Talk Heathen

Latest Episodes:

Talk Heathen 07.45 with Christy Powell and Jimmy Jr Nov 12, 2023

Show notes

Welcome to Talk Heathen! This week, we have Christy Powell and Jimmy Jr. dismantle this idea that men and women parent differently so the only option is a nuclear family. Ya know, because reasons and God.
Mr. Warlight from Alaska says that Islam has been overall beneficial to mankind. We don’t appreciate the tacky jokes denigrating actual tragedies. There is an important conversation to be had about the bad things that come from religions but poking fun of a religion detracts from that conversation.
Alex in FL asks if there is any truth to the idea that ancient men were hunters and women were gatherers. Kind of. It's more nuanced than that adage. We don’t need to derive our gender roles from stone age men, we’ve evolved quite a lot since then. Check out the book “Different” by Frans de Wull.
John in TX came on to oppose our belief system. So wait, atheists perpetuate capitalist corporate colonialism to oppress indigenous peoples? Wasn’t that the catholics? Don’t conflate atheism with anything other than a rejection of religious belief systems. We’re open to claims, evidence, and good arguments. That is not closed minded.
Mr. Le Roche in Canada thinks that christianity is substantiated and that's just a reality. Jesus subjugated every country to a 7 day week??? And that would be the best use of his powers…? Not every nation, culture, or country uses/used a 7 day calendar, well until religion spread the Gregorian Calendar. Another failed prophecy from the bible.
Joshua in SC asks for advice on how to talk to people about faith. You really need to ask each person what faith means to them. You can point out how the religion was created and that earlier ideas evolved from religion to religion. Try to remain gentle and don’t make anything personal.
Chauntelle in MA asks about the science of near death experiences. There are many reasons why one could have an NDE but it boils down to brains doing weird brain things. Every test into this phenomena disproves the woo claims and shows it’s a natural function of a brain in distress. We’re sorry you had to go through so much religious trauma, we recommend finding community online or local to you.
Thanks for tuning in to Truth Wanted. Next week will be streamed live from The Freethought Library in Austin! This week’s Talk Heathen To Me prompt is: Wrong answers only! Why did god create humans? Comment your answers below. Top 3 (sometimes 4) will be read live on air.
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Talk Heathen 07.44 with Jimmy Jr. and Doctor Ben Nov 06, 2023

Show notes

Welcome to Talk Heathen our wonderful watchers!!! Your hosts for the day, Jimmy Jr. & Dr. Ben! Both veterans of the U.S. Military so please leave a comment, thank them for their service.
Jonathan from the Sunshine State is first to give our veteran hosts a call to talk about different experiences he had as a Naval officer. Speaking from first hand knowledge of their lives, both the hosts and Jonathan exchange their perspectives of being members of the armed forces. Also, Jon and our hosts bring up the issues of being able to relay certain experiences to civilians who (and fairly so) cannot understand. There are atheists in foxholes everyone! Just Kidding!
Ashley from Canada recalls having a near-death experience due to a miscarriage incident where she says she did not see or hear anything that believers do. Also, she talks to Ben about the medical aftermath of this miscarriage along the lines of how believing some woo-woo weird things could have caused her to delay treatment. Beliefs no matter how benign, can lead to poor decision making and possibly lead to greater damage.
Let's say hello to Marcus in Texas who inquires the question; Have our hoists considered changing their religion in extreme circumstances. The hosts recall personal experiences and their perspectives of their own communities, in the military and out.
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Talk Heathen 07.43 with Christy Powell and Johnny P Angel Oct 30, 2023

