A Leap of Doubt: Recent Episodes
Nathan Dickey
Hosted by Nathan Dickey, this podcast celebrates the examined life and the courage it takes to lead an evidence-based life of questioning and doubt.
This episode is the second and final part of the conversation I had with my friend Hertzey Hertz on her show a couple years ago on her YouTube show Hertzey Talks, and which she has given me permission to mirror here on my own podcast. In Part I, Hertzey and I discussed one aspect of the Satanic Panic of the 1980s, what I have called “The Fundamentalist Fear of Fantasy.” We are responding point-by-point to two evangelists who in the early 1980s produced a program titled Deception of a Generation, in which they railed against what they perceived to be the evils of children’s fantasy cartoons and toys.
As I said in the intro to Part I last week, Hertzey and I had a great time simultaneously mocking and critiquing/debunking all the outlandish and factually incorrect claims these two evangelists, Gary Greenwald and Phil Phillips, made in their program. Our discussion I think serves to say something profound about the psychology of religious fundamentalism and why it reacts in certain ways that to us today seem outlandish and ridiculous to various things in popular culture that they viewed as a threat to their evangelical hegemony.
And now in this episode, we pick up where we left off last week, chronicling our two evangelists’ fear of such toys, shows and movies as Ken and Barbie dolls, Dungeons & Dragons, Star Wars, E.T., The Smurfs, superhero comic books, G.I. Joe, Transformers, etc., etc. The list goes and on and on.
Links:
The original YouTube show with Hertzey Hertz on Hertzey Talks: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mJAsrj32aZo
Deception of a Generation (1984), the video we are responding to, is available at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hnjdq32u-MU
Join the official discussion group of this podcast at www.facebook.com/groups/aleapofdoubt.
Follow me on Twitter at https://twitter.com/TheNatheist.
The opening intro and closing outro were written by Nathan Dickey, produced and edited by Rich Lyons and read by Deanna Joy Lyons.
Check out our website: https://reasonrevolution.org.
Give us a like on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/reasonrevolution.
This episode is a slightly abridged mirror of a different show on which I was a guest a couple years ago, hosted by Hertzey Hertz on her YouTube channel, with her permission. Hertzey and I did a point-by-point commentary and debunking of a fundamentalist Christian program that aired in 1984, titled Deception of a Generation, and which is available on YouTube. In this program, two Christian fundamentalists, Gary Greenwald and Phil Phillips, talked for an hour and a half about what they considered the evils of children’s fantasy cartoons and toys.
Hertzey and I had great fun debunking and making fun of what is clearly and hilariously ridiculous, even by the standards of the Christian fundamentalist panic over secular culture that was rampant in the 1980s, and which today is known as the Satanic Panic. But along the way, Hertzey and I had occasion to touch on a lot of important points about the psychology of the fundamentalist mindset and how such narrow-minded religious doctrine hinders children’s imagination and development. And of course, it gave us the perfect excuse to geek out and talk about 1980s shows and movies like He-Man, She-Ra, Thundercats, Dungeons & Dragons, Star Wars, E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial, The Smurfs, Rainbow Brite, and many more, all of which sent these fundamentalists into a frenzy because of their belief that such things were part of an evil satanic plot to program children’s minds. It’s entertaining just hearing these conspiracy theories, but again we are not merely going after low-hanging fruit; some very interesting psychological insights emerge from our review about fundamentalism as a mindset and what their paranoid reaction to fantasy fiction says about just how weak their own theological worldview is.
Because the original show I did on Hertzey’s show ran for about three hours, I have edited and abridged this somewhat to make it more manageable, and I have also split it into two parts. I have also incorporated audio from the program we are responding to and critiquing, so you get some context as we progress.
Links:
The original YouTube show with Hertzey Hertz on Hertzey Talks: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mJAsrj32aZo
Deception of a Generation (1984), the video we are responding to, is available at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hnjdq32u-MU
Report regarding children and when they can tell fantasy from reality: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3689871/
The Bible Skeptic’s YouTube series “Jesus in Genesis: A Study of Macrocodes”: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL894809D83D303EAD
My interview with Dr. Joseph Laycock on the Satanic Panic, fantasy games, and religion: https://reasonrevolution.org/032-the-satanic-panic-fantasy-games-and-religion-w-joseph-laycock-phd-2/
Join the official discussion group of this podcast at www.facebook.com/groups/aleapofdoubt.
Follow me on Twitter at https://twitter.com/TheNatheist.
The opening intro and closing outro were written by Nathan Dickey, produced and edited by Rich Lyons and read by Deanna Joy Lyons.
Check out our website: https://reasonrevolution.org.
Give us a like on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/reasonrevolution.
This episode is a tribute to the late great philosopher, mathematician, poet, and science popularizer Jacob Bronowski (1907-1974). Forerunner to such figures as Carl Sagan and Richard Dawkins, Bronowski was a true Renaissance man of the twentieth century and a pioneer of intellectual communication to the public at large and science popularization. Best known as the writer and host of the 1973 BBC documentary series The Ascent of Man, Bronowski deserves recognition on a much wider scale among the general public for the effort he put into promoting humanism, science, and world peace in his day. Hence this episode, for which I am honored to be joined by special guest Timothy Sandefur. He is the author of the 2019 book The Ascent of Jacob Bronowski: The Life and Ideas of a Popular Science Icon, the first ever biography of Jacob Bronowski.
Timothy Sandefur is vice president for litigation and holds the Duncan Chair in Constitutional Government at the Goldwater Institute. He is also an adjunct scholar with the Cato Institute and a graduate of both Hillsdale College and the Chapman University School of Law. He has written a number of other books, including a biography of Frederick Douglass, and dozens of scholarly articles on subjects ranging from slavery and the Civil War to political issues in Shakespeare, ancient Greek drama, and Star Trek.
Links:
Timothy Sandefur on Twitter: https://twitter.com/TimothySandefur
Timothy Sandefur’s book: https://www.amazon.com/Ascent-Jacob-Bronowski-Popular-Science/dp/1633885267
“Michael Parkinson Interviews Dr Jacob Bronowski 1974,” Michael Parkinson interview with Jacob Bronowski, 1974, YouTube video, 1:05:12, posted on July 30, 2012, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DFgnGUL78MU
“Day at Night: Jacob Bronowski,” interview by James Day, April 9, 1974, YouTube video, 28:21, posted on March 28, 2011, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PvUe94My8Wo
C.P. Snow, The Two Cultures and the Scientific Revolution: https://www.amazon.com/Two-Cultures-Scientific-Revolution/dp/1614275475
Peter Laslett, The World We Have Lost: https://www.hist.cam.ac.uk/prospective-undergrads/virtual-classroom/secondary-source-exercises/sources-people/laslett
The recording of Bronowski discussing the problems of the Is/Ought distinction is taken from his 1973 interview with George Steedman, and is available online at http://ia600504.us.archive.org/11/items/NuclearExplosionUnclearResponsibility/Part06-NuclearExplosionUnclearResponsibility-ConversationsWithBronowski.mp3.
Join the official discussion group of this podcast at www.facebook.com/groups/aleapofdoubt.
Follow me on Twitter at https://twitter.com/TheNatheist.
The opening intro and closing outro were written by Nathan Dickey, produced and edited by Rich Lyons and read by Deanna Joy Lyons.
Check out our website: https://reasonrevolution.org.
Give us a like on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/reasonrevolution.
In this episode, we’re diving headlong into two really tricky and complex issues: Evolutionary psychology and the world of politics. It is not intuitive to many people that the modern 21st century political landscape has anything to do with our ancient past as hunter-gatherers in the pre-civilization world, a world in which our distant ancestors were largely at the mercy of red-in-tooth-and-claw nature. But as my guest Hector A. Garcia will be discussing with us today, evolutionary history and psychology has everything to do with the often confusing and bewildering maze of current political intrigue and the divisive culture wars that have polarized us now more than at any other time in recent memory.
Hector Garcia is a clinical psychologist who has published extensively on evolutionary psychology and the interplay between war and masculine identity, both of which are central to our discussion today. He is the author of the book Sex, Power, and Partisanship: How Evolutionary Science Makes Sense of Our Political Divide. He is also the author of the earlier book Alpha God: The Psychology of Religious Violence and Oppression.
Links:
Dr. Hector Garcia on Twitter: https://twitter.com/DrHAGarcia
Dr. Hector Garcia’s website: https://www.hector-garcia.com/
Hector Garcia’s book “Sex, Power, and Partisanship: How Evolutionary Science Makes Sense of Our Political Divide”: https://www.amazon.com/Sex-Power-Partisanship-Evolutionary-Political/dp/1633885143
Hector Garcia’s book “Alpha God: The Psychology of Religious Violence and Oppression”: https://www.amazon.com/Alpha-God-Psychology-Religious-Oppression/dp/1633880206
My previous interview with Dr. Garcia on this podcast: https://reasonrevolution.org/025-of-apes-men-and-gods-feat-hector-garcia-phd-a-leap-of-doubt/
Join the official discussion group of this podcast at www.facebook.com/groups/aleapofdoubt.
Follow me on Twitter at https://twitter.com/TheNatheist.
The opening intro and closing outro were written by Nathan Dickey, produced and edited by Rich Lyons and read by Deanna Joy Lyons.
Check out our website: https://reasonrevolution.org.
Give us a like on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/reasonrevolution.
The subject of this episode is a secretive group of Christian nationalists and fundamentalists who have insinuated themselves into the world of American politics, including foreign policy, at the highest levels. We are discussing the group or movement simply known as “the Family,” and our vehicle for delving into this very important and eye-opening topic is the five-part Netflix documentary series The Family, which we review and offer commentary on throughout this episode. This series is based on the bestselling 2008 exposé by the same name by journalist Jeff Sharlet.
Joining me for this weighty topic is special guest Chris Shelton, host of the Sensibly Speaking Podcast. Chris has been a guest on this podcast before to talk about his former life as a Scientologist and how he managed to deconvert and leave that cult (see episodes #015 and #016). He brings a much-needed perspective on cult mindsets to this discussion of the cult of Christian nationalism and why we should all be concerned about the intrusion of Christian theocrats into the halls of American power.
Links
Chris Shelton on Twitter: https://twitter.com/sheltondesigner
Chris Shelton on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCF326xyA0QHI7Z5xAwKQDJg/featured
The Sensibly Speaking Podcast: https://sensiblyspeaking.com/
Jeff Sharlet, The Family: The Secret Fundamentalism at the Heart of American Power: https://www.amazon.com/Family-Secret-Fundamentalism-Heart-American/dp/0060560053
Find the Project Blitz playbook here: https://www.au.org/sites/default/files/2019-01/Project%20Blitz%20Playbook%202018-19.pdf.
Motivated reasoning: Charles G. Lord et al., “Biased Assimilation and Attitude Polarization: The Effects of Prior Theories on Subsequently Considered Evidence,” Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 37, no. 11 (1979): 2098-2109, https://tinyurl.com/rv6lc7e.
Join the official discussion group of this podcast at www.facebook.com/groups/aleapofdoubt.
Follow me on Twitter at https://twitter.com/TheNatheist.
The opening intro and closing outro was written by Nathan Dickey, produced and edited by Rich Lyons and read by Deanna Joy Lyons.
Check out our website: https://reasonrevolution.org.
Give us a like on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/reasonrevolution.
In this episode, I am joined by special guest Dr. David Orenstein, professor of Anthropology at Medgar Evers College of the City University of New York, to discuss his new book Darwin’s Apostles: The Men Who Fought to Have Evolution Accepted, Their Times, and How the Battle Continues, co-authored with Dr. Abby Hafer and available soon from Humanist Press.
In honor of the upcoming 160th anniversary of the day on which Charles Darwin’s Origin of Species was published, Dr. Orenstein and I talk about Darwin’s life and times and the men who supported and advocated for both Darwin’s and Alfred Russel Wallace’s grand, independently uncovered theory of evolution by natural selection. We discuss the similarities and differences in the failed challenges and attacks against evolution by the church in the nineteenth century and in our own day, why creationism consistently fails and always will, and what the future of science education and evolutionary literacy among the general public might look like in the coming years.
Links
Excerpt from the book “Darwin’s Apostles”: https://thehumanist.com/arts_entertainment/books/darwins-apostles-the-legendary-debate
Order the book: https://tinyurl.com/rq2ewyg
Dr. David Orenstein on Twitter: https://twitter.com/Paleolibrarian
About Dr. Abby Hafer: https://americanhumanist.org/what-we-do/speakers-bureau/abby-hafer/
Dr. Abby Hafer’s book “The Not-So-Intelligent Designer”(2015): https://tinyurl.com/v8oavom
Dr. David Orenstein’s book “Godless Grace” (2015): https://tinyurl.com/yx7ngyy5
Darwin Correspondence Project: https://www.darwinproject.ac.uk/
Join the official discussion group of this podcast at www.facebook.com/groups/aleapofdoubt.
Follow me on Twitter at https://twitter.com/TheNatheist.
The opening intro and closing outro was written by Nathan Dickey, produced and edited by Rich Lyons and read by Deanna Joy Lyons.
Check out our website: https://reasonrevolution.org.
Give us a like on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/reasonrevolution.
The subject of our doubt and scrutiny for this episode is miracles and the metaphysical religious truth-claims that all miracle accounts come pre-packaged with. Joining me in this discussion is my special guest, John W. Loftus, author and editor of the upcoming anthology, The Case against Miracles.
