Hosts Frank Feldman (right) and Dan Beecher (left)
Hey. You ever feel like the only rational, thinking person in the room? You ever get the sense that 99% of the people in your area are complete idiots willing to believe anything they’re told as long as someone says god says so?
Good news! It’s really only about 85%! The other 13% – 16% are actually atheists like you (higher in Canada and Europe)! Smart, thinking people who, at some point or other, realized that the concept of a magic daddy in the sky who grants wishes to good little boys and girls is every bit as stupid as it sounds, and turned to a life of godlessness.
Well, kids, that’s what this site is all about. Celebrating rational thought, enjoying intelligent and reasoned discourse, and gently pointing out the gaping logical holes and utterly ridiculous notions inherent in theistic belief.
So here’s how this works: If you love Sean Hannity and Rush Limbaugh and Ann Coulter, you’re probably going to HATE this site. If you love Jesus or Mohammad more than you love your parents and take it personally if nobody says “god bless you” after you sneeze, I’m guessing it won’t be for you, either.
If, however, you have a sense of humor and enjoy a bit of good-natured ribbing of the believing set, then you’ve come to the right place. We’re going to put the fun in fundamentalists (they already put the mental in)!
Nietzsche pronounced god dead. Some German coroner (presumably) pronounced Nietzsche dead. We’re all going to die… might as well enjoy ourselves while we can.
Amen
Looks like the author of this site has a real personal problem with religion.
I just have to say, it’s really cool reading about people’s personal experiences and how they came to see the light. It just goes to show that there are some good thinkers born into every religion and while we don’t believe God gave us a purpose, we choose for our purpose to be to challenge the established belief systems and create our own paths in life.
As a none believer many of your choices are limited to the values of Christianity. I can’t rap your life partner without challenging established belief systems and being denied my chosen path in life. Especially if I admit I want for continue doing this to many others. Maybe take the life of a small child along the way. You would have me judged with a Christian oriented belief system and jailed or executed. Where would my rights be as a none believer. I would be subjected to your unfounded belief system which is based in Christian morals and values.
As a non-believer, you REALLY shouldn’t kill anyone, because then we’d put you in jail, where non-believers are often killed, themselves.
Thanks Hans…really had no clue that that was the case.
Ya think?
Yes. That’s why it’s called Thank god I’m An Atheist.
Would be really interesting what the author of this site means by enjoying life.
I am very religious and I can say from the depths of my heart that the greatest joys of my life all originated from or were a consequence of my religion.
So I have a really hard time understanding, how Atheism makes up for a rich, happy and fulfilling life.
If you are happy with your religion, it’s good for you! I don’t think anyone can argue against one being a happy believer! So Godspeed to you, and leave atheism to the rest of us. We can’t convince you, and you, sure as that bad place, can’t convince us!
Greetings from Scandinavia!
Is it really that hard to understand the message? There are a large number of people that live their life in fear because they think they’ll be struck down by an imaginary being if they do something bad. Atheists don’t have that problem. Religion /= morality. It’s all about the environment you grow up in and what you’re taught as a child. Religion is just socially acceptable indoctrination into a specific way of thinking.
Fortunately you value Christian morals or you might find rap, incest, murder, theft, child molestation and an array of other damnable acts and thought patterns acceptable. Some atheists to participate in these things due to their being no reasoning or basis to make them wrong. Morals have everything to do with right and wrong. Who gets to make the decision of what is right and wrong and why.
You haven’t read your holy book, have you?
Hi, James. I am an atheist. Why do you think atheists accept socially abhorrent behaviors? I don’t accept or commit terrible acts because I have empathy for other creatures that feel pain whether they are human or some other form of life. The other day I was at a concert, and the person in the bathroom stall next to me dropped a twenty dollar bill. I waited for her to pick it up, but she didn’t. So I made note of what shoes she was wearing, and after I picked up the twenty, I found her at the sink and gave it back to her. She was so grateful and that made me feel so good to know that I had helped her out. I knew I would have regretted taking the money, even though it would have been so easy, because I know how bad it feels to lose money. It’s not that hard to be a decent human being.
As usual, religiously infected cult liars like James H., who cannot present any evidence that god is real, instead attack atheists and label them as evil rapists.
Religion is an uncontained mental disease that causes the slow decay of a once intelligent species, it is sad that so many atheists have to experience these dangerous religious cults and there cruel and ignorant ways.
An ignorant cult that cannot even present evidence its god is real is not a religion it is a psychological delusion.
Religious people please get help for your arrogance, obstinate nature, you know there is no god and dragging more people into your illness is no way to preach honesty if god was real he’d sure as drag you out from behind your cardboard cult pulpit and make you pay your taxes like the rest of his creation!
Why is there inequality in society,good and bad, rich and poor, black and white, ugly looks and good looks,intelligents and stupids,superiors and inferiors,rulers and ruled,w why why why why if there is god,and loves us why this discrimination,all this reveals there is no such good as you stupid different religious people believe,you bloody fools song make us stupid like you were made like somebody made you think rationally ,challenge me if you can prove or atleast make me realize.
As an atheist my happiness is fueled by the reality that I am not tied to an unproven fictitious limitation on my liberty to question, think, and live. I understand that “believers” need some magical promise to force them to live a certain way…I am not one of those people.
I find music, love, relationships, art, culture, people, and a whole litany of other experiences that provide me fulfillment and happiness. My lack of “religious belief” does not stop me from being happy.
Hans…let me ask you this…without your religion…what are you?
Be thankful you are surrounded by people having the values of Christianity, which keep you safe. No morals means only the strong survive and the rest don’t matter. Are you prepared to rape a child to get your sexual satisfaction? I hope not. Not doing such a thing and having a though of such being wrong or not acceptable is a Christian believe and value. Welcome to accepting Christianity. Or live in fear. Keep your doors locked and your valuables put away. The real atheists will take make them their own.
