Hey there Youtube wanderer. Sit a spell, warm up by the fire, and enjoy another episode of Truth Wanted! This week Dan is joined by former pastor turned humanist author Drew Bekius!

This week’s Patron of the Week is Richard… just Richard. May you join the ranks of folks like Cher, and be showered with fame, fortune, and enough plastic surgery to keep you looking young well into middle age!

Our first caller is Richard (no, not that Richard) from Arizona. He’s struggling with a lingering fear of hell, and asks how our hosts got over this hurdle. Drew asks some probing questions, and Dan reminds our caller that this stuff takes time to conquer. Drew recommends finding community, and shares a great analogy to car accidents that seems to help. Be patient with yourself Richard!

Isaiah’s calling back from Korea, asking if a multiverse could affect the likelihood of a god being real. Short answer, no. Dan and Drew can’t see how multiple universes could affect the null hypothesis or make deities more likely. Drew pushes back on the idea that more universes equals greater probability for creator gods, and Dan refutes Isaiah’s argument from incredulity. Nature is beautiful, but lots of pretty things we have explanations for don’t require sky wizards.

Next we have William in Canada, who thinks humanism is just a reimagining of concepts from holy texts. Drew draws a great picture of how those authors then, and people now, construct our moral views through the lens of our experience. Dan simplifies the discussion by pointing out that most people want the same things, regardless of the century they’re living in. Is humanism a new iteration of humanity’s efforts to build a moral code? Sure, but that’s a far cry from a religion.

That’ll wrap it up for this week folks, join us next week, although it won’t be hosted by Ashton Kutcher and Russell Crowe’s atheist avatars, it’ll still be pretty good. See you then!