John W. Loftus is a leading atheist writer and thinker who was once an evangelical minister and Christian apologist. He has written numerous books that brilliantly counter his former religious worldview and devastate apologetics, including Why I Became an Atheist, The Outsider Test for Faith, and Unapologetic: Why Philosophy of Religion Must End.
Links:
John W. Loftus on Twitter: https://twitter.com/loftusjohnw.
John's "Debunking Christianity" blog: http://www.debunking-christianity.com/.
Join the official discussion group of this podcast at www.facebook.com/groups/aleapofdoubt.
Follow me on Twitter at https://twitter.com/TheNatheist.
The opening intro and closing outro was written by Nathan Dickey, produced and edited by Rich Lyons and read by Deanna Joy Lyons.
Check out our website: https://reasonrevolution.org.
Give us a like on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/reasonrevolution.
In this episode, we are exploring the intersection of mythology, history, and common interpretations of ancient texts that many millions hold to be sacred. We’re looking at the biblical depiction of the Christian God’s arch-nemesis and rival in a new light, one that does not take the traditional Christian perspective for granted. If it’s the case that history is written largely by the winners, and that we are all the hero of our own internal narrative, then what kind of alternative story might unfold if we try looking at the biblical narrative from Satan’s point of view?
That’s the question author and illustrator Jon Hammond explores in the form of The Falling Star, a unique and fascinating graphic novel that tells Satan’s side of the story. It tells the story of Samael, the first being created by the god Yahweh and one of the highest angels of the heavenly host, a character most people recognize as the supposed villain Satan, or the Devil. I am joined by Jon Hammond himself to talk about his inspirations and process as a storyteller and artist when it comes to the mythology and folklore surrounding these themes.
Links
Buy The Falling Star on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Falling-Star-Jon-Hammond/dp/1912701901.
The Falling Star Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/TheFallingStarComic/.
The Gospel According to Jon (Facebook page): https://www.facebook.com/thegospelaccordingtojon/.
Jon Hammond’s YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/user/hamo1701/videos?view_as=subscriber.
David Gee, “A New Comic Tells Story of the Bible from Satan’s Perspective,” Friendly Atheist, June 16, 2019, https://friendlyatheist.patheos.com/2019/06/16/a-new-comic-tells-story-of-the-bible-from-satans-perspective/.
Join the official discussion group of this podcast at www.facebook.com/groups/aleapofdoubt.
Consider supporting me Patreon if you enjoy the show: http://www.patreon.com/aleapofdoubt. Thanks to Jeff Prebeg, Jeanne Ikerd, Torsten Pihl, Chris Watson, Kim Bojkovsky, Freethinker215, and Rob Schreck for being my patrons!
Follow me on Twitter at https://twitter.com/TheNatheist.
The opening intro and closing outro was written by Nathan Dickey, produced and edited by Rich Lyons and read by Deanna Joy Lyons.
Check out our website: https://reasonrevolution.org.
Give us a like on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/reasonrevolution.
On this episode, we cover the evangelical Christian “purity movement” that emerged primarily as an American phenomenon in the 1990s. This movement built an entire industry out of the concept of purity and abstinence from any and all sexual expression. The resulting subculture saw the marketing of purity rings, purity pledges, and purity balls. But the message this movement offered was a dangerous one that has devastated many lives, especially girls and women but also for men as well.
My special guest for this episode, Linda Kay Klein, has an insider’s perspective on the purity culture and why it’s so devastating to psychological and physical wellbeing. She is the founder of Break Free Together. A storyteller and social innovator, Linda has spent over a decade working at the intersection of faith, gender, sexuality, and social change. She earned an interdisciplinary master’s degree from New York University focusing on American evangelical Christian gender and sexuality messaging, and she is the author of the book Pure: Inside the Evangelical Movement that Shamed a Generation of Young Women and How I Broke Free, available from Touchstone Publishers.
Links
Linda Kay Klein website: https://lindakayklein.com/
Follow Linda Kay Klein on Twitter: https://twitter.com/LindaKayKlein
Buy Linda’s book: https://tinyurl.com/y69b49f3
Tina Schermer Sellers, “A Biblical Scholar and Clinical Sexologist Debate Christian Sexual Purity,” June 22, 2012, https://tinyurl.com/y4euqre6.
Join the official discussion group of this podcast at www.facebook.com/groups/aleapofdoubt.
Consider supporting me Patreon if you enjoy the show: http://www.patreon.com/aleapofdoubt. Thanks to Jeff Prebeg, Jeanne Ikerd, Torsten Pihl, Chris Watson, Kim Bojkovsky, Freethinker215, and Rob Schreck for being my patrons!
Follow me on Twitter at https://twitter.com/TheNatheist.
The opening intro and closing outro was written by Nathan Dickey, produced and edited by Rich Lyons and read by Deanna Joy Lyons.
Check out our website: https://reasonrevolution.org.
Give us a like on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/reasonrevolution.
My guest for this episode is Andrew L. Seidel, an atheist, secular activist, and constitutional and civil rights attorney at the Freedom From Religion Foundation (FFRF), which has been instrumental in litigating many successful cases involving entanglements between religion and the US Constitution. Andrew has written extensively about religious freedom and the wall of separation between church and state. He is the author of a new book, “The Founding Myth: Why Christian Nationalism is Un-American.”
In this conversation, Andrew and I discuss the threat posed by Christian Nationalists and theocrats to American (i.e. secular) values, debunk a few of the major myths put forward by “Christian Nation” historical revisionists, talk about why we need to bring emotion to the fight against theocracy, not just facts, and what average everyday citizens can do to aid in that fight.
Links:
John F. Kennedy’s Commencement Address at Yale University, 11 June 1962: https://tinyurl.com/yycregle.
Freedom From Religion Foundation: https://ffrf.org/.
Andrew L. Seidel’s website: http://andrewlseidel.com/.
Follow Andrew on Twitter: https://twitter.com/AndrewLSeidel.
Andrew’s book: https://tinyurl.com/y2vxf3k2.
The Christian Nationalists’ 2018-19 “Project Blitz” playbook: https://www.au.org/sites/default/files/2019-01/Project%20Blitz%20Playbook%202018-19.pdf.
Marc J. Ambinder, “Inside the Council for National Policy: Meet the Most Powerful Conservative Group You’ve Never Heard Of,” ABCNews.com, May 2, 2002, https://tinyurl.com/y6sqrv5e.
Council for National Policy, 2014 membership directory (essentially a Who’s Who of Christian theocrats): https://www.splcenter.org/sites/default/files/cnp_redacted_final.pdf.
Jeff Prebeg’s Extra Life fundraising gaming campaign benefiting Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh Foundation: https://www.extra-life.org/index.cfm?fuseaction=donordrive.participant&participantID=347752.
Special thanks to Natalie Newell, who has been featured on this podcast before, for helping to set up my interview with Andrew.
Thanks to Jeff Prebeg, Jeanne Ikerd, Torsten Pihl, Chris Watson, Kim Bojkovsky, Freethinker215, and Rob Schreck for being my patrons!
Follow me on Twitter at https://twitter.com/TheNatheist.
The opening clip is an excerpt from the audiobook “God is Not Great” by Christopher Hitchens, courtesy of Hachette Audio. Text Copyright 2007 by Christopher Hitchens. Audio production copyright 2007, Hachette Audio. Used with permission.
The opening and ending music is “Jade” by Esther Nicholson and is used under license.
Check out our website: https://reasonrevolution.org.
Give us a like on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/reasonrevolution.
My guest for this episode is Dharma Kelleher. One of the few transgender authors in crime fiction, Dharma writes gritty novels (four in all, with more to come) about outlaws, renegades, and misfits, all with a progressive bent and written from a trans/queer perspective. Her novels include the Jinx Ballou Bounty Hunter series and the Shea Stevens outlaw biker series. She is a former journalist and currently a member of Sisters in Crime, the International Thriller Writers, and the Alliance of Independent Authors. Her work has appeared on Shotgun Honey and in the new “Murder-A-Go-Go’s” anthology.
Dharma and I discuss her process of creating characters, researching gritty elements of society, and the challenges and joys associated with representing transgender women and men as the protagonists and heroes they deserve to be. We also dive into some history, discussing the Stonewall Riots of 1969 and Dharma’s own personal story of transitioning in the early 1990s. For this episode, Dharma also reads the first chapter of “Chaser,” the first book in her Jinx Ballou series.
Links
“Murder-A-Go-Go’s: Crime Fiction inspired by the Music of The Go-Go’s”: https://downandoutbooks.com/bookstore/west-murder-go-gos/
Dharma Kelleher’s website: https://dharmakelleher.com/
Dharma Kelleher on Twitter: https://twitter.com/zenpunkdharma
Dharma’s YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCMH4bZhCBufbzBh6w5HQgTA.
The Writer’s Detective Bureau podcast: https://www.writersdetective.com/podcast.html
“Linda Fairstein: Literary Group Rescinds Honor over Role in Central Park Five Case,” The Guardian, November 29, 2018, https://www.theguardian.com/books/2018/nov/29/linda-fairstein-mystery-writers-of-america-grand-master-award-rescinded.
Gavia Baker-Whitelaw, “Writers Want this Book Canceled for Misgendering its Protagonist,” The Daily Dot, February 15, 2019, https://www.dailydot.com/irl/cape-doctor-book-james-barry-transgender/.
Kristian Wilson, “Forthcoming Book about Surgeon Dr. James Barry Has Sparked an Important Conversation about Trans Stories,” Bustle, February 25, 2019, https://tinyurl.com/y2n2ghqj.
Trans Day of Remembrance (TDoR) has published a full list of the 369 transgender and gender non-conforming individuals who lost their lives in 2018: https://tinyurl.com/y3kfb9fx.
Join the official discussion group of this podcast at www.facebook.com/groups/aleapofdoubt.
Consider supporting me Patreon if you enjoy the show: http://www.patreon.com/aleapofdoubt.
Thanks to Jeff Prebeg, Jeanne Ikerd, Torsten Pihl, Chris Watson, Kim Bojkovsky, Freethinker215, and Rob Schreck for being my patrons!
Follow me on Twitter at https://twitter.com/TheNatheist.
The opening clip is an excerpt from the audiobook “God is Not Great” by Christopher Hitchens, courtesy of Hachette Audio. Text Copyright 2007 by Christopher Hitchens. Audio production copyright 2007, Hachette Audio. Used with permission.
The opening and ending music is “Jade” by Esther Nicholson and is used under license.
Check out our website: https://reasonrevolution.org.
Give us a like on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/reasonrevolution.
The history of America’s treatment of the “poor and huddled masses” tells a very different story than the one we’re often accustomed to hearing, one of hostility and exclusion toward outsiders who looked to America to live up to its promise. Contrary to popular belief, the poor and huddled masses were never welcome in America.
On this episode, we discuss America’s dark history of demonizing and excluding immigrants, and how the current xenophobia and racism exhibited by the Trump administration toward Mexican and Muslim immigrants and refugees is only the latest chapter in a long series of immigrant panics. Included in our survey is the anti-Catholic conspiracy theories of the nineteenth century, the discrimination and harassment experienced by German-Americans during WWI, the mass internment of Japanese-Americans during WWII, and the unfounded fear of Jewish immigrants and refugees from Nazi Germany. We also discuss why the concept of race has no validity in science and use statistics and evidence to debunk present-day fears of Muslim “terrorists.”
Joining me as my special guest for this uncomfortable but hugely relevant and important discussion is Robert E. Bartholomew, one of the two authors of the book “American Intolerance: Our Dark History of Demonizing Immigrants” (Prometheus Books, 2018). Bartholomew is an American-born medical sociologist, journalist, and human rights advocate who currently serves as a history instructor at Botany College, in Auckland, New Zealand. He has written 15 books and published more than 60 articles in a number of professional journals. According to his website, Dr. Bartholomew “has written on an array of topics ranging from human social and cultural diversity, to mass hysteria, social delusions, moral panics, fads, collective behavior, the history of tabloid journalism, history of the paranormal, popular myths and folklore.”
Links:
Robert E. Bartholomew’s website: https://robertebartholomew.com/.
The book: https://www.amazon.com/American-Intolerance-History-Demonizing-Immigrants/dp/1633884481.
Join the official discussion group of this podcast at www.facebook.com/groups/aleapofdoubt.
Consider supporting me Patreon if you enjoy the show: http://www.patreon.com/aleapofdoubt.
Thanks to Jeff Prebeg, Jeanne Ikerd, Torsten Pihl, Chris Watson, Kim Bojkovsky, and Rob Schreck for being my patrons!
Follow me on Twitter at https://twitter.com/TheNatheist.
The opening clip is an excerpt from the audiobook “God is Not Great” by Christopher Hitchens, courtesy of Hachette Audio. Text Copyright 2007 by Christopher Hitchens. Audio production copyright 2007, Hachette Audio. Used with permission.
The opening and ending music is “Jade” by Esther Nicholson and is used under license.
Check out our website: https://reasonrevolution.org.
Give us a like on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/reasonrevolution
In this episode, we are doubting the historical existence of a man you may have heard about: Jesus of Nazareth. Ever since critical biblical scholarship began in the eighteenth century, largely a product of the Enlightenment, the consensus among mainstream historians and religious scholars has been that a man named Jesus did historically exist in Palestine and was crucified by the Romans in the first decades of the Common Era. Although these biblical critics did doubt and challenge the reality of the New Testament’s portrait of Jesus as a miracle worker and divinely appointed savior, they did think – or, more precisely, assume – that there was a real man named Jesus upon whom theological legends were later based. But there has always been another school of thought. The mythicists argued that not only was the Christ of faith a theological fantasy, but the Jesus of history was also a fiction. Jesus, said the mythicist scholars, never even existed historically.