James, you seem to have an obsession with thoughts of rape. Are you okay?
Religion is a disease of the mind, often religion abandons its own leaving them to drift around, babbling and judging random strangers as the disease takes hold. We call these poor people the severely blessed.
You don’t need religion, or any belief in a higher power to be moral, in fact the most immoral, disgusting, and despicable character in the bible is the god of the bible, although I believe the whole bible is fiction, the character of god is insane, horrible, and just plain creepy, instead of earning love and respect, he demands it, while doing horrible things to people, and doing nothing to help people. Christian believe in god that needed his own son tortured to death, before he could forgive anyone, that would drown the whole planet, including animals and babies, but they count that as love, and honestly about your 10 commandments, the first 3 are just about his ego, better commandments would have said something about not owning people, and not raping them, but their is NOTHING in the 10 commandments about that. Christians don’t know the history of their own book, most of them don’t even read it all the way through.
So the only reason you don’t rape and pillage is because your Sky God will punish you? In other words, you only pursue “Christian values” because of the threat of hell? The crimes you talk about are condemned by all religions, not just Christianity. So your premise that atheists are only kept in line by Christian morality just demonstrates how immoral (and how self-involved) you are. I don’t need to be threatened by a make-believe person to know what is moral or immoral. I’m sorry you can’t figure it out without explicit guidance.
So you’re saying Jeebus is the only thing preventing you from pursuing your marked interest in rape? Atheists don’t need Jeebus to explain to them that murder and rape are bad. It doesn’t take Jeebus to make you moral, even “he” himself said that. Have you read the Bible?
And, if it really does take religion to keep your raping in check, you’re admitting you fantasize about rape right here on this thread. Which is just further evidence that religion is nuts.
God is bullshit. The idea of it has ruined the world. Think of the ugly history of Christianity. This religion is absolutely evil, why are you here? God is just a selfish gimmick meant to gain control over us, and you have let it happen! People like you the reason atheists cannot live as happily. GOD IS DEAD!
For example, many of us are socially unacceptable and considered defective. I am disgusted by religious people. It sounds evil and out of, but I think Christians have been evil for long enough, is our turn. But unlike you, we won’t put you under social and physical torture for our beliefs just as your ancestors did for thousands of years.
u really are misunderstanding, study about Bible before posting idiotic stupid comments u @#$%$#@
Most atheists have read and know more about the Bible than most Christians. It’s actually the nonsense in the Bible that resulted in a lot of people becoming Atheists.
Ad hominem attacks just demonstrate to all of us that you’re unable to support your own ideas. Not exactly an advertisement for the value of religion.
I hear you. Eat, drink and be merry for tomorrow we die. Lets kill babies and fix the neighbor who has been irritating us. WRONG. Those are the behaviours of the modern atheist. Hopefully Christianity will keep the majority trying to satisfy moral obligations.
What kind of moron do you have to be to make such a statement? Atheists simply believe there is no god…we believe that we ourselves must act in a moral, good, nurturing way just because its right. Not because of 2000 year old writings of middle eastern nomads who had no idea about how the universe works. They couldn’t understand such phenomena as seasons and storms and sickness and death so they just made up stories, which got handed down from generation to generation. Although anyone can see their world view was warped, one day they finally wrote down the myths and called it the “Bible”. Much of mankind has accepted this as “gospel”, but now we know it is fiction.
”Athiets believe there is no God”-Atheists can not believe in something that does not exist. They do not follow with”Maybe there is a god, maybe there is not”. That would be agnostic – they want the title ”Atheist”. There is no empirical evidence that God does not exist, so all are agnostic. But that does not have the same (smarter than you)feel as Athiest
Religion has rot your poor mind and causes you to attack atheists.
Please get help for your religious illness.
Man made god in his own image – a cruel sadistic creature with no empathy and an appetite for the suffering of his creation.
Not only christianity but every religion on this earth is man made for selfish and social benefits.
I have an exmo channel on YouTube, and half of the TBM comments are exactly the same as Hans’s. They think they’re so original in their comments, but it’s just the same old shit. They have no arguments, so they come up with stupid garbage like this.
I’ m atheist from România
Why would belief in god make your life more rich and fulfilled than anyone else’s? Why is that ‘better’ than accepting all the wonderful things science has taught us about the planet we live on and enjoying the affection of family and friends without fear of the majority of them burning in hell?
Because instead of being forced to think critically about it, it’s easier to just say, “Invisible spaghetti monster did it,” ;-).
Religious liars like you have no evidence of god thats why when you talk to us, it just sounds like an almighty waste of space and time.
Hurry up and prove your god and maybe study the spaghetti monster a little so you realise how his existence makes religion look like a local village idiot.
Uh. I think you need to read that comment more slowly.
Why is believing in God and Godliness, and hope so bad? Why is it so hard to believe that Science and Faith can co-exist… Why is it wrong to live a good life with something to believe in, with hope that you will be reunited with the people you love after your earthly body dies? I bet you have studied the bible and know all about it inside and out, and find it to be foolish… a fictional book full of fairy tales and false direction… I am not saying that as an athiest you are a bad person. As a matter of fact, you might be the nicest,most honest dependable person around, but your life could be so much more fulfilled if you would open your heart to the forgiveness of God.
