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Atheist Experience #501: Creationism Evolves

The Atheist Experience #501 for May 20, 2007, with Matt Dillahunty and Russell Glasser. Creationism Evolves. Russell talks about how creationism has evolved into intelligent design.

We welcome your comments on the open blog thread for this show.

► http://freethoughtblogs.com/axp/

YouTube comments are at present disabled in our channel, to the displeasure of some. However, each video has a prominent link to the associated open thread that appears on our blog. In the past we’ve tried opening up the channel to comments, but we found that a very high number of episodes wound up being flooded with a combination of spam, long winded apologists, and various obscene or misogynistic comments directed at various hosts by people with an axe to grind. This seems to be the nature of YouTube comment sections, in our experience.

We do moderate the blog, the same way that we moderate chat during the show, as well as comments on our Facebook group. For comment sections that are “officially” associated with our show (and, to a much lesser extent, channels that may give the unintended appearance of being official), we prefer not to play host to straight up ad hominem attacks and bigotry. As a general policy we do not block commenters simply on the basis of disagreement with our point of view. However, we do prefer discussion environments that don’t actively chase off more reasonable contributors.

——-

The most up to date Atheist Experience videos can be found by visiting http://atheist-experience.com/archive/

You can read more about this show on the Atheist Experience blog:

► http://freethoughtblogs.com/axp/

WHAT IS THE ATHEIST EXPERIENCE?

The Atheist Experience is a weekly cable access television show in Austin, Texas geared at a non-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.

VISIT THE ACA’S OFFICIAL WEB SITES

► http://www.atheist-community.org (The Atheist Community of Austin)

► http://www.atheist-experience.com (The Atheist Experience TV Show)

More shows and video clips can be found in the archive:

► http://www.atheist-experience.com/archive

DVDs of the Atheist Experience can be purchased via:

► http://www.atheist-community.org/products

MUSIC CREDITS

Theme song: “Listen to Reason,” written and performed by Bryan Steeksma.

► http://www.youtube.com/bryansteeksma

► http://www.myspace.com/bryansteeksma

NOTES

TheAtheistExperience is the official channel of The Atheist Experience. “The Atheist Experience” is a trademark of the ACA.

Copyright © 2014 Atheist Community of Austin. All rights reserved.

Mr Deity lays into Mormon apologetics

Many of you know that Brian Dalton (“Mr. Deity”) used to be a Mormon. Here, speaking from his nearly three decades in the faith, he takes the religion apart in a video that’s remarkably “strident” for Dalton. And much of what he says applies to religion in general.

He’s clearly ticked off that he wasted so many years believing in fairy tales. ~

Could it be . . . Satan?

Here we have a True Believer making a fervent cast that Monster energy drinks are made in the service of the devil.

I don’t know much about this video except that I’m pretty sure it’s authentic; that is, the woman really believes that she’s saying. It’s simply too ludicrous to be a joke.  PuffHo has a piece on it, but doesn’t identify the woman and merely repeats what you can see below.

PuffHo does add a bit of information, though:

Many of her complaints about the drink have circulated online before, with some users on the Snopes message board reporting a similar message circulating on Facebook in 2009. However, none of the others have spread this quickly.

The Facebook clip posted by Andrew Blevins this weekend has already been viewed more than 8 million times while the YouTube version posted on Sunday racked up more 1.5 million views in less than 24 hours.

Monster has not responded to numerous people sharing the video on its Facebook page. However, when these religious claims have surfaced in the past, others,including members of the Christian community, have pointed out that the so-called “number of the beast” is not three sixes, but 666 — as in six hundred and sixty-six — which would not be represented in Hebrew by a six repeated three times.

Also difficult to explain would be the fact that Monster Beverage Corp., which owns the Monster Energy drink, also owns Peace Tea.

I remember when the Proctor and Gamble logo, devised in 1850, was, 130 years later, interpreted by Christian wackos as a symbol of Satan, and that the company was donating its profits to the Church of Satan. Here’s that logo and the Satanist interpretation back then:

From Snopes.com:

Once Again, No One Is Upset When Carrie Underwood Sings About God

Only a month ago, right wing websites were running with a story about how atheists were up in arms over Carrie Underwood‘s new single “Something In The Water” because it had religious references in it.