Did Jesus exist as a historical figure? That is the question we are exploring here today on this podcast. Joining me as my special guest is David Fitzgerald, an author and historical researcher who has been actively investigating the Historical Jesus question for over 20 years. He has a degree in history and was an associate member of the Committee for the Scientific Examination of Religion (CSER). He has authored five books, including “Nailed: Ten Christian Myths That Show Jesus Never Existed at All” and the three-volume work “Jesus: Mything in Action.” I have a guest co-host joining me for this episode as well, my friend and former colleague from the dearly-departed Trolling with Logic podcast, Wolf McNamara.
Doubter of the Week: Marian Evans, aka “George Eliot” (1819-1880): Victorian poet, novelist, and freethinker, who translated Strauss’ “Life of Jesus, Critically Examined” into English.
Links:
David Fitzgerald on Twitter: https://twitter.com/dgcfitzgerald
David Fitzgerald book “Nailed”: https://tinyurl.com/y8f4o3x5
David Fitzgerald’s “Jesus: Mything in Action” books: https://tinyurl.com/y6wenp4j
David Fitzgerald, “Examining the Existence of a Historical Jesus” (Skepticon 3 lecture, 2010): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MvleOBYTrDE
Join the official discussion group of this podcast at www.facebook.com/groups/aleapofdoubt.
Consider supporting me Patreon if you enjoy the show: http://www.patreon.com/aleapofdoubt.
Thanks to Jeff Prebeg, Jeanne Ikerd, Torsten Pihl, Chris Watson, and Kim Bojkovsky for being my patrons!
Follow me on Twitter at https://twitter.com/TheNatheist.
The opening clip is an excerpt from the audiobook “God is Not Great” by Christopher Hitchens, courtesy of Hachette Audio. Text Copyright 2007 by Christopher Hitchens. Audio production copyright 2007, Hachette Audio. Used with permission.
The opening and ending music is “Jade” by Esther Nicholson and is used under license. The editing was done by Rich Lyons of the “Living After Faith” podcast.
Check out our website: https://reasonrevolution.org.
Give us a like on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/reasonrevolution.
Eastern mysticism clashes with rural America in this episode, as we recount a tale of religious bigotry, government paranoia, bombings, wiretapping, poisonings, assassination attempts, and airplane chases. I am joined by my good friend and patron the show Chris Watson, host of The Podunk Polymath Podcast, to review and discuss the six-part Netflix documentary series Wild Wild Country. The series chronicles the rise and fall of Rajneeshpuram, the once-thriving city established in 1981 in central Oregon by the Indian guru and mystic Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh and his followers.
We discuss the moral panic instigated by the residents of the small town of Antelope, Oregon, in response to the Rajneeshees’ arrival, and how their fear of change was able to influence the Federal government to side with them and express the same prejudice. We also ponder the question of whether or not the prejudice and bigotry displayed toward the guru and his followers is what pushed the guru’s personal secretary, Ma Anand Sheela, to go behind the guru’s back and orchestrate statewide bioterrorism acts and assassination attempts of government officials and journalists. We also explore the implications for the United States’ constitutional freedom of religion and how the government failed to uphold it.
Links:
Wild Wild Country official trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hBLS_OM6Puk
Chris Watson’s Podunk Polymath Podcast: https://thepodunkpolymath.com/
Chris Watson on Twitter: https://twitter.com/PodunkPolymath
Further reading:
“Read The Oregonian’s Original 20-part Investigative Series on Rajneeshees,” The Oregonian, April 6, 2018, https://tinyurl.com/y8o53h6s
Kirk Braun, Rajneeshpuram: The Unwelcome Society (Scout Creek Press, 1984)
James S. Gordon, The Golden Guru: The Strange Journey of Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh (The Stephen Greene Press, 1987)
Win McCormack, The Rajneesh Chronicles: The True Story of the Cult that Unleashed the First Act of Bioterrorism on U.S. Soil (Tin House Books, 2010)
Donna Quick, A Place Called Antelope: The Rajneesh Story (August Press, 1995)
Ma Anand Sheela, Don’t Kill Him! The Story of My Life with Bhagwan Rajneesh (Fingerprint, 2013).
Jane Stork, Breaking the Spell: My Life as a Rajneeshee and the Long Journey Back to Freedom (Pan Macmillan, 2009)
Consider supporting me Patreon if you enjoy the show: http://www.patreon.com/aleapofdoubt. Thanks to Jeff Prebeg, Jeanne Ikerd, Torsten Pihl, Chris Watson, and Kim Bojkovsky for being my patrons!
Follow me on Twitter at https://twitter.com/TheNatheist.
The opening clip is an excerpt from the audiobook “God is Not Great” by Christopher Hitchens, courtesy of Hachette Audio. Text Copyright 2007 by Christopher Hitchens. Audio production copyright 2007, Hachette Audio. Used with permission.
The opening and ending music is “Jade” by Esther Nicholson and is used under license. The editing was done by Rich Lyons of the “Living After Faith” podcast.
Check out our website: https://reasonrevolution.org.
Give us a like on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/reasonrevolution.
In this episode, we explore the topic of fantasy role-playing games (RPGs) within the context of the moral panic and cultural stigmatization that surrounded games like Dungeons & Dragons and Vampire: The Masquerade during the Satanic Panic of the 1980s and 1990s. My special guest is Joseph Laycock, PhD, assistant professor of religious studies at Texas State University and the author of three books, including Dangerous Games: What the Moral Panic over Role-Playing Games Says about Play, Religion, and Imagined Worlds. He has also written a book about vampire mythology and the communities that form around them and several journal articles on subjects which include Otherkin, parody religions, and paranormal beliefs.
Doubter of the Week: Reginald Scot (1538-1599), English politician, legal scholar, and author of The Discoverie of Witchcraft, a skeptical treatise on demonology that set out to refute the widespread belief in witches during the European witch craze.
Links:
Joseph Laycock on Twitter: https://twitter.com/joe_laycock
Joseph Laycock’s website: https://sites.google.com/site/joelaycock/home
Joseph Laycock’s book “Dangerous Games”: https://tinyurl.com/y8p5mljn
Jack Chick’s “Dark Dungeons” comic tract (1984): https://www.chick.com/reading/tracts/0046/0046_01.asp
Dark Dungeons movie (Zombie Orpheus Entertainment, 2014): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8qc9JiIiOSQ
Michael A. Stackpole, “The Pulling Report” (1990): http://www.rpgstudies.net/stackpole/pulling_report.html
Consider supporting me Patreon if you enjoy the show: http://www.patreon.com/aleapofdoubt. Thanks to Jeff Prebeg, Jeanne Ikerd, Torsten Pihl, Chris Watson, Kim Bojkovsky, and Freethinker215 for being my patrons!
Follow me on Twitter at https://twitter.com/TheNatheist.
The opening clip is an excerpt from the audiobook “God is Not Great” by Christopher Hitchens, courtesy of Hachette Audio. Text Copyright 2007 by Christopher Hitchens. Audio production copyright 2007, Hachette Audio. Used with permission.
The opening and ending music is “Jade” by Esther Nicholson and is used under license. The editing was done by Rich Lyons of the “Living After Faith” podcast.
Check out our website: https://reasonrevolution.org.
Give us a like on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/reasonrevolution.
My guest for this episode is Carly Gelsinger, author, writing teacher, and freelance editor. She holds a bachelor’s in psychology from William Jessup University and a master’s in journalism from Boston University. Her work has appeared in local, regional, and national publications. Her first book, which was released this month, is called Once You Go In: A Memoir of Radical Faith, a book about her life inside a fundamentalist Pentecostal church, where she was on fire for the Lord, as they say, until she found the courage to leave and forge her own path free of the toxicity and fear that fundamentalist religion so often breeds.
Carly and I discuss her life inside the Pentecostal faith and her exodus out of it, as well as the conservative evangelical “purity culture” movement and the ways in which it has damaged the well-being of young women within conservative evangelical subcultures. We explore the ways in which evangelicalism fosters sexual abuse and why conservative evangelical women often vote against their own interests, not just in matters related to reproductive rights, but even when it comes to supporting men accused of sexual assault. We end by discussing resources young women and men trapped in a religious community can turn to if they need to call out sexual abuse.
Doubter of the Week: Anne Newport Royall (1769-1854): First professional woman journalist in America, and the first lobbyist in Congress for the separation of church and state.
Links:
Carly Gelsinger on Twitter: https://twitter.com/carlygelsinger
Carly Gelsinger’s website: https://carlygelsingerauthor.com/
Carly Gelsinger’s book Once You Go In: A Memoir of Radical Faith: https://www.amazon.com/Once-You-Go-Memoir-Radical/dp/1631524291
Carly Gelsinger, “Pentecostalism and Spiritual Abuse,” Patheos, October 5, 2014, http://www.patheos.com/blogs/andygill/pentecostalism-and-spiritual-abuse/.
Carly Gelsinger, “How Evangelicalism Fosters Sexual Abuse,” Unfundamentalist, January 18, 2018, http://unfundamentalists.com/2018/01/evangelicalism-fosters-sexual-abuse/.
Carly Gelsinger, “I Know Why Evangelical Women Support Brett Kavanaugh. I Was Raised To Do The Same,” Huffington Post, October 3, 2018, https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/brett-kavanaugh-evangelical-women_us_5bb3a28de4b0ba8bb211985b.
Andy Herndon’s The eXvangelicals documentary on GoFundMe: https://www.gofundme.com/theexvangelicals
GRACE (a ministry that trains Christian communities to recognize, prevent, and respond to child abuse): http://www.netgrace.org/.
Consider supporting me Patreon if you enjoy the show: http://www.patreon.com/aleapofdoubt. Thanks to Jeff Prebeg, Jeanne Ikerd, Torsten Pihl, Chris Watson, Kim Bojkovsky, and Freethinker215 for being my patrons!
Follow me on Twitter at https://twitter.com/TheNatheist.
The opening clip is an excerpt from the audiobook “God is Not Great” by Christopher Hitchens, courtesy of Hachette Audio. Text Copyright 2007 by Christopher Hitchens. Audio production copyright 2007, Hachette Audio. Used with permission.
The opening and ending music is “Jade” by Esther Nicholson and is used under license. The editing was done by Rich Lyons of the “Living After Faith” podcast.
Check out our website: https://reasonrevolution.org.
Give us a like on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/reasonrevolution.
In this episode, there is plenty for us to doubt, because we’re talking about philosophy of mind with some moral and ethical philosophy thrown in like sprinkles on top. In what may well become a recurring theme on this podcast, we’re doing another philosophical deep-dive into a television series. This week, we’re analyzing HBO’s Westworld, a cerebral, high-concept series which explores the emergence of artificial consciousness in a theme park modeled after the American Old West and populated by highly sophisticated robots that look and act just like humans from that era.
Joining me for this journey into the maze are two philosophy professors, Dr. James South and Dr. Kimberly Engels, who together have edited an anthology of essays entitled Westworld and Philosophy, a fairly recent addition to the Blackwell Philosophy and Pop Culture series.
Are the hosts of Westworld conscious, and if so, what is their experience like? Would AI have a bias for consciousness? Does Westworld reveal your true self, or does it shape who you are to become? How might we apply moral luck, virtue theory, and the Sartrean concept of existentialism and freedom to the show’s characters? Do Westworld’s hosts possess self-consciousness, or merely phenomenal consciousness? These are just a few of the questions we explore in this episode.
Links:
Westworld and Philosophy book: https://www.wiley.com/en-us/Westworld+and+Philosophy-p-9781119437888
James B. South’s website: http://academic.mu.edu/southj/
Kimberly S. Engels’ website: https://ksengels.wordpress.com/about/
Consider supporting me Patreon if you enjoy the show: http://www.patreon.com/aleapofdoubt. Thanks to Jeff Prebeg, Jeanne Ikerd, Torsten Pihl, Chris Watson, and Kim Bojkovsky for being my patrons!
Follow me on Twitter at https://twitter.com/TheNatheist.
The opening clip is an excerpt from the audiobook “God is Not Great” by Christopher Hitchens, courtesy of Hachette Audio. Text Copyright 2007 by Christopher Hitchens. Audio production copyright 2007, Hachette Audio. Used with permission.
The opening and ending music is “Jade” by Esther Nicholson and is used under license. The editing was done by Rich Lyons of the “Living After Faith” podcast.
Check out our website: https://reasonrevolution.org.
Give us a like on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/reasonrevolution.
In this episode, we are applying our doubts and critical thinking toward the myth of “alternative facts” and other lies and fictions of our day that has infected our democracy, ushered in a post-fact era and the digital misinformation age, and helped propel Donald Trump into the White House. My guest for this episode is Nathan Bomey, the author of a new book titled After the Fact: The Erosion of Truth and the Inevitable Rise of Donald Trump. Nathan Bomey is an award-winning business reporter for USA Today, and previously a reporter for the Detroit Free Press.
