Truth Wanted

By Atheist Community of Austin

WHAT IS TRUTH WANTED?

Truth Wanted is a show about getting to the bottom of beliefs, whether it’s karma or Christ, Bigfoot or crystals. Truth Wanted would like to know how you know it’s true. H... more

· Religion & Spirituality

4.6

146146 ratings

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FAQs about Truth Wanted:

How many episodes does Truth Wanted have?

The podcast currently has 321 episodes available.

Truth Wanted episodes:

April 26, 2025 Truth Wanted 08.17 with ObjectivelyDan and @Allegedly-Ian
In today’s episode of the Truth Wanted, Objectively Dan and Allegedly Ian, use words to interpret words as they are on troll alert.

John in Ca is a Biblical literalist that says we have mistranslated The Lord’s Prayer by using a different definition for the word, “bread”. Once he sees the Bible in a different light by replacing the word “God” with “food”, everything makes sense with evolutionary history. What process caused you to be convinced of this interpretation? How did the kangaroos get to Australia from the Middle East if Noah’s flood is true? How are the stories of Genesis allegorical from a literalist point of view?

Tweep in Canada wants to know how the word “objective” is being used and if it means 100% good when used as an adjective for good. There could be more than one value that has different worths under this umbrella. Knowing the rules of chess doesn't give you the ability to know what moves to make as an example.

Austin in the USA asks Ian how he thinks the earth was created. Ian describes how a solar nebula cooled and particles came together in bigger and bigger masses until the earth was formed and it is a fact that the earth is 4.5 billion years old.

Daisy in WA has observed atheists like Sam Harris and Richard Dawkins that have gone far right and have hateful opinions of trans people. We can’t tell you the individual psychology, but we did notice a cultural trend around 2010 that may have its roots in rage baiting. It is sad to see that some atheist influencers were part of this. Right wing spaces will take in a lot of people, especially when they are fringe. When the food in your mouth depends on you believing the thing that you believe, it is hard to think about anything else.

Thank you for tuning in this week! Supposedly Eli joins us to close us out. We want the truth question of the week: What conspiracy theories do you think will arise in the future? The unexamined life is not worth living.

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1h 24min
April 19, 2025 Truth Wanted 08.16 with ObjectivelyDan and Sara
In today’s episode of Truth Wanted, Objectively Dan and Sara, with Leaving Faith, work through calls of deconversion, original sin, and ancient alien origins.

Steve in NE has strong evidence that the planet K2 18b has life, and uses that as a reason to believe that there is a god that is technologically advanced. How does this potential life make it more likely that a technologically advanced god exists? Why does there have to be a creator involved? We can find patterns in almost anything, but that does not prove anything. Rearranging this to get to the conclusion that you started with is not a good way to find the truth.

Chris in MI asks Sara if there was a higher power, is it most likely a floofy cute loaf of banana or a floofy cute dog that barks at things. Sara says it is the dog! Fastest call ever!
Roy in MA has some questions about how to approach some conversations. The first question is about where original sin and atonement are referenced in the Bible. Dan describes how the Old Testament’s narrative involves people being held accountable for the sins of the father but was more strongly mentioned by Paul. Sara agrees this is more of a New Testament thing and an idea of Paul. Dan then explains how the Bible is a collection of blog posts with Paul being one of the biggest bloggers. Roy then asks the hosts their opinions about whether we can be punished for not worshipping god. Sara reminds us how the Bible lacks clarity about salvation and is full of contradictions.

Chuck in CA tells us his deconversion story, and we are the first ones to hear it! During his teenage years he started to question things after some conversations with friends. When he arrived in college, he had his first philosophy class where he encountered several god arguments that he could not shake. After watching several years of the AXP, and a few classes, he considers himself a firm atheist. He taught his mother, who is a lifelong believer, yoga and meditation that seemed to help her have a higher quality of life. Remember, you are not responsible for everything that happens and to be kind to yourself. What would you tell someone that told this same story to you? We appreciate you sharing this with us for the first time!

Thank you for tuning in this week! Our backup host, Kelley Laughlin joins us to close out the show. We want the truth prompt: Aliens thought they would have an easy time on earth, but they did not anticipate______.

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1h 24min
April 12, 2025 Truth Wanted 08.15 with Kelley Laughlin and @blitzphd
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1h 15min
April 05, 2025 Truth Wanted 08.14 with Jon the Skeptick and Amanda Bonanza
In today’s episode of Truth Wanted, Jon the Skeptick and Kelley Laughlin kick off the show before being joined by Amanda Bonanza who shows her amazing ability to offer wise guidance and questions to ponder to a bigoted caller.