Maybe because delusion is not a virtue? Maybe because religion is oppressive, incorrect, and inherently immoral? I always hear “religion doesn’t hurt anything”, but as Bill Maher says: “Other than most wars, the Crusades, the Inquisition, 9-11, arranged marriages to minors, blowing up girl’s schools, the suppression of women and homosexuals, fatwas, ethnic cleansing, honor rape, human sacrifice, burning witches, suicide bombings, condoning slavery, and the systematic #%@!-ing of children—there’s a few little things I have a problem with.” THIS is why believing in a God who doesn’t exist is wrong: it is an excuse for behaving badly. I am not interested in ‘the forgiveness of God’ because I HAVE DONE NOTHING WRONG! Also, belief in an afterlife cheapens the only real life you will ever have: this one. When you die, you cease to exist, so grow up and accept it!
Why is it so hard to believe that Science and Faith can co-exist? Because science depends upon evidence and faith depends on …. well I don’t know what faith depends on. Nothing really. It is the opposite of science. Now you can have theoretical science and theoretical math and have no evidence for the theorem, which is what a lot of religious apologists will say is equal to faith, except that it isn’t. All theoretical math, physics etc depend on a strong grounding of previous evidence and logical extrapolation. Faith is the opposite. I say God exists and you get to live forever if you believe that, and ….well no one knows, if they did, it wouldn’t be Faith. See the difference? A human mind can hold two contradictory ideas at once, this is known as cognitive dissonance ( a funny nsfw podcast btw) so I can fully understand how you can believe in Science and Faith at the same time, they just don’t go together.
“Why is it wrong to live a good life with something to believe in, with hope that you will be reunited with the people you love after your earthly body dies?”
Nobody has ever said it’s wrong. Stop with the christian persecution (that doesn’t exist). If you stop and think about (really think about) the idea that when your heart stops beating and the synapses in your brain stop firing that you’re going to live in the sky among your dead relatives…it sounds like a fairy tale. And that’s exactly what it is. It’s an easy way to get out of explaining the cycle of life to their children. Instead of having the difficult conversation when grandma dies, the religious just tell their kids, “You’ll see them again someday.”
We need not read the bible throughly,genesis is enough to realize that bible is a collection of fairy tales by talented writers.
RECENT BILLBOARD SIGHTING:
NIETCHZE IS DEAD–GOD
IF A NATURAL DISASTER OCCURS AND IT IS CLASSIFIED AS AN
“ACT OF GOD”, ARE ATHEISTS EXCLUDED FROM INSURANCE COMPENSATION? IF NO GOD, NO DISASTER COULD HAVE OCCURRED.
DO AGNOSTICS ONLY RECEIVE 50% COVERAGE?
I REALLY NEED TO KNOW…I STAY AWAKE AT NIGHT PONDERING SUCH THINGS!
Why are you shouting? Everyone who comes to this page is obviously literate in the English language. We can read you loud and clear. “Act of God” is just legal terminology for “shit happens” and America was founded on freedom of religion, which includes freedom from religion, hence the separation of church and state. Lack of belief in a higher power doesn’t exclude anybody from insurance coverage. I hope you don’t lose any more sleep over it. Asking if atheists are covered for an act of God is like asking why believers even have insurance. Just let God handle your claim and maybe you can use the money you saved to invest in a shift key.
Just don’t understand how using small or big letters matters here or anywhere you type because, you can’t actually hear anything. Good grief.
In a few years you’ll be dead and you will not have wasted or valued anything because it won’t matter.
I didn’t realize that we were taking life lessons from billboards now. I’ll make sure I pay more attention to them on my morning and evening commutes.
Thanks, Daniel Hirsch!
and scripture is not a sound bite being applied to a position to influence thinking.
Huh, thanks pkarlys I had no idea that religion was not theological and moral marketing for the masses.
Keep it up you guys! Don’t let the god lovers discourage you! Our nation needs more like us at this unbelievable time in our history. Really, we are going to vote for a candidate because of his religion? I think not!
Hi!
I was looking for podcasts to listen to at work and came across yours…I really like it!
Raised Catholic by a Catholic father and disinterested mother I began questioning the religion that was chosen for me at a very early age, later I began to question all of it.
As a kid suffering from abuse from both parents, I did what I thought would help. I prayed for God to make it stop. I was praying with full trust and belief that he would help me. Not so much, praying to Mary yielded as much disinterest on her part as I got from my real mother.
Right before I entered 6th grade we moved to my father’s home town which was, and still is, about 95% Catholic…why, there is even a Basilica there. I was then thrust into parochial schools with kids who had been fully immersed in the church since birth. Good grief…my first impression was that Catholics aren’t very Christian…over the years I have learned that Christians in general aren’t very Christian.
Soon a question came to me one day while going through the motions of a mass. Do I believe this stuff, or did someone tell me I believe this stuff? Lightbulb moment. So I started analyzing things a little more closely. My prayers, my acceptance of what I had been taught, my attempts at being good enough weren’t working. That is when I really started to move away from the whole concept or organized religion.
The stories in the Bible…didn’t other people see that these were like Aesop’s fables, meant to teach lessons and not historical data? We are in the midst of farmland…you know about animals. Do you really believe the Noah’s Ark thing? Really! You mean there are people looking for a boat that carried two of every animal…pretty amazing since we are still finding previously undiscovered animals. Did you ever hear about predator and prey…that would have been a bit tough to deal with on a boat, All the stories had holes in them…oh wait, this stuff isn’t logical…you are supposed to accept it on blind faith. Right…sorry, didn’t work for me then and doesn’t now.
I tried in my twenties to either come back to the church or find a different one. Still didn’t work for me. Over the years I have read and searched for more info….I keep waiting to find something that will convince me otherwise…that this religion thing is right and that I need it. In my mid-fifties now, I just don’t care as long as people stop trying to shove their beliefs down my throat. I don’t even debate it with them any more.
Some Atheist groups are a bit too militant for me…so I shied away from them. Glad I found your podcast. It’s funny, it’s intelligent and mostly in line with the way I think about the whole subject.