In this discussion, Nathan Bomey and I discuss the decline of the journalism industry and how its pivot toward sensationalism and partisanship has negatively impacted the public’s perception of truth and helped facilitate the rise of Trump. We also talk about the rise of social media and the ways in which the technological revolution in personal interaction might have contributed to a rise in tribalism and a decline both in empathy for others and in concern for truth and accuracy. We also talk about how social media has been and potentially can be used as a tool by people in power to bypass or circumvent the accountability of journalistic scrutiny, and why the threat of viral misinformation is a new crisis comparable to the Cold War race between the U.S. and Russia that should drive us as a society overcome partisanship to place a new emphasis in education on teaching critical thinking. Finally, we discuss ways in which we can each individually alter how we talk to each other in order to help disparate groups break through barriers and restore trust.
Doubter of the Week: Charles Mackay (1814-1889): Scottish poet and journalist, author of Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds.
Links:
Nathan Bomey’s website: http://nathanbomey.com/
Nathan Bomey on Twitter: https://twitter.com/NathanBomey
Nathan Bomey’s book “After the Fact”: http://nathanbomey.com/after-the-fact
David Weigel, “House Science Committee Chairman: Americans Should Get News from Trump, Not Media,” Washington Post, January 25, 2017, https://tinyurl.com/y7dha3ct.
Consider supporting me Patreon if you enjoy the show: http://www.patreon.com/aleapofdoubt. Thanks to Jeff Prebeg, Jeanne Ikerd, Torsten Pihl, Chris Watson, and Kim Bojkovsky for being my patrons!
Follow me on Twitter at https://twitter.com/TheNatheist.
The opening clip is an excerpt from the audiobook “God is Not Great” by Christopher Hitchens, courtesy of Hachette Audio. Text Copyright 2007 by Christopher Hitchens. Audio production copyright 2007, Hachette Audio. Used with permission.
The opening and ending music is “Jade” by Esther Nicholson and is used under license. The editing was done by Rich Lyons of the “Living After Faith” podcast.
Check out our website: https://reasonrevolution.org.
Give us a like on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/reasonrevolution.
In this episode I welcome David Madison as my special guest. He is a former Christian minister who is now an outspoken atheist, author of the 2016 book “Ten Tough Problems in Christian Thought and Belief.” He earned a PhD in Biblical Studies from Boston University School of Theology in 1975 and for nearly a decade served as pastor for two liberal congregations in Massachusetts. His lifelong interest in the Bible was eventually overshadowed by the kind of skepticism that an impartial consideration of serious historical and textual scholarship tends to foster. David joins me to discuss his transition from devout Christian minister to the vocal atheist and formidable critic of Christianity he is today, as well as to discuss a handful of the most devastating problems Christianity has tried and failed to answer.
Doubter of the Week: Robert Green Ingersoll (1833-1899): The nineteenth-century lawyer and orator known as the “Great Agnostic” who was the leading voice of the “Golden Age of Freethought” in the American Midwest.
Links:
David Madison’s book: https://www.amazon.com/Problems-Christian-Thought-Belief-Minister-Turned-Atheist/dp/194289712X.
David Madison’s website: http://www.tentoughproblems.com/
“Ten Tough Problems in Christian Thought and Belief” Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/10-Tough-Problems-in-Christian-Thought-and-Belief-402023826512153/?fref=nf
Consider supporting me Patreon if you enjoy the show: http://www.patreon.com/aleapofdoubt.
Thanks to Jeff Prebeg, Jeanne Ikerd, Torsten Pihl, Chris Watson, and Kim Bojkovsky for being my patrons!
Follow me on Twitter at https://twitter.com/TheNatheist.
The opening clip is an excerpt from the audiobook “God is Not Great” by Christopher Hitchens, courtesy of Hachette Audio. Text Copyright 2007 by Christopher Hitchens. Audio production copyright 2007, Hachette Audio. Used with permission.
The opening and ending music is “Jade” by Esther Nicholson and is used under license. The editing was done by Rich Lyons of the “Living After Faith” podcast.
Check out our website: https://reasonrevolution.org.
Give us a like on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/reasonrevolution.
This week I am very excited to bring you an interview with Karen L. Garst, PhD. She writes for the Faithless Feminist blog and website and is the editor of the book Women Beyond Belief: Discovering Life without Religion (published in 2016). She has also edited a new book which has just been published, titled Women v. Religion: The Case against Faith – and for Freedom. She joins me on this episode to talk about the intersection of atheism and women’s rights and to make the case that religion is the last cultural barrier to gender equality.
Doubter of the Week: Elizabeth Cady Stanton (November 12, 1815 – October 26, 1902), the first woman to call for women’s suffrage in the United States and pioneer of feminist biblical criticism.
Links:
Karen L. Garst on Twitter: https://twitter.com/karen_garst
Karen Garst’s Faithless Feminist website and blog: https://faithlessfeminist.com/
Karen Garst’s new book Women v. Religion: The Case against Faith – and for Freedom: https://www.amazon.com/Women-v-Religion-Against-Faith_and/dp/1634311701.
Karen Garst, “From Goddess to God: Eliminating the Feminine from the Divine,” Freethought Arizona, January 2017 lecture: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DclnBR8Msqw.
Karen Garst, “The Snake: From Goddess to Devil to Doctor,” Freethought Festival 6 (Madison, WI), March 2017 lecture: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pRCTVT5PgKA.
Consider supporting me Patreon if you enjoy the show: http://www.patreon.com/aleapofdoubt.
Thanks to Jeff Prebeg, Jeanne Ikerd, Torsten Pihl, Chris Watson, and Kim Bojkovsky for being my patrons!
Follow me on Twitter at https://twitter.com/TheNatheist.
The opening clip is an excerpt from the audiobook “God is Not Great” by Christopher Hitchens, courtesy of Hachette Audio. Text Copyright 2007 by Christopher Hitchens. Audio production copyright 2007, Hachette Audio. Used with permission.
The opening and ending music is “Jade” by Esther Nicholson and is used under license. The editing was done by Rich Lyons of the “Living After Faith” podcast.
Check out our website: https://reasonrevolution.org.
Give us a like on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/reasonrevolution.
My guest on this episode is Dr. Abby Hafer. She holds a doctorate in zoology from Oxford University and teaches human anatomy and physiology at Curry College. She is the author of the 2015 book The Not-So-Intelligent Designer—Why Evolution Explains the Human Body and Intelligent Design Does Not. Together, we discuss the evolutionary origins of sex and women’s reproductive systems and how these demonstrate the reality of biological evolution and conclusively falsify the notion of an intelligent designer. We discuss religion as a human invention that was developed as a solution to what Abby calls the “Problem of Being Male.” We also discuss the phenomenon in nature of spontaneous abortions, and Abby crunches the numbers to show that, if the Abrahamic God really does exist, he would be the world’s busiest abortionist. We talk about the ways in which women’s ability to bear children has been hijacked by authoritarian, fundamentalist religion, using the Quiverfull movement as the best contemporary example, and we conclude by talking about why a morality that excludes any appeal to the supernatural is far superior to any god-based morality.
Doubter of the Week: Hypatia of Alexandria (c. 370 – 415 CE), mathematician, astronomer, pagan philosopher and teacher, and the last curator of the famous Library of Alexandria in Egypt, tragically murdered by a mob of Christian zealots.
Links
American Humanist Association: Dr. Abby Hafer profile: https://americanhumanist.org/what-we-do/speakers-bureau/abby-hafer/
Abby Hafer’s book: https://www.amazon.com/Not-So-Intelligent-Designer-Evolution-Explains-Intelligent/dp/1620329417
Check out Abby Hafer’s chapter in Karen L. Garst, ed., Women v. Religion: The Case Against Faith―and for Freedom: https://www.amazon.com/Women-v-Religion-Against-Faith_and/dp/1634311701
Consider supporting me Patreon if you enjoy the show: http://www.patreon.com/aleapofdoubt.
Thanks to Jeff Prebeg, Jeanne Ikerd, Torsten Pihl, Chris Watson, and Kim Bojkovsky for being my patrons!
Follow me on Twitter at https://twitter.com/TheNatheist.
The opening clip is an excerpt from the audiobook “God is Not Great” by Christopher Hitchens, courtesy of Hachette Audio. Text Copyright 2007 by Christopher Hitchens. Audio production copyright 2007, Hachette Audio. Used with permission.
The audio used in the Edward Gibbon quote is courtesy of LibriVox.org, a provider of free audiobooks read by volunteers of books that exist in the public domain: https://librivox.org/history-of-the-decline-and-fall-of-the-roman-empire-vol-iv-by-edward-gibbon/.
The opening and ending music is “Jade” by Esther Nicholson and is used under license. The editing was done by Rich Lyons of the “Living After Faith” podcast.
Check out our website: https://reasonrevolution.org.
Give us a like on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/reasonrevolution.
Why has the belief in a single, all-powerful, and dominant male god been so widespread and pervasive throughout human history, and why does it continue to be so influential and intuitive to human beings today? In this episode, I interview Dr. Hector Garcia, a clinical psychologist and author of the 2015 book Alpha God: The Psychology of Religious Violence and Oppression, to tackle this question. Garcia traces monotheistic religious belief to our primate origins and points to religious differences and our evolved psychology as the common denominator underlying most of the world’s violent conflicts. We talk about religious violence and oppression within the context of Darwinian natural selection and about the ways in which religion is built upon and exploits the human obsession with dominance and submission dynamics and sex.
Doubter of the Week: Thomas Aikenhead (1676-1697), the last person to be executed in Great Britain for the “crime” of blasphemy.
Links:
Hector Garcia’s website: https://www.hector-garcia.com/.
Hector Garcia’s book: https://www.amazon.com/Alpha-God-Psychology-Religious-Oppression/dp/1633880206.
Join the official discussion group of this podcast at www.facebook.com/groups/aleapofdoubt.
Consider supporting me Patreon if you enjoy the show: http://www.patreon.com/aleapofdoubt.
Thanks to Jeff Prebeg, Jeanne Ikerd, Torsten Pihl, Chris Watson, and Kim Bojkovsky for being my patrons!
Follow me on Twitter at https://twitter.com/TheNatheist.
The opening clip is an excerpt from the audiobook “God is Not Great” by Christopher Hitchens, courtesy of Hachette Audio. Text Copyright 2007 by Christopher Hitchens. Audio production copyright 2007, Hachette Audio. Used with permission.
The opening and ending music is “Jade” by Esther Nicholson and is used under license. The editing was done by Rich Lyons of the “Living After Faith” podcast.
Check out our website: https://reasonrevolution.org.
Give us a like on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/reasonrevolution.
This special bonus episode is a collaboration between myself and a host of other fellow secular podcasters and friends of the secular podcasting community, a massive crossover episode in which you’ll hear us all tell in our own words we love and support Marissa Alexa Lennex-McCool. Marissa is going to be getting her science vagina operation very soon, and we all felt she could use an outpouring of support from those of us who have been inspired and encouraged by all the work she has done in the secular activism community, whether through her podcasting, her writing, her speaking, or all of the above. Many thanks to my friend, colleague, and editor Rich Lyons of the Living After Faith podcast who, along with Deanna Joy Lyons, came up with this idea and organized it.
If you want to hear Marissa in her own words, I encourage you to check out her podcasts, especially The Inciting Incident Podcast. You may also be interested in listening to Episode #022 of this podcast, in which I had Marissa on as a guest.
Check out Marissa’s GoFundMe page for “Operation Science Vagina Recovery” and consider donating if you are able or sharing the link to help get her and her family through a rough financial patch: https://www.gofundme.com/3z5hf2.
Marissa’s website: http://rismccool.com/
Check out Marissa’s podcasts:
The Inciting Incident Podcast: http://incitingincident.libsyn.com/.
The Cis Are Getting Out of Hand: https://heckingweekly.podbean.com/.
Marissa’s guest appearance on this podcast, A Leap of Doubt: https://reasonrevolution.org/022-changing-our-myths-feat-marissa-alexa-mccool-a-leap-of-doubt/
Contributors to this crossover episode in order of appearance:
Bethany Turner – The Transatlantic GeekCast (coming soon!)
Charlotte Page – The Transatlantic GeekCast (coming soon!)
Skeptic Brett – Atheists on High Podcast
Ingrid Stone
Zach Law – The Zachrilege Cast
Ari Stillman and Jeremiah Traeger – The Cis Are Getting Out of Hand and Jerb the Humanist (respectively)
Amy Withawhy – Secular Soup
Ami with an I – Secular Soup
Maddy Love – A Minnesota Trans Atheist Podcast & Atheists Talk
Hertzey Hertz – Atheists Talk & Hertzey Talks
Wren – The Cis Are Getting Out of Hand (guest)
Sylia
Stevie Faithless – Trans Punk Rock Girl podcast
Larry Yellingman – Man Yells at News podcast
Alisha Ann – The Inciting Incident Podcast (guest) A Koch’s Cakes
Cory Johnston – Hardcore Skeptic Examines & Brainstorm Podcast
Tris Mamone and Morgan Stringer – Biskeptical Podcast
Nathan Dickey (me!) – A Leap of Doubt
Jen – Not Another Atheist Podcast
There are all manner of misconceptions and potentially harmful myths surrounding what women want, what men want, and about how best to navigate romantic relationships, from flirting to dating to long-term relationships. On this episode, I speak with special guest Harris O’Malley, aka Doctor NerdLove, to dive into these issues and set the record straight on the complications and nuances of love, sex, and dating in the 21st century.
