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The Atheist Experience

The Atheist Experience

By: The Atheist Community of Austin
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 The Atheist Experience is a weekly show in Austin, Texas geared at a non-atheist and atheist audience. The Atheist Experience is produced by the Atheist Community of Austin.

The Atheist Community of Austin is organized as a nonprofit educational corporation to develop and support the atheist community, to provide opportunities for socializing and friendship, to promote secular viewpoints, to encourage positive atheist culture, to defend the first amendment principle of state-church separation, to oppose discrimination against atheists and to work with other organizations in pursuit of common goals.

We define atheism as the lack of belief in gods. This definition also encompasses what most people call agnosticism.

Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-atheist-experience--3254896/support.®2024 The Atheist Community of Austin Economics Management Management & Leadership Spirituality
Episodes
  • The Atheist Experience 29.19 with Forrest Valkai and Godless Engineer 2025-05-11 16-25-11

    The Atheist Experience 29.19 with Forrest Valkai and Godless Engineer 2025-05-11 16-25-11
    May 12 2025
    (00:00:00) Intro by Forrest
    (00:08:53) Nick-CA: Approaching Trans Rights
    (00:21:26) Hank-TX: Some Evidence For God
    (00:59:57) Dave-TX: Existence Of Eternal Hell

    In today’s episode of the Atheist Experience, Forrest Valkai and The Godless Engineer, work with three callers who know how to have respectful and interesting conversations.

    Nick in CA wants to take an alternate approach to trans rights and ask the politicians why they care since trans is such a small part of the population. The primary issue is people being able to pick and choose who they discriminate against. The arguments we hear now are the same as they were when the hate was for same sex marriage. When people’s genitals seem to be at the top of the agenda, how can we get a transphobe not to care? Talk to some of the trans people that host with us and ask them what the most important and effective way to tackle the problem.

    Hank in TX has scientific evidence that points toward a god. The first thing is how pleasant near death experiences are. How do we know these experiences happen right at the time of death? It makes sense that when the brain lets go, the loss of consciousness would be chill and not scary. His second piece of evidence is that things are going well, and his consciousness was not put in a body 200 years ago. What about the people who were born back then? How about the people born into bodies in war torn countries? Consciousness is an emerging property of the brain. What is your proof that it is transported anywhere? Even if we did have multiple lives over hundreds of years, it does not mean that there is a god doing it. The third piece is there must be a god guiding the response of people like Ghandi and Martin Luther King, and the response goes against nature. Why don’t we see this behavior in your god?

    Dave in TX does not believe that hell where souls burn eternally exists. Is the Bible literally true or is it figurative?The god of the Bible is a monster. Where do we draw the line with interpretations? How is the resurrection of Jesus not contradictory when there are four different stories? Cover to cover, the Bible is pro-slavery, pro-genocide, pro-misogyny, is full of contradictions, and looks nothing like a god inspired book should look. What good can we get out of the Bible without the baggage of this evil god?

    Thank you for tuning in this week, theists and atheists! Secular Rarity, our back-up host, joins to help close us out. See you next week!

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    1 hr and 38 mins
  • The Atheist Experience 29.18 with Justin and Allegedly-Ian ​2025-05-04

    The Atheist Experience 29.18 with Justin and Allegedly-Ian ​2025-05-04
    May 5 2025

    00:00 Intro02:33 Adam-(EN) | Contingency Argument For Necessary Entity
    55:41 Mike-SC | What Level Of Natural Disaster Is Okay?
    1:37:03 Michael-FL | Dealing With Observable Phenomenon

    SHOW NOTESIn today’s episode of the Atheist Experience, Justin and Allegedly Ian, take calls ranging from philosophy to phenomena.

    Adam in England has a contingency argument for a necessary entity. Why should we believe that there was ever a point in time where things were selected?
    Prior to god creating the laws of physics, did god believe that he created the laws of physics? Was there a state that the universe did not exist?
    How can something exist and not exist at the same time?
    What causes something to be true?
    At what point does the universe become god?
    If part of god is contingent, then god is not fully necessary. How can god be all benevolent if not all parts of god are good?
    Why did god not create a world with no natural disasters? What is god’s intention when making people suffer?