The problem with that sentiment was that atheists didn’t give a damn. Hell, atheists didn’t even know she had a new song out. Double hell, atheists don’t even know who Carrie Underwood is.

And those articles never bothered to mention which groups or individuals they were talking about. They had a catchy headline — and that was enough!

Turns out it’s still happening.

A site calls “Hot Moms Club” posted an article yesterday with a headline suggesting that Underwood was told not to sing that song at the recent Country Music Awards… but did it anyway!

They Told Carrie Underwood Not To Sing About God. Then She Did THIS.

Atheist Experience #500: Consciousness

The Atheist Experience #500 for May 13, 2007, with Matt Dillahunty and Tracie Harris. Consciousness. Tracie talks about our current understanding of the consciousness and that our selves are completely in our brain.

We welcome your comments on the open blog thread for this show.

► http://freethoughtblogs.com/axp/

YouTube comments are at present disabled in our channel, to the displeasure of some. However, each video has a prominent link to the associated open thread that appears on our blog. In the past we’ve tried opening up the channel to comments, but we found that a very high number of episodes wound up being flooded with a combination of spam, long winded apologists, and various obscene or misogynistic comments directed at various hosts by people with an axe to grind. This seems to be the nature of YouTube comment sections, in our experience.

We do moderate the blog, the same way that we moderate chat during the show, as well as comments on our Facebook group. For comment sections that are “officially” associated with our show (and, to a much lesser extent, channels that may give the unintended appearance of being official), we prefer not to play host to straight up ad hominem attacks and bigotry. As a general policy we do not block commenters simply on the basis of disagreement with our point of view. However, we do prefer discussion environments that don’t actively chase off more reasonable contributors.

——-

The most up to date Atheist Experience videos can be found by visiting http://atheist-experience.com/archive/

You can read more about this show on the Atheist Experience blog:

► http://freethoughtblogs.com/axp/

WHAT IS THE ATHEIST EXPERIENCE?

The Atheist Experience is a weekly cable access television show in Austin, Texas geared at a non-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.

VISIT THE ACA’S OFFICIAL WEB SITES

► http://www.atheist-community.org (The Atheist Community of Austin)

► http://www.atheist-experience.com (The Atheist Experience TV Show)

More shows and video clips can be found in the archive:

► http://www.atheist-experience.com/archive

DVDs of the Atheist Experience can be purchased via:

► http://www.atheist-community.org/products

MUSIC CREDITS

Theme song: “Listen to Reason,” written and performed by Bryan Steeksma.

► http://www.youtube.com/bryansteeksma

► http://www.myspace.com/bryansteeksma

NOTES

TheAtheistExperience is the official channel of The Atheist Experience. “The Atheist Experience” is a trademark of the ACA.

Copyright © 2014 Atheist Community of Austin. All rights reserved.

Atheist Experience #499: Vic Stenger’s New Book

The Atheist Experience #499 for May 6, 2007, with Matt Dillahunty and Ashley Perrien. Vic Stenger’s New Book. Vic explains the scientific case against God’s existence.

We welcome your comments on the open blog thread for this show.

► http://freethoughtblogs.com/axp/

YouTube comments are at present disabled in our channel, to the displeasure of some. However, each video has a prominent link to the associated open thread that appears on our blog. In the past we’ve tried opening up the channel to comments, but we found that a very high number of episodes wound up being flooded with a combination of spam, long winded apologists, and various obscene or misogynistic comments directed at various hosts by people with an axe to grind. This seems to be the nature of YouTube comment sections, in our experience.

We do moderate the blog, the same way that we moderate chat during the show, as well as comments on our Facebook group. For comment sections that are “officially” associated with our show (and, to a much lesser extent, channels that may give the unintended appearance of being official), we prefer not to play host to straight up ad hominem attacks and bigotry. As a general policy we do not block commenters simply on the basis of disagreement with our point of view. However, we do prefer discussion environments that don’t actively chase off more reasonable contributors.

——-

The most up to date Atheist Experience videos can be found by visiting http://atheist-experience.com/archive/

You can read more about this show on the Atheist Experience blog:

► http://freethoughtblogs.com/axp/

WHAT IS THE ATHEIST EXPERIENCE?

The Atheist Experience is a weekly cable access television show in Austin, Texas geared at a non-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.