We talk about toxic masculinity and how to break away from it, why many men today are afraid of forming emotional bonds with other men. We discuss the myths of the “friend zone” and “dating leagues” and positive ways to navigate the issue of attraction to someone you’re just friends with. What is the difference between harassment and flirting? How does one go about reading and recognizing signs of romantic interest on the part of others? What special challenges are posed by long-distance dating in the age of social media? Is there a distinct moment at which two people are officially in a romantic relationship, or can it be largely unspoken? These questions and more are covered in this illuminating discussion.
Harris O’Malley, aka Doctor NerdLove, is an internationally recognized blogger, YouTuber, and dating coach, author of New Game+: The Geek’s Guide to Love, Sex, & Dating and the newly released book I Got Her Number. Now What? A Geek’s Guide to Texting.
Links:
Doctor NerdLove website: http://www.doctornerdlove.com/
Doctor NerdLove on Twitter: https://twitter.com/drnerdlove
Doctor NerdLove on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/DrNerdLove
Doctor NerdLove’s YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/user/DrNerdLove
Join the official discussion group of this podcast at www.facebook.com/groups/aleapofdoubt.
Consider supporting me Patreon if you enjoy the show: http://www.patreon.com/aleapofdoubt.
Thanks to Jeff Prebeg, Jeanne Ikerd, Torsten Pihl, Chris Watson, and Kim Bojkovsky for being my patrons!
Follow me on Twitter at https://twitter.com/TheNatheist.
The opening clip is an excerpt from the audiobook “God is Not Great” by Christopher Hitchens, courtesy of Hachette Audio. Text Copyright 2007 by Christopher Hitchens. Audio production copyright 2007, Hachette Audio. Used with permission.
The opening and ending music is “Jade” by Esther Nicholson and is used under license. The editing was done by Rich Lyons of the “Living After Faith” podcast.
Check out our website: https://reasonrevolution.org.
Give us a like on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/reasonrevolution.
Where should we look to find the origins of political violence and crisis? Is political crisis and conflict inevitable? If so, what can we possibly do to improve the human condition and ground a rationale for effecting change in a universe that really is devoid of any ultimate, transcendent meaning? For this week’s episode, I am very excited to welcome Nabila Jamshed as my special guest to talk about these questions and how they bear on the nature of existential crisis in overwhelmingly disastrous times of global confusion and how we might face the world being on fire without being inundated by despair.
Nabila Jamshed is an international security and global governance professional currently working with the United Nations. She has previously served as a political analyst with multilateral agencies and the UN in The Hague, in India, and with the United Nations Peacekeeping Mission in South Sudan. She studied in Delhi, and did her Master’s in Global Governance and Diplomacy from the University of Oxford, England.
Nabila’s career in the United Nations system began with the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, where she worked as a Political Affairs Specialist. She joined the OPCW during the organisation’s work on chemical disarmament in Syria, for which it was later awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. With the UN, she co-authored the UN Environment Programme and UNU’s Inclusive Wealth Report for 2014, written articles in various newspapers and specialises in the UN’s work on preventing conflicts, crisis response, and outlawing weapons of mass destruction.
Links:
Nabila Jamshed on Twitter: https://twitter.com/NabilaJamshed
Blessy Mathew Prasad, “Breaking Down War and Peace,” The New Indian Express, November 21, 2016, http://www.newindianexpress.com/education/edex/2016/nov/21/breaking-down-war-and-peace-1540144.html
Nabila Jamshed’s TEDx talk, “How Not to Have an Existential Crisis,” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mbV5Gs2d0q4.
Join the official discussion group of this podcast at facebook.com/groups/aleapofdoubt.
Consider supporting me Patreon if you enjoy the show: http://www.patreon.com/aleapofdoubt.
Thanks to Jeff Prebeg, Jeanne Ikerd, Torsten Pihl, Chris Watson, and Kim Bojkovsky for being my patrons!
Follow me on Twitter at https://twitter.com/TheNatheist.
The opening clip is an excerpt from the audiobook “God is Not Great” by Christopher Hitchens, courtesy of Hachette Audio. Text Copyright 2007 by Christopher Hitchens. Audio production copyright 2007, Hachette Audio. Used with permission.
The opening and ending music is “Jade” by Esther Nicholson and is used under license. The editing was done by Rich Lyons of the “Living After Faith” podcast.
Check out our website: https://reasonrevolution.org.
Give us a like on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/reasonrevolution.
On this episode, I speak with my friend and LGBTQ-rights activist and speaker Marissa Alexa McCool. She graduated from the University of Pennsylvania with three degrees in English, Anthropology, and Cinema & Media Studies. She hosts multiple podcasts, including The Inciting Incident Podcast, The Cis Are Getting Out of Hand, and We Too – Our Stories, and in the space of two years has authored six books with a seventh in the works, including two novels. She won a 2014 Keystone Award for Excellence in Journalism and co-founded The Trans Podcaster Visibility Initiative with Callie Wright in 2017. According to her website, Marissa “tends to blend her theatrical background and fiery passion for atheism, humanist and secular values, and intersectionality.”
Marissa and I discuss her personal journey as a trans woman bringing her experiences to bear on her activism in the secular humanist movement, including the epic story of how she personally confronted an evangelical hate pastor on the campus of the university she attended. We also discuss the power of myths and the often-subtle ways storytelling and narrative influences culture and society as well as individual lives and attitudes. Along the way we critically examine the concept of echo chambers, identity politics, intersectionality, and how to be a true ally to minority groups and marginalized individuals.
Links:
Marissa’s website: http://rismccool.com/
Marissa on Twitter: https://twitter.com/RisMcCool
The Inciting Incident Podcast: http://www.incitingincident.libsyn.com/
The Cis Are Getting Out of Hand podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/show/the-cis-are-getting-out-of-hand.
Marissa’s GoFundMe page for “Operation Science Vagina Recovery”: https://www.gofundme.com/3z5hf2
Join the official discussion group of this podcast at www.facebook.com/groups/aleapofdoubt.
Consider supporting me Patreon if you enjoy the show: http://www.patreon.com/aleapofdoubt.
Thanks to Jeff Prebeg, Jeanne Ikerd, Torsten Pihl, Chris Watson, and Kim Bojkovsky for being my patrons!
Follow me on Twitter at https://twitter.com/TheNatheist
The opening clip is an excerpt from the audiobook “God is Not Great” by Christopher Hitchens, courtesy of Hachette Audio. Text Copyright 2007 by Christopher Hitchens. Audio production copyright 2007, Hachette Audio. Used with permission.
The opening and ending music is “Jade” by Esther Nicholson and is used under license. The editing was done by Rich Lyons of the “Living After Faith” podcast.
Check out our website: https://reasonrevolution.org.
Give us a like on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/reasonrevolution.
Welcome to this week’s episode. Everything is fine. In this episode, I am joined by my good friends Aaron Rabi and Bethany Futrell to discuss NBC’s The Good Place, a show which is a testament to the fact that sitcoms can actually be philosophically robust and make people think deeply about morality and ethics. Who knew? Created by Michael Schur, The Good Place is a fantasy-comedy that explicitly incorporates ideas and concepts from moral and ethical philosophy via the narrative vehicle of a story about a group of people who die and find themselves in an afterlife.
In our conversation, Aaron, Bethany and I discuss moral contractualism, utilitarianism, the famous trolley problem, the moral and ethical implications and consequences of existential crises, the role of moral luck in the lives and actions of the show’s characters, whether or not eternal beings are capable of human morality as we know it, whether it’s morally justifiable to kill sentient A.I in order to upgrade their capabilities, and finally, the question of moral valence and why Aaron is ready and willing to pass moral judgment on Bethany for eating a banana for lunch. We also speculate on possible future directions for the show. Will we get our wish and get to see Jason Mendoza throw a Molotov cocktail at God?
Links:
Aaron Rabi’s podcast “Embrace the Void”: https://voidpod.com/
“Embrace the Void” on Twitter: https://twitter.com/ETVPod
Aaron Rabi’s other podcast “Philosophers in Space”: https://0gphilosophy.libsyn.com/
Bethany Futrell’s “She Talks Atheism” podcast: https://www.patreon.com/SheTalksAtheism and https://twitter.com/shetalksatheism.
Thomas Scanlon 2013 lecture on morality and contractualism: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eXrVyVqqzJ0.
The Trolley Problem Experiment in Real Life by Vsauce: http://thenerdweb.com/trolley-problem-experiment-in-real-life-by-vsauce/
Join the official discussion group of this podcast at facebook.com/groups/aleapofdoubt.
Consider supporting me Patreon if you enjoy the show: http://www.patreon.com/aleapofdoubt.
Thanks to Jeff Prebeg, Jeanne Ikerd, Torsten Pihl, Chris Watson, and Kim Bojkovsky for being my patrons!
Follow me on Twitter at https://twitter.com/TheNatheist.
The opening clip is an excerpt from the audiobook “God is Not Great” by Christopher Hitchens, courtesy of Hachette Audio. Text Copyright 2007 by Christopher Hitchens. Audio production copyright 2007, Hachette Audio. Used with permission.
The opening and ending music is “Jade” by Esther Nicholson and is used under license. The editing was done by Rich Lyons of the “Living After Faith” podcast.
Check out our website: https://reasonrevolution.org
Give us a like on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/reasonrevolution
On this episode, I speak with Zerin Firoze, a courageous young woman and ex-Muslim from Bangladesh, a country where many atheist and agnostic bloggers have been murdered by fundamentalist Muslims in recent years. She is currently living in the US as an asylum-seeker and describes herself as an atheist, feminist, NASA geek, and aspiring doctor.
Zerin has talked and written about her transition from Muslim to atheist feminist in other places. From a young age, she started questioning the Islamic faith of her community and school. When she first learned in school about the Battle of Badr, fought by Muhammad in 624 CE against the Pagan tribes of Mecca, she started to think about how morally backwards it is to praise the exploits of a religious warrior spreading his religious dogma by the sword. As an apostate in Bangladesh, boldly and openly taking the “leap of doubt” after being exposed to information on the Internet critical of Islam, she faced death threats from the same people who murdered atheist bloggers in that country who made themselves even more visible.
In our discussion on this episode, Zerin talks about her day-to-day life in the US as an asylum seeker and full-time nursing student, how she has managed the transition from one culture to another, and how that process has shaped who she is today and her love of science, medicine, and progressive humanist values.
Links: Zerin M. Firoze, “Journey of a Bangladeshi Woman from Islam to Atheism,” Faithless Feminist, faithlessfeminist.com/blog-posts/jou…islam-atheism/
Zerin M. Firoze, “Journey of an Ex-Muslim Atheist from Bangladesh to the USA,” Faithless Feminist, faithlessfeminist.com/blog-posts/jou…angladesh-usa/
Zerin Firoze at the American Atheists 2017 National Convention: www.youtube.com/watch?v=93h0fO78Gcw
This week’s shout-out: Guy P. Harrison, author of the new book “At Least Know This: Essential Science to Enhance Your Life” (tinyurl.com/y7qgmfys).
Check out the interview I did with Guy last year on the Trolling with Logic podcast: www.trollingwithlogic.com/055-race-eve…-p-harrison/.
Join the official discussion group of this podcast at www.facebook.com/groups/aleapofdoubt. Consider supporting me Patreon if you enjoy the show: www.patreon.com/aleapofdoubt. Thanks to Jeff Prebeg, Jeanne Ikerd, Torsten Pihl, Chris Watson, and Kim Bojkovsky for being my patrons!
Follow me on Twitter at twitter.com/TheNatheist. The opening clip is an excerpt from the audiobook “God is Not Great” by Christopher Hitchens, courtesy of Hachette Audio. Text Copyright 2007 by Christopher Hitchens. Audio production copyright 2007, Hachette Audio. Used with permission.
The opening and ending music is “Jade” by Esther Nicholson and is used under license. The editing was done by Rich Lyons of the “Living After Faith” podcast.
In this episode, we tackle the issue of sexism in STEM education, both in the past and in the present, and the important yet seemingly counter-intuitive roles emotional intelligence and empathy play in the way scientists, technologists, and engineers design and build for people. My guest for this episode is Sarah Nicholson, who has recently graduated from Ryerson University in Toronto with a Bachelor’s in Mechanical Engineering, specializing in thermodynamics and fluid dynamics. She is also a freelance graphic designer and activist who writes and speaks about feminism, environmentalism, and emotional intelligence. Fun fact: Sarah is also the one who designed the image graphic and logo for this podcast.
In our discussion, Sarah describes the research project she has undertaken to develop an evidence-based method for how engineers might go about including scientifically valid biological differences between men and women in their designs in a way that is non-sexist. And how should engineering students and educators go about identifying those different capabilities and needs in the first place?
Links:
Sarah Nicholson’s website: http://sarahnicholson.co/
Sarah Nicholson on Twitter: https://twitter.com/sarahnicholsons
Paula J. Caplan, et al., “Gender Differences in Human Cognition” (Oxford University Press, 1997; Oxford Scholarship Online, 2012), https://tinyurl.com/y9fuu86h.
Angela Saini, “Inferior: How Science Got Women Wrong – and the New Research That’s Rewriting the Story” (Beacon Press, 2017), https://tinyurl.com/y9a6fr79
Join the official discussion group of this podcast at www.facebook.com/groups/aleapofdoubt.
Consider supporting me Patreon if you enjoy the show: http://www.patreon.com/aleapofdoubt. Thanks to Jeff Prebeg, Jeanne Ikerd, Torsten Pihl, Chris Watson, and Kim Bojkovsky for being my patrons!
Follow me on Twitter at https://twitter.com/TheNatheist.
