The Atheist Experience

The Midshow Promo clips. You like them! You love them! You want more of them! Well, consider your prayers answered, because we present some of the best moments from our past season. The video elves have been working overtime to bring you this collection of some of the funniest, most intense, and overall best segments.We’ll be back to live production in the new year, but for now the hosts, crew and volunteers of The Atheist Experience and The Atheist Community of Austin wish you all the best for this holiday season and in the new year to come. We’ll see you next year!

As we wind down 2022, we wanted to take a look back at all the best moments of the current season, and we've chosen the Top 5 calls, as determined by your viewing. Relive some of the most memorable and favorite moments from this past year of The Atheist Experience.We are also compiling this collection so that we could give you something interesting to watch over the holidays, but also give our hard-working hosts and crew some time off to spend with their family and friends.The ACA wishes you all the best for 2023, and make sure to join us in this coming year for more of the stuff you love!

Welcome back to the show! In today’s episode of the Atheist Experience, Jim Barrows is joined Student Doctor Ben at the Freethought Library!Kevin from GA disputes the reliability and double standards of social constructs. From a social perspective, the caller asks why it isn’t acceptable to kick down someone’s door to steal food from others if we are hungry? If humans are animals and other animals will take drastic action in the name of self-preservation, why is this any less acceptable? Jon from Canada has ultimate proof of God. It's the force. Jon, are you 100% sure that it isn’t the Schwartz? Paul from Canada is calling to ask about what the terms: gnostic, agnostic, theist, and atheist mean, and how and when to use them. Seth from ID believes that atheists get the meaning of separation of church and state wrong. The caller claims that the statement was to prevent a specific sect of Christianity from becoming the dominant faith in the United States, not that religion and government should be separate. Oh b

Welcome back to the show! In today’s episode of the Atheist Experience, JMike is joined by Dave Warnock!Davis from CO is calling to ask about what God or what kind of God atheists are rejecting. The caller states that they do not have enough faith to ascribe to “the atheist worldview” whatever that is.Julian from FL has a question about Job 38:16 and how it predicted the recently discovered geysers in the sea. How did we get to that out of this vague verse?Bear from WA claims that God’s glory is indirectly derived from permitting a world, he created, where there is both good and evil. If he is either capable of creating a world where there is no evil or stepping in when evil is being committed for the sake of his own necessary glory, why should anyone think of this God as a self-centered, pacifistic thug? And unfortunately for you, without evidence to support the existence of this God that would otherwise act as your ideology’s meat shield, your beliefs Bear, are abhorrent and disgusting on their own merit.Jo

Welcome back to the show! In today’s episode of the Atheist Experience, Forrest Valkai is joined by JMike!Muhammad from CA wants to discuss their views that naturalism takes away the characteristics that make humans unique. But a lack of uniqueness and predetermined purpose doesn’t necessarily correlate with value or worthiness?Sheep of God, because why not, from TX is calling to defend the claim that secularism is a form of faith. The more atheist shows SoG watched, the more they learned about their doctrine and the more their faith strengthened.Brian from Canada asks that given many atheist’s don’t believe there is substantial evidence for God, what kinds of evidence are our host’s looking for?Mark from NY believes that evidence exists that leads to the conclusion that god is more probable. What is this evidence you might ask? It’s that atheism failed to provide answers to some of the caller’s questions. Just because something claims to have answers in no way means that those answers are true, and atheism’s

Welcome back to the show! In today’s episode of the Atheist Experience, Student Doctor Ben is joined Adam Elmasri!Jon from Canada is calling to ask what is one’s purpose in life if the person doesn’t believe in God or if there isn’t a god? And also education about trans people is apparently the equivalent of genocide, and no they won’t defend that.Jaime from TX wants to know how to criticize Islam without coming off as Islamophobic especially with the history of that in the U.K. Make it general about the core foundation of theism, and engage specifically only if the conversation shifts to a specific religion. Even then, don’t attack the religion or its culture but instead, focus on getting them to defend the claims made in the book.Rick from Canada is just calling to tell us that if we don’t agree with God’s genocide of the Canaanites and Amalekites or else were the evil ones? Because inbreeding? Whaaaaaaaat, why? Lot of genocide talk so far today.David from Romania is calling to talk about how their mother c

Welcome back to the show! In today’s episode of the Atheist Experience, Forrest Valkai is joined by Christy Powell!First up is Damien from WA who wants advice on how to explain to their family that they don’t enjoy the religious inquiries and love, and that their non-belief is not an attack on them.Jay from IA asks why Atheists feel the need to talk about their non-belief and tell others God doesn’t exist all the time. The answer varies from atheist to atheist based on their own experiences. But don’t worry, the call doesn’t stop there so be sure to keep watching and listening?Next is Bear from WA who is presenting personal testimony about how they experienced problems with their life, but that these problems resolved themselves after seeking out God.Eric from WI is calling to tell Atheists that God doesn’t send them to hell, but that we send ourselves. Theists have had 12 years to make the choice to revise and rehabilitate this argument before calling in again, but they haven’t.Next is Nicole from Armenia wh