Show notes

Will from Mississippi gives us a call to work through the issues one deals with letting go of God and finding meaning without belief. Deconstruction is a tough process and Will speaks about his own experience and Johnny proposes the question: why believing in a God is a virtue? Those who are letting go of religion, this should give a believer some pause. Also, kindness is something we can all do, without the promise of a reward when we die and how the Bible’s only concern is if you are worshiping God correctly. We do good works because they are good works.
Let’s say “Hi!” To Dylan from South Carolina who calls to discuss what evidence, if any, there is of God. Christy and Johnny point out there are many things in the world that we have evidence for and can be studied, except God. Those extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence and God seems to be an extraordinary claim.
Cooper in New York calls to have a chat with our hosts on evolution and how we are all related to all living things as we go into understanding DNA and how life came to be. It’s the circle of life, and it moves us all!
An oldie but goodie on the plate! John in Illinois gives intelligent design a spin to prove God. But, instead of “look at the trees” it’s “look at the eyeball”. As someone who is vision impaired, I call shenanigans on this argument.
Let’s move onto Doug in South Carolina who wants to discuss the Shroud of Turin. Johnny does a Google search and how researchers discovered that the Shroud is a hoax. The discussion moves into how there’s all this evidence of the hoax and Doug keeps grasping at straws to explain how it could possibly be real though being an honest interlocutor, he needs to do more study.
Last call of the show! With a refreshing change of pace, Dan calls about cryptids and also how he hopes a God exists. The idea of a higher being who loves and cares for us is appealing, but we can agree, it’s a fool’s hope especially when so much harm due to circumstances beyond our control happens all the time.
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Talk Heathen 07.42 with Jimmy Jr. and Doctor Ben Oct 22, 2023

Show notes

Welcome to this week’s episode of Talk Heathen! Today Doctor Ben joins Jimmy Jr. to heathen-up your Youtube feed.
Krazy Jerry in MI has been getting into the science of religion and wonders how they knew water came out of Jesus’ chest once stabbed after death. People have been stabbing other people long before Jesus, they could have known by past experience. This shouldn’t change your beliefs, pointing to something true in the bible doesn’t prove all of it is true. Throughout history, people learned how things work even though they may not have understood exactly why.
Matthew in OK continues an online discussion with Jimmy Jr. regarding slavery. How can slavery or genocide never be morally right but your god condones or commit those atrocities? Oh, so it’s ok when god does it but not humans. Go read your bible and really address that contradiction.
Serial in PA recommends joining a unitarian universalist church as it’s a unique religion not centered around belief in god. It’s great that people come together regardless of deity beliefs and work toward common good. It’s more of a community than a religion though. If it helps you and others, go for it.
Thank you for tuning in to your Heathen community! This week's Talk Heathen To Me prompt is: You are in Hell. What’s your job?
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Talk Heathen 07.41 with Richard Gilliver and Jim Barrows Oct 15, 2023

Show notes

note notes upon receipt
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Talk Heathen 07.40 with Richard Gilliver and Secular Rarity Oct 09, 2023

Show notes

Welcome to Talk Heathen! Today we have Richard Gilliver and Secular Rarity taking your calls about all things heathen.
First up, VonZoom in OH doesn’t have an answer for the fine tuning argument. It’s almost always argued as fine tuning for life. The earth is nowhere near fine tuned for humans, let alone the entire universe. These are usually just hand wave arguments, they don’t give examples. When you dig into the sciences, fine tuning falls apart.
Repeat caller, Otari from the country of Georgia claims the problem of evil is an issue for the morality of atheism. The problem of evil is why is there evil in a world with an “all good” god. Atheism is only about god beliefs, not morality. Evil isn’t a tangible thing, it's just a label we as a society places on undesirable actions.
David in Malaysia isn’t here to prove god but to argue the bible makes sense, starting at Isaiah not genesis. You shouldn’t have to rework the divinely inspired word of god. No matter the arrangement, you can’t prove the bible is true or god exists.
Muji in Sweden read his quran and it doesn’t say allah split the moon, that is an extremist view. Actually that is a moderate mainstream view that has been talked about for a while. Your view of Muhammad not needing miracles seems to go against the quran.
Aaron in OK claims the bible is a unique great work of literature because it was a group project. There are other holy texts written by different authors. Popularity of the bible means nothing. If the quran outsells the bible, will you convert to Islam? Look into how the bible was made. A single focus across multiple authors does not mean it was god breathed.
Josh in FL asks if a person can have a separate, coherent belief that is strictly devotional. A belief could be internally consistent, nothing we could pinpoint though. We accept people believe things, the important thing is that the belief is true. Great call, please call back!
Thank you for tuning in to your community! This week's Talk Heathen To Me prompt is: Wrong answers only! Why did god REALLY flood the earth?
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Talk Heathen 07.39 with ObjectivelyDan and Jimmy Jr Oct 01, 2023

Show notes

notes upon repceipt
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Talk Heathen 07_0.38 with ObjectivelyDan and Sofia Spina Sep 25, 2023