The opening clip is an excerpt from the audiobook “God is Not Great” by Christopher Hitchens, courtesy of Hachette Audio. Text Copyright 2007 by Christopher Hitchens. Audio production copyright 2007, Hachette Audio. Used with permission.
The opening and ending music is “Jade” by Esther Nicholson and is used under license. The editing was done by Rich Lyons of the “Living After Faith” podcast.
On this episode, I am joined by Tylor Lovins to discuss the work of Jordan B. Peterson, the controversial clinical psychologist who has in the last two years become something of an academic rockstar. Our discussion mainly focuses on Peterson’s theological and philosophical claims as we try to unpack the complicated and often controversial ideas and concepts Peterson presents in his writings and online lectures and interviews. I have many criticisms of Peterson’s worldview in general, as well as many of his specific ideas and claims, but what I’m primarily interested in doing in this episode is trying to understand Peterson’s ideas and claims both on their own merits and in the context of Peterson’s wider thought so that those of us who are skeptical of his ideas can be in an informed position from which to critique his worldview without strawmanning or misrepresenting him.
My guest Tylor Lovins studied philosophy at Anderson University in Indiana and is one of the founders and contributors to ReasonRevolution.org, where he has written several articles having to do with philosophy, humanism, and the place of religion and theology within those domains. According to his bio on the website, Tylor “has been working on a theory of theological language that will express the meanings of religious statements to secular people.”
Note: If you are or become a patron, you get access to an additional 20 minutes of content for this episode that I’ve cut out of this wide release version. If you want to subject yourself to the torture of hearing me, Nathan Dickey, talk on and on for 20 minutes by myself overanalyzing some of the issues my guest and I covered, then please consider becoming a patron for as little as $1 per month. You can find me at http://www.patreon.com/aleapofdoubt.
Links:
Tylor Lovins, “Why Tell the Truth: On the Curious Notions of Jordan B. Peterson,” https://reasonrevolution.org/introduction-to-jordan-peterson/
Tylor Lovins, “My Disappointment with the Matt Dillahunty and Jordan Peterson Discussion,” https://reasonrevolution.org/my-disappointment-with-the-matt-dillahunty-and-jordan-peterson-discussion/
The opening Jordan Peterson clip is taken from this lecture: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6V1eMvGGcXQ
The Sam Harris/Jordan Peterson discussion on truth: https://samharris.org/podcasts/what-is-true/
The Matt Dillahunty/Jordan Peterson discussion: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FmH7JUeVQb8
Nathan’s discussion about cultural narratives with Dr. Valerie Tarico on A Leap of Doubt Ep. #014: https://aleapofdoubt.podbean.com/e/014-cultural-narratives-political-tribes-humanity%E2%80%99s-death-star-feat-dr-valerie-tarico/
Join the official discussion group of this podcast at www.facebook.com/groups/aleapofdoubt.
Consider supporting me Patreon if you enjoy the show: http://www.patreon.com/aleapofdoubt. Thanks to Jeff Prebeg, Jeanne Ikerd, Torsten Pihl, Chris Watson, and Kim Bojkovsky for being my patrons!
Follow me on Twitter at https://twitter.com/TheNatheist.
The opening clip is an excerpt from the audiobook “God is Not Great” by Christopher Hitchens, courtesy of Hachette Audio. Text Copyright 2007 by Christopher Hitchens. Audio production copyright 2007, Hachette Audio. Used with permission.
The opening and ending music is “Jade” by Esther Nicholson and is used under license. The editing was done by Rich Lyons of the “Living After Faith” podcast.
This week’s episode is a review/analysis of Melancholia, a 2011 film written and directed by the controversial Danish filmmaker Lars von Trier. My guest for this discussion is my Danish friend and fellow Von Trier enthusiast Niels Böge Nothdurft.
We discuss Melancholia as an apocalyptic end-of-the-world movie in both a physical and a psychological sense. The movie follows the lives of two sisters, Justine and Claire, living in the final days and hours of planet Earth as it faces imminent collision with a giant rogue planet, dubbed “Melancholia,” that has emerged from behind the sun. Melancholia is also the name given in the psychological literature of a form of severe and debilitating depression, a condition suffered by the character of Justine (played by Kirsten Dunst), who unlike her sister Claire (Charlotte Gainsbourg) experiences a sense of newfound liberation and peace from her depression as the end of the world approaches. Claire, on the other hand, is suddenly and for the first time in her luxurious and controlled life confronted by the extreme discomfort of existential angst. We discuss the movie’s use of symbolism, both medieval and modern, and as an allegory for depression, ennui, and existential angst. We also ask the question the movie invites all viewers to ask: How would we react to the knowledge that all life on earth, along with the planet itself, was going to end abruptly? Do we see ourselves in the reactions of the characters, and if so, why?
Links:
Niels Nothdurft’s blog on the Trolling with Logic website: http://www.trollingwithlogic.com/euro-skeptic/
Lars von Trier’s “Melancholia” official website: http://www.melancholiathemovie.com/
“Melancholia” on IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1527186/
Tim Matts and Aidan Tynan, “The Melancholy of Extinction: Lars von Trier’s ‘Melancholia’ as an Environmental Film,” M/C Journal 15, no. 2 (2012), http://www.journal.media-culture.org.au/index.php/mcjournal/article/view/491.
Sigmund Freud, “Mourning and Melancholia” (1917): http://www.columbia.edu/itc/hs/medical/clerkships/psych/misc/articles/freud.pdf
Join the official discussion group of this podcast at www.facebook.com/groups/aleapofdoubt.
Consider supporting me Patreon if you enjoy the show: http://www.patreon.com/aleapofdoubt. Thanks to Jeff Prebeg, Jeanne Ikerd, Torsten Pihl, Chris Watson, and Kim Bojkovsky for being my patrons!
Follow me on Twitter at https://twitter.com/TheNatheist.
The opening clip is an excerpt from the audiobook “God is Not Great” by Christopher Hitchens, courtesy of Hachette Audio. Text Copyright 2007 by Christopher Hitchens. Audio production copyright 2007, Hachette Audio. Used with permission.
The opening and ending music is “Jade” by Esther Nicholson and is used under license. The editing was done by Rich Lyons of the “Living After Faith” podcast.
This is the second part of my interview with ex-Scientologist Chris Shelton, who for 27 years was a devout believer in and staff member of the Church of Scientology. Founded by science-fiction pulp writer L. Ron Hubbard in the mid-twentieth century, this enigmatic and powerful cult belief system has consumed and destroyed the lives of countless number of gullible people who have been drawn in by Scientology’s promises of peak mental health and mastery over life.
Chris left Scientology behind him for good in 2013 and has been an outspoken critic of Scientology and an anti-cult activist ever since. In Part II, Chris and I continue discussing the inception in L Ron Hubbard’s unpublished works, especially the manuscript known as “Excalibur,” of what would eventually grow into the Church of Scientology. We also talk about why Scientologists believe they are saving the world and the cosmological beliefs Scientology espouses at the highest levels of membership, including of course the story of Xenu the Galactic Overlord. We touch on how we should go about defining a destructive cult, whether Scientology can accurately be called a religion, and finally address the question of what it will take for Scientology to finally takes it place in the graveyard of past spiritual movements.
Links:
Chris Shelton’s website: http://mncriticalthinking.com/
The Sensibly Speaking Podcast: http://sensiblyspeaking.com/
Chris Shelton on Twitter: https://twitter.com/sheltondesigner
Chris Shelton’s YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCF326xyA0QHI7Z5xAwKQDJg
Chris Shelton’s book: https://tinyurl.com/ya5zxlaj
Join the official discussion group of this podcast at www.facebook.com/groups/aleapofdoubt.
Consider supporting me Patreon if you enjoy the show: http://www.patreon.com/aleapofdoubt. Thanks to Jeff Prebeg, Jeanne Ikerd, Torsten Pihl, and Chris Watson for being my patrons!
Follow me on Twitter at https://twitter.com/TheNatheist.
The opening clip is an excerpt from the audiobook “God is Not Great” by Christopher Hitchens, courtesy of Hachette Audio. Text Copyright 2007 by Christopher Hitchens. Audio production copyright 2007, Hachette Audio. Used with permission.
The opening and ending music is “Jade” by Esther Nicholson and is used under license.
My guest this week is author and podcaster Chris Shelton, who for 27 years was a devout believer in and staff member of the Church of Scientology. Founded by science-fiction pulp writer L. Ron Hubbard in the mid-twentieth century, this enigmatic and powerful cult belief system has consumed and destroyed the lives of countless number of gullible people who have been drawn in by Scientology’s promises of peak mental health and mastery over life.
Chris left Scientology behind him for good in 2013 and has been an outspoken critic of Scientology and an anti-cult activist ever since. We discuss his personal journey into and out of Scientology, what Scientology really is in contrast to what it presents itself as being to the world, and the history of L. Ron Hubbard and the influences that inspired his creation of the pseudoscience known as Dianetics and ultimately of Scientology. This episode is Part I of a discussion that continues next week in Part II.
Links:
My appearance on the Hertzey Talks show: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mJAsrj32aZo
Chris Shelton’s website: http://mncriticalthinking.com/
The Sensibly Speaking Podcast: http://sensiblyspeaking.com/
Chris Shelton on Twitter: https://twitter.com/sheltondesigner
Chris Shelton’s YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCF326xyA0QHI7Z5xAwKQDJg
Chris Shelton’s book: https://tinyurl.com/ya5zxlaj
Join the official discussion group of this podcast at www.facebook.com/groups/aleapofdoubt.
Consider supporting me Patreon if you enjoy the show: http://www.patreon.com/aleapofdoubt. Thanks to Jeff Prebeg, Jeanne Ikerd, Torsten Pihl, and Chris Watson for being my patrons!
Follow me on Twitter at https://twitter.com/TheNatheist.
The opening clip is an excerpt from the audiobook “God is Not Great” by Christopher Hitchens, courtesy of Hachette Audio. Text Copyright 2007 by Christopher Hitchens. Audio production copyright 2007, Hachette Audio. Used with permission.
The opening and ending music is “Jade” by Esther Nicholson and is used under license.
My guest for this episode is Dr. Valerie Tarico, a psychologist, writer, and social commentator who tackles religious fundamentalism, gender roles, reproductive empowerment, and the intersection of these three. She joins me on this episode to discuss the power of political mythmaking and cultural storytelling and try to understand the confusing and often frustrating dynamics that we’re currently witnessing in much progressive discourse (or in some cases, debacles).
Dr. Tarico has identified three main narratives that dominate the cultural and political marketplace of ideas. We talk about what these stories are, and the ways in which humans relate and receive these narratives to and from our fellow tribe members in order to effect desired social change. We also discuss what progressives might do differently moving forward to take control of our cultural evolution and effect desired social change in positive directions that challenge old ways of thought and action that threaten our continued existence. Can the Enlightenment liberal vision be reconciled with the post-structuralist and postmodern liberal visions, and if so, how? How do we go about mending the rifts in the secular humanist community and move forward to make real change? And what the hell do Black Panther and Wonder Woman have to do with “sophisticated” theologians?
My appearance on Minnesota Atheists Talk Radio Show: https://player.fm/series/atheists-talk-radio-show/ep-455-religious-apocalypse-in-cinema
This week’s shout-outs: Jerb the Humanist (https://tinyurl.com/ydc9rrl6) The Podunk Polymath Podcast (https://tinyurl.com/yc7voypf)
Links:
Dr. Valerie Tarico’s website: https://valerietarico.com/
On Twitter: https://twitter.com/ValerieTarico
Valerie Tarico’s YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/user/TrustingDoubt
Valerie Tarico, “Political Narrative I: This Simple Idea is the Reactor at the Heart of Humanity’s Death Star,” March 14, 2018, https://tinyurl.com/ydz86m5b.
Valerie Tarico, “Political Narrative II: Why Some Progressives Are Tearing Each Other Apart,” March 30, 2018, https://tinyurl.com/y9um2gy3
Amy Chua, “Revenge of the Tribes: How the American Empire Could Fall,” Big Think, February 28, 2018, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8LZ71c9VVn0.
Join the official discussion group of this podcast at facebook.com/groups/aleapofdoubt
Consider supporting me Patreon if you enjoy the show: http://www.patreon.com/aleapofdoubt. Thanks to Jeff Prebeg, Jeanne Ikerd, Torsten Pihl, and Chris Watson for being my patrons!
Follow me on Twitter at https://twitter.com/TheNatheist.
The opening clip is an excerpt from the audiobook “God is Not Great” by Christopher Hitchens, courtesy of Hachette Audio. Text Copyright 2007 by Christopher Hitchens. Audio production copyright 2007, Hachette Audio. Used with permission.
The opening and ending music is “Jade” by Esther Nicholson and is used under license.
On this episode, I speak with Sally Hunt, atheist activist and author of the blog and YouTube channel The Passionate Atheist. According to her website, she “advocates for the separation of church & state, comprehensive sex education, sex-positivity, feminism, social, racial, & economic justice, and equal human rights for all.” She is the Public Relations Director of The Original Motto Project, which seeks to replace the divisive and discriminatory U.S. motto, “In God We Trust,” with the original – and rightful – U.S. motto, “E Pluribus Unum,” (meaning “From many, one”) or the first three words of the U.S. Constitution, “We the People.”
