In today’s episode of Truth Wanted, ObjectivelyDan and Phil Ferguson ponder why we have Mormon Ghosts everywhere after diving into the evolution of ghosts and the existence of Jesus all while digging through an ancient alien purse for evidence. 

Critical Corrie in the UK has people in his life that thinks ghosts are real and asks the sausages what their take on ghosts are. What are the rules for ghosts? Have you ever noticed that the low quality equipment is always what seems to pick up ghosts? How far back on the evolutionary scale do ghosts appear? Can an amoeba be a ghost? Why do ghosts get to go through walls and not the floor? How does gravity work for ghosts? 

Tymm in WA has been studying Jesus Mythicism, and asks the hosts what they think about Mark being the creator of Jesus, based on the writings of Paul. The probability of Jesus being a real person is equivalent to that of Hercules being a real person. Sometimes stories that contain both fact and myth can be cobbled together to make one story. Paul wrote the most about Jesus, and never even met the man. There is more evidence for Joseph Smith existing than Jesus and we all know what he was about. If you are an Ex-Mormon, please call in!

Ransom in WY says that it looks like there is synchronicity between video games and movies and then asks about the Alien Purse. The synchronicity is market demands and due to trends within general fascination. What is your explanation for this ancient handbag? What would the effects be if aliens have visited and been conquered by us in history? If you look through enough artworks, you can find things that mean whatever you want them to mean. We appreciate this call and taking us on this journey.

 Thank you for tuning in this week, ghosts! Question of the week is, what is the worst advice you have ever been given?

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Recorded LIVE at the Freeethought Library in Austin, TX in front of a live studio audience!

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01:05 Intro

17:45 Emily-New England | The Outlaws Pass

42:54 Critical Corey-UK | England vs. American Beliefs

50:25 Daniel-Canada | Alien Proof in Photos!

SHOW NOTES

In today’s episode of Truth Wanted, our hosts with the most  are Objectively Dan & Jim Barrows.. 
Our first caller is from Emily in New England who wants to discuss the hikers of the Outlaws Pass. Please give this a Google as this show notes the writer doesn’t have the character count. More Importantly, Emily discusses why she wants to believe in the conspiracy of this event vs.  investigating the possible truth. Dan explains we all have these needs to find a more exciting explanation rather than the real world reality of certain events. Emily does come to the conclusion that there was nothing out of the ordinary of the event, but still likes the thought experiments of the conspiracy theories. Deconstruction is an ongoing process, not just with religion, but any magical thinking ideas.

Our next call from across the pond is from Corey. He wants to talk about the beliefs and the differences between the United States vs. the UK. It is a curious discussion between similar ideas, but in different cultures. It’s a curious conversation about identity, belief, and cultural experiences. 
Welcome to call #3 from Daniel from Canada who has come with proof! Proof I tell you of aliens. Are the pictures blurry? Yes. Is this absolute proof? No. Is it pareidolia? Probably. But, it’s a fun call! 

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In today’s episode of Truth Wanted, Secular Rarity is hosting alongside the recently engaged ObjectivelyDan! 

Austin in NC thinks free will shouldnt be argued because there is no good evidence. So that may cause some people, depressed or not, to give up on succeeding in life. Lack of free will doesn’t mean you can’t change things, it's just that we're in a physical universe. When discussing free will with others, don’t expect immediate change. It can be a bit of a depressing topic but it should be discussed, people can handle it.  (Depressed notetake here, don’t believe we have free will)

Matly in WA had an experience with a physical trainer offering cupping as a therapy and asked for evidence to back up their claims and show side effects. Medical professionals should know everything behind what they are doing to your body and more people should ask for evidence of unfounded medical claims. 

Jon in Canada has proof of god again, the “perfectly designed’ human body. Can you not think of anything you could improve upon? If you call back, ditch the script and let's have a regular old conversation. 

Andrew in FL thinks that absence of evidence isn’t evidence of absence and asks for proof of evidentialism. We’re interested in systems that can provide reliable and predictable results, our best (not perfect) method is science. If you use a different system for proof of god, we can’t really test that. We are just rejecting god claims that come without evidence. There hasn’t been a clear right or wrong on morality and atheism doesn’t claim any answers beyond god claims. There is so much to morality, people aren’t going to wrap their heads around it for a while after deconstructing, if at all.