Show notes

Welcome to Talk Heathen! One of our new hosts, Sofia Spina, joins ObjectivelyDan live in the studio!
Felix in FL is first up! He claims secularism is destroying the purity of sex and that devalues monogamous marriage. Purity culture does not lead to longer lasting marriages and can lead to marrying just to have sex. You need to be skeptical of your sources of information, especially if they’re part of the manosphere. Those values can lead to dehumanizing people.
Gary in NY claims religious food charities take advantage of mentally ill people, making people sit through a service. Gary has waited 3 hours of speaking in tongues to get a meal. It’s gross, just help people. ObjectivelyDan has seen some things when he was part of a church. Churches seem to drop out of the national scene because they want to preach, making them less effective.
John in the live audience is curious how Felix justifies biblical references of concubines and multiple wives. We don't want to strawman Felix, he never mentioned the bible as his source. The hosts think they would argue the old versus new testament thing if they were still believers. Such a bad argument.
Liam in LA pitches his take on the “no man knows in his heart the hour Jesus will return” verse. He proposes a sign up sheet where 4 billion men claim to know the hour in their heart and game the system. We love end times prophecies…well not really. Rapture prophecies push the fear of hell on you.
Steve in FL sees a link between political power and religious industry. Seeing these proposed laws and hate coming from religion feels like we're sliding backwards. Continue the good secular fight!
David in IN asks how to talk to children about low/no contact religious family members. Talk to your kids about your values. Reiterate we need to feel safe in our bodies and how people can make us feel unsafe. Set good boundaries with family and friends.
Universal in CA claims there are deeper dimensions to the bible because humans have layers beneath the skin. The problem is that it’s not a tool used for human truth, it can be a tool for oppression. As is, we have to rely on interpretations and translations to read the bible. The bible does not go into this spiritual versus animal side of humanity.
Thank you for tuning in to your community! This week's Talk Heathen To Me prompt is: What is an inappropriate thing to say at a religious funeral.
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Talk Heathen 07.37 with Christy Powell and Derek Mathias Sep 17, 2023

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Talk Heathen 07.36 with Richard Gilliver and Jimmy Jr Sep 11, 2023

Show notes

Welcome to Talk Heathen! Today we have the newest member of the TH hosting team, Jimmy Jr, and Richard Gilliver fielding your queries about abortion and spiritual beliefs.
Michael in FL asks advice on dealing with the fear of hell. Oddly, he grew up believing in Annihilationism and is now feeling depression-like effects after a dream of going to hell. It’s just programming from religion so you don’t question your beliefs. It takes time to unlearn that. Look into Recovering from Religion and the secular therapy project. RecoveringfromReligion.org
Kyle in IN says there should be lines drawn where a fetus becomes a baby in regards to abortion. There are lines in place currently, they shouldn’t be legislated across the board. Every pregnancy is different. The decision to end a pregnancy should be between a medical professional and a patient. Don’t strip people’s bodily autonomy.
Marsha in CO wants to clear up misinformation that people use to justify their pro life stance. For example, late term abortions and bodily autonomy. We’re glad you called in.An outright ban puts people at risk if they encounter an emergency in the third trimester. Why do we question bodily autonomy when it comes to this one topic?
Nick in NY asks how we can incorporate religious, or “spiritual”, experiences without a god belief while not buying into the dogma. We definitely need new words to describe these concepts to get away from the implied religious ideas. Don’t buy into religion, that sense of wonder and awe is in all of us.
Stuart in England advises to not self censure and think through those questions when the fear of hell comes up. He was terrified of questioning his beliefs and those helped him during that time. Stay on the path of questioning and working through your hell beliefs.
Otari from Georgia claims abortion is murder because the pregnancy has signs of life. (sigh) Abortion isn’t even legally considered murder. The bible disagrees with your hard stance. That book supports and even gives instructions regarding abortion. Question your beliefs and why your religion contradicts your holy book.
Jack in FL says that he is pro abortion but it is killing a living human being. Terminating a pregnancy is not a killing, murder, or manslaughter. People need to have the freedom to talk to experts and decide to end their pregnancy.
Thank you for tuning in to your community! This week's Talk Heathen To Me prompt is: What is a sin that Jesus didn’t intend to die for?
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