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Welcome back to the show! In today’s episode of the Atheist Experience, JMike is joined by Jim Barrows & Student Doctor Ben! First up is Chris from NY who cites a project at Princeton that allegedly has found a link between the pattern of random numbers and major global events. Jon from Canada is calling to talk about Christian oppression, citing Kirk Cameron not being able to get his book in a library or something. Jon adds that LGBTQ+ individuals are getting unfair preferential treatment over Christians. Amazing self-own incoming, see if you can spot it. Mark from NY wants to discuss the God of the gaps and how theists might be able to reframe God so that its definition isn’t just a puddle that fits its environment. Dave from the Netherlands asks if it is God who sends people to hell. AJ from TX claims to have a personal relationship with The Flying Spaghetti Monster. How does that even work given the nature of why the FSM was devised? Xavier from FL claims that morality doesn’t apply to God and has biblical evidence to back it up!

Welcome back to the show! In today’s episode of the Atheist Experience, JMike is joined by MD Aware! Nicol from Armenia is wondering how atheists organize their marriages compared to that of biblical Christians. Joe from KA is calling to express frustration with atheists’ answer to Christians with regards to God creating a world where humans can perform evil. Why would God create a world where evil can take place? Hay Z from LA is calling in to discuss evolution. The caller is having a hard time understanding how the world can be so orderly and a perfect fit for us if God didn’t create everything. Kevin from WI wants to discuss science and the assumptions that scientists make prior to doing the work. Can you trust the findings if said findings are based on unjustified assumptions?

Welcome back to the show! In today’s episode of the Atheist Experience, Forrest Valkai is joined by Dave Warnock! Our first caller of 2023 is Greg from TX who is wondering why it would be useful to prove the existence of God? What is the purpose of the “why” question that is always asked by host’s on this show? Carlos from Argentine is calling to discuss the rise of Christianity in the Argentinian government and how the caller was persecuted for their activision the separation of religion and government. Rick from Canada believes that the theory of evolution is full of many holes including that Forrest can’t disprove talking donkeys, horses, and snakes. Interesting hole you’ve found. The evidence indicates that it is of the rabbit variety. Bill from IL recently deconverted from their religion and is looking for advice about how they are going to tell their wife? Sir Delicioso from Canada has an argument for why the God of the Bible is good. Get ready for this tapdancing defense at justifying genocide.

The Midshow Promo clips. You like them! You love them! You want more of them! Well, consider your prayers answered, because we present some of the best moments from our past season. The video elves have been working overtime to bring you this collection of some of the funniest, most intense, and overall best segments. We’ll be back to live production in the new year, but for now the hosts, crew and volunteers of The Atheist Experience and The Atheist Community of Austin wish you all the best for this holiday season and in the new year to come. We’ll see you next year!

As we wind down 2022, we wanted to take a look back at all the best moments of the current season, and we've chosen the Top 5 calls, as determined by your viewing. Relive some of the most memorable and favorite moments from this past year of The Atheist Experience. We are also compiling this collection so that we could give you something interesting to watch over the holidays, but also give our hard-working hosts and crew some time off to spend with their family and friends. The ACA wishes you all the best for 2023, and make sure to join us in this coming year for more of the stuff you love!

Welcome back to the show! In today’s episode of the Atheist Experience, Jim Barrows is joined Student Doctor Ben at the Freethought Library! Kevin from GA disputes the reliability and double standards of social constructs. From a social perspective, the caller asks why it isn’t acceptable to kick down someone’s door to steal food from others if we are hungry? If humans are animals and other animals will take drastic action in the name of self-preservation, why is this any less acceptable? Jon from Canada has ultimate proof of God. It's the force. Jon, are you 100% sure that it isn’t the Schwartz? Paul from Canada is calling to ask about what the terms: gnostic, agnostic, theist, and atheist mean, and how and when to use them. Seth from ID believes that atheists get the meaning of separation of church and state wrong. The caller claims that the statement was to prevent a specific sect of Christianity from becoming the dominant faith in the United States, not that religion and government should be separate. Oh boy... Olivia from IL has some beef and feedback for the show. Gotta shut down the theists at the name of their God. Audience Question One asks how certain anti-choice individuals who also believe in free will get around it when it comes to situations involving for example, rape, something that clearly violates the mother’s free will. Brittany from GA is a questioning Christian who despite discovering holes in the faith they were indoctrinated to believe, is still struggling to cope with the fear of a Christian hell. Hank from TX argues that slavery is a part of what makes humans special compared to other species. Why do humans only take moral issue with humans enslaving humans and not humans enslaving animals?