James in NY asks about having hope that mythical beings exist and the value of this hope when it can give us comfort with mortality. Why would believing in something like a dragon give us hope and what purpose would it serve? What happens when two people have opposing hopes? What would you need for something to be higher than you? When you die, the same thing will happen to you that was before you were born. If you make amazing memories and help people feel great about themselves, they will pass it on for you! Make it brilliant now!

Jon in Canada thinks that trans women are putting cis women in danger by saying that men and women are the same. Amanda gives Jon a generous helping of questions that Jon seems to be unable to honestly answer. Who says that men and women are the same? The common misconception that trans women are men or that they are trans for sport, to be cool, or to gain access to feminine spaces is wildly wrong and factually incorrect. This is a prenatal condition where the body produces the wrong hormones that requires medicine where the person feels better. People confuse this with something that is aesthetic and often results in premature death. How is treating this condition putting women at risk? The approval rating for the treatments used for this transition is off the charts positive. Gender and biological sex are different things that sometimes overlap but not always. Jon then goes on to claim that this is all a fantasy. How do you know you are a man; do you need to check your genitals? If you are straight, can you one day decide to be gay and think that men are attractive? Do you choose to write with your right hand and how do you know you are right handed? It would take a lot of work to start doing things with your left hand and it would not feel natural, wouldn’t it? How many conversations have you had with trans people about this? You are incongruent with yourself, Jon. What happens when you take estrogen? If a cis woman does not look feminine enough, does that make her a man? If Mike Tyson transitioned and became a woman, would you be able to kick his ass because he is no longer a man?

Gabe in MO is meeting his girlfriend’s parents soon and the father is a Lutheran pastor and wants some ideas on how to deal with it. How does your girlfriend feel about this and how often will you be seeing them? Sometimes it is best to keep the peace; you don;t have to agree but diplomacy comes into play and can go a long way.

Thank you for joining us! We want the truth question: If atheists are not in fox holes, where are they?

Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/truth-wanted--3195473/support.
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1h 34min
March 29, 2025 Truth Wanted 08.13 03-28-2025 with Kelley Laughlin and @AlmostaDoctor1
In today’s episode of Truth Wanted, Kelley Laughlin and Almost a Doctor, shift through how to not lionize science and provide some insights on how to deal with science being under attack and then kindly addressing some fears of hell with a repeat caller.

Jamie in TX is not a fan of lionizing science for science itself by saying “In Science We Trust”; science needs to be taught and funded properly in a manner that instills the scientific method. Slogans can make science into an entity or belief system. Science is a tool and a method, not a thing that people worship or religion. How do you think we should solve the problem of the media writing misinformation after improperly reading the data?

Dee in IA finds it disturbing how science is under attack and compares it with how people were oppressed in the medieval times. It is about how you approach it to change the base framework of how people view the world because not everyone is going to respond the same way. Always be careful to not represent what the scientific method is. It is important to remember that science is not the enemy. What will the future bring for science when we have this social movement that is against it?

Jon in Canada, has been thinking about his faith, and lately the fear of Hell has been on his mind. Which hell will it be and how do you know it is a real thing? People normally can’t just rid this fear overnight. It can take years to work with this. Many atheists used to be theists and struggled with this same thing. What part of this are you most fearful of? The idea of it being forever makes it worse, doesn't it? What if your version of hell is wrong or you chose to worship the wrong god? Do any of the hells have more evidence than the others?

Thank you for joining us! Ely Slack, our back-up host, joins us to close out the show by leaving us some words of wisdom, “Be like a proton and stay positive.” We want the truth for this week: What is really causing the loneliness epidemic?

Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/truth-wanted--3195473/support.
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1h 19min
March 22, 2025 Truth Wanted 08.12 with Jon the Skeptick and Drew Bekius
In today’s episode of the Truth Wanted, Jon the Skeptic and Drew Bekius take a dive into animal rights before realizing the dive was deep enough to encounter octopi of potential alien origins.

Connor in UT would like to know the hosts’ opinions on animal rights being an extension of human rights. Jon mentions the struggle associated with soy allergies when going to a plant based diet. As Drew emphasizes the importance of this conversation, he describes the need to exercise mindfulness and gratefulness towards other beings on the planet. What is the best option for animal testing? How can the pain and harm be minimized?

Dee in IA says that farmed animals in the future need to reside with local farmers where farm animals are bred for food. If dogs are bred for fighting, does that make it right? What does ethical farming mean and how do we explore these practices? Would it be cool for aliens to come down and have a human farm because we are so tasty? If an animal is bred for a certain purpose, what would make that purpose ethical? Though Industry and employment are important, they are not the right reasons to keep this in practice.