Welcome back to the show! In today’s episode of the Atheist Experience, Forrest Valkai is joined by Dave Barrows!First up is Victoria from Chile is wondering if religion or religious practices, given their predominance across modern cultures, may have first formed prior to the emergence of homo sapiens.Next is King from AK is calling to present evidence, that at least to their friend, that Atheists converting to Christianity such as C.S. Lewis and Anthony Flew is evidence for god. The evidence would be based on their reason for the conversion, not merely that they became Christian.Joshua from NC believes that gender and sex are the same for biological reasons. Forrest can explain this far better than I can even if I had an unlimited character count so listen to him. Jim’s Recommended Link: https://www.nature.com/articles/nn.3988 Frisco from AZ is working hard to figure out the mind-state of Atheists, but not too hard because we’re weird and the worst of human beings. Yes. We are laughing.Amanual from TX is ca

Welcome back to the show! In today’s episode of the Atheist Experience, Jim Barrows is joined by Johnny P. Angel!First up is Kevin from Canada who claims that there are other dimensions, among many other claims. So. Many. Claims.Next up is Sarah from Belgium who is beginning to question their faith, and asks out hosts if there is any truth to Judaism. Historically speaking regarding the Israelites, definitely. With regards to the religious beliefs and stories, likely less so.Connor, TX from the audience asks our hosts what their opinion is on having nuanced rules for taxing churches based on size (i.e. Megachuches versus small community congregations.) The answer may surprise you.Max from TX was a theist, but after listening to the show they are starting to question whether they are still a Theist.William, TX from the audience continues the conversation started by Connor by asking if the hosts are concerned that gauging the tax status of churches based on how much they benefit their community opens the door t

Welcome back to the show! In today’s episode of the Atheist Experience, JMike is joined by Jim Barrows!First up is Kevin from GA, a theist who disagrees with slavery in the Bible, especially the constant Christian defense. The issue is, the caller also admits that God’s commands are perfectly justified and should be followed, therefore contradicting their own moral judgments.Aman from TX doesn’t find owning another human being as property to be moral but also doesn’t find their god who supports slavery to be immoral.Charlie from FL argues that the tree of knowledge of good and evil is evidence that humans shouldn’t be allowed to follow a moral system that deviates from God’s own. Why is God punishing humans for falling for a trap that he set up?Tyler from IN is calling to recount the time they found themselves indoctrinated into a cult and their path to getting out.Duane from WV is calling to draw a comparison between the tenets of narcissism and the Christian God. Needless to say, a ven diagram between a hum

In today’s episode of the Atheist Experience, Shannon Q is joined by Kenneth Leonard!First up is Mark from CA who wants to write a letter to their young relatives who have been raised in a fundamentalist environment and would like advice from our hosts on what to open the letter with.Next is Troy from WA who doesn’t necessarily believe in a God, but is convinced that there is a high probability of other life in the universe and that one of these other intelligent organisms created us in their image. Basically, the caller went to the “Alien: Covenant” school of intelligent design.Next is Aaron from WY who is curious as to why the human brain appears to be wired to jump to unfounded conclusions, i.e. spiritual thinking.Dmitry from MA recently read a book that introduces mathematics as the foundational truth of the universe, and that the Bible spirituality is a corruption of this truth.BenDan from WI will return later...Michael from GA has a question on how to go about conversing with theists and helping walk a

Welcome back to the show! In today’s episode of the Atheist Experience, Forrest Valkai is joined by Dave Warnock!Charles from TX is calling to claim that Revelations 17:5 is the reason for all of the evil done in the name of Catholicism.Next is David from Australia who after decades of indoctrination is hit head on with the prospect of the religion not be true, or worse manipulative. The caller is struggling with pushing past their fear of hell from their lifetime of it being used as a tool to keep them in line.Luke from CA has a five premise argument to make God exist in our world. You could use this argument to make any literally any fantasy character exist in our world...doesn’t mean they do.Believer in God (BIG) from WA isn’t convinced that Atheists are actually real and those who claim to be Atheist are actually pretending Theists. They believe this because polygraphs.Diana from KS doesn’t believe that Atheists cannot judge morality because they lack an objective moral standard. Appealing to an authorita