To all those who want to convert me…back off…whatever gets you through the night is fine with me…but I am a big girl, reasonably bright, and able to make up my own mind. And since I have a logical mind, most of the time, organized religion simply scares the crap out of me.
Angie
Wylie, TX
I’ve always liked Catholics because they’re like Jews. I’m so sorry for the abuse you suffered as a child, Angie. I wish I could say God chooses certain people to challenge in life but that would just excuse your parents for how they treated you. I grew up in a conservative Jewish household and I went to Jewish schools and I always wondered how God could have created the universe in six days and how big that ark must have been for Noah to take two of every animal, and how in hell Jonah could have survived for 3 days after being eaten by Moby Dick’s great grandfather. I mean, we all know what happened to capt Ahab. I never understood why learned the stories of the Greek gods as “mythology” but we learned the Old Testament as “history.” The good thing about going to Jewish schools is that students are encouraged to question and debate the teachers. But one day when I was 11 I woke up and I just didn’t feel like God existed anymore. I’ve always tried to keep close ties with the Jewish community for sociocultural reasons and I was pretty involved in my university’s Jewish organizations for a while and I always felt comfortable because most of my friends considered themselves to be “secular Jews” but I also had a lot of orthodox friends who were cool with my atheism. I agree about shying away from militant atheist groups, they’re just as bad as the sidewalk preachers telling me I’m going to hell because I wear pants. I don’t remember what I googled to end up here but after being on this page for 5 minutes I can tell I like it already.
There actually is an atheist strain in Judaism. Some Jews think the rituals required by the Torah are more important than believing in G-d. My atheist grandparents kept a kosher household because that’s what Jews do. They went to synagogue, too, until Jewish mob members started attending their shul. (The Jewish mob were enforcers for car company employees in Detroit.)
Almost everyone in my extended family is atheist. My sister is actually on the board of a Temple, and they knew she was an atheist when they asked her to join. She joined because she wanted her daughter to learn about our culture, not because she believes in G-d.
Angie you are right.
Just chiming:
A couple of weeks ago you two talked about Jehovah’s Witness funtalk and so I thought I’d lob this your way since you mused about trying to attend one of their services. There’s a very keen book called ‘Confessions of a Teenage Jesus Jerk,’ by Tony Dushane, that serves as a fascinating peephole into the lives of Jay-Wits. It’s funny, it’s touching, and very insider-y about the lives of those that follow this culty denomination – but the end kinda falls outta the book (so don’t blame me for not warning you). Regardless, thought that book might serve you better than subjecting yourself to a dose of crazy by actually trying to discreetly attend one of their services.
Also, given your Mormon background, have either of you ever read ‘The Poet and the Murderer,’ by Simon Worrall? It’s about this dude who grew up Mormon but was so disgusted with the religion that he became an art forger and forged a bunch of documents by Joseph Smith in hopes of bringing down the Church of Latter-day Saints. To hint at how close he was to succeeding, the LDS purchased his documents from Sotheby’s for fear that the material would ruin the church. Since you two probably might have more value in such a book than me – I didn’t grow up Mormon but I still think that dude is a boss – I just thought I’d suggest it in case you didn’t know of it.
Thanks for doing the podcast, and see you next week.
Dan & Frank,
Greg from Rhode Island here. 52 year old father of two bright, happy, freethinking daughters and a wife who thinks I get way too excited over this stuff :)
Really enjoy your podcast. It’s podcasts and people like you that keep my head from popping off when I hear people like Santorum, Robertson, and others.
Maybe I’ll see you at the Reason Rally. I hear the Westboro Baptist Church will be there picketing. Should be fun.
Keep up the good work!
Hi Dan and Frank,
Just want you guys to know how much I love love your podcast! It’s the only podcast that has made me stop in my tracks and laugh out loud. You have such a great combination of religious commentary, mormon commentary, and humor.
I can’t wait for my weekly dose!
Thanks!
Amber
My brother recommended your podcast and I listened to past episodes for most of an 8 hour road trip. As a recovering Mormon, I was highly entertained and often found myself laughing hysterically and nodding my head vigorously in agreement! It’s so difficult to explain the mindset and groupthink of Mormonism to someone who has not grown up in “the faith”. I appreciate your thoughts and insights! Keep it coming! For me, this is like group therapy for the apostate! lol
Posted on FB but want to chime in here as well. You guys have an amazing synergy on the podcasts and a seamless dialogue that really adds to the great topics you discuss.
Wonderful show. Keep it up.
I wish I could help out with the itunes rating, but I run linux and don’t have an iphone, so iTunes is a no -go.
But for what it’s worth I love your podcast. You guys have an awesome synergy. You’re always informative AND entertaining. I’d give a million thumbs up in iTunes if I could ( does iTunes use thumbs?).
As consolation for my lack of Apple compatibility I have recommended you to friend, a truly great young man who is in the midst of his own religious self-deprogramming. He is gay, so I tell him “Well if a ex-Mormon podcast host can do it, you can).
Anyway, keep up the awesome work.
-David
Hi Guys,
Love your show.
Regarding your recent episode and the discussion of “Atheism as religion”. When I get that comment I respond with “Yes please! If you think atheism is a religion, great! You’ll support my view that atheist organisations and the skeptics should have tax deductible status.
You can’t criticise or disciminate or question my belief system without you being a bigot. It’s my faith, and knowing how you value blind faith over evidence, I don’t have to prove anything to you. You will have to accept my faith in Atheism (Big A) without question.
Oh, and by the way, if we re-introduce conscription, then I can be a consciencous objector – my Atheism says to me whatever I want it to say. “It’s my religion”.