Thank you for tuning in this week. Question of the week is: Why Is It REALLY Called ‘Good Friday’?

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In today’s episode of Truth Wanted, Kelley Laughlin and AlmostDoctor1(Matt), look at reflections of their future selves as churches being taxed is contemplated and they conclude that the universe may not be deterministic. 

Cole in DC saw a reflection of an older version of himself and felt at the time that this was a way of seeing into another universe.  How has your idea changed about the experience now that you know it was not what you thought it was? Is it safe to say you are in a better place now? How does this experience affect you now as you move forward in your life? Narratives are powerful to people and can’t be underestimated. The memory of emotion surrounding an event can overpower the memory of specific details. 

Troy in TX makes and asks if we should be taxing the church. When charity work is happening and things are transparent, then there is not a problem. Pastors and ministers do pay an income tax individually. Whenever you are deciding something, especially when it is controversial, always take a step back and have a look at how the decision fits into the big picture. 

Lori in WV asks about how the concept of a person’s existence of energy relates to the physics concept of how energy can’t be created or destroyed. Matt explains that the energy must be transferred somewhere when someone dies and there is not some magical life energy, but rather energy that allows the complicated processes of life to occur. For energy to be transferred from one to another, there needs to be a process that allows this energy to move. Reincarnation or life after death does not contain this pathway. Are you content with not coming back? 

Bryan in CA says that the universe is probabilistic and not deterministic.  What do you mean by deterministic? We can determine the probability of things on the quantum scale, but not exactly how things will happen because we don’t have the ability to rewind the clock. On the macro scale, we can rewind the clock and repeat experiments. The further you go from the initial conditions, the harder it is to know what will happen in advance. Our brains did not evolve to understand quantum mechanics yet and therefore see this field as something that is not straightforward. We don’t have evidence that shows that if we rewound the clock, things would happen exactly the same. 

Daniel in Canada believes there could be an alien reality, underground civilizations on Mars, and other ways of traveling through the universe beyond traveling at the speed of light. Why haven’t we seen these other civilizations yet? What is meant by alien reality? What kind of resolution are we using to detect these things? We know there is geological activity that happens on these planets and moon, but we don’t have anything that suggests that there has to be life. We can’t rely on what we think things look like. It must be fully demonstrated that there was not a natural cause such as an asteroid hitting the planet. Would you rather believe a video or thousands of scientists? 

Thank you for tuning in this week.  Question of the week is: Why do you think aliens are avoiding earth?

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In today’s episode of Truth Wanted, Jon the Skeptic and Drew Bekius navigate through the Paw Paw Tunnel dodging Australian Raptors and Owl Man all while knowing that the tunnel was created by a creator. But not to worry! No flashlights are needed because Jamie the Blind Limey safely guides them to the end where light is shed on the existence of trans people. 

Ben in VA had an experience in the Paw Paw Tunnel where he heard coins being thrown and sounds like people behind him. On a scale of one to ten, how convinced are you that it was something paranormal? If you are at a six, what would it take to get you to a ten, or bring it down to zero? Have you ruled out all possibilities like having change in your pocket that was dropped? What is the most simple explanation for this? Stories of events can grow over time becoming more juicy and exaggerated. 

Joshua in GA asks the hosts what cryptid they believe or hope exists. He believes that the Australian Raptor, Owl Man, and the Mongolian Death Worm existed, but just not 300 feet long. What is it that convinces you these things exist? Could Owl Man just be a large owl? We hope these things exist and will have drinks with them if so!
Elane in KY knows a game creator that was an atheist but now believes because if we can create worlds, then there could be a creator of this one. What good reason would we have to conclude this is true? 

Jamie the Blind Limey in TX asks for ideas on how to educate people about the existence of trans people. It is not just how someone feels; there are at least five different stages of sexual development in the uterus that are observable. At least one in fifty people have intersexual development. You can ask people how this community has affected you personally. When people set themselves up as the ultimate authority, try to help them realize that they may not see everything accurately, and ask if there are areas that they misread. By questioning, get them to see that they are not the genius of all geniuses for all things.