    Mike, a theist in SC, wants to know what it would take to make us happy in relation to natural disaster casualties. All good means doing the best thing and that is zero deaths with not one bad thing is to be expected. How can free will exist if god is all knowing?
    If something is outside of time, would it have future, present, and past states?
    If god is all benevolent, why is he such a misogynist?
    Why does this god give instructions on how to own people?
    Why would the time period have an affect on the people’s morals?
    Profiting on the ownership of other people is bad and not dependent on perception. Why does god justify blood feud?

    Michael in FL is deconverting and curious how the hosts deal with phenomena that they can observe. It is always important to ask if there is any peer reviewed evidence showing this is a phenomenon. If god had a belief about a spiritual experience that changed once the experience happened, god can’t exist outside of space and time. Find the tests that can be done to investigate and reproduce this phenomenon. If we are unable to reproduce the results in a controlled environment, then we are looking at a psychological phenomenon.
    Thank you for joining us this week! We will see you next time!




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    1 hr and 40 mins
  • The Atheist Experience 29.17 with Justin and Jmike

    The Atheist Experience 29.17 with Justin and Jmike
    Apr 28 2025
    In today’s episode of the Atheist Experience, Justin and JMike discuss Biblical inaccuracies and the truth of these claims.

    Steve in NE, argues that enslaved people in Egypt would have owned their own houses. Justin explains that the Hebrews were subject to forced labor and how this differs from being owned as property. The illogical claims of Moses writing the Torah is as problematic as the stories Exodus. Sargon of Akkad is a story that is suspiciously similar to that of Moses; and it occurs earlier in time. There is no evidence that the Torah was written in Egyptian or that Moses wrote it. What language would Moses have spoken and used?


    Kevin in TX wants to know if it is wrong to believe in a deity based on self-preservation reasons. Having the support of family and peers may go away if you come out in some situations. How much and what component of this belief is fear based?


    Kaiser in OR thinks that The Atheist Experience is intellectually fraudulent because the issues of god are not complex enough to warrant a full show. How do you know that some of the hosts did not have a concept of god before they deconverted? We live in a society where lots of people believe in something we don’t think exists; we push back when there are consequences for these beliefs. How are you not a hypocrite when you call yourself an evangelical atheist? Maybe you should roll with theists.


    Dylan in FL has questions about the validity of the New Testament. If the New Testament tells a lie about the older scriptures, should we still trust it? Does the Bible need to be inherent? How many lies have to be told before you say it is not true? Why does Mathew 2:14-16 tell a bold faced lie about a prophecy? The sharpshooter fallacy starts with the conclusion starts with an arrow in a tree where a circle is drawn around it to show the target. They start with the conclusion and then find things that look like it and call it prophecy.


    Alfred in TX says that religion has utility and wants to know if the hosts want it phased out.
    Mike explains that he wants to see the bad things that come from religion go away and how it depends on a number of things. Justin uses a brilliant analogy of an umbrella that has utility, but every 1,000 uses omits a noxious gas. Why would god tell the Israelites that they could own slaves, kidnap women to make them wives? When conforming to Biblical lies, where do you draw the line? You might be de-converting quicker than you think if you continue on this path.


    Dr. Ben joins to offer some final thoughts before closing us out. Thank you for joining us today and we will see you next time!

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    1 hr and 48 mins
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All stars
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so glad this podcast is made, honestly i miss matthew dillahunty. but its still a very worthwhile listen. keep it up!

Ive never heard the perspective of an atheist until i heard this show

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Matt and his team make so much sense and wakes you up to reality and facts.

I love this show

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The people of the atheist experience have helped me question and think about my beliefs for over a year now thank you guys so much.

Fantastic show

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I love that these guys don't use kid gloves on a subject that usually demands religious exceptions. Keep up the good work!

A new favorite podcast!

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As an atheist, I often find the responses given by the host to be missing the heart of the questions presented; and giving responses that are so convoluted they seem to veer off into the stratosphere. I can't seem to get through more than a few minutes before I have to turn it off because it's so frustrating to listen to. Gave the 2 stars merely because I support anyone out there promoting atheism.

Frustrating to listen to

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