Sally and I discuss her public, peaceful opposition to the huge “In God We Trust” display emblazoned in the town hall meeting room of the Board of Aldermen in Wentzville, Missouri, and of her experience being cut off and kicked out of the meeting. We discuss her appearance on Fox News’ show “The Ingraham Angle” following that event, where she faced off with Ingraham and MO State Senator Bob Onder. We also talk about the failure of abstinence-only sex education and Sally’s campaign against Thrive’s “Best Choice” program, a curriculum written by Christians with an agenda to insert religious doctrine concerning sex into public school classrooms.
Links:
Sally Hunt’s website and blog: http://thepassionateatheist.com/author/sallyhunt/
Sally Hunt YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/user/sallymander44
Sally Hunt on Twitter: https://twitter.com/sallybhunt
On Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/passionateatheist
Expose Thrive website: https://www.exposethrive.com/
Hemant Mehta, “Atheist Kicked Out of MO Town Meeting After Criticizing ‘In God We Trust’ Sign,” Friendly Atheist, February 16, 2018, https://tinyurl.com/y7jlmchl.
The Original Motto Project’s video of Sally Hunt speaking at the Wentzville, MO council meeting opposing “In God We Trust”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=la7TJKVSwsM
Sally’s appearance on Fox News’ “The Ingraham Angle”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uzunZpw-jv4
Sally’s commentary and analysis on her Fox News appearance: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RYpfG506JmY
Join the official discussion group of this podcast at www.facebook.com/groups/aleapofdoubt/
Consider supporting me Patreon if you enjoy the show: http://www.patreon.com/aleapofdoubt. Thanks to Jeff Prebeg, Jeanne Ikerd, Torsten Pihl, and Chris Watson for being my patrons!
Follow me on Twitter at https://twitter.com/TheNatheist
The opening clip is an excerpt from the audiobook “God is Not Great” by Christopher Hitchens, courtesy of Hachette Audio. Text Copyright 2007 by Christopher Hitchens. Audio production copyright 2007, Hachette Audio. Used with permission.
The opening and ending music is “Jade” by Esther Nicholson and is used under license. The editing was done by Rich Lyons of the “Living After Faith” podcast.
In this episode, we are diving into the history of the American freethought movement, specifically the “Golden Age of Freethought” from the late nineteenth-century to the beginning of WWI. The orator, essayist, and freethinker Robert Green Ingersoll (1833-1899), who was widely known as the “Great Agnostic,” was a key figure during this period, and so we talk about his life and work at length. My guest for this episode is Justin Clark. A public and intellectual historian and graduate of Indiana University, Justin wrote a Master’s thesis on the life and work of Ingersoll and is the co-founder of ReasonRevolution.org, a website about secular humanism, atheism, skepticism, and free thought.
In our discussion, Justin and I covered a lot of ground, including: what differences and similarities exist between the Golden Age of Freethought in the American Midwest and the Enlightenment Deism of eighteenth-century American politics? In what sense can Ingersoll be considered a public intellectual of his time? How and why did the freethought movement in America fall apart by the turn of the twentieth century? Are we living in another Golden Age (or Silver Age) of Freethought in America today? We also tackle the importance and under-appreciation of synthesis and popularization of intellectual endeavors for the benefit of all members of the public.
Links:
Reason Revolution website: https://reasonrevolution.org/
Reason Revolution on Twitter: https://twitter.com/ReasonOrg
Reason Revolution on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/reasonrevolution
Reason Revolution on YouTube: https://tinyurl.com/ydc8fhe4
Robert Green Ingersoll (1833-1899): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_G._Ingersoll
Join the official discussion group of this podcast at https://www.facebook.com/groups/alopdiscussion/
Consider supporting me Patreon if you enjoy the show: http://www.patreon.com/aleapofdoubt. Thanks to Jeff Prebeg, Jeanne Ikerd, Torsten Pihl, and Chris Watson for being my patrons!
Follow me on Twitter at https://twitter.com/TheNatheist
The opening clip is an excerpt from the audiobook “God is Not Great” by Christopher Hitchens, courtesy of Hachette Audio. Text Copyright 2007 by Christopher Hitchens. Audio production copyright 2007, Hachette Audio. Used with permission.
The opening and ending music is “Jade” by Esther Nicholson and is used under license.
In this episode, I dive into the topic of religious exclusivity and cult-like doctrines. My special guest is Joseph Magestro, author of the book Ask an Atheist: What You Should Know When Discussing God and Religion. In this book, Joe describes himself as “just an average person – your average atheist” who enjoys “discussing religion with numerous individuals and being a resource for anyone who wishes to open their mind to something new.” But Joe’s backstory is not so average, and he has a fascinating personal story to tell. When Joe was a Christian believer, he was involved in Iglesia ni Cristo (or “Church of Christ”), a fundamentalist, cult-like Christian church whose members claim to be exclusively the only true Christians. The church has a small presence in the US and elsewhere, but they are historically and currently based in the Philippines, where it was founded in 1914 by Felix Malano.
In my discussion with Joe on this episode, we discuss what life is like inside the church, how he became involved with it initially, some of the scandals and controversies that have put the church in the news, and what chain of events and thought processes led him to abandon the church and abandon religious belief altogether to become the atheist activist he is today.
Links:
Joe Magestro’s book “Ask an Atheist: What You Should Know When Discussing God & Religion”: https://tinyurl.com/yacc94f5
Milwaukee Humanists on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MKEHumanists/
Joe Magestro on the “Real Life Beyond Faith” podcast: https://reallifebeyondfaith.podbean.com/e/ep-25-joe-magestro-ex-cult-member/
Robert R. Reed, “The Iglesia ni Cristo, 1914-2000: From Obscure Philippine Faith to Global Belief System,” Bijdragen tot de Taal-, Land- en Volkenkunde (Journal of the Humanities and Social Sciences of Southeast Asia and Oceania) 157, no. 3 (2001): 561-608. https://tinyurl.com/yd6h8n3t.
Eric Rankin, “Philippines-based church has ‘means and motivation’ to kill refugee if returned: IRB,” CBC News, January 25, 2018, http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/refugee-philippines-church-lowell-menorca-1.4502614
ABS-CBN News, “Timeline: Iglesia ni Cristo in Crisis,” http://news.abs-cbn.com/nation/08/28/15/timeline-iglesia-ni-cristo-crisis.
INC Kids’ music video “Always Submit to the Church Administration,” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3nmYOQIidqo
Join the official discussion group of this podcast at https://www.facebook.com/groups/alopdiscussion/
Consider supporting me Patreon if you enjoy the show: patreon.com/aleapofdoubt. Thanks to Jeff Prebeg, Jeanne Ikerd, Torsten Pihl, and Chris Watson for being my patrons!
Follow me on Twitter at https://twitter.com/TheNatheist
The opening clip is an excerpt from the audiobook “God is Not Great” by Christopher Hitchens, courtesy of Hachette Audio. Text Copyright 2007 by Christopher Hitchens. Audio production copyright 2007, Hachette Audio. Used with permission.
The opening and ending music is “Jade” by Esther Nicholson and is used under license.
In February 2018, the record-breaking film Black Panther joined the ever-growing pantheon of the Marvel Cinematic Universe and made an indelible impact on popular culture almost overnight, grossing over $1.3 billion worldwide. The movie, based on the Marvel comics created in 1966, chronicles the rise of T’Challa, the titular “Black Panther,” as the new king of the fictional and technologically-advanced hidden African kingdom of Wakanda. A stunningly rendered and beautifully-written story, Black Panther is an important and groundbreaking film with lots of potential for cultural and social consciousness-raising.
In this episode, I talk about the impact and potential of this movie with my friend and special guest, Tony Reaves, Jr. We discuss the art, politics, and social issues raised in the movie, and the moral dilemmas and questions faced by the characters within the story and how they might apply in the real world, and what makes its huge success an historic moment in film history for black identity in America and elsewhere. We also touch on the uphill battle experienced by black filmmakers in Hollywood.
Links:
Black Panther on IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1825683/
Kara Brown, “Matt Damon Interrupts Successful Black Woman Filmmaker to Explain Diversity to Her,” Jezebel, September 14, 2015, https://jezebel.com/matt-damon-interrupts-successful-black-woman-filmmaker-1730553152.
Join the official discussion group of this podcast at https://www.facebook.com/groups/alopdiscussion/
Consider supporting me Patreon if you enjoy the show: www.patreon.com/aleapofdoubt. Thanks to Jeff Prebeg, Jeanne Ikerd, Torsten Pihl, and Chris Watson for being my patrons!
Follow me on Twitter at https://twitter.com/TheNatheist
The opening clip is an excerpt from the audiobook “God is Not Great” by Christopher Hitchens, courtesy of Hachette Audio. Text Copyright 2007 by Christopher Hitchens. Audio production copyright 2007, Hachette Audio. Used with permission.
The opening and ending music is “Jade” by Esther Nicholson and is used under license.
In this episode, we return to the subject of the weird and fascinating world of Mormonism. My guest for this episode is ex-Mormon Bryce Blankenagel, who joins me to dive even deeper into the history of the Mormon religion and its founder, nineteenth-century con man Joseph Smith. Bryce hosts the Naked Mormonism podcast, a historical podcast in which he brings his skills as a researcher to a chronological exploration of just how fascinating and convoluted Mormon history and doctrine really is.
We discuss his transition out of Mormonism and into atheism, what inspired him to create a serial podcast that provides a critical history of Mormonism without the rose-tinted glasses of official church accounts, and some of the highlights of what his critical research has uncovered about Mormonism’s history and key players.
Links:
Naked Mormonism podcast: http://www.nakedmormonismpodcast.com/index.html
Naked Mormonism on Twitter: https://twitter.com/NakedMormonism
Join the official discussion group of this podcast at https://www.facebook.com/groups/alopdiscussion/
Consider supporting me Patreon if you enjoy the show: www.patreon.com/aleapofdoubt. Thanks to Jeff Prebeg, Jeanne Ikerd, and Torsten Pihl for being my patrons!
Follow me on Twitter at https://twitter.com/TheNatheist
The opening clip is an excerpt from the audiobook “God is Not Great” by Christopher Hitchens, courtesy of Hachette Audio. Text Copyright 2007 by Christopher Hitchens. Audio production copyright 2007, Hachette Audio. Used with permission.
The opening and ending music is “Jade” by Esther Nicholson and is used under license.
What could possibly explain the astonishing phenomenon of a candidate as inexperienced and manifestly unqualified as Donald Trump sweeping first the Republican nomination and then the general election? Joining me on this episode to muse on this question is John C. Wathey, an author and computational biologist whose research interests include protein folding, evolutionary algorithms, and the biological forces behind religion. He joins me on this episode to discuss the death of the Republican Party, what went wrong and what’s not working in our current political systems (including his own perspective as an expert on algorithms about what possibilities exist for electoral college reform), the problems inherent in the primaries system, and ways to create a better system that upholds democracy and utilizes science as a way of solving problems.
Relevant Links:
Interview with John Wathey on my other podcast Trolling with Logic: http://www.trollingwithlogic.com/3179-2/
John Wathey’s website: http://www.watheyresearch.com/
John C. Wathey, “What Should Replace the Republican Party” https://www.huffingtonpost.com/john-c-wathey/what-should-replace-the-r_b_12177930.html
John C. Wathey, “There’s a Better Way to Elect Presidents,” https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/theres-a-better-way-to-el_b_12594066.html
John C. Wathey, “It’s Time to Ditch the Primaries,” https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/its-time-to-ditch-the-primaries_us_5a00f975e4b05c841816656e
Clare Malone, “The End of a Republican Party,” http://fivethirtyeight.com/features/the-end-of-a-republican-party/
Danny Kleinman, “Imagine There’s … a Democratic Voting System,” http://www.swangames.com/main/Duckling/Bridge_and_Voting/bridge_and_voting.html
Join the official discussion group of this podcast at https://www.facebook.com/groups/alopdiscussion/
Consider supporting me Patreon if you enjoy the show: www.patreon.com/aleapofdoubt. Thanks to Jeff Prebeg, Jeanne Ikerd, and Torsten Pihl for being my patrons!
Follow me on Twitter at https://twitter.com/TheNatheist
The opening clip is an excerpt from the audiobook “God is Not Great” by Christopher Hitchens, courtesy of Hachette Audio. Text Copyright 2007 by Christopher Hitchens. Audio production copyright 2007, Hachette Audio. Used with permission.
The opening and ending music is “Jade” by Esther Nicholson and is used under license.
In this episode, we explore the issue of women’s reproductive rights. The historic 1973 Supreme Court decision Roe v. Wade upheld women’s dignity and placed constitutional protections around women’s freedom of choice and right to control their own body by making abortions legal in the United States. But this human right has been under constant attack by the anti-choice movement in the four decades since. Dr. George Tiller, the late-term abortion provider who was murdered by a gunman in a church in May 2009, often made the statement that people need to listen to women and understand what they are going through. I’m doing my own small part in this discussion by speaking with two women in this episode for whom abortion and reproductive rights is important.
In the first part of this episode, I speak with Amy (the one with a ‘y’), one of the two hosts of the Secular Soup podcast, who shares her perspective as someone who worked at a Planned Parenthood clinic. We discussed what Planned Parenthood actually does (including all the basic care services that do not include abortion), her experiences with protecting patients from protesters, what life was like for women before Roe v. Wade, the Targeted Regulation of Abortion Providers (TRAP) laws that have been quietly put into legislation by anti-choice lobbies, and why the pro-choice side should be unapologetic about upholding abortion as a human right.
