Show 566: Douglas Letkeman: Former Fundamentalist Christian

Douglas Letkeman: Former Fundamentalist Christian

Douglas Letkeman, a former fundamentalist Christian of 30+ years now an agnostic atheist, conducts cordial interviews with believers, as well as critiques popular pastors/apologists from the unbelievers’ perspective on his Youtube Channel called “Pinecreek”. Doug’s motto is that doubt is a virtue which can lead to humility and compassion, whereas certainty can lead to arrogance and violence. If you would like to contact Doug, or join him for a livestream interview, you can find him on Twitter at @p1necreek, on Facebook as PinecreekDoug, and on Youtube.

Audio can be found here!

Show 446: Deconverting from Christianity, the Sensible Thing?

De-converting from Christianity, the Sensible Thing?

Audio here!

It’s one thing to realize that science contradicts the Bible in a lot of ways, that the bible contains a lot of immoral passages (slavery, anyone?), that some passages in the bible are even contradicted by other passages in the Bible. It’s quite another thing to take the next logical step and realize God is nonexistant altogether.  After all, maybe the Bible is just a collection of metaphors, an inspired book of wisdom not meant to be literal truth.  Maybe “God” is a primal being who set the universe in motion and then did nothing else; a God like that couldn’t possibly conflict with science.  Maybe there’s a true god out there, and all the different religions are only glimpsing pieces of divine truth.  Right?

Wrong.  It turns out there’s absolutely no good reason to believe in a God of any kind, Biblical or otherwise, no matter how little it directly contradicts science or how little immorality is contained in that God’s scripture.  Few understand this better than this week’s guest Matt Dillahunty, who was a fundamentalist Christian for 25 years of his life and sincerely believed in and enjoyed his religion and God, before becoming an outspoken atheist.  He’s been hosting the cable access show “The Atheist Experience” in Austin, Texas for the past six years, and served as the president of the Atheist Community of Austin for much of that time.  He also appears in formal debates with Christian apologists and on his own YouTube channel, discussing atheism.  He co-founded the “Iron Chariots” wiki with Russel Glasser, a fellow host on “The Atheist Experience”.

Dillahunty will discuss his experience going from Christian to atheist, why it doesn’t make sense to believe in a God or gods, why theistic arguments are largely based on fallacies, and much more.

Show 322: Freethought On Campus!

Freethought On Campus!

Audio here!

In 1996, the Council for Secular Humanism brought seven college students to its headquarters at the Center for Inquiry Transnational in Amherst, New York. These seven students wanted to establish a network of non-believers and critical rationalists on university and college campuses around the world. They were concerned by the rising tide of religious-political extremism and anti-scientific outlooks among members of their generation, as well as the lack of a strong and supportive community for young freethinkers. Some came from families or communities that were openly hostile towards religious unbelievers.

Within a year, seven students’ dream had become a successful reality: forty campus groups were soon established or affiliated with what was then known as the Campus Freethought Alliance.

Continue reading “Show 322: Freethought On Campus!”