblical morality. The spiritual journey that atheists sometimes pursue involves humans, animals, and plants and can take a lifetime.
Michael in FL asks if morality is supposed to be thought of in a social and psychological context, very much the same way we see health. Our sense of fairness, justice, and right or wrong has evolved with its base level in biology.

Thank you for tuning in this week! Our question of the week is: What do you think the last words of Jesus really were?

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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? Would abortion cut down on single parent households?


Nate in CA asks if trans people competing in sports would have a physical advantage, and what the difference is between sex and gender. Some cis women can have naturally higher levels of testosterone than other cis women. In sports, why are we testing women for testosterone levels but not men? People can be born intersexed, and also be born with different gendered brains. We would rather be on the side of inclusivity to give everyone a chance to participate.


Corey in TX asks how technology changing our environment affects our evolution, and is it causing it to speed up. We may be able to evolve to handle higher levels of pollution, but how rapidly do the pollution levels change? There can be a new species of hominids that evolves alongside homo sapiens.


Theist in the USA claims that theists have better lives than atheists. There is nothing about community building that is better with religion, and there is no link of intelligence to either atheism or religion. There is no data to demonstrate that atheists are more likely to go down a bad path. If an action increases the overall happiness, then it is good. The evangelical stance on LGBTQA increases the number of suicides in that community, and that is a bad thing. Do NOT Google dolphins having sex with blow holes.


Mr. Porter from IL asks what the worst evidence for god is. Jim mentions to look at the trees and Armin says it is the argument for chicken.


Kathy in IL calls as an atheist attending the Unitarian Universalist Church, and explains how their model is not conversion, but cooperation. Compared to other religions, this may be good, but secular humanism is a better instrument. When a church seems loving and tolerant, but accepts bad ideas, we must oppose that.


Thank you for tuning in this week! Question of the week is: What should the Norse have had a god of, but didn’t?

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In today’s episode of the Atheist Experience, our hostesses with the mostess are Forrest Valki & Armin Navabi.

Let’s welcome our first caller is Alan from Wisconsin, who as an atheist, is dealing with the all too common issue of a theist’s view that bad things happen to people due to their lack of faith. He discusses wanting to have that frustrating conversation with as much respect and tact as he can. Our hosts share what has worked for them and how this is a common misperception.

Second caller up to the proverbial bat is Dave from Connecticut. Now Dave gives his explanation of why faith is the only access we can have with God and “smart” people know this where those of “less” intelligence cannot understand what faith is and needing it to access God. Does this sound a little bit egotistical? A mental gymnastic game? You are right! Let’s listen to Armin and Forrest break this down and how silly that is.

Caller number three gives a ring, his name is the Monkey King, and he doesn’t know anything.

Ohhh boy! Michael is the fourth caller and he tries to give God a pass on biblical slavery. Do you need any more detail than that? Yeah, I didn’t think so. Oh! And some antisemitism to boot!

Moving to a more productive topic, Carlos in Puerto Rico calls in dealing with the title of being an anti-theist. Forrest explains his hostility against religious teachings, the harm it does, and how he identifies as an anti-theist. Armin adds on explaining why we as activists, care for religious people as they are the victims of theism and pushing against the bad ideas that actively hurts our fellow human beings.

Caller number 6 comes from John living with our friendly neighbors of the north, Canada. Now John brings up Pascal’s Wager which is easy to refute, but then takes a hard right turn to God creating the USA, as the greatest nation? Dear reader, if you belong to another country, I do apologize for this idiotic opinion. Oh! And a touch of trans-phobia. This call goes a little all over the place.

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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 know what parts to believe and what to not believe? Was there a talking donkey? Other than the book, what raises the probability that this is true? Do you understand the difference between something being evidence based and something being book based? What use is a mental model that will allow you to believe absolutely anything?

An audience member asks how we change our brain space to recognize our own power and ability to cast off religious weights. The biggest deconversion manual is the Bible. Exploring and analyzing your faith with a critical eye is a start.

Otari, in the nation of Georgia, asks how evolution accounts for bad design in humans like the way the fall of man does and why homosexuality does not lead to extinction. Recent evolution in humans explains this because we can make testable predictions. According to the Bible, god told the very first lie in history to explain bad design. The reason why homosexuality does not lead to extinction is because they are not 100% of the population. This has been observed in over 1,500 species and something that is this ubiquitous, clearly has some sort of benefit.

Jimmie in TX feels there is no contradiction in scripture, Forrest’s interpretation is outrageous, and we should listen to Joseph Campbell when interpreting the endemic myth. Do you have access to god’s intentions and know what he wants you to interpret? How do you know that god did not want us to interpret the Bible literally, or a different way? When you criticize another’s view, you have to beg the question.

Thank you for tuning in this week! Question of the week is: What is the best comeback for when someone says, “A fool says in his heart, there is no god.”

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show notes upon receipt

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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 you and you do not need magical items.

Tyler in NC does not believe god exists, but is not sure about free will. The idea of free will or not free will is a false dichotomy. How can a circumscribed universe of limited choices be considered free will?

Sam in NY says that if people don’t pray, they are incomplete. Are people who believe in a different god from you incomplete? What is the feeling of the power of prayer? How did you become complete? Is god’s power limited to that of sight? Why do you believe the Bible is true? What if something is in the Quran but not the Bible? Are people who pray that use other books than the Bible or Quran?

Shinobi Sheran in the USA believes a woman should have the right to choose all around. Who should make medical decisions on people’s behalf? Once a politician starts making these decisions, it can be a slippery slope.

Jon in FL does not believe religion is needed for morality. Why do you believe this? Countries that have the smallest belief in religion are arguably the most moral. How do you define morality? If you Google Phil Zuckerman you will find some interesting information on this. It will be hard to find anything that shows religious people are more moral when the playing field is even. The differences between secular morality and religious morality reside in the goals of each.

Dave in India asks if god is the government’s way of controlling people and part of the military industrial complex. What version of these beliefs would get people to think a certain way? The belief in a higher power has been around before nations had militaries and leaders may sprinkle the fairy dust of religion on their mission. This does not mean it is part of a conspiracy. When politicians use religion as a weapon, it backfires.

Thank you for tuning in today! The question of the week is: What is the weirdest Bible story?

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