Talk Heathen

Latest Episodes:

Talk Heathen 06.47 11-20-2022 with ObjectivelyDan and Forrest Valkai Nov 21, 2022

Show notes

In today’s episode of Talk Heathen, the entertaining pair of ObjectivelyDan and Forrest Valkai are live today. They work through questions about evolution and the age of the earth.
First is Tom from MI who identifies as a deist and believes god exists but is not involved in his life. He is hopeful and wishful that god exists because it makes him happy. Why should we believe god exists? Does wishing something to be true make it true? Would you use this line of thinking for anything else? Do you actually believe this as a fact or is it just something that makes you happy? Does it matter that things are true? We don’t just believe stuff because it makes us happy, even if it feels good. There must be some reality in there somewhere.
David from CA wants to give the hosts a chance to prove evolution since no one has ever heard of it in history. We have mountains of proof and this is one of the most well documented theories in science. Why should we care what one person’s family thinks about evolution? If the Bible has no mention of something does that mean it does not exist? Individuals don’t evolve; it is the whole population. When an advantage is gained in one environment, fitness is lost in another environment. As Forrest calmly describes how things work, the caller insists that it is all science fiction. He also thinks the planet was designed for humans and does not understand why we protect endangered species. Does the puddle say that this hole in the ground was designed for me? The hosts ask the caller how radiometric dating works, and no answer is provided. If you don’t understand the basic principles of how biology works, how can you possibly critique it?
Mark in NY is trying to keep an open mind about theism and sees a strong line of reasoning that god exists because god is the explanation for why there is anything at all. Human beings want there to be an answer even when we don’t have one. The Cosmological Argument lies within metaphysics and any kind of claim can be made with this. Unless we have material words, we are just taking ideas out of thin air. These types of things are unfalsifiable. We can’t give metaphysics special pleading.
Yasir from India explains how the science teacher in school would not talk about evolution and tells the students to study it on their own. He has questions about speciation, and Forest gladly explains the steps. There is no single set definition of what a species is. Family lines are also arbitrary, for instance, look up the definition of a fish. If you arrange these tax groups in a certain way, you could call everything on land fish. We are not more evolved than other species. Everything that is currently alive, has evolved. We change the definitions of groups as we learn more. Forrest recommends a book called, The Ancestor’s Tale by Richard Dawkins.
Thank you everyone for tuning in. Please have your grandma call next week because we are pro-grandma.
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Talk Heathen 06.46 11-13-2022 with Student Doctor Ben and Johnny P Angel Nov 13, 2022

Show notes

In today’s episode of Talk Heathen, Student Doctor Ben is joined by Johnny P. Angel who together will unravel caller’s opinions about trans people in sports, leaving religion, and propaganda.
First up is Bill from PA has a question about what advantages cis males who transition into woman might have with sports. How do you arrive at the conclusions you have about this topic? How honest is your representation of the data when your intuition tells you trans women have advantages? What factors make someone good at sports? What is the difference between a trans woman who has physiological advantages as a result of going through male puberty, and a cis female who happens to already have those same advantages?
Kay in London was a Jehova Witness for years and now sees holes in the religion. He finds it more difficult to see purpose in life not being in a cosmic battle. The purpose now is to make every second count and truly be human. Stepping away from a fantasy can free up time to make the world a better place. Time changes what one is passionate about. In the end we all die, but in the meantime we can play as hard as we can and make it count. How can you use your life to improve the lives of others and alleviate some of the suffering? What types of things make you want to engage with this reality?
Joseph in CA has an idea about creating memes to help with the transition from fossil fuels. Is it ethical to spread propaganda that you know is false in order to do something good for the environment? Humor has been used recently to poke holes into the absurdities of religion, but it is not going to cure our fossil fuel problems. Creating alternative myths for people who we think can’t be convinced of climate change is not the answer. Correct representation of true facts is how we get out of this sinkhole. What percentage of evangelicals are climate change deniers?
Thank you for tuning in this week! Thank you to all the veterans for your service! See you next week!
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Talk Heathen 06.45 11-06-2022 with Secular Rarity and Adam Elmasri_0 Nov 06, 2022

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Talk Heathen 06.44 10-30-2022 with Johnny P Angel and Cynthia McDonald Oct 31, 2022