Welcome back to the show! In today’s episode of the Atheist Experience, JMike is joined by Dave Warnock! Davis from CO is calling to ask about what God or what kind of God atheists are rejecting. The caller states that they do not have enough faith to ascribe to “the atheist worldview” whatever that is. Julian from FL has a question about Job 38:16 and how it predicted the recently discovered geysers in the sea. How did we get to that out of this vague verse? Bear from WA claims that God’s glory is indirectly derived from permitting a world, he created, where there is both good and evil. If he is either capable of creating a world where there is no evil or stepping in when evil is being committed for the sake of his own necessary glory, why should anyone think of this God as a self-centered, pacifistic thug? And unfortunately for you, without evidence to support the existence of this God that would otherwise act as your ideology’s meat shield, your beliefs Bear, are abhorrent and disgusting on their own merit. Johan from FL presents a two-pronged argument that people should just support the broad concept of well-being, regardless of religious or non-religious belief. There needs to be a specific definition in order to actually assess the concept because well-being as a term is far too vague to make any judgment call. Well being for whom and based on what? James from AZ asks if science or atheism requires faith. Science is based upon evidence and testing and therefore doesn’t fall into the same category as faith as its used when theists talk about God. Previous determinations of science do not become pseudoscience because they are proven to be false. They just are no longer the current determinations for a particular scientific field. Pseudoscience differs in that is not falsifiable (i.e. psychics).

Welcome back to the show! In today’s episode of the Atheist Experience, Forrest Valkai is joined by JMike! Muhammad from CA wants to discuss their views that naturalism takes away the characteristics that make humans unique. But a lack of uniqueness and predetermined purpose doesn’t necessarily correlate with value or worthiness? Sheep of God, because why not, from TX is calling to defend the claim that secularism is a form of faith. The more atheist shows SoG watched, the more they learned about their doctrine and the more their faith strengthened. Brian from Canada asks that given many atheist’s don’t believe there is substantial evidence for God, what kinds of evidence are our host’s looking for? Mark from NY believes that evidence exists that leads to the conclusion that god is more probable. What is this evidence you might ask? It’s that atheism failed to provide answers to some of the caller’s questions. Just because something claims to have answers in no way means that those answers are true, and atheism’s lack of explanation to said questions doesn’t equal evidence against atheism.

Welcome back to the show! In today’s episode of the Atheist Experience, Student Doctor Ben is joined Adam Elmasri! Jon from Canada is calling to ask what is one’s purpose in life if the person doesn’t believe in God or if there isn’t a god? And also education about trans people is apparently the equivalent of genocide, and no they won’t defend that. Jaime from TX wants to know how to criticize Islam without coming off as Islamophobic especially with the history of that in the U.K. Make it general about the core foundation of theism, and engage specifically only if the conversation shifts to a specific religion. Even then, don’t attack the religion or its culture but instead, focus on getting them to defend the claims made in the book. Rick from Canada is just calling to tell us that if we don’t agree with God’s genocide of the Canaanites and Amalekites or else were the evil ones? Because inbreeding? Whaaaaaaaat, why? Lot of genocide talk so far today. David from Romania is calling to talk about how their mother claims to have seen God and offers the follow up question of how our hosts would react if they found themselves in her position. Michael from GA wants to ask if God was determined to be real, does their existence correlate to the validity of their moral pronouncements? Is what the God says objective, or is it just another slew of subjective moral judgments but this time being made by someone who is potentially smite happy. Henry from Estonia is calling to present an argument that pulling people away from religion is causing harm. Specifically, the caller saw read some articles and watched a video saying the religious people live longer than atheists, but didn’t read the actual studies.

