Here it is�the final episode of Reasonable Doubts, featuring new Counterapologetics, God Thinks Like You and Polyatheism segments mixed with goodbyes from our fans and outtakes from the past eight years of doubtcasting. Thank you to everyone who made this show what it was. Special thanks to Jonathan MS Pearce for the spoken word introduction to the show and to Hugh McDonald for allowing us to use his song "Schrodinger's Cat" for this episode.
This podcast features a previously unreleased interview with Australian Singer and Songwriter Shelley Segal. Shelly shares about her experience growing up in a conservative Jewish household and how her music naturally turned to turned to secular themes when she decided she was an atheist. She also performs two songs from "An Atheist Album."
This one is all about Charlie. Guest Dan Fincke defends free speach and the right to blaspheme. Dr. Galen examines the psychological root to religious extremism and the Enuma Elish is the subject of this episode's Polyatheism.
Dale McGowan, executive director of the Foundation Beyond Belief talks about some of the exciting ways the organization plans to put humanist principles into action in 2015. Also, statistics on the public's attitudes towards the Christmas holiday, the John Templeton Foundation donates millions of dollars to philosophers who study free will and the Norse god Oden might just be the world's first Christmas ornament.
Is the US Government Founded on the Christian Religion? Ed Brayton is the founder and owner of the Freethought Blogs network and the voice behind the popular blog Dispatches from the Culture Wars. He is the co-founder and past president of Michigan Citizens for Science and the recipient of the Friend of Darwin Award from the National Center for Science Education and has appeared on The Rachel Maddow Show, The Thom Hartmann Show, and C-SPAN. Ed is also a current member of CFI Advisory Board. Ed b...
This RD Extra features a debate, hosted by the Reasonable Doubts Podcast, between Jeffery Jay Lowder and Kevin Vandergriff on "Metaphysical Naturalism or Christian Theism? Where Does the Evidence Point?"
Physical pain plays an important biological role, but should we expect it to in a world created by God? Also, a recent paper in the journal cognition posits distinct cognitive attitudes underlying religious belief and factual reasoning, but is the evidence from cognitive science and philosophy sufficient to support this claim?
Many non-theists keep their doubts hidden for fear of losing friends and love ones. But remaining in the closet also has drawbacks: stress, hypocrisy, the oppression of silence and fear of being found out. Despite the risks, those who've made the decision to be open about their atheism almost never regret it. Luckily, doubters do not need to make this important decision on their own. Greta Christina (FTB blogger and author of Why Are You Atheists So Angry) conducted over 400 interviews with non-...
Our cognitive faculties evolved to help us detect agents in our environment and to predict the content of their minds but those same faculties also generate beliefs in supernatural minds and divine agents. While this seems to suggest that religious intuitions are untrustworthy by-products of ordinary cognitive processes, Cognitive psychologists like Justin Barrett argue the existence of these "god-faculties" in the brain should not make the atheist more comfortable with their skepticism. In fact...
Does God approve actions because they are good? Or is an action good because God approves it? Euthyphro's Dilemma is perhaps the oldest challenge to a theistic conception of morality, but many modern philosophers of religion believe the dilemma to be a false one. While the traditional formulation of the dilemma may have an answer, Socrates' challenge lives on in a new form.
The award-winning human rights activist Leo Igwe exposes how witchcraft accusations are used to prey upon societies most vulnerable, often with tragic consequences. He recounts how the study of philosophy emboldened him to speak out against the dangers of superstitious and magical thinking in his home country of Nigeria and some of the challenges of promoting critical thinking and humanism in Africa.
This debate on the existence of the Christian God took place at Ferris State University on October 23rd. Steven Kozak - Christian Apologist, Author (Stevenkozak.com) Justin Schieber - Atheist, Podcast Co-host (doubtcast.org)
How did Jesus, an apocalyptic prophet from Galilee, come to be regarded as a God by his followers? Bart D. Ehrman, Professor of Religious studies at the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill, joins us on the show to discuss his new book "How Jesus Became God", which traces the historical evolution of early Christian thought about the nature and identity of Jesus.
Ed Brayton of Dispatches from the Culture Wars joins the Doubtcasters for an analysis of the SCOTUS ruling on the recent Hobby Lobby case. Some popular misunderstandings about the ruling and its implications are dispelled, and the true dangers of the decision are discussed. Also, Luke Galen reviews polling data on where the American public stands on the issue of birth control and offers some predictions on how the SCOTUS ruling may impact individuals and the nation.
Major League Baseball player Chad Curtis will always be remembered as the man who led the New York Yankees to victory by catching the last out of the last World Series game of the 20th century. To many religious sports fans, Curtis was a hero for taking a strong stand for Christian principles. He regularly spoke out against performance enhancing drugs and the hedonistic lifestyle of many professional athletes. He donated half of his income to charities that promoted Christian values. His friends...
The Doubtcasters spend the whole hour reviewing the film "God's Not Dead." The whole hour. Seriously.
Does Religion Make Us Better People? An Empirical Critique of the Religious Prosociality Hypothesis. Does religion make us happier, healthier and more helpful? A number of popular psychology books and articles argue that religion is a positive force for enhancing the health and well-being of both individuals and whole communities. A careful examination of the social psychological literature, however, reveals a complicated relationship between religion and "pro-social" traits that defies such a s...