Cheers from downunder,
Chris
Dan and Frank,
Let me tell you that you’re podcast makes me look forward to my 30 minute commute to and from work everyday. You guys provide such a broad range of subjects and an I sight full outlook on different current events. Let me tell you a little about myself and my fortunate upbringing.
Growing up my family never attended church unless someone died, I never prayed over a meal and my parents rarely spoke of the big G. God was a present idea but was never an issue of topic until my parents believe I was of sound mind and age to comprehend the grand scope of this “idea”. I resolved to think that since my parents formed an albeit loose but still present relationship with the big man then they must have some rational thought so I followed suit.
Fast forward 5 years, I’m 15 and my father takes me on my first hunting trip. At this point in my life I don’t have a strong relationship with the big G but I like to think he may exist, until the shot heard around my world. “Blam!!!” I dropped a beautiful 180lbs. Deer with my muzzle loading lack powder rifle, I radioed to my father that I got one and the response I received made me stop dead in my tracks, “congratulations son, make sure you thank god for that gift.” I sat there and pondered as I was gutting and skinning this deer that “Why the hell would I Thank God?” He didn’t do anything to help me, I tracked down the deer, I took aim, and I conquered a lesser creature. Lions, tigers and sharks oh my I’m the top of the food chain. This is the defining moment if my life where I began to not only pulling away from faith but reject the very notion.
At this point I claim that I don’t believe in God, but over the course of my education and into my current adult life I developed a mindset of knowing. I know that God isn’t real, I know that religion holds the painstaking history of misery and shame that has a lot of pain repression to atone for. I now feel sorry for my staunchly religious friends and family because they are missing out on the glorious activities that I know exist on a beautiful Sunday morning, feel bad that they are persuaded from a free mind and a full life. I pity the masses for their ignorance of reason. I hate to break the heart of the believers but I am willing to bet that through a properly conducted study it might even be proven that Atheists hold the moral high ground.
I’m at a peculiar stage in an atheists life… Marriage
My wife to be is a fellow non-believer, but my presence in her life and the parenting of her beautiful 7 year old daughter has led me into a pickle of a situation.
A) her family – the hardcore LDS family having an intense relationship with the church and all the local SUV dealerships. Her parents acknowledge me but walk on egg shells, and the rest of her family many times won’t dignify me with a response when I politely say hi and ask how their day is going.
B) the little girls biological fathers family – whom are staunch Catholics except for the deadbeats (little ones father) mother who is a seventh day Adventist.
I want to save this girl from a most assuredly confusing and forced upon idea of a higher power. But I want to respect the families as much as possible, (yes even the ex-husbands family, they are important to the munchkin so they are important to me too). Right now I am choosing subtlety as my course of action, when helping her cope with a confusing life and teaching her life lessons I always tell her that “You are the master of you’r own destiny” In an attempt to have her understand that nobody is going to help her in anything more then she is going to help herself. Much like I was the master if the demise of brave Bambi, she too must realize that she is the only entity who could manifest a positive and enriching life for herself.
My goal is to hold out until September 8th (the day after the wedding) then proudly take my mantle as the king of the castle and declare proudly to all inlaws and extended family alike “CHECK YOU’RE GOD AT THE DOOR, WE ARE A HOUSE BUILT ON REASON AND FREETHOUGHT!!!!”
KCCO my friends and please give me some insight
Tom from fabulous Las Vegas
Dear Frank and Dan,
I’m very, very new to your podcast (listening to my first one with episode #74 right this second) and would like to send some good cheer your way. I like the humor paired with some serious talk and I think it works. For me, at least, it does.
You had spoken a bit about being “outed” as an atheist. It really, truly baffles me that it needs to be that much of a big deal to reveal one’s self as a non-believer. I can understand to a degree if a person grew up in a religious family and coming out would invoke a heart attack in dear old granny, but honestly, we’re all born the same way and have a duty to our own lives. Open expression of our feelings shouldn’t be relegated to the closet. Anyone who values YOU should value your sense of intelligence.
To me, that’s a terrible fault of the religious community. A person of high self-esteem naturally has no trouble debating or listening to outside viewpoints because they’re able to ACCEPT ideas as well as SHARE them. I don’t view traditional “believers” to have good self-worth; it was destroyed by fundamentalism that is anti-human and anti-nature. Someone’s questioning the existence of God? Evade the inquiry, divert attention or call them a blasphemer and move on.
I am the average, run-of-the-mill heterosexual, but I’m not put on edge by those of a different orientation. It has nothing to do with me, why would I hate? My self-confidence and convictions are not affected by the personal lives of others, so why would I bother going out of my way to deny rights or simply spread hate about people? I look at fundamentalists the same way. I’ve yet to see ANYONE who believes in God appear genuine to me. It’s either born of teaching or from parental force. I have never heard of someone, on their own terms in their own time, picking up a Bible, reading it and deciding for themselves that it’s relevant and worth believing in.
I can mix with believers, but only as far as my mouth will allow me. Once I ask about someone’s viewpoint or gracefully ask to have clarity on something remotely related to “God,” I get a cold shoulder and a diversion tactic that completely avoids my question. Defend yourselves, believers! At least make it SEEM as if you truly believe what you believe!
Why would people so scared to defend their ideals take time to pile into a minivan, drive up to a neighborhood, walk door-to-door and jam some of the most backward-thinking propaganda into the door frames of every house on the street? That’s pretty damn confident if you ask me. Yes, these are Jehova’s Witnesses, but regardless of the 80,000 sub-groups of Christianity, they’re all the same in how they’re taught and coerced to spread “The Word.”
Hey, look at the time. I think I’ve wasted enough space here.
Thanks for the podcast, I’ll be listening further soon.
-Bryan.