Jon in Canada saw a plate move all by itself after having a conversation about ghosts. What is your best explanation for this? How do you go about getting all the information before making the conclusion that it was caused by a ghost? Sometimes taking the position of not knowing is the way to go.

John in OH says that he can prove there is no afterlife because the mind is a separate substance from the body and consciousness is a property of the brain that can be turned off. If the mind is a process of the brain that stops when the brain dies, why is this important to theists?

Dan in Canada wonders if the awesomeness and weirdness of octopi indicates they might be from other planets. Are there other connections that go beyond this category? How would the disconnect be explained between the animal kingdom and Cephalopods if there are in fact disconnections? How convinced are you that the octopus is not of earth origin?

Thank you for tuning in! Kelley Laughlin, our backup host, joins us to close out the show. Question of the week is: What says I am an asshole without saying I am an asshole?

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1h 46min
March 15, 2025 Truth Wanted 08.11 with Kelley Laughlin and @planetpeterson2824_RX7
In today’s episode of Truth Wanted, Kelley Laughlin and Planet Peterson sit in grass circles left by saucers and use inductive reasoning to observe the double slit experiment as they quantify infinity.

Dan in Canada is curious about the Landenberg incident where a farmer had seen five saucer shaped objects in his field that left circles on the grass after they flew into the sky. This just seems too silly to be true. Is it possible this farmer wanted people to remember his name and made it up? It looks like he succeeded because there was a cool glowing coin made after the incident. How do people become experts in crop circles? Is it possible BigFoot had anything to do with this? Afterall, it was Saskatchewan!

Ransom in WY wants to talk about the Double-slit experiment and how that can prove there is life outside of this universe as a conscious observer. Measurements collapse the wave function, not conscious observations. What people say about this and other pop science is not what you think it is. What happens when the majority of physicists have a different explanation and opinion than the one physicist that you want to believe? Understanding the data and how wave patterns are shown on a screen is key to drawing the correct interpretations on this. The Delayed Choice Quantum Eraser, Debunked is a good place to start to know more about this.

James in NY asks the hosts if infinity could ever be quantified. Even with every fundamental thing in the universe included as a counting device, we would not be able to do this. We know about infinite sets and how they are used in math, but they are not quantified. Zeno's Paradox shows the infinite regression of an arrow never reaching a target because it must first reach an infinite number of half way points. This illustrates how a finite set can represent an infinite series.

Lee in Canada has some thoughts about how the scientific method uses inductive reasoning to show the hypothesis is false. Science does not deal in absolutes, but it can prove that things are false. When you solve the mathematical proof, there is nothing else left. In the court of law, you are not proven innocent, you are proven not guilty. Religion does not explain anything or contribute to epistemology in any rational way and is almost the opposite of the scientific method to gain knowledge.

Thank you for joining us for this fascinating show! Scott Dickie, our back-up host joins us to close us out as musician Collin Yours gives us a live beautiful sounding folk show! Prompt of the week is: Name a religious counterpart for a scientific claim.

Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/truth-wanted--3195473/support.
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1h 25min
March 08, 2025 Truth Wanted 08.10 03-07-2025 with ObjectivelyDan and @blitzphd
In today’s episode of the Truth Wanted, Objectivity Dan and Dr. Blitz, slow a star down to drive it towards another star to avoid the word salad bar in this universe that is still not fine tuned.

Steve in NE cites a paper The Spider Stellar Engine: a Fully Steerable Extraterrestrial Design? https://ress.at/news_uploads/2411.05038v1.pdf This describes a nearby star with some spectroscopic signals that show the star is decelerating where one explanation is extraterrestrial design. What other solutions could there be for this star slowing down? Who says these are artificially generated? Whenever there are claims with, “probably” we need to be careful. We need several pieces of data that point to the same thing. The discussion continues with a different claim of wreckage material that has a date older than our solar system. Why are you convinced these claims are true and why would you believe his own counter arguments to the criticisms? If you start with the conclusion, you will always find some stuff. Whether that stuff supports your conclusion is a different story.

Catholic Traditionalist (CT) wants to talk about ontological intelligibility where god is defined as an intelligent agent that has no beginning. We might have a basic understanding of how things work, but how do we get to god from that? What does it mean to understand things on a basic level? People perceive things without understanding them all the time. If we have this agreed upon definition of understanding what is around us, what next? Do properties exist on their own or are there features of minds interacting with things on the ontological status? CT fails at his attempt to put the hosts in a different world by comparing their perception to “other atheists”. If you claim to speak with hundreds of atheists online, why doesn’t your script cover nominalism? Your projection of word salad is hilarious and if you are going to use words like “ontological” you need to know what nominalism is.

