Fresh from a month long break the doubtcasters return do discus some of the stories they missed while away. The U.S. supreme court has ruled that religious groups have a "ministerial exception" from anti-discrimination laws. We discuss how this ruling might effect those working for religious institutions. Meanwhile, Catholic Charities are closing their doors because they are no longer permitted to receive government funds while discriminating against same-sex couples seeking to adopt children. H...
Jan 26, 20120
Those who reject religion go by many names; atheist, agnostic, skeptic, freethinker, secular humanist--but please do not call us "unbelievers." If you ask you will find there are many things we believe in. We believe that the natural world , as revealed through science, is more beautiful and inspiring than any mythology. But a world without the supernatural also confronts us with disturbing possibilities. If there is no God then the human story comes with no guarantee of a happy ending. Humanity...
Dec 20, 20110
Breaking his silence on the subject of religion after more than a year, a former apologist, conservative activist and Christian radio show host discusses his rejection of religion in this exclusive interview. Jeremiah Bannister has served as a preacher, worked with anti-gay groups, been a presuppositionalist, Calvinist, sedevacantist, and soon will be returning to the airwaves in his new role as a freethinking secularist. Hear his story in this exclusive interview with Reality Check/ Reasonable ...
Dec 12, 20110
The Doubtcasters take a look at Ray Comfort's film "180" that equates a woman's right to choose with the atrocities of the Holocaust. In God Thinks Like You, Dr. Prof. Luke discusses a new study that finds people view atheists as being as untrustworthy as rapists. The Aztec god Huitzilopochtli will rip your heart out in PolyAtheism. Plus, Obama doesn't acknowledge God in his Thanksgiving address, the Catholic Church goes old school and we answer listener questions about how to deal with the ridi...
Dec 02, 20110
Who says you can't serve both God and Money? Certainly not the 17% of American Christians who believe in the Prosperity Gospel. They think God will reward their faithfulness with great material wealth and a clean bill of health. Millionaire evangelists like Joyce Myer and Joel Osteen offer tips to help you "manifest" Gods blessings in your life by cultivating a positive attitude, banishing self-defeating thoughts and meditating daily on God's desire for you to live an abundant life. But accordin...
Nov 10, 20110
While on tour promoting his new book "The Magic of Reality" Richard Dawkins found himself banned from a book signing at a Detroit area country club after the owner learned that Dawkins was an atheist. Dawkins called the last-minute cancelation of the event an act of "sheer bigotry" but some insist that a privately owned business has the right to refuse service to atheists. Jennifer Beahan, the assistant director for the Center For Inquiry Michigan, joins us on the show to explain how the law doe...
Oct 26, 20110
Leaving religion can be difficult. It may lead to conflicts with family and friends and the loss of social support--and the more one is involved the deeper the loss. Clergy who silently doubt often feel trapped in a double life. They cannot continue to preach with conviction but they have come to depend on their congregations for financial support. Admitting their doubt could mean losing everything. Ex-minister Dan Barker, (co-president of the Freedom From Religion Foundation and author of the G...
Oct 14, 20110
Join us for an interview with a former Jehovahs Witness as he recounts his experiences as an elder within church.
Sep 29, 20110
For the second part of RD's Summer Genocide Series the doubtcasters ask what turn to recent findings in archeology which indicate that the genocides in the book of Joshua probably never took place. But if the conquest of Canaan is just legend, what was the real reason for the fall of Canaanite civilization? Where did the ancient Israelites originate and how did the come to occupy that region? And why would the Bible's writers invent the conquest narratives if these events never really happened? ...
Aug 31, 20110
Ten years have passed since the 9/11 attacks but a large number of Americans still have negative impressions of Muslims. While much of this distrust seems to be related to political ideology and misinformation in the media there are also deeper psychological forces at work. For many Christians, simply reading a passage of the Koran (or Richard Dawkins "The God Delusion") triggers feelings of physical disgust. Atheists are the only other group that face the same kind of popular distrust. That is ...
