Welcome to The Atheist Experience. For today’s show, we have Mandisa Thomas joining Matt Dillahunty to field your calls.
First up, Frank in Hong Kong asks advice about lying to family about his religion, he is ex-Muslim and has a strained relationship with his family. We encourage all atheists to come out, only if they are comfortable and safe.
Jedidiah in WA argues god exists because concepts in your brain exist in reality. Have you heard of equivocation fallacies? There exists a concept of a unicorn in my mind, but unicorns don’t exist in reality. You are confusing the map for the place.
Jake in TN argues that Christianity is a reasonable belief to hold. He goes on to claim the bible is “100% god breathed”. Uh oh, the “context” argument for slavery. Stop listening to apologists and read your bible, start at Exodus 21.
Chris in OK asks if we believe the apostles were martyred. Someone dying for a belief has no bearing on the validity of that belief, just that someone was willing to die for that belief. We don’t have a way to assess their beliefs. It’s just a story from a book passed down through copies and translations. The story doesn’t make sense, why can’t god appear and clear all this up?
Zander in OR wanted to talk about the Dawkins tweets. Matt has covered the topic, today’s not the day for that.
Michael in FL argues the bible is a good educational tool mainly because it uses poetry, analogies, and metaphors to convey a topic. The perfect word of god should be clear, not full of parables and analogies? If man wrote the bible, how can you tell what is from god or from man?
John in CA argues he could solve any “stumper” we have with Christianity. Why won't god reveal himself. Yeah...we’re not accepting that humanity has to end before that happens
Evelyn in OR asks why we lack beliefs in any gods. Simply put, we haven't seen any good evidence for gods. We’ll believe once there is evidence.
Jude in TX claims the bible doesn't condone slavery. We cover this topic a ton and we are past time, sorry.
Lastly, Phee in GA asks if there are circumstances where tactful discrimination is warranted for people that are religious, anti-humanist, and/or detrimental to humanity? There are times where you may need to exclude people from groups but not to just discriminate out of hand. We would be open to conversing, arguing, or presenting evidence. However, there should be consequences if they are a danger to other humans.
Continue to stay safe, get fully vaccinated, and wear those masks so we can see ya next week!