Welcome back to the show! In today’s episode of the Atheist Experience, Matt Dillahunty is joined by Jim Barrows!Mr. Warlights from AK starts off the show by accusing Matt of secretly believing in spirits because Matt is just a normal human like the rest of us, and regular humans all believe in spirits. You know, as opposed to all of the not regular humans who don’t?Next is Isaiah from Korea who is calling to talk about the parental reaction to deconversion, or not sharing the religion of their parents, and why some parents react so harshly compared to others.Kevin from CA is convinced that a God exists because they encountered portal spirits who showed them a plane of existence that mirrors our own reality.JB from CO calls in to present problems they see with any reliance on naturalism regarding answering questions about our perceived reality.Next up is Jeremy from Fl who asks our hosts if a coincidence would ever be enough to convince our hosts that there is a god or supernatural power controlling the unive

Welcome back to the show! In today’s episode of the Atheist Experience, Matt Dillahunty is joined by Andrew Seidel!Dustin from TX is calling to ask Matt what his stance is on the claim that they “choose to believe” in a God. How can you choose to be convinced? You either are or you aren't.Next is Jaime from the audience who was called something unfortunate after stating they were an agnostic, and are curious if agnosticism really is just sitting on the fence.Thomas from KY is calling to ask how Christianity is attempting to weaponize the religious freedom outlined in the first amendment within US legislation.Pedro from Ireland has an argument for God that requires God to be undeniable and necessary. What a great, absolutely unhelpful definition.Next is Mark from AL who claims to have an answer to the question of divine hiddenness.Next is Seth from TX who asks for the legal standing on the more creative, rebellious signs being donated in response to the “In God We Trust” signage law.Peter from Canada claims to

Welcome back to the show! In today’s episode of the Atheist Experience, Shannon Q is joined by Dave Warnock!First up is Philip from Canada who is calling to answer this weeks poll question “Is the Holy Spirit something that is experienced outside the brain?” Why did God reveal himself to you and save you from overdose and abandoned others in your same situation.Next is Michael from KY who claims to have evidence for the existence of God which is apparently hidden in the “Book of Eli” with Denzel Washington, no doubt hidden in the secret number code Michael was transmitting throughout the call. Also Michael is God–the caller, not the Archangel.Next is Steven from AZ who brings up their experience of wanting to return to religion after suffering a near-death experience, and is wondering if the hosts have any experiences of their own or advice for dealing with this pull?Robin from DC is going to overturn our trailer for the show with a transcendental argument for the existence of God. God’s revelation to everyon

Welcome back to the show! In today’s episode of the Atheist Experience, Matt Dillahunty is joined by Jmike!First up is Tyler from TX who is an Atheist who is calling to explain the better reason for why God condones slavery in the bible. But why tho?Next up is Aaron from IL who believes that Catholicism is absolutely factual and their God is the one true God. The caller is very adamant in telling us what they believe but is incapable of actually explaining why they believe.MacGruber from Canada is calling to present a presuppositional argument to demonstrate that God has revealed the truth of Revelations to all of us.Next is Erik from MI who experienced something they can’t explain, but doesn’t want to label as supernatural. The caller wants advice on how to go about determining the cause of said experience.Next up is Kevin from Canada who is a former Christian who has now transitioned to Daoism. The caller mentions that Daoists didn’t have a problem with him when we were Christian, which begs the question, d

Welcome back to the show! In today’s episode of the Atheist Experience, Matt Dillahunty is joined by Jim Barrows!First up is James from Canada who supposedly has scientific evidence that supports Jonah’s ability to survive in a whale’s mouth. Except it wasn’t a whale's mouth, but the stomach of a fish.Our first audience question of the show asks what the host’s opinion what the weirdest Christian denomination is.Next is Sean from UT who criticizes referencing the harm caused by Christianity throughout history because they don’t believe those who carried out that harm truly understood the bible’s teachings.Next is audience member James from TX who asks if the same criteria used to determine which books to include in the bible can be used to exclude certain books.Bob from VA thinks Atheists won’t accept that God does all of the miraculous things the caller claims he can because they willingly don’t understand.Roy from IL presents an argument for the exodus story and how this is evidence for biblical truth and t

Welcome back to the show! In today’s episode of the Atheist Experience, JMike is joined by Forrest Valkai!First up is Charles from Canada who is calling to present a bible quote that supposedly supports the truth of evolution. What about all of the other verses that do not?Next is Luc from Canada who disagrees that Atheists can have an objective moral system without belief in a God. There are objective facts about our reality that we can form a morality around. Chopping off someone’s head objectively damages someone physically, so we can then objectively evaluate the action of head-chopping and come to the exact same moral conclusion.Antonio from AL is calling to argue that the Bible is the evidence for God and that Atheists are unfairly throwing out the Bible because science can’t yet explain all of the claims. The caller also believes that Adam and Even were literally formed out of dust and a rib respectively, and cites modern science and medical procedures that vaguely align with the claim to support it.Al