Aug 16, 20110
RD kicks off it's "Summer Genocide Series" with a critical review of Paul Copan's book "Is God a Moral Monster?" Copan argues that the holy war waged against the Canaanites was not the blood-soaked genocide that critics of the Bible make it out to be . It was a limited, relatively humane campaign that was morally and spiritually justified. Thom Stark disagrees. He's written a massive point-by-point refutation of Copan's book entitled "Is God a Moral Compromiser?" We'll take a look at Copan's arg...
Aug 10, 20110
This episode features the lecture "Deceived Into Thinking: Teaching Students to Think Critically Through The Study of Deception" presented by Jeremy Beahan to CFI Michigan on May 11th, 2011 Description: After trying (unsuccessfully) to get young students excited about learning informal logic, Jeremy Beahan began flirting with a different strategy. Perhaps a better way to convey the value of fair-minded/ critical thinking would be through the study of its intellectual opposite � deception. This s...
Jul 22, 20110
The design argument may be the most intuitively appealing argument for the existence of God. Creationists often point to organs such as the human eye as examples of complex systems that could not have arisen by chance. But take a closer look at nature and one will find several instances of "unintelligent design"--design flaws which reveal the blind processes of natural selection at work. For this episode Justin Schieber kicks the design argument in crotch when he brings the debate over design in...
Jul 06, 20110
Hemant Mehta (author of the friendly atheist blog) was only looking to expand his horizons and raise a little money for a local freethinking student group when he came up with the idea that made him a media sensation. He started a page on eBay where he offered to attend the church of the highest bidder. Stories quickly spread in the media of an atheist "selling his soul" on ebay, which drove the bid higher and higher. Soon Mehta was traveling across the country visiting different churches to mak...
Jun 23, 20110
Life isn't always fair. Sometimes good people suffer needlessly while immoral people prosper. Nevertheless belief in a just world persists. Deep within the human psyche is a strong urge to believe people get what they deserve and while this mentality may bring some comfort to the individual it can also result in victim blaming or turning a blind eye toward real injustice. Unfortunately religion often bolsters just world belief--especially when the believer is forced to reconcile the idea of a ri...
Jun 07, 20110
On May 22nd, 2011 dozens of people will be disappointed to find that the world is still spinning, hundreds of billboards across the world will look ridiculous and Harold Camping will struggle to find an explanation for how he could have gotten it wrong once again. Yes, yet another "Judgement Day" draws nigh. The Doubtcasters take the opportunity to discuss end of the world prophecies past and present and what happens to the true believers when their dreams of leaving us behind are inevitably das...
May 19, 20110
The Biblical account of the Jewish slavery in and exodus from Egypt is regarded by many as a historical fact, give or take a few miracles. But what does modern archaeology have to say on the subject? We dive into the evidence (or lack their of) for this ancient tale. Luke and Justin take on recent criticisms concerning the roots for morality and the sacrificial practices of ancient Jews and early Christians. Dave takes a look at another springtime resurrection god in a PolyAtheism segment and th...
Apr 28, 20110
This RD Extra features a lecture by Luke Galen entitled The Roots of Morality: Does Religion Play a Role or is the Tail Wagging the Dog. Video of the presentation and a pdf file of Luke's lecture slides are available at www.doubtcast.org Description: In this presentation, Dr. Galen, PhD, Associate Professor of Psychology at Grand Valley State University, will consider the root of morality and pro-social behavior. Are we kind and considerate of others because religion creates a set of rules and "...
Apr 14, 20110
West Michigan's own Rob Bell has a new book out entitled Love Wins: A Book About Heaven, Hell and the Fate of Every Person Who Has Ever Lived. The Doubtcasters take the opportunity to revisit Bell's "theology," and take a look at just what it means, historically, to go to Hell. We also discuss a new study which draws the not-so-new conclusion that Yahweh had a wife.
Mar 30, 20110
The DoubtCasters take on some of the most bizarre stories in the news recently, including the latest Catholic sex scandal (not what you expect), the latest anti-gay crusader's sex scandal (exactly what you'd expect), the Supreme Court, Fort Bragg, and beyond. Plus, liberal use of the word "booty." In Skeptic's Sunday School Justin takes a look at Jesus' role as a sacrificial lamb. And in God Thinks Like You, Dr. Prof. Luke offers up props to other researchers who think like him and addresses a l...