Welcome back to the show! In today’s episode of the Atheist Experience, Forrest Valkai is joined by Christy Powell! First up is Damien from WA who wants advice on how to explain to their family that they don’t enjoy the religious inquiries and love, and that their non-belief is not an attack on them. Jay from IA asks why Atheists feel the need to talk about their non-belief and tell others God doesn’t exist all the time. The answer varies from atheist to atheist based on their own experiences. But don’t worry, the call doesn’t stop there so be sure to keep watching and listening? Next is Bear from WA who is presenting personal testimony about how they experienced problems with their life, but that these problems resolved themselves after seeking out God. Eric from WI is calling to tell Atheists that God doesn’t send them to hell, but that we send ourselves. Theists have had 12 years to make the choice to revise and rehabilitate this argument before calling in again, but they haven’t. Next is Nicole from Armenia who is wondering if the Bible is a good guide for having successful relationships & marriage? Teo from Croatia wants to talk about how its ridiculous that people judge people who have not read the bible or believe in a God in ways they wouldn’t judge others.

Welcome back to the show! In today’s episode of the Atheist Experience, Forrest Valkai is joined by Dave Barrows! First up is Victoria from Chile is wondering if religion or religious practices, given their predominance across modern cultures, may have first formed prior to the emergence of homo sapiens. Next is King from AK is calling to present evidence, that at least to their friend, that Atheists converting to Christianity such as C.S. Lewis and Anthony Flew is evidence for god. The evidence would be based on their reason for the conversion, not merely that they became Christian. Joshua from NC believes that gender and sex are the same for biological reasons. Forrest can explain this far better than I can even if I had an unlimited character count so listen to him. Jim’s Recommended Link: https://www.nature.com/articles/nn.3988 Frisco from AZ is working hard to figure out the mind-state of Atheists, but not too hard because we’re weird and the worst of human beings. Yes. We are laughing. Amanual from TX is calling to address the constant atheist question, “why won’t God reveal himself to us?” Why would anyone worship and follow the rules attributed to something whose existence is not at all demonstrable? James from OH is calling to present the biblical prophecies as physical evidence for God. Even if the prophecies appeared to have come true, that doesn’t evidence that these said events were caused by a religious reason, a God.

Welcome back to the show! In today’s episode of the Atheist Experience, Forrest Valkai is joined by Dave Barrows! First up is Victoria from Chile is wondering if religion or religious practices, given their predominance across modern cultures, may have first formed prior to the emergence of homo sapiens. Next is King from AK is calling to present evidence, that at least to their friend, that Atheists converting to Christianity such as C.S. Lewis and Anthony Flew is evidence for god. The evidence would be based on their reason for the conversion, not merely that they became Christian. Joshua from NC believes that gender and sex are the same for biological reasons. Forrest can explain this far better than I can even if I had an unlimited character count so listen to him. Jim’s Recommended Link: https://www.nature.com/articles/nn.3988 Frisco from AZ is working hard to figure out the mind-state of Atheists, but not too hard because we’re weird and the worst of human beings. Yes. We are laughing. Amanual from TX is calling to address the constant atheist question, “why won’t God reveal himself to us?” Why would anyone worship and follow the rules attributed to something whose existence is not at all demonstrable? James from OH is calling to present the biblical prophecies as physical evidence for God. Even if the prophecies appeared to have come true, that doesn’t evidence that these said events were caused by a religious reason, a God.

Welcome back to the show! In today’s episode of the Atheist Experience, Kenneth is joined by the one and only Dave Warnock! Michael from CA is calling to claim the prophecies in the Bible are in fact accurate because the Euphrates River is drying up, waters in China are turning blood red (not actually turning to human blood.) and that there are wars and rumors of wars. Jay from NY presents the double slit experiment and the observer effect in order to demonstrate that conscious observation actively affects the particles of our universe. Drew from CA claims to have biblical evidence that the Bible is true, specifically that the New Testament and Old Testament stories align and fit with each other. John from CA comes fully loaded with threats about our going to hell and a claim that the bible is smarter than you about deciding who is saved or not. Lots of preaching with this one. Diana from CA wants to point out the correlation from the psychological tactic of love bombing to some of the methods used by religions to gain and maintain the interest of children through tactics such as gift giving. Jaime from TX is calling to ask if there is ever a situation where any books should be bad. Books, even if dangerous, should be allowed to exist with the hope that the “bad” books should be critically analyzed with the intent of education and learning on why the bad ideas presented are in fact detrimental. But banning is a slippery slope based entirely on the dominant ideology in power. Amanual from TX claims the New Testament apostles were credible...because they died brutally? Doom Guy brutally rips and tears through the demonic armies of hell. Does the gruesomeness of their deaths portrayed in DOOM in any way prove this demon army exists?