In your April 20th podcast, you inadvertently conflated facts regarding the office of Jewish Chief Rabbinate in SOME countries, and you badly misunderstood what was going on. In the countries where it exists, the “Chief Rabbinate” is NOT an “honorary” position. It would be a lot better for all Jews if it were, but it definitely is NOT!
To be clear: in the United States, there is no such thing as a “Chief Rabbinate” position—for which I (as a legal Jew) am extremely grateful. If such a position did exist in the U.S., I would never have been allowed to become a Jew due to the fact that I was, and am, married to a non-Jew. Because of this, had I been a legal resident of any country with a Chief Rabbi, I would NEVER have been allowed to become a Jew. (And incidentally, my guess would be that atheist and agnostic Jews are very close to being the majority of American Jews, or have already become the majority.)
In the countries which do have a chief rabbi (most European countries, for example) the office of the Chief Rabbi is THE authority in all kinds of everyday situations which affect every Jew: literally “who” you can marry, how you can divorce, if your children (born to you, or adopted, etc.) are—or will be allowed to be—Jews, where you can be buried (for example: if your parents, when they die, are allowed to be buried in the same cemetery), if you can be cremated, if you are allowed to be a legal member of a local synagogue, etc.
On a much larger level, in most countries with a Chief Rabbi religious institutions (all religious institutions, regardless of what religion they are, Christian or otherwise) receive their major funds from government sources (which are usually collected from the general population of that nation as taxes), so the Office of the Chief Rabbinate can determine who among the Jews of that country will get what monies from government funds, and of course this makes those who serve in the Chief Rabbinate extremely powerful (something we thankfully do not have to deal with in the United States).
Most importantly, the Chief Rabbinate—when it exists–can and does determine, on a daily basis, “Who Is (Or Is Not) A Jew” for EVERYONE. This has nothing to do with religious belief, it becomes, for that country, a matter of secular LAW, with the Chief Rabbi making that secular determination.
Never underestimate the importance of the office of Chief Rabbi in the countries where Chief Rabbis exist. Unfortunately, those who are named to these positions immediately become extremely powerful politically; their power (and the government money directly available) is often virtually unchecked, and a whole lot of the time this leads to all the problems anyone could expect in these circumstances.
And about the rabbi at the gathering you went to not wearing a kipah (I think you called it a yarmulke, which is okay, but it’s REALLY a “kipah”): would you have said this if the rabbi had been female? Jews wear kipot (the plural of “kipah”) when they are praying Jewish prayers, and the really Orthodox Jews wear it all the time because they’re saying blessings all the time (including each time after they go to the bathroom, thanking God for creating our bodies which work the way they do). The kipah is NOT part of a rabbi’s “dress” (there isn’t any specified “rabbinical dress”). If the rabbi at your gathering was not saying a JEWISH prayer during the gathering, why would “he” (or SHE) necessarily wear a kipah? If you wouldn’t have expected a female rabbi to wear a kippah to the gathering you went to, then your feeling that “the [MALE] rabbi should have worn a kipah” is sexist. I know you probably don’t think a lot about female rabbis, but there are a fairly large percentage of them now, and NOW you know! :-)
Thanks for a great program! I listen to it on Saturday of every week, when I am doing my once-a-week food prep.
I just found you and thank “god”! I’m in love with you both.
You are new favorite in the mornings. I consider it not only free education but part of my strengthening-shield-of-wisdom as I drive by Focus on The Family and the World Prayer Center/Ted Haggards old stomping grounds each day in Colorado Springs…ouch.
So thank you, thank you!
I am currently 58 and have removed my name from the records of the L.D.S. church and I am an atheist. I was raised in a very strong Mormon family consisting of my mother and father and 5 brothers and 4 sisters. We were expected to go to church every Sunday and have family home evening every Monday night. I was number 8 of 10 children and by the time I can remember, I had a younger sister and brother and my mother was deeply depressed locking herself into her bedroom all day and night only to come out to eat. My older sisters were basically my mother figure and my father worked long hours but when he did come home he started beating kids. My father would be in prison in today’s world if he treated children today the way he did when I was young. The kids were unsupervised and we were “active” kids doing things that would cause any one to pull their hair out! By the way my father was bald at a very young age.
I remember that during family home evening, my father would pass around pornography that he had found in the basement, hoping to expose the culprit. What would happen is the boys would all look at the pictures and the girls would hide their eyes.
When I reached 8 years old, my father was too tired to baptize me so my older Earl baptized me. Same when I was ordained a deacon, teacher, priest, and elder.