Show notes

In today’s episode of Talk Heathen, the creepy duo of Johnny P. Angel and Cynthia McDonald work through questions of cryptids, aphasia, The First Amendment, religious trainers, and supernatural causes of expansion.
First up is Val in Canada who asks which of the cryptids is most likely to exist. The Abominable Snowman might be a character that was confused with a polar bear. How could something manage to escape our technologies and abilities? Would it be a great ape variety? How would they have migrated to the new world? We don’t even know if these are mammals. How do you rule out the existence of cryptids? Imagine how our understanding of human evolution would change if a hominid were to be discovered.
Henry from the audience asks when it is best to respond to a trainer as an atheist. Cynthia shares some calm ways of shutting this down. Johnny waits for the second offense to firmly tell the trainer that we just need to stick with form.
David in CA posits that expansion can only occur with an outside force or supernatural realm and that Jesus sustains the cosmos. What empirical evidence do we have that a supernatural being exists? What tool is used to measure the supernatural? If you needed a heart transplant, and the surgeon only had 16 hours of cursory research as their training, would you allow that person to proceed? Will you try this theory on the Dean of Physics at a university?
Conner from the audience has a church and state separation in discussions with a parent. We had to go to the First Amendment for this one. Check out the Freedom From Religion Foundation for more answers on this. What are some ways we can prevent Sharia Law? How would you like it if a government entity of a different faith tried to tell you what to do? If young people continue to not tolerate this crap, many religious groups will be endangered. Do Catholics know that the money given to the church helps the pedophile defense fund? When we have too much overlap between church and state, it becomes a two way bad street. This is great when your political force is on top. But not so great when it is not.
Rick from Canada has evidence for the Tower of Babel. The tower collapsed and came down on their heads and caused aphasia that separated the languages. Have you ever studied linguistics? Where do you get information that all the languages are connected? What is just one example of how Japanese is like Hebrew? Rick has shown his stripes. If you are going to call in with an argument, please produce your evidence before saying that we don’t like your argument.
Thank you for joining us today! We appreciate all of you who are taking care of each other and those who are standing up for our rights!
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Talk Heathen 06.43 10-23-2022 with Johnny P Angel and Katy Montgomerie Oct 23, 2022

Show notes

In today’s episode of Talk Heathen, we have Johnnie P. Angel and Katy Montgomerie join forces to destroy our greatest foe: Earth’s yellow sun. Er, actually we’re just talking to callers today, no sun destroying.
First up! Stephen in WA asks how to talk with family that falls for the more sensational conservative talking points, like transgender panic. Typically people hate without knowing how others live or experience love, maybe introduce them to comedians or online personalities. You can educate and find common ground or just walk away, if necessary.
Rick in Canada claims that Jesus predicted the current coronavirus. He quotes Matthew 24:15, “the abomination of desolation stand in the holy place”. This isn’t the first pandemic, nor the worst, how does that verse predict Covid-19? You need to get way more specific in your predictions. Oh wow, now the emoticon “:)” in the KJV bible is proof of god? Our first Argument From Emoji!
Kevin from NY argues that there is extra biblical evidence for the existence of Jesus, for example the apocrypha. How can we know if anything in an ancient book actually happened or if it's just a storybook? You can’t assume miracles and the supernatural because of an old text. Sorry, a bible just doesn’t work to prove anything divine.
Jamie in TX asks how to tackle the argument that transgender folks need their own sports league. That might be a good idea to allow trans people to play sports without facing transphobia. Mandatory forced segregated leagues is a horrible idea, it's the same as a ban. We should try to let anyone compete, if possible.
Thank you everyone for tuning in! Remember the essential workers and we will see you next week!
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Talk Heathen 06.42 10-16-2022 with ObjectivelyDan and Student Doctor Ben Oct 17, 2022

Show notes

In today’s episode of Talk Heathen, Objectively Dan and Student Doctor Ben who will navigate through the calls as a dynamic power team!
First up is Steven from Europe who says that religion can be beneficial to society for reasons such as the civil rights movement being inspired by religion. Who supported the ownership of other people in the United States? Do you think it is the religious aspects specifically that causes people to do things for civil rights? If there are multiple factors, how can we determine that religion changes the outcome? When there are two opposing points of view, do we always have to give equal weight to each side? What if each side does not have equal contributors. Atheists tend to check themselves before they wreck themselves.
Wesley from WV is next who asks about The Atheist’s Club and if atheists believe in Darwinism. He proposes a hypothetical situation where he offers the hosts electronic money to get a barcode on their hands as a reference to the Mark of the Beast. Why should we believe what the Book of Revelation Says? Why do you think these predictions are true? What if Student Doctor Ben had a vision that was opposite of what Revelation says?
Charles from GA would like to defend slavery by stating that god is a proponent of slavery and we are either slaves of god or of sin, and that employment is slavery. We have heard this argument before. Our problem is the owning of other people as an institution. How can a slave owner be loving? If I Dan was a Christian, would you like to be his slave? What if he invaded your city and took you as a slave? Has any Biblical writer ever thought to tell us that slavery is just not cool? Christian countries happened to have the worst record for slavery.
Kay in the UK who is curious about how selfless the good acts are when people are told by god to do good things. We don’t want to dismiss someone’s good acts. For instance, there are lots of Catholic hospitals that provide necessary health care, but still find ways to push their agenda. How do we allow these people to continue good works yet prevent them from causing harm in their communities? Is it possible to do an act without any kind of benefit to one’s self? There is more than one book you can read that talks about right and wrong.
Whisper from UT is next who asks if the threat of hell is conducive to society. We don’t think the threat of hell is good for anyone. We are often raised in a church to believe that we can’t do anything without god, and that leads to us not having confidence. What if hell is a really great place? This is something we need to talk about more in our community. Recovering From Religion is a great resource for this. We don’t think hell is real and no, it should not be used as a motivation.
Thank you everyone for tuning in, remember the essential workers and we will see you next week!
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Talk Heathen 06.41 10-09-2022 with Secular Rarity and Student Doctor Ben Oct 10, 2022