Welcome back to the show! In today’s episode of the Atheist Experience, Jim Barrows is joined by Johnny P. Angel! First up is Kevin from Canada who claims that there are other dimensions, among many other claims. So. Many. Claims. Next up is Sarah from Belgium who is beginning to question their faith, and asks out hosts if there is any truth to Judaism. Historically speaking regarding the Israelites, definitely. With regards to the religious beliefs and stories, likely less so. Connor, TX from the audience asks our hosts what their opinion is on having nuanced rules for taxing churches based on size (i.e. Megachuches versus small community congregations.) The answer may surprise you. Max from TX was a theist, but after listening to the show they are starting to question whether they are still a Theist. William, TX from the audience continues the conversation started by Connor by asking if the hosts are concerned that gauging the tax status of churches based on how much they benefit their community opens the door to excessive proselytizing? Patrick from FL is an agnostic who disagrees with the definition of agnostic on google and wants the hosts to convince them to be an Atheist. Allen from Jamaica is calling to ask why God decided to hold off on creating a woman, Eve, rather than just create her with Adam. Just another thing to add to the nonsense list of the story I guess. Bill from TX is calling to ask why there aren’t atheist churches, and why doesn’t the ACA create one. Bill sees the growth of the “Nones” as an example of a group of people who need accessible groups that mirror the community-building aspects of religious organizations but are secular. This way these individuals don’t come out of religion into an unfamiliar social void. Jon from Canada is calling to tell us that removing God from the United States is causing the moral decay of society. Which society? All of it presumably.

Welcome back to the show! In today’s episode of the Atheist Experience, JMike is joined by Jim Barrows! First up is Kevin from GA, a theist who disagrees with slavery in the Bible, especially the constant Christian defense. The issue is, the caller also admits that God’s commands are perfectly justified and should be followed, therefore contradicting their own moral judgments. Aman from TX doesn’t find owning another human being as property to be moral but also doesn’t find their god who supports slavery to be immoral. Charlie from FL argues that the tree of knowledge of good and evil is evidence that humans shouldn’t be allowed to follow a moral system that deviates from God’s own. Why is God punishing humans for falling for a trap that he set up? Tyler from IN is calling to recount the time they found themselves indoctrinated into a cult and their path to getting out. Duane from WV is calling to draw a comparison between the tenets of narcissism and the Christian God. Needless to say, a ven diagram between a human narcissist and God would be very large in the middle section.

In today’s episode of the Atheist Experience, Shannon Q is joined by Kenneth! First up is Mark from CA who wants to write a letter to their young relatives who have been raised in a fundamentalist environment and would like advice from our hosts on what to open the letter with. Next is Troy from WA who doesn’t necessarily believe in a God, but is convinced that there is a high probability of other life in the universe and that one of these other intelligent organisms created us in their image. Basically, the caller went to the “Alien: Covenant” school of intelligent design. Next is Aaron from WY who is curious as to why the human brain appears to be wired to jump to unfounded conclusions, i.e. spiritual thinking. Dmitry from MA recently read a book that introduces mathematics as the foundational truth of the universe, and that the Bible spirituality is a corruption of this truth. BenDan from WI will return later... Michael from GA has a question on how to go about conversing with theists and helping walk a theist through the problems with their methodology and the derived conclusion. BenDan the “Researchur” from WI is back to tell us that the soul is the part of the mind that moves on after death to be judged. Prepare yourself for warp 10 analogies!

Welcome back to the show! In today’s episode of the Atheist Experience, Forrest Valkai is joined by Dave Warnock! Charles from TX is calling to claim that Revelations 17:5 is the reason for all of the evil done in the name of Catholicism. Next is David from Australia who after decades of indoctrination is hit head on with the prospect of the religion not be true, or worse manipulative. The caller is struggling with pushing past their fear of hell from their lifetime of it being used as a tool to keep them in line. Luke from CA has a five premise argument to make God exist in our world. You could use this argument to make any literally any fantasy character exist in our world...doesn’t mean they do. Believer in God (BIG) from WA isn’t convinced that Atheists are actually real and those who claim to be Atheist are actually pretending Theists. They believe this because polygraphs. Diana from KS doesn’t believe that Atheists cannot judge morality because they lack an objective moral standard. Appealing to an authoritarian moral framework can be nice because its easy to judge right from wrong, but it doesn’t necessarily align with what might actually be right and what might be wrong in specific situations, especially if no justification is given or justification in the form of faith based threats of punishment. Ruben from TX doesn’t think it is okay for Atheists to use the Old Testament, specifically verses regarding slavery to argue against modern Christians because apparently slavery was okay back then. Finally, Kyle from OH views the world as a complex puzzle, and if the pieces weren’t placed in the perfect order and location, then life wouldn’t exist. Therefore there must have been a creator because there needs to be an intelligence capable of solving said puzzle, but only here, not Venus.