I went on a mission to Illinois when I turned 19 and served a respectable mission and returned at 21 ready to find a mate and get married. One night I went to a youth group dance at the Terrace there I met a girl from Oklahoma named Susan, I asked her to dance and she accepted. While we were dancing she told me that she was not Mormon and expected me to leave her standing on the dance floor like the last Mormon jerk that danced with her and left when he found out she was not LDS. We danced all night and I asked her if I could drive her home and she accepted. I dated her for the next 10 months and convinced her to take the missionary lessons. The idiots that were her missionaries asked her to open with a prayer. Having been a top baptizer in the Illinois mission, I knew that missionaries should always open with prayer then during the first lesson they teach the “investigator” how to properly pray (as if anyone would need to be taught if there was a god). After a couple of lessons she refused to go anymore. Meanwhile we were going to church every Sunday and one night after sacrament meeting my Bishop (whom was also my mother’s first cousin) stopped us as we were leaving and asked if he could speak with my girlfriend alone in his office. I asked Susan if it was ok and she said OK. After the meeting with my bishop she was crying and demanded I take her strait home. After talking with her for several hours, she told me what my Bishop had said to her. He had told her that because she was not LDS and because she didn’t have as high of moral standards as LDS girls, that she should stop seeing me and leave me alone. As it turns out my mother put my Bishop up to this and whenever I brought Susan to my house, my parents wouldn’t say hello or anything but just get up and leave the room. I continued to date Susan and most members of my family did everything they could to sabotage my efforts to convert Susan to Mormonism. Finally I determined that she was not going to convert and I also knew I loved her and I could not ask her to join the church solely so she could marry me and I could not tell her that I wouldn’t marry her because she wasn’t LDS. I decided to marry her and we asked to speak with my parents one night. We told them of our plans to marry and my mother left the room crying and my father later asked if I would talk to a friend of his that he played basketball with my the name of Tomas S. Monson? I accepted and was very nervous. When I talked with Tomas S. Monson, I went to the LDS church headquarters building and talked to him in his office. I basically told him the story I just told you and he told me that his advice would be to marry Susan and do not let my family or my religion ever interfere with my marriage. We lived in Salt Lake for 6 years until one night my Mother asked me to stop by and see her. She told me that because Susan was pregnant with our first child it was the perfect opportunity to force her to join the church. She said that she would not want to raise her child alone and would join the church if I just told her I would leave her if she didn’t. I told her that she shouldn’t ask me to choose between Susan and the church and her because she would lose. That night I told Susan we were moving to Oklahoma City where we live now. All of that time I was still going to the LDS church but when we moved to Oklahoma I joined the Methodist church my wife went to. I began studying the Mormon doctrine and finally came to the conclusion that it was a bunch of BS. After I came to that conclusion I measured the belief in God by the same measurement that I had the LDS faith which of course failed.
The funny thing is that my brother Earl also became an Atheist just before me and my wife knows that I’m an Atheist and is very upset. She has threatened me if I talk to any of my kids about it and not to tell them I am an Atheist. And even funnier is my wife refuses to pray in public to this day because of the Mormon missionaries and whenever we have her family over I am the only one the says a blessing on the food because nobody else will pray.
Brent in Oklahoma City
I just started to listen to your podcast a few weeks ago and I love it. I have been an Athiest since i was about twelve years old. Usually when one hears from other athiests they are angry and trying to promote the destruction of all religious belief. While i agree that the world would be a far better place without any religion at all i do believe wholeheartedly in the right to believe what you want, as long as you dont try to force your beliefs on others. Too many people want their opinions of right and wrong, which are based on their religious beliefs, put into law forcing their OPINIONS on everyone. and all too often they get it. We really do need a true division of church and state. Everything from the phrase “under god” in the pledge of alliegence to presidents and polititions ending speeches and comments with god bless america to laws being passed putting restrictions on people based on so called morality which in turn is based on religious beliefs of the people in power and those they choose to listen to, needs to end. For example putting unreasonable restrictions or even completely outlawing abortion has no real practical purpose when the procedure is done properly by certified professionals in a safe, clean enviornment and the women recieving the services arent using it as their regular birth control. Forcing people to bring children into this world that do not want them causes and/or makes worse a whole host of other problems, child abuse or neglect, abandonment, it puts a strain on the systems that have to provide welfare and support financially and medically to the women and families that do not want the kids in the first place. Forcing more children into the world when there are so many kids in foster care and so many homeless kids and so many children in abusive or neglectful homes and situations already, should be criminal act, there in no benefit to our society in denying women the right to exersice control over their own health and situation, it creates more problems. Those that work to pass laws against safe abortion and advocate or demonstrate to get those laws passed are doing so despite it making our society, country, and economy, worse. The government passing laws based purely on moral objections based purely on religious beliefs, is the government forcing other peoples religious views on everyone.
That is just one example. Logical, intelligent minded people are, i am sure, aware that there are many similar examples here in america and almost certainly elswhere as well.
It is incredibly frustrating that most people seem incapable of applying their OPINIONS only to themselve, that they feel an incessent need to force their ideas of behavior and thought on everyone else in the world.
All i want, and all many other athiests want is equality for everyone, and the right to live our lives the best we can and with the best quality we can n without being interfered with or discriminated against for not being in the majority. Unfortunately that is just not possible in todays world.
I love Frank and Dan’s show and their wonderful sense of humor. It is fun to listen to and quite informative as well. Even my mother who is in her late fifties and is a christian loves to listen to them, she is unusual for a christian, or at least the ones i have met, in that she is accepting and non judgemental of everyone no matter what their differences are, and though she believes in god she also finds the show funny and informative, and says that Frank and Dan make a lot of good points during their discussions. So good work guys keep it up.
Hello,
I am a Bible believing Christian. I am wondering if you ever take guests on your podcasts?
I would like to have a friendly/respectful discussion about our respective worldviews.
Please let me know if that is something you are interested in. My email is provided.
~Sean
Allo.
I am Pope Francis.
I heard you were making fun of me. I am, how you say it, very, ah, pissed? Yes, I am very pissed at you two. I have had a word with God, and God, he says to me, he say:
Pope, you gotta be more forgiving. Look at Jesus. What would Jesus do?
An I say to God, screw Jesus. Jesus, he never have to deal wit dees shit for brains doin podcasts.
Who the hell do they think they are, making fun o me? God damn them. God damn them straight to hell!
And God, he say, If this is what you really want, I will damn them.
And I said, yes God. You damn them. You damn them good!
It is done.
And now you little bastards are sitting in Salt Lake City! Ha! I damned you good! How you like that, eh? An eternity in Salt Lake City. Serves you right!
Little punks.
Hi Guys
Long time lesbian, first time commenter.
I can’t tell you how sorry I was to listen to you people making fun of lesbians. I’ve never been so hurt before in all my life. God will surely damn you to hell. Straight to hell. Yes siree Bob. And I tell you what, your going to in the section reserved for Popes, pedophiles, Atheists and those little pricks who make fun of lesbians. Because God is a woman, and she’s too smart to do it with a man.