Mar 07, 20110
In his book Faith of the Fatherless, Dr. Paul Vitz explains that atheism is the result of weak, absent or abusive fathers. Dr. Prof. Luke debunks Vitz's 'theory' through the wily use of actual research. In counter-apologetics, Justin offers desire utilitarianism as one approach to morality. And Fletch introduces us to a Celtic love god in PolyAtheism. Also in this episode: Props in Australia and Hawaii, a Stranger Than Fiction that'll help our single fans find like minded dates. And, we open up ...
Feb 28, 20110
First we take a look at XXXChurch.com�s latest attempt to dress puritanical sexual politics in a slutty outfit. Then, we take a look at recent events in Egypt and discuss whether or not we should be afraid of Glenn Beck�s Muslim Caliphate taking over the world. In response to listener comments from our previous episode, we take a look at Sarah Palin�s idiocy and look at the data about the claim that the American political Left is just as bad in its violent rhetoric as the Right. In our counter-a...
Feb 10, 20110
Getting into debates over religion can be frustrating and people rarely ever change their minds. So why bother? What would an atheist possibly hope to achieve by debating religious apologists? Justin Schieber has had plenty of time to ponder those questions. He represents the atheist viewpoint for a monthly debate series called "A Christian and an Atheist walk into a Coffee Shop." For this episode the doubtcasters are joined by Justin for a roundtable discussion on the joys and frustrations of d...
Jan 25, 20110
With exiting new developments in stem cell research hitting the media, we thought it would be a great time to revisit the science behind the controversy. Is stem cell therapy really the panacea it's advocates claim it to be? How is an embryonic stem cell different from an adult stem cell and is experimentation on embryos really necessary? For this RD extra, Dr. Greg Forbes gives us an overview of the current state of stem cell research. *The doubtcasters want to thank loyal RD fans for their pat...
Jan 16, 20110
This extra was recorded at the Carl Sagan Day 2010 celebration hosted by the CFI On Campus group at Grand Valley State University. Doubtcasters Luke Galen and Jeremy Beahan share their respect for Carl Sagan with two short presentations. Luke talks about Sagan's "baloney detection kit" and Jeremy shares his favorite passages from Sagan's 1985 Gifford lecture series on natural theology.
Dec 23, 20100
A broad secular education can undermine dogmatic religious faith. Knowing this many conservative Christians choose to isolate their children intellectually through homeschooling or enrolling them in religious private schools and Christian colleges. Such children can reach adulthood without ever being challenged to think critically about their religious or political beliefs. In some cases they are recruited directly from Christian colleges into republican politics for that very reason. For this e...
Dec 22, 20100
America is one of the most devout nations in the west but it also has one of the lowest levels of religious literacy. According to the U.S. Religious Knowledge Survey published by the Pew Research Center most Americans cannot correctly answer simple questions about their own faith. But America was not always this way�what changed? Stephen Prothero attempts to answer this question in his book "Religious Literacy". For this episode the doubtcasters discuss the Pew Survey and offer a short synopsis...
Dec 22, 20100
On October 7'th Jeremy Beahan debated Cliff Knechtle (of Give Me an Answer Ministries) on the question "Is Christianity Rational." The debate covered the following topics: the existence of God, the historical reliability of the gospels and the historicity of the resurrection. The debate was organized by Epic: the college ministry of Riverview Church in Lansing. Chuck Wynn moderated the debate.
Dec 20, 20100
While the doctrines of early Buddhism were pragmatic, skeptical and humanistic it did not take long for Buddhism to acquire the familiar trappings of an organized religion. Just a few hundred years after the Buddha's death many of his followers began to teach that the Buddha was not an ordinary human but rather a supernatural being living in a celestial realm. Mahayana Buddhists believed that they too could acquire supernatural powers by earning merit and becoming Bodhisattvas. How did Buddhism ...
Dec 19, 20100
For this, the second in a three part series on Buddhism, the doubtcasters turn their attention to the Noble Eightfold Path and its emphasis on mental discipline. While some meditation techniques aim at achieving deep trance-like states, Vipassana or "mindfulness" meditation is relatively free of mysticism. The goal of mindfulness is to carefully observe every aspect of ones experience in order to break free from habitual patterns of thought and behavior which cause suffering. In recent years, mi...
Dec 19, 20100