Welcome back to the show! In today’s episode of the Atheist Experience, Matt Dillahunty is joined by Jim Barrows! Mr. Warlights from AK starts off the show by accusing Matt of secretly believing in spirits because Matt is just a normal human like the rest of us, and regular humans all believe in spirits. You know, as opposed to all of the not regular humans who don’t? Next is Isaiah from Korea who is calling to talk about the parental reaction to deconversion, or not sharing the religion of their parents, and why some parents react so harshly compared to others. Kevin from CA is convinced that a God exists because they encountered portal spirits who showed them a plane of existence that mirrors our own reality. JB from CO calls in to present problems they see with any reliance on naturalism regarding answering questions about our perceived reality. Next up is Jeremy from Fl who asks our hosts if a coincidence would ever be enough to convince our hosts that there is a god or supernatural power controlling the universe. Darius from CA claims to have an argument that will prove that no one really believes that a God exists. Care to explain how you managed to get into every person’s head? Paul from PA doesn’t understand why Atheists get to ask Theists for evidence supporting their beliefs, but Theists can’t do the same for Atheists. Effectively, why don’t Atheists have a burden of proof? Chris from Sweden proposes the Hitchens razor, “what can be asserted without evidence can also be dismissed without evidence,” and attempts to nullify it with a weird example of Matt questioning his mother about who his father is. Phillip from PA asks how someone would be able to discern the universe of some cosmic being sending you a message, or just something fabricated by your own mind.

Welcome back to the show! In today’s episode of the Atheist Experience, Matt Dillahunty is joined by Andrew Seidel! Dustin from TX is calling to ask Matt what his stance is on the claim that they “choose to believe” in a God. How can you choose to be convinced? You either are or you aren't. Next is Jaime from the audience who was called something unfortunate after stating they were an agnostic, and are curious if agnosticism really is just sitting on the fence. Thomas from KY is calling to ask how Christianity is attempting to weaponize the religious freedom outlined in the first amendment within US legislation. Pedro from Ireland has an argument for God that requires God to be undeniable and necessary. What a great, absolutely unhelpful definition. Next is Mark from AL who claims to have an answer to the question of divine hiddenness. Next is Seth from TX who asks for the legal standing on the more creative, rebellious signs being donated in response to the “In God We Trust” signage law. Peter from Canada claims to have irrefutable evidence. Apparently evidence = Gish gallop. This call feels as chaotic as the Mt. Saint Helens eruption. Patrick from NY believed in a God because they believe they have experienced answered prayers. Trent from OH is wondering if one of the driving forces behind many religions is death denial, or at least serves as an attempt to add meaning to life when there may not be one.

Welcome back to the show! In today’s episode of the Atheist Experience, Shannon Q is joined by Dave Warnock! First up is Philip from Canada who is calling to answer this weeks poll question “Is the Holy Spirit something that is experienced outside the brain?” Why did God reveal himself to you and save you from overdose and abandoned others in your same situation. Next is Michael from KY who claims to have evidence for the existence of God which is apparently hidden in the “Book of Eli” with Denzel Washington, no doubt hidden in the secret number code Michael was transmitting throughout the call. Also Michael is God–the caller, not the Archangel. Next is Steven from AZ who brings up their experience of wanting to return to religion after suffering a near-death experience, and is wondering if the hosts have any experiences of their own or advice for dealing with this pull? Robin from DC is going to overturn our trailer for the show with a transcendental argument for the existence of God. God’s revelation to everyone supports premise one for the argument that God exists. This sounds like an elliptical argument at best. Kelly from CA is calling to present an argument for the existence of God through an appeal to the physical, aka an argument from contingency. Zeleni from Europe continues the conversation of the previous call to pose the question if it is even possible for God to have the trait of pure benevolence. Thank you for calling!