Thank you for tuning in this week! Question of the week is: If psychics are real, why did they not predict _____? Put your answers in the comments. 

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In today’s episode of the Truth Wanted, ObjectivelyDan and Infidel64 discover an ancient Chinese Dragon after studying history that did not quite lead to their belief in Catholicism, but did remind us of how our policies are still based on ancient mythology.

Saphri’ell in NY informs us about a 240 million year old Chinese Water Dragon that seems to have been right out of mythology. Without a doubt it would be cool if we found something like this alive, however, let’s not forget what happens with people’s imagination and how stories can change from something being a large lizard to a dragon flying around breathing fire. What other kinds of dragons do you believe have existed?

Greg in PA studied Western history and explains how logical thinking led him to his belief in god. How did studying the French Revolution get you to your beliefs? What convinced you and what are the particulars that brought you to where you are today? Can you apply this same kind of thinking to another religion? If there were a more accurate description of the world that came from another religion, would that raise your confidence level of that other religion? Greg asks the hosts about their belief in evolution. Evolution is survival of the being that can exist the best in the environment, not just the strongest, bad ass around. If we could demonstrate that animals are compassionate to each other, how would that change your belief in evolution? Just because humans understand compassion in a certain way does not mean other animals do not have it at all. There is no goal or purpose or goal to evolution; it is just a description of how things happened.

Tim in WA describes the recent attack on Nex Benedict who was harassed and killed because of their identity and how sad it is that we are making policies based on mythology. If your church is not talking about how to help the LGBTQ community, what good is your church? This is what we are talking about when we say that religion is driven by hate. As long as people are willing to excuse the inexcusable, we are going to keep seeing this. It is completely unacceptable that people are afraid to move, or must move because their child might be in danger. How many churches actually ask what they can do to help the LGBTQ community? We are hopeful that things can change and must keep fighting.

Thank you for tuning in this week! If you hear someone digging in the middle of the night, they are probably just looking for a Chinese Dragon. Nothing to see here. Question of the week is: What is normal during the day, but is terrifying in the middle of the night?

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In today’s episode of the Truth Wanted, MD Aware and Secular Spirit wrestle with the meaning of life as a caller obsessed with teaching children about buttplugs insists that jail is worse than hell.

Kyle in Canada says that religion makes it hard to know what is modeled as the truth, and asks the hosts what they think the meaning of life is. Secular Spirit explains how he has come to accept that life has no inherent meaning. MD Aware agrees and asks Kyle to define the terms of meaning and life. He further explains that there can be an overarching purpose for humanity that does not necessarily apply to the individual. What should people be doing that they are not currently doing? What is the best case scenario that we should strive for? The leaps in health care alone show we are greatly more advanced than our ancestors. If you are going to call the show and complain about the hosts being skeptical, you might be calling the wrong show.

McMichael in FL wants to know if teaching children about jail is equal to teaching them about hell. The fear and psychological trauma is deeper when there is an eternity than it is when there is a life sentence as a consequence. Jails in North America are different from jails in other parts of the world. How can you compare an eternity to a lifetime? Of hell and jail, one of these two things is real and one of them is not. Which is better to teach children about? How is the threat of eternal torment for natural sexuality better than a real life consequence for a crime committed? The caller asks what the appropriate age is to teach kids about butt plugs. Perhaps there would not be people showing up at emergency rooms with Christmas ornaments stuck in their rectum if they were taught not to be ashamed.

Jon in Canada has proof of god existing and that proof is that we are here. How did you delete all other explanations? What examples do you have of these other things that you have eliminated? The Big Bang is an explanation for the expansion of the universe, not the origin. Are you reading from a book of quotes or something? Does a puddle exist because of the conditions or were the conditions “designed” for the puddle to exist? The God Delusion is a great place to start if you want some of these questions answered. The scientific approach is to assume the negative until we know otherwise. If you had scientific evidence for god, we would accept it and that is why we took the call.