VISIT THE ACA’S OFFICIAL WEB SITES

► http://www.atheist-community.org (The Atheist Community of Austin)

► http://www.atheist-experience.com (The Atheist Experience TV Show)

More shows and video clips can be found in the archive:

► http://www.atheist-experience.com/archive

DVDs of the Atheist Experience can be purchased via:

► http://www.atheist-community.org/products

MUSIC CREDITS

Theme song: “Listen to Reason,” written and performed by Bryan Steeksma.

► http://www.youtube.com/bryansteeksma

► http://www.myspace.com/bryansteeksma

NOTES

TheAtheistExperience is the official channel of The Atheist Experience. “The Atheist Experience” is a trademark of the ACA.

Copyright © 2014 Atheist Community of Austin. All rights reserved.

Atheist Experience #498: Evidence for evolution

The Atheist Experience #498 for April 29, 2007, with Matt Dillahunty and Russell Glasser. Evidence for evolution. Russell presents some of the positive evidence for evolution.

We welcome your comments on the open blog thread for this show.

► http://freethoughtblogs.com/axp/

YouTube comments are at present disabled in our channel, to the displeasure of some. However, each video has a prominent link to the associated open thread that appears on our blog. In the past we’ve tried opening up the channel to comments, but we found that a very high number of episodes wound up being flooded with a combination of spam, long winded apologists, and various obscene or misogynistic comments directed at various hosts by people with an axe to grind. This seems to be the nature of YouTube comment sections, in our experience.

We do moderate the blog, the same way that we moderate chat during the show, as well as comments on our Facebook group. For comment sections that are “officially” associated with our show (and, to a much lesser extent, channels that may give the unintended appearance of being official), we prefer not to play host to straight up ad hominem attacks and bigotry. As a general policy we do not block commenters simply on the basis of disagreement with our point of view. However, we do prefer discussion environments that don’t actively chase off more reasonable contributors.

——-

The most up to date Atheist Experience videos can be found by visiting http://atheist-experience.com/archive/

You can read more about this show on the Atheist Experience blog:

► http://freethoughtblogs.com/axp/

WHAT IS THE ATHEIST EXPERIENCE?

The Atheist Experience is a weekly cable access television show in Austin, Texas geared at a non-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.

VISIT THE ACA’S OFFICIAL WEB SITES

► http://www.atheist-community.org (The Atheist Community of Austin)

► http://www.atheist-experience.com (The Atheist Experience TV Show)

More shows and video clips can be found in the archive:

► http://www.atheist-experience.com/archive

DVDs of the Atheist Experience can be purchased via:

► http://www.atheist-community.org/products

MUSIC CREDITS

Theme song: “Listen to Reason,” written and performed by Bryan Steeksma.

► http://www.youtube.com/bryansteeksma

► http://www.myspace.com/bryansteeksma

NOTES

TheAtheistExperience is the official channel of The Atheist Experience. “The Atheist Experience” is a trademark of the ACA.

Copyright © 2014 Atheist Community of Austin. All rights reserved.

Atheist Experience #497: Redefining Words

The Atheist Experience #497 for April 22, 2007, with Matt Dillahunty and Don Baker. Redefining Words. Don talks about how words get abused and misused by theists as a mechanism for spinning the truth.

We welcome your comments on the open blog thread for this show.

► http://freethoughtblogs.com/axp/

YouTube comments are at present disabled in our channel, to the displeasure of some. However, each video has a prominent link to the associated open thread that appears on our blog. In the past we’ve tried opening up the channel to comments, but we found that a very high number of episodes wound up being flooded with a combination of spam, long winded apologists, and various obscene or misogynistic comments directed at various hosts by people with an axe to grind. This seems to be the nature of YouTube comment sections, in our experience.

We do moderate the blog, the same way that we moderate chat during the show, as well as comments on our Facebook group. For comment sections that are “officially” associated with our show (and, to a much lesser extent, channels that may give the unintended appearance of being official), we prefer not to play host to straight up ad hominem attacks and bigotry. As a general policy we do not block commenters simply on the basis of disagreement with our point of view. However, we do prefer discussion environments that don’t actively chase off more reasonable contributors.

——-

The most up to date Atheist Experience videos can be found by visiting http://atheist-experience.com/archive/

You can read more about this show on the Atheist Experience blog:

► http://freethoughtblogs.com/axp/

WHAT IS THE ATHEIST EXPERIENCE?