Show notes

We have the dynamic dual of Secular Rarity and Student Doctor Ben for today’s episode of Talk Heathen who will take calls from atheists on subjects that cause us to dig deep for answers.
First caller is Austin in TX who sees a benefit in having a defined difference between atheists and agnostics. What happens when you press people about the labels they assign themselves? We may be having miscommunication when we compare one broad category to a smaller one. It is easy to be charitable when communicating with someone by using the definition that person attributes to their label. You will need to work further into what the person’s label means at some point during the conversation.
Jasmine in Canada would like some opinions on assisted dying. Someone dying of cancer is not going through an easy time and it is hard to understand the amount of pain involved. This is done when the person is able to make the decision themselves. It is important in health care to balance autonomy and beneficence, and oftentimes autonomy takes precedence.
Nate in Ohio sees that many religions require certitude and believing things without evidence by not suspending their disbelief. How does knowing this change the landscape? We don’t know what metric to use that differentiates people who suspend their disbelief and those that don’t. This could be a technique, but we don’t know if this can be accepted as a definition.
Steven in AZ observes a rage that has been released within groups that are driven by fear and different communities have been developed by evolution. What factors have led to this and what has changed from the tribal focus time period to now? How would you determine if we are more altruistic now than we were a long time ago? How do we measure how altruistic one group is over another? We like to hope we are going in that direction, but we just don’t know. The more we ask this question, the more likely we are to make it happen.
Nate in CA has an idea that Jesus was actually a clone of Mary and therefore we have the gender wrong. Even if Jesus had been a clone of Mary, he can still engage as a man and therefore would not change the story. What matters is how a person presents in society, not the assigned gender at birth. Student Doctor Ben is TransJesus.
Brandi in MA who says that altruism and religion do not have anything to do with each other because we have observed altruism with archaic humans. It is always worth remembering that the religious community does not have a stranglehold on being a good person.
Russell in VA is dating a woman who is a member of a church in the Philippines that controls their congregation to extreme levels. Recovering From Religion has trained individuals that can help with these difficult moments.
Thank you for tuning in! We will see you next week!
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Talk Heathen 06.40 10-02-2022 with Katy Montgomerie and Secular Rarity Oct 02, 2022

Show notes

In today’s episode of Talk Heathen, Katy Montgomerie and Secular Rarity will sort through callers as Katy drops us some fun lichen facts.
First caller is D in DC who is wondering about the distinction between religion, deism, and theism when it comes to ecological circumstances. There could be a cultural practice linked with religion such as vegetarianism that can help. Having a ritualistic set of practices can have its benefits, but what happens if people decide to stop doing these things? Will ecologically beneficial religious practices be harmful in 1,000 years? Employ critical thinking to help guide that process.
Next is Thomas in Canada who states that not having a belief in Jesus leads to murder. Do Christians murder and if so, were they just not real Christians? If we start throwing rules down on what makes an actual Christian, how many Christians will we have left? How does not knowing if you are going to heaven or hell have anything to do with your current state of belief? If someone isn’t a Christian if they sin, and everyone sins, does that mean that no one is a Christian? This is a textbook No True Scotsman fallacy.
Patrick in FL is curious about what Dawkins means by Pantheism being sexed-up atheism. When someone describes god as literally everything, it can be agreed that everything exists but to call it god is just a word game. With this definition, at the end of the day, god is indistinguishable from reality. How have you demonstrated to yourself that the universe is conscious? Even if you have, we would just have one new fact.
Jasmine in Canada has some thoughts about atheists perceiving other atheists negatively. Some atheists will carry their arrogance to other domains just because they might be right about some things. Atheists can appear to be the only one that has a problem with something when in the minority, and there are also atheists that are just dickheads. Just being an atheist can put you in a position where you can’t really live, while not affecting Christians. It does not matter what the label is and there is no sense in being worried where you land. It is okay to be apathetic and not care about what you call yourself.
Tom in MI says that as a critical thinker, he uses Greek history as proof of the existence of gods. What is your definition of existing? Where does your god sit on this definition? What is the correspondence of ancient beliefs and the world we live in now? If people in the past thought something was real, does that make it real? We remain unconvinced of Zeus and Poseidon.
Thank you for tuning into today’s show, remember to thank the essential workers and turn us on next time for more of Katy’s facts!
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Talk Heathen 06.39 09-25-2022 with ObjectivelyDan and Jamie Boone Sep 26, 2022