Tim in WA asks Secular Spirit if Islam is more accepting in the Western world of the LGBTQIA community than they are in other Muslim states. Secular Spirit explains the stigma surrounding this that exists in the Muslim states and that overall there is a difference between areas of the world when it comes to acceptance.

Rainer Wolfcastle in TX mentions a documentary called Science Friction that cuts quotes to make people say what they want them to say and manages to sneak in the word buttplug just for good measure.

Thank you for tuning in folks! Question of the week: What is the flimsiest excuse you have ever heard for doing the wrong thing?

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In today’s episode of Truth Wanted, Kelley Laughlin and Scott Dickie display their discordian core beliefs as they discuss developed friendships with theists while UFO documentaries are infuriating the UFO community all because we have lost our superhuman abilities and can now use the internet to communicate.

Galaxy in MO wants to talk about atheist and theist discordianism, where both disorder and order are delusions imposed upon the universe by one’s own perspective where anyone’s view of order and disorder is not any more true or false than the other. Could there be many realities perceived by one event then? This was originally written to ridicule religion in the same bowling alley that was in The Big Lebowski. Why is this just not a system of understanding human thought? What makes this an “ism”? With your method of measurement, are there any belief systems that will be excluded? When have your beliefs led you to a conclusion that you did not like?

Jamie in OH, a long time caller with Scott, wants to discuss friendship within this discourse. Has your interaction with the show changed the way you see atheists? How does it feel when someone is sincerely interested in friendship rather than trying to convert or deconvert? IT helps to concentrate on the things you have in common with people and keep the friendship.

Bleeding Gums Murphy in TX tells us about the The UFO MOVIE They Don't Want You to See is debunking UFO claims and causing the UFO community to fall apart. It is expected for something like this to cause outrage. When people’s beliefs or identity are challenged, the flight or fight response is activated in the brain and the protective response takes over. If you address the beliefs rather than the individuals, you will generally be safe, even when it seems the beliefs are bordering on mental health.

Kyle in Canada wants to talk about the way we live now vs the old naturopath way. What do you think we have lost with our modern society? What is the harm in losing something and picking up something new? Why is how we approached things in the “natural” days any better than how we do it today? What have we lost that has not been replaced by something else? Show us your work on why this is better.

Thank you for diving into this discussion with us this week! Question of the week is: Name a time the punishment actually fits the crime.

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In today’s episode of the Truth Wanted, Kelley Laughlin and Jim Barrows observe theists falsifying their own god as an actual bigot managed to sneak in a false nudist call. But don’t worry, Thumper saved the day with a stimulating question about wheels and finally we are topped off by Alfonso reminding us of the “other” born of a virgin stories.

Ryan in NY asks if the Abrahamic god can be falsified when theists describe him as outside of space and time. We do not even know if nothing exists. What does it mean to exist outside of the universe?

Mickey in FL asks if the hosts think there is a prejudice against nudist people like there is against LGBTQIA people. Being a nudist is not the same thing as being in the LGBTQIA community because being nude is a choice. If it was a cultural taboo it would be based on where people lived. Various cultures in warmer climates are more likely to be nudist than in colder climates and the technology to build clothes also comes into play. JIm makes an analogy to being in situations where rescuers have to put their own lives at risk to save someone who has taken a risk. You can be a nudist, but don’t take resources away from people who need it by doing things that will need to get you rescued like running around in cold weather nude. In fact, whether you are wearing clothes or not, don’t put yourself in that position. Did you call to talk about nudity or were you just trying to be a bigot? If you walk like a bigot, and talk like a bigot, you probably are not a nudist.

Thumper in ME asks if Native People have ever tried to invent the wheel. The wheels were invented by some of the South American tribes but for some reason only put them on toys. Part of the reason why could be due to overland trade difficulties. Transporting heavy items over water is easier than navigating over larger boulders and obstacles with land. There are many factors that we did not think about such as scarcity. Jim recommends the book, “Sapiens” that will shed some light on this.

Alfonso in WA is disappointed to discover there are a lot of other stories other than the Jesus stories about people being born of virgins and turning water into wine. There are lots of stories with similar themes. This is just part of story telling and does not necessarily mean the story is false.

Thank you for tuning in this week! Question of the week: What is something that is immoral but is culturally accepted?

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