In the second part of this episode, I interview Jen of the Not Another Atheist Podcast about her own personal experiences with the abortion procedure and how to effectively debunk myths associated with it, including the myth that most women regret their decision to have an abortion.
Secular Soup podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/show/secular-soup
Not Another Atheist Podcast: https://notanotheratheistpodcast.podbean.com/
Recommended resources:
Dr. George Tiller clip: “I’m a woman-educated physician”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V52JQ4Z3rjs
Documentaries: Soldiers in the Army of God (HBO, 2000) 12th & Delaware (HBO, 2010) After Tiller (Doc Club, 2013) Trapped (Roco Films, 2016)
Ann Fessler, The Girls Who Went Away: The Hidden History of Women Who Surrendered Children for Adoption in the Decades Before Roe v. Wade (New York: Penguin Books, 2006)
Susan Wicklund, This Common Secret: My Journey as an Abortion Doctor (New York: PublicAffairs, 2007)
Dr. Willie Parker, Life’s Work: A Moral Argument for Choice (New York: Atria Books, 2017)
Ruth Graham, “The Myth of Abortion Regret”: http://www.slate.com/articles/double_x/doublex/2016/10/the_myth_of_abortion_regret.html
“Appeals Court Won't Reconsider Tennessee Abortion Measure Decision,” Tennessean, February 28, 2018, https://www.tennessean.com/story/news/2018/02/28/tennessee-abortion-laws-case-amendment-1/383251002/
Join the official discussion group of this podcast at https://www.facebook.com/groups/alopdiscussion/
Consider supporting me Patreon if you enjoy the show: www.patreon.com/aleapofdoubt. Thanks to Jeff Prebeg, Jeanne Ikerd, and Torsten Pihl for being my patrons!
Follow me on Twitter at https://twitter.com/TheNatheist
The opening clip is an excerpt from the audiobook “God is Not Great” by Christopher Hitchens, courtesy of Hachette Audio. Text Copyright 2007 by Christopher Hitchens. Audio production copyright 2007, Hachette Audio. Used with permission.
The opening and ending music is “Jade” by Esther Nicholson and is used under license.
In this episode, I am joined by Natalie Newell and Chad Hayes, MD, hosts of the new Parenthetical Science Podcast, to discuss the subtle and sometimes not-so-subtle fear-based marketing techniques used by the alternative medicine and organic-only lobby movement in the various food and healthcare products they want to sell to gullible and vulnerable people.
Our discussion covered Zooey Deschanel’s recent series of woo-based food videos, Gwyneth Paltrow’s kinky pseudoscience that advises putting things in every orifice to cure whatever ails you, the “clean food” craze capitalized on by brands such as Panera Bread, why Triscuit snack crackers do not in fact grow naturally in Midwest wheat fields (despite what its advertising slogans might tell you), the B-horror-movie-grade anti-GMO propaganda of Stonyfield’s organic yogurt advertising and how it backfired beautifully on them, the craziness that is homeopathy, whether Tide Pods are GMO- and gluten-free, and more. The central theme of the discussion that ties it all together is the question: What can consumers do to equip themselves to recognize pseudoscience in advertising?
Natalie Newell is the director and producer of the Science Moms documentary, holds a Master of Education degree, and for a decade worked in the field of Montessori education. She now spends her time raising two children, traveling around screening her documentary, and pursuing interests in the areas of science communication and secular activism.
Chad Hayes has a Doctor of Medicine degree from the Medical University of South Carolina and currently practices as a general pediatrician in Charleston. According to his website, he takes “a science-based, skeptical approach to medicine” and is “passionate about science communication and helping parents make well-informed decisions about their children’s health.” He authors a blog called Demystifying Pediatrics.
Relevant Links:
Natalie Newell on Twitter: https://twitter.com/ncnewell
Chad Hayes on Twitter: https://twitter.com/chadhayesmd
Parenthetical Science Podcast on Twitter: https://twitter.com/ParSciPod
Parenthetical Science website: https://www.parentheticalscience.com/
Science Moms documentary: http://www.sciencemomsdoc.com/ and http://www.scimoms.com/
Chad Hayes’ “Demystifying Pediatrics” blog: http://www.chadhayesmd.com/blog/
Join the official discussion group of this podcast at https://www.facebook.com/groups/alopdiscussion/
Consider supporting me Patreon if you enjoy the show: www.patreon.com/aleapofdoubt. Thanks to Jeff Prebeg and Jeanne Ikerd for being my first two patrons!
Follow me on Twitter at https://twitter.com/TheNatheist
The opening clip is an excerpt from the audiobook “God is Not Great” by Christopher Hitchens, courtesy of Hachette Audio. Text Copyright 2007 by Christopher Hitchens. Audio production copyright 2007, Hachette Audio. Used with permission.
The opening and ending music is “Jade” by Esther Nicholson and is used under license. Audio edited by Callie Wright of The Gaytheist Manifesto podcast and Answer Media LLC.
“Why would Coca-Cola have a better marketing strategy than God?” ~ Ami
In this episode I am joined by Ami, one of the hosts of the Secular Soup podcast, as she shares her story of growing up in the Mormon church and what eventually prompted her to question Mormonism and religion in general and quietly take leave of that faith tradition.
We talked about how Mormonism views women in the church, the racist beliefs written into Mormon doctrine, the pseudoscientific and magical worldview of Mormonism’s founder Joseph Smith, the bizarre cosmology of the religion, family life and civic habits of Mormonism’s members, the secret “sacred temple” initiation rites, and the submarines featured in the Book of Mormon (yes, you read that right), and why Coca-Cola has a better marketing strategy than God.
Relevant links:
Secular Soup podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/show/secular-soup
Recommended reading
Paul Kurtz, The Transcendental Temptation (Amherst, NY: Prometheus Books, 2013; first published in 1986), chapter 10. [https://tinyurl.com/y7koo435]
Ernest Taves, Trouble Enough: Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon (Buffalo, NY: Prometheus Books, 1984). [https://tinyurl.com/y9gns7s8]
Join the official discussion group of this podcast at https://www.facebook.com/groups/alopdiscussion/
Consider supporting me Patreon if you enjoy the show: www.patreon.com/aleapofdoubt. Thanks to Jeff Prebeg and Jeanne Ikerd for being my first two patrons!
Follow me on Twitter at https://twitter.com/TheNatheist
The opening clip is an excerpt from the audiobook “God is Not Great” by Christopher Hitchens, courtesy of Hachette Audio. Text Copyright 2007 by Christopher Hitchens. Audio production copyright 2007, Hachette Audio. Used with permission.
The opening and ending music is “Jade” by Esther Nicholson and is used under license. Audio edited by Callie Wright of The Gaytheist Manifesto podcast and Answer Media LLC.
In this episode, I perform a reading of an autobiographical essay I wrote a just a little over a year ago on my blog, Skeptical Inquests. This essay is entitled, “I Was a Teenage Apologist: My Journey from Christianity to Atheism.” As the title suggests, this essay tells the story of my deconversion; how I went from devout Christian believer and aspiring “defender of the faith” to the godless heathen and skeptic of the supernatural that I am today.
Thanks to Jeanne Ikerd, “Amy with a Why” (of the Secular Soup podcast), Charone Frankel (of the Habeas Humor podcast), and Lydia Finch for contributing audio recordings of themselves reading various quotes that I included in my essay from which I'm reading.
Jeanne reads the selection of flat earth Bible verses, Amy reads the James Randi quote about UFOs, Charone reads a passage from Victor Stenger’s 2011 book “The Fallacy of Fine-Tuning,” and Lydia reads a passage from my favorite poem, James Thomson’s “The City of Dreadful Night.”
Relevant Links
My guest spot on Justin Clark’s podcast Reason Revolution: http://reasonrevolution.org/reason-revolution-episode-33-reviewing-fire-and-fury/
My essay “I Was a Teenage Apologist: My Journey from Christianity to Atheism”: http://trollingwithlogic.com/skeptical-inquests/2017/01/20/i-was-a-teenage-apologist-my-journey-from-christianity-to-atheism/
William Lane Craig vs. Alex Rosenberg, “Is Faith in God Reasonable?”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uBTPH51-FoU
James Randi’s book “Flim-Flam!”: https://www.amazon.com/Flim-Flam-Psychics-Unicorns-Other-Delusions/dp/0879751983
Victor J. Stenger’s book “The Fallacy of Fine-Tuning”: https://www.amazon.com/Fallacy-Fine-Tuning-Why-Universe-Designed/dp/1616144432
Lawrence Krauss’ lecture “A Universe from Nothing” (Atheist Alliance International 2009): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ImvlS8PLIo
The Atheist Experience: http://www.atheist-experience.com/
James Thomson’s 1874 poem “The City of Dreadful Night”: http://emotionalliteracyeducation.com/classic_books_online/ctdnt10.htm
Carl Sagan, “Does Truth Matter? Science, Pseudoscience, and Civilization,” Skeptical Inquirer 20, no. 2 (March/April 1996): https://www.csicop.org/si/show/does_truth_matter_science_pseudoscience_and_civilization
Consider supporting me Patreon if you enjoy the show: www.patreon.com/aleapofdoubt. Thanks to Jeff Prebeg and Jeanne Ikerd for being my first two patrons!
Follow the official Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/leapofdoubtpodcast/
Follow me on Twitter: https://twitter.com/TheNatheist
The opening clip is an excerpt from the audiobook “God is Not Great” by Christopher Hitchens, courtesy of Hachette Audio. Text Copyright 2007 by Christopher Hitchens. Audio production copyright 2007, Hachette Audio. Used with permission.
The opening and ending music is “Jade” by Esther Nicholson and is used under license.
You can blame me, try to shame me, and still I'll create podcasts for you! And anyone who knows what "Black Mirror" is (which should be everyone) will understand.
This episode is devoted to a deep-dive discussion of some of the philosophical ideas and issues explored in the television series "Black Mirror," including such meaty areas as the nature of consciousness, the problem of personal identity and its relationship with memory, existentialism, morality and ethics (especially as these relate to the question of retributive justice), and of course technology and the role it plays in our lives.
Joining me for this discussion are two friends of mine, Jeremiah Traeger and Michael Schaffer, who are big fans of the series and whose most interesting contribution to this episode is their heated debate over whether the simulated counterparts of various characters are conscious beings or not. . .
Join the official discussion group of this podcast at https://www.facebook.com/groups/alopdiscussion/
Follow me on Twitter at https://twitter.com/TheNatheist
Follow "The Romantic Nihilist" page on Facebook: https://facebook.com/RomanticNihilism/
Relevant Links:
Jeremiah Traeger on Twitter: https://twitter.com/Jerbivore
The SJW Circle Jerk podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/show/the-sjw-circle-jerk
Michael Schaffer's "Reasonable Risk" podcast: https://twitter.com/ReasonBroker and http://www.reasonableriskpodcast.com
The opening clip is an excerpt from the audiobook “God is Not Great” by Christopher Hitchens, courtesy of Hachette Audio. Text Copyright 2007 by Christopher Hitchens. Audio production copyright 2007, Hachette Audio. Used with permission.
The opening and ending music is “Jade” by Esther Nicholson and is used under license.
In this second episode, I speak with Jenica and Patrick Crail, hosts of the Real Life Beyond Faith podcast. Jenica and Patrick are a married couple who were once devoted Christians and are now outspoken atheists. We talk about how they navigated the challenges that came with seriously doubting their faith and how they managed the process of leaving faith behind together.
Note: the audio quality of this episode is tolerable, but not excellent. I chalk this up to growing pains on my part.
Links:
Real Life Beyond Faith podcast: https://reallifebeyondfaith.podbean.com/
Real Life Beyond Faith on Twitter: https://twitter.com/RLBFpod
Jenica Crail’s “Real Life Beyond Faith” blog: http://www.reallifebeyondfaith.com/
Recovering from Religion: https://www.recoveringfromreligion.org/
The Thinking Atheist podcast: http://www.thethinkingatheist.com/podcast
Cognitive Dissonance podcast: http://dissonancepod.com/
Join the Leap of Doubt discussion group on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/alopdiscussion/
Follow me on Twitter: https://twitter.com/TheNatheist
The opening clip is an excerpt from the audiobook “God is Not Great” by Christopher Hitchens, courtesy of Hachette Audio. Text Copyright 2007 by Christopher Hitchens. Audio production copyright 2007, Hachette Audio. Used with permission.
The opening and ending music is “Jade” by Esther Nicholson and is used under license.
In this, the debut episode of A Leap of Doubt, I interview Justin Schieber and Benjamin Watkins, hosts of Real Atheology: A Philosophy of Religion Podcast. Topics of this discussion include: what philosophy of religion is, why it continues to be relevant in academic philosophical discourse, how to define religion, the nature of belief and deconversion, what led to Justin's and Ben's own respective departure from theistic belief, and why arguments from revelation are insufficient yet still necessary to take into consideration.
Links:
Real Atheology podcast: https://realatheology.wordpress.com/
Real Atheology on Twitter: https://twitter.com/RealAtheology
Justin Schieber's book, co-authored with Randal Rauser: https://tinyurl.com/yba7v34l
Follow the official Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/leapofdoubtpodcast/
Follow me on Twitter: https://twitter.com/TheNatheist
The opening clip is an excerpt from the audiobook “God is Not Great” by Christopher Hitchens, courtesy of Hachette Audio. Text Copyright 2007 by Christopher Hitchens. Audio production copyright 2007, Hachette Audio. Used with permission.
The opening and ending music is “Jade” by Esther Nicholson and is used under license.