Gregory in TN asks Dr. Blitz about the fine tuning argument that we get all the time and whether it is a non-starter or if we should try to take it apart. Dr. Blitz describes how this argument has at least two problems: 1. We must first know how the universe could have been and we can’t evaluate this probability. 2. From a theist’s point of view, the assumption must be made that not only god exists, but this god must want life to exist. How can we determine the likelihood of parameters if we don’t know the likelihood or the parameters? How fine tuned are god’s desires and why is his will so fine tuned?

Thank you for tuning in this week! AJ, our backup host, joins us to close out the show. Prompt of the week is: Combine two conspiracy theories to make the ultimate conspiracy theory.

Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/truth-wanted--3195473/support.
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1h 15min
March 01, 2025 Truth Wanted 08.09 02-28-2025 with Jon the Skeptick and Kelley Laughlin
In today’s episode of the Truth Wanted, Jon the Skeptic and Kelley Laughlin avoid discussing how to make a glove out of foreskins by working through some calls that need unraveling.

Gregory Peccary in TX blows the whistle on people who insist on giving airtime to well researched mysteries that are not commonly accepted yet continue to be exploited. Even when there is no evidence, people want things to be real, and it eats up tons of money. Why do you think Ouija Boards are still being sold? What kind of wacky inventions can you come up with to make people think we are communicating with the dead?

When Bagel in Canada was a teenager, he experienced a 10 mile walk in the rain where he engaged in prayer that he thought was answered by god by manipulating the weather and summoning a ride. It was not until an atheist kid mentioned “if statistical anomalies did not happen, that fact would be a statistical anomaly itself” that Bagel realized it was all a crock. Why would god stop the rain and not help millions of starving children? Where are god’s priorities if this were true? What kind of terrible arguments did you used to believe that jump out at you now as silly?

Daen Dark in AR believes that divine sovereignty is our inseparable connection to the one true creator that has no real name. How do you demonstrate that this is creation without giving an example? Is the creator in your mind also in our minds? What are you doing that people are not doing to perceive this creator? Is this creator an energy or is it an actual being? If this is a working theory, it needs to be nailed down so you can demonstrate it to everyone. Think critically about what the real reason is for you to think and talk this way. Using poetic and artistic language may sound beautiful, but does not make something true. Many of us have come from the same place as you and have realized that using these ideas do not make things work. Start looking at the world as it is, and not the way you want it to be.

Jim in FL has gone from Greek Orthodox to Deism where a higher power is an energy that can’t be known by man and needs to bring people together. If this can’t be known by man, how can you perceive and define it? Why do you conclude that this energy is a higher power? If you make a claim, it is up to you to explain how you got there. We are trying to find out how you got to this belief, not engage in a debate. How do we know that any of this is not man made? It may be hard to know when you have exhausted all the variables. How can we come to the same conclusion as you with this concept of Deism being the only remaining explanation so that we can relate?

Dee in IA has some thoughts about the caller who chemically alters his brain with drugs, and wants to know how the “woo” helps us with trans rights and the law. Taking a drug that makes you think you saw god does not mean there is a god.
Stephen Harder, our back-up host joins us to help close out the show. Thank you for joining us and remember our question of the week is: What is something that you know, but wish you didn't?

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1h 39min
February 22, 2025 Truth Wanted 08.08 with ObjectivelyDan and Eli Slack
Today’s episode of the Truth Wanted, Objectively Dan and Eli Slack use tulpas as their assistants to explore how much the truth matters to celebrities espousing ridiculous concepts of truth before a deep dive into what the truth is for callers.

James in NY wants to talk about how tulpamancy and mental conditioning help shape our concepts of god and religion. Some people say the development of primates had to do with psychedelic mushrooms and this is entirely possible. There is a chance that the Book of Revelation is a result of something like this. One has to wonder if we can ask questions without actually verbalizing and this is fun to think about. How would a tulpa change the questions that you ask or think about?

Jamie in TX asks if it matters what popular figures performative espouse things about Christianity that were popular in the 1940’s. Religion is always a reflection of the culture. How would someone from the first century recognize the versions of Christianity today? The truth of what these people are saying probably does not matter to them.

Ben in AL wants to know if some of the people who call have a different definition of what “true” means. Many people will have a descriptive version of truth that conforms to their bias. When people start to ask why it could not have been their god that caused events, it gets them far into heavy lifting with the truth. This is when it is helpful to ask if their methods of determining the truth are reliable. If our ability to reason is tied to our material conditions, then what does that say about how we should treat one another?

Kelley Laughlin, our backup host, joins with an awesome smile to close out the show. Thank you for tuning in! Prompt of the week is: What was one of Jesus’s lesser known miracles?

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1h 18min

FAQs about Truth Wanted:

How many episodes does Truth Wanted have?

The podcast currently has 321 episodes available.

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