Author archive

On the schedule today are Matt and Tracie. As cohost, I need to talk here about what I’ll be talking about. Depending on call volume and what Matt’s in the mood for, I’d like to do another dice demo to examine the statement “X is possible,” and what we mean by that. Is god possible? I don’t know…and I’d like to talk today about the idea “It is possible a god exists.” Is it? If I have a small opaque bag and ask you if it’s possible for me to roll a 21 with the dice in the bag–can you answer that question without a peak in the bag? I can’t. I could, I suppose, assert that since that many dice could be in the bag, it’s possible; but if they empty the bag, and it’s just 2 dice…then I’m using “possible” to describe things that are actually *impossible*. What are the implications of  using the word “possible” to describe impossible things? Is it correct to say that if a thing cannot be determined to be “impossible” it must, then, be considered “possible”? Or is it more correct to say “we can’t say if it’s possible or not, because we don’t have sufficient information”? Hope we can discuss it further on the program. We’ll see.

Part I and Part II are also posted on this blog. P.R. Claim: Religion fosters family closeness and family values.   Last night I watched “Polygamy USA.” I am aware that polygamous LDS is not standard LDS. And, further, LDS isn’t standard “Christian.” But what I saw that disturbed me, had nothing to do with the differences in these religious cultures, and represented, rather, obvious similarities. It had nothing at all to do with the polygamous aspect of the environment, and everything to do with how religion can strain ties between parents and children—putting distance between them by fostering irrational intolerance. What I see over and over again, is that religion damages some aspect-X of society, but then successfully spins itself as beneficial to aspect-X. A commonly observed example would be religious groups that promote restricting access to both contraception and comprehensive sex education, as a means to reduce unwanted pregnancy. But sometimes the instances are not so obvious, even if they are just as common. Repeatedly, I see the P.R. claims slide through society unquestioned and unexamined. It appears that all religion has to do is continue claiming it’s good for aspect-X, and after a time, the claim, “it’s good for aspect-X,” takes hold, even among nonadherents. What I’m about to discuss is not a problem restricted to religion, but rather a problem that religion compounds. In other words, without religion, there would be one less cause for this harm. Additionally, being a massive and well regarded institution, it has the potential to continue causing extensive damage, more than other ideologies that are not so socially far reaching, nor as lauded. Read more

Yesterday’s program with Matt and Tracie (me), featured a brief reading of a thread where people posted nutty beliefs they used to hold about paranormal abilities or experiences. Other items mentioned included the importance of supporting groups like “Black Nonbelievers” (blacknonbelievers.org), who face unique issues based on their demographics, which may not be addressed by mainstream atheist groups. Read more

A fan in NC (which is all the credit she wanted), sent us a set of four different TAE Caller Bingo Cards she made. There were a few minor typos, but honestly, they hardly detract from the excellent job she did producing these. Just amazing.

George, if you recall, identified himself in earlier calls as some sort of instructor who had kids in his class tuning into our show. He said in later calls that he is Eastern Orthodox. And his last call was about a big list of evidence he wanted to present on behalf of god’s existence. We asked for his best evidence, and he put forward the “Miracle of Fatima,” sometimes also known as “The Miracle of the Sun.” After the call, George wrote to us to pursue the case for this evidence further. And I am happy to publish our exchange below in its entirety, for reader review of the evidence, starting with his initial letter I ran through and swiftly cleaned up obvious misspellings and other format issues, but I have not adjusted the items below for content, grammar or readability in any other regard. I encourage you to read it through to the end. Read more