The Atheist Experience

In today’s episode of the Atheist Experience, Forrest Valkai and The Cross Examiner, walk Jackie through some thought processes of his own before encountering questions of existence with some New Age sprinkles.Jackie in MS was not able to answer Forrest’s question of whether he has any of his own thoughts. It goes absolutely nowhere when this happens. Jackie agrees not to mention the names of philosophers and to answer the hosts’ questions. He argues that the existence of metaphysical things associated with religion are the reason for religion being a positive thing. What is an example of a good point you have made regarding these things? Why do you think people listening to this conversation will become convinced to believe in a god? Why do you believe a god exists? What created god that is more complicated than god? Why does the universe need a god to do what it does? Not knowing how something could have happened is not a basis to make a conclusion in the version that you like. Not only is there a magical explanation, but you know the dude that did it, and believe we must hate trans people! This could be a product from your environment, and Jackie, you deserve better than this. George in Bulgaria claims that god is pure existence and we are eternal beings. What does pure existence mean? If we agree that things exist, how do you get from there to a god or to eternal beings? What would happen to existence, if a person was born that never reacted with anyone or anything else? What does your god want you to do? If god is asleep, why should we care? What is the evidence for our consciousness producing reality? Why is this better than just saying reality exists? How can your belief be falsified? A god that does not interact with the universe is indistinguishable from a god that does not exist. What can be gained knowledge wise by testing this?Ibrahim in the USA, converted to Islam, and wants to know the strongest arguments against god. Would you say that the burden should be on us to prove things like Santa Clause are not real? When you get into the business of arguing about god, you get into different versions of god. If this god does exist, what kind of god is it? If half of the things that the Abrahamic god is said to have done are true, he is a monster. The amount of evil and suffering this god has allowed is atrocious. This is not a religion of morality, but a religion of threats.  Why would somebody believe something that is not true when there is harm associated with it? If someone could convince you to believe in absurdities, they can also make you commit atrocities. The real danger sets in when you think you know what that god wants; this is when we start seeing cults, the Crusades, and the Dark Ages. Why does god not fix the suffering in the world and why did he not choose to create a universe where this did not need to happen?The hosts are joined by Ben Clodfelter to close out the show. Thank you for tuning in this week! Question of the week is: What is an underquoted scripture at a funeral?Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-atheist-experience--3254896/support.

In today’s episode of the Atheist Experience, the Cross Examiner and Ryan Jayne talk about the significance of separation of church and state, rising Christian nationalism in the United States, and phenomenology.Keyon in Utah claims that the stories of multiple religions point to there being a creator god. So many traditions have similar stories, so they must be on to something. He says he’s not religious but seems to still believe in the Bible and Christianity to an extent. Why does the similarities between different traditions’ stories mean that one (Christianity) is true? Keyon says that concepts like the devil are a type of energy and that he feels the truth of them energetically. He can’t conceive of a world where so many people could be wrong about religion. The hosts explain that religions like Islam and Christianity that contradict each other can’t both be true. And how can we tell which religion is true if both groups came to their conclusion through the same methods? Keyon responds by saying that every religion has god because god is love and energy.Manuel is calling from Brazil to challenge the hosts’ views on separation of church and state. He argues that there is a level of importance in issues. He says that there are more important issues like the murder of trans people, but it presumes that you cannot fight both fights at the same time. The hosts point out that something that seems so small like Christian iconography in government spaces impacts other issues like systemic transphobia. It helps justify discrimination and violence in society and legal processes.Jackie in Missouri wants to discuss the “phenomenology of givenness” which is beyond intentionality. Some things are given to you and are not part of your intentionality. The word “given” implies that a “giver” exists. Why are things we can’t explain not just part of the natural world or the human experience? The hosts try to understand why Jackie believes in god, but he just keeps reading his script. Is this his best reason for believing in god? When asked for his best evidence of God, Jackie says that the question is not applicable to his god. We don’t care about a god to which evidence cannot apply or is independent of evidence. It makes that god unfalsifiable. When asked again for his #1 piece of evidence for god, he answers with “the hierarchy of value perception.” We don’t have time to unpack all that today. Jackie can call back to talk about that concept in particular.Mike is calling in from South Carolina with questions about the Fair Housing Act. He asks the hosts if the Fair Housing Act overrides any discriminatory laws at the state level. While landlords can’t explicitly evict someone because of their sexual orientation, they can come up with some kind of other excuse for kicking them out that isn’t blatantly discriminatory. Enforcing a law like the Fair Housing Act is a lot more challenging that you might think.Jason from Massachusetts expresses his challenges with family after deconstructing from religion. Unfortunately, stories like Jason’s are far too common, but demonstrate how essential atheist communities can be.Thank you for calling in this week! This week’s prompt is: Why did God kick out Lucifer? Wrong answers only!Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-atheist-experience--3254896/support.