The Atheist Experience is a weekly cable access television show in Austin, Texas geared at a non-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.

VISIT THE ACA’S OFFICIAL WEB SITES

► http://www.atheist-community.org (The Atheist Community of Austin)

► http://www.atheist-experience.com (The Atheist Experience TV Show)

More shows and video clips can be found in the archive:

► http://www.atheist-experience.com/archive

DVDs of the Atheist Experience can be purchased via:

► http://www.atheist-community.org/products

MUSIC CREDITS

Theme song: “Listen to Reason,” written and performed by Bryan Steeksma.

► http://www.youtube.com/bryansteeksma

► http://www.myspace.com/bryansteeksma

NOTES

TheAtheistExperience is the official channel of The Atheist Experience. “The Atheist Experience” is a trademark of the ACA.

Copyright © 2014 Atheist Community of Austin. All rights reserved.

Atheist Experience #496: Deconversion II

The Atheist Experience #496 for April 15, 2007, with Matt Dillahunty and Tracie Harris. Deconversion II. Tracie continues to discuss the process through which believers become non-believers.

We welcome your comments on the open blog thread for this show.

► http://freethoughtblogs.com/axp/

YouTube comments are at present disabled in our channel, to the displeasure of some. However, each video has a prominent link to the associated open thread that appears on our blog. In the past we’ve tried opening up the channel to comments, but we found that a very high number of episodes wound up being flooded with a combination of spam, long winded apologists, and various obscene or misogynistic comments directed at various hosts by people with an axe to grind. This seems to be the nature of YouTube comment sections, in our experience.

We do moderate the blog, the same way that we moderate chat during the show, as well as comments on our Facebook group. For comment sections that are “officially” associated with our show (and, to a much lesser extent, channels that may give the unintended appearance of being official), we prefer not to play host to straight up ad hominem attacks and bigotry. As a general policy we do not block commenters simply on the basis of disagreement with our point of view. However, we do prefer discussion environments that don’t actively chase off more reasonable contributors.

——-

The most up to date Atheist Experience videos can be found by visiting http://atheist-experience.com/archive/

You can read more about this show on the Atheist Experience blog:

► http://freethoughtblogs.com/axp/

WHAT IS THE ATHEIST EXPERIENCE?

The Atheist Experience is a weekly cable access television show in Austin, Texas geared at a non-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.

VISIT THE ACA’S OFFICIAL WEB SITES

► http://www.atheist-community.org (The Atheist Community of Austin)

► http://www.atheist-experience.com (The Atheist Experience TV Show)

More shows and video clips can be found in the archive:

► http://www.atheist-experience.com/archive

DVDs of the Atheist Experience can be purchased via:

► http://www.atheist-community.org/products

MUSIC CREDITS

Theme song: “Listen to Reason,” written and performed by Bryan Steeksma.

► http://www.youtube.com/bryansteeksma

► http://www.myspace.com/bryansteeksma

NOTES

TheAtheistExperience is the official channel of The Atheist Experience. “The Atheist Experience” is a trademark of the ACA.

Copyright © 2014 Atheist Community of Austin. All rights reserved.

Synchronized Walking Reduces Opponent’s Perceived Size

A lot of us march to the beat of our own drummer. But there are certain benefits to walking in synch. It can make you feel like you’re one of the gang. And it might make people who are not in your gang look less threatening. That’s according to a study in the journal Biology Letters. [Daniel M.T. Fessler and Colin Holbrook, Marching into battle: synchronized walking diminishes the conceptualized formidability of an antagonist in men]



Synchronized movement has long been known to cement alliances and to enhance cooperation. [Sound of marching and USMC drill instructor] But can it also change the way you see those outside your troop? To find out, researchers had participants pair off and walk together, either in synch or just at their natural pace. Afterwards, the volunteers were shown a mug shot of an angry male face and asked to estimate the criminal’s overall size.



Those subjects who kept pace with a colleague found the bad guy to be less formidable than did their out-of-synch peers. Marchers guessed the mug-shot man was an inch shorter and about 10 percent smaller and less muscular than did the subjects who simply strolled.



The findings suggest that physical coordination could boost your self confidence. On the down side, it might also lead you to underestimate an opponent—a miscalculation that could really get you off on the wrong foot.



—Karen Hopkin



(The above text is a transcript of this podcast)