God bless you
Nancy the Lesbian
Hi Frank and Dan,
I LOVE your podcast and it is a welcomed relief for me as I live in East Texas which has more churches than gas stations! I didn’t find Atheist, I was raised in it. My father was an outspoken Atheist which probably hurt him professionally and socially but he doesn’t seem to care. He and my mother had an understanding. Don’t nag me about attending church and I won’t tell you your God is fake. I did attend church with my mother and enjoyed the music and the emotional release one can feel at a Baptist church deep in the south, but even as a child I knew that it was a show. I enjoy a good murder mystery and gospel revivals the same. I never felt the presence of God, the Holy Spirit and didn’t feel ‘saved’ when I was dunked in a plexiglass shallow pool before the whole congregation merely because I was of the age where I could accept God (and my mother was tired of being nagged about us being baptized). As a teen I could see how religeon had been used to validate slavery, oppression of women, felt offended by people in my community praising The Lord on Sunday and being hypocrites the other six days. The bible didn’t make sense…. As an adult I became aware of church as a shake-down. The theme always made its way back around to money, there was an endless need for more. By some accident I married a man that wasn’t a believer and in retrospect it never was a criteria for either of us while dating and so it never came up. Our children are small but when they ask we will teach them that they can be moral, decent members of society without subscribing to bible stories supported by phenomenon that can be explained by science. I am a closet atheist, supporter of gay-rights, Democrat within a peer marriage. Keep up the good work.
Guys, I found the site today. Keep it up. I really like reading it, but I can’t listen to your podcasts for more than a few minutes. Way too many “filler words”, such as “um”, “ah”, that type of thing (You don’t have to post this). — Steve
Hey, FrankenDan.
So the long awaited film adaptation of Eder’s Game premieres on Friday. As I’m sure we all know Orson Scott Card is a rather eccentric man (to say the least) with respect to his social/political/religious views.
Personally I find myself not wanting to see the film for this reason. However I’ve heard so many great things about Ender’s Game, and I love Science Fiction. So I’m conflicted. I don’t mind sticking to my principles, but I don’t want to be an obstinate, angry atheist.
What are your thoughts? And will you go see the movie?
Thanks, Love you guys.
David.
Hi, guys.
It’s pronounced PIZ-guh, like putting together Bizz and Duh.
It does exist. It’s also a National Forest in Western NC.
Later.
David.
Hey FrankenDan.
I just had a thought to help with your donations. Just throw up a Bitcoin address on this site. You can also twitter it and put on your Facebook page.
If you do this I promise to donate, and I’ll make a nice post on the bitcoin subreddit as well as the Atheism subreddit.
I’ve seen this work REALLY well many times. I can’t promise that you’ll make thousands of dollars within a few days, but it does happen fairly frequently.
Bitcoin moves easily (that’s the whole point), and I know there are loads of tech savvy, bitcoin holding atheists out there.
Anyway, just consider it. It couldn’t hurt. It’s easy and free, and best of all there’s no paypal fee to pay. 100% of the donations go directly to you.
Sorry to go on so long, but I think this would be awesome.
Am I missing something – or is there no bio anywhere on this site about the podcasters? I’d really like to know a bit more about Frank & Dan.
I just listened to the podcast from May 2014 where my friend Rachel was your guest. Even though I had to pee really bad, I stayed at my desk and kept listening. Damn prostate! Now, that I’m back at my desk, I’ll pick another podcast to try out.
I don’t give a shit about defining my belief system. I love smothered burritos with cheese and onions. I know that for a fact. I hate that my cat wakes me up at 4:30 every morning. That’s an undisputable truth too.
Somehow, religious or non-religious people discussing things which are of little consequence to me can still be entertaining if done right. Thanks for that!
Regards,
MVL
I just found your show and I think it’s great, very funny and is a wealth of knowledge! I’ll be listening from now on. Keep up the good work!
Well since a good single like me never had a wife and family which makes me more of an Atheist since i really don’t believe in God at all, and i am certainly Not single by choice either. Then again unfortunately which the women of today Aren’t like the good old days anymore which made real true love very easy to find back then.
God is very retarded altogether for making many of us good innocent people to suffer on this rotten no good earth for no reason at all since there is too much crime and misery, and with so many people unfortunately dying from cancer and all kinds of other sicknesses which doesn’t make any sense at all that God can be this rotten to begin with.
I love your podcast! The sense of humor is right up my alley. Shouldn’t we ALL laugh at ourselves (and, while we’re at it, others too) every so often. I needed this, for all the stifling repression I feel down here in South Carolina where churches are so plentiful, they’re right on top of each other and even the teachers think it’s ok to have Christian organizations come to the schools – and there are Christian organizations that use the schools as meeting places for the after-school indoctrination – I mean – enrichment of the youth.
I don’t hate Christians. Some of my good friends are Christians. I just hate when they wield their self-righteousness and religion with all the spiritual armor as if they always need to be on the offensive (not defense, mind you, because they are the ones who are called upon to spread the good word). Religion, in general, is just divisive and antiquated in this time and age and it never truly made sense to me either.
Jesus is the only way to heaven. and to lose your soul an eternity in hell worth your evil ways today?? The plan of salvation. HEAR- Romans 10:13-17
BELIEVE- Hebrews 11:6, John 8:24
REPENT- Luke 13:3, Acts 2:38
CONFESS He is Lord- Matthew 10:32-33, Acts 8:35-39
BE BAPTIZED for Salvation- Mark 16:16 1 Peter 3:21, Col. 2:12, Romans 6:3-4, Acts 22:16, Acts 2:38-47…… Remain Faithful Rev. 2:10
Benis