Jesus said "seek and you will find" but for many spiritual seekers, clear evidence for God cannot be found no matter how hard they search. If He really exists, why would God reveal himself only to some people and not to all? For this episode we examine "The Argument from Divine Hiddenness" which assumes that a perfectly moral being would want to enter into a relationship with His creation. But If that is true, theism faces some trouble in explaining how genuinely "non-resistant" seekers of God c...
The doubtcasters, along with friend of the show Jordan Fett, share thoughts and analysis (scientific, philosophical and psychological) on the debate between Creationist Ken Ham and Bill Nye the Science Guy. Also we discuss some of the psychological barriers to understanding evolution that both creationists AND evolutionists share, for this weeks "God Thinks Like You." Also, learn about the Babylonian Ark Tablet and what it means for Biblical literalists in this episodes "Skeptics Sunday School"
New data from the Pew Research Center shows religious violence is on the rise world-wide. Religiously motivated sectarian violence, harassment of women, mob-violence and terrorism have increased steadily and dramatically over the past 7 years in every region except the Americas. Still, many of these conflicts erupt in areas plagued by disputes over land and political control, so is religion really to blame? For this episode we review empirical research that attempts to understand the role religi...
In late 2013, Chris Hallquist (http://www.patheos.com/blogs/hallq/) and Randal Rauser (http://randalrauser.com/) participated in a debate on the rationality of belief in God. This debate was not a live debate, rather it was a series of audio exchanges that took place in late 2013.� The exchanges were according to agreed upon time limitations on each section. For each of their several sections, the debaters were given at least a week to analyze, script and record their entries before submitting i...
For the second part of our "Winter of Morality" series, Dr. Galen examines the psychological factors that make a deontological (rule-based) approach to morality more appealing to most religious people than a consequentialist approach. Meta-ethical questions aside, does adopting a deontological perspective over a utilitarian ethic actually make any difference in real-world measures of moral behavior? According to new studies it might. Fundamentalists, for example, tend to adhere rigidly to a rule...
Ken Ham is trying to raise 24 million Dollars to build a life size replica of Noah's Ark for the Ark Encounter theme park and zoo. Ham hopes that the park will convince people that Noah really could have fit two of each of the worlds animals on a 450 foot wooden boat. While apologists like the Creation Research Institute's John Woodmorappe argue it could have been feasible for Noah to build an ark, investors are not as confident in Ham's Ark project. Which is why the young earth creationist orga...
Philosopher Erik Wielenberg joins us on the show to discuss his upcoming paper on Skeptical Theism and Divine Deception. The evidential argument from evil concludes that the existence of God is unlikely given the many cases of gratuitous suffering we witness in nature. Some theists have responded that we cannot grasp the mind of God and have no reason to assume these instances of suffering may not work out to some greater good. Wielenberg argues that this skepticism, if adopted, would undermine ...
After 25 years of ministry, Pentecostal preacher turned atheist, Jerry Dewitt, finds himself behind the pulpit once again. He's still singing, teaching and calling upon his congregation to share testimonials...but this is no ordinary "church." The Community Mission Chapel, where Dewitt now serves, spreads a humanist message to a congregation of atheists. But do atheists really need a church? Dewitt joins us in the studio to tell us about his church, the challenges of ministering to atheists and ...
Ex-quiverful mom and activist, Vyckie Garrison, joins us in the studio to talk about the aftermath of her decision to leave her husband and religious community and to share what she is doing to help women like her to escape abusive patriarchal households. Also on this episode we take a critical look at Bill O'Reilly's new book "Killing Jesus". We also explore the new Atheist Mega-Church "The Sunday Assembly" and debate just how closely secular communities should emulate religious congregations. ...
A disturbing trend is catching on among Christian fundamentalists across the nation. Couples are abandoning birth control and encouraging women to view their “wombs as weapons� in America's culture wars. Dubbed the “quiverful� movement, these families come from different denominational backgrounds but are united in the hope that by out breeding the competition they might stem the tide of secularism. Vyckie Garrison once made her living promoting this extreme patriarchal view of the family. But a...
The Doubtcasters return from their ridiculously long, unannounced break to dissect the research behind the much reported headline that non-religious people are, on average, more intelligent than the religious. While the available data makes it clear that religion is negatively correlated with intelligence, the reasons behind this relationship are less clear. We will review some of the best theories advanced to explain this relationship for this episodes "God Thinks Like You" segment. Also, a new...
This debate was not a live debate, rather it was a series of audio exchanges that took place through the months of June and July of 2013. The exchanges were according to agreed upon time limitations on each section. For each of their several sections, the debaters were given at least a week to analyze, script and record their entries before submitting it to their opponent. Each submission, has been edited together in the agreed upon order for your listening interest. As one speaker ends, the nex...
This RD extra features a lecture by Luke Galen "A Skeptical Review of Religious Prosociality" delivered to CFI Michigan June 26th 2013 It is often suggested that religion leads individuals to be more prosocial, that is, more cooperative, generous, friendly, and happy. A commonly held belief is that "religion makes better neighbors". However, a closer examination of the research supporting these claims yields important qualifications to this relationship. Dr. Galen will offer some common examples...