Show notes

Today we have ObjectivelyDan with one of the original hosts of Talk Heathen, the one and only Jamie Boone! The calm humor has melted into the live studio!
R.A.O. from WY wants to talk simulation theory and how our minds exist outside the digital reality. Why would a simulation be self-aware? Why do equations and similarities lead to the conclusion that we are living in a simulation? Just because we use similar language to describe different things, doesn't mean these things are the same as each other.
Next is Rick from Canada who wants to talk about Christian morality and the Bible. He defends genocide in the Bible by comparing it to defending one’s home. If you had the power of god, would you use violence or would you choose something more humane? Why didn’t god defend his people with miracles instead of ordering genocide? If you are going to make assumptions on the host’s positions, it helps to do some research first.
Sunflower in WA who as an ex-Mormon wants to talk about religious trauma and cognitive dissonance. There is this feeling of believing in god, but also not believing in god. It is totally normal to still believe things that are not totally rational when you grow up with this way of thinking. “Apatheist” can be a helpful label to use, where one does not care if or not god exists. You are not alone by feeling that this messes with your psyche. As you come up with things that make sense during this process, don’t let people gaslight you.
An audience member questions the host about the very obvious violation of church and state, “In God We Trust '' sign law in Texas. Jamie has some mischievous ideas about how to deal with it.
Jamie in TX wants the hosts to talk about how to deal with the emotional and mental stresses of dealing with what is thrown at them. The hosts try to have the conversations that other people wished they had. The desire to help others and explain things gets them through it. Jamie will say things driving alone in the car whether than say those things to loved ones. Dan wants to be sure people are heard, and not belittled.
Patrick in FL takes a position that praying to the pool god is helpful when playing billiards. This god is better than the one who made a woman out of a man’s rib. You are going to need to add some stuff to your religion, and what good is it if you are not going to fight the other religions?
Thank you for joining us both in person and online! Please remember the essential workers and we will see you next week.
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Talk Heathen 06.38 09-18-2022 with Secular Rarity and Student Doctor Ben Sep 18, 2022

Show notes

In today’s episode of Talk Heathen, Secular Rarity and Student Doctor Ben work through caller claims of biblical truth, prophetic dreams, music causing faith, and the third eye.
Charles in FL is our first caller who believes that the Bible is infallible and has never been proven wrong. Tell the police officer behind you to be cool because you are on a live call in a show. Is the mustard seed the smallest seed in the world? Is what is true in biology going to be true years from now? Did gravity not exist before we knew about it? Did your omnipotent god know about the things that we did not know about at the time the Bible was written? Incorrect information is still false regardless of what we know about it at the time something was written.
Heath in Canada has prophetic dreams and wants to know about the brain squirting chemicals at the right time. Brains are highly susceptible to patterns and our brain tends to jump on to these things. Information can bypass your short term memory and go to your long term memory without your awareness. We make brain shortcuts based on our experience, and this is sometimes referred to as intuition.
Deirdre in NJ was an atheist but then heard a piece of music that awoke something in her that led her back to a faith that god is real. If there is no other reason than a claim, is that when we should accept the claim? When something is true, it is not a subjective thing. If it is true to SR, that a carrot fueled flying Ferrari with a talking dog exists, does that make it true? Is it possible to have a false belief that impacts you in a positive way? How can you possibly believe in something that has no attributes and is not defined?
Rick in Canada would like to talk about the third eye on the prefrontal cortex that all religions mention, and this is what separates us from animals. Can we believe everything we see on YouTube and is this a good source of information? How would we determine what is more or less valuable information? Is there any value in peer reviewed academic studies? Sources are usually listed in the description of the video so a citation can be verified.
Patrick in FL wants to know if atheism is more comfortable than theism. It doesn’t really matter because it may be more comforting to believe in a lot of things that are not true. Does comfort matter as much as truth? Can comfort be found in true knowledge?
Thank you everyone for tuning in and remember to support the essential workers!
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