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The Atheist Experience

By: The Atheist Community of Austin
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  • Summary

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

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

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

    Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-atheist-experience--3254896/support.
    ®2024 The Atheist Community of Austin
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Episodes
  • The Atheist Experience 28-21 with Secular Rarity and Armin Navabi

    The Atheist Experience 28-21 with Secular Rarity and Armin Navabi
    May 27 2024
    Have an Atheist Experience with Secular Rarity and Armin Navabi as they work through callers determined to prove god’s existence.

    Moses in FL says our lives are the manifestation of god’s truth. Why should emotions override the data? How is it that living our lives shows the truth of god? How do the narratives contained within religion affect a person’s self respect? What is the point of using logic if it is not to achieve better things and progress? When those who follow Jesus are supposed to be good people, why do Christians still do terrible things? What kind of love uses threats of eternal fire and torture?

    Caleb in OH tries to prove that god exists by stating the universe has a beginning because it is expanding. We don’t know if the universe had a beginning or not. What was the second law of thermodynamics like before the big bang happened? How do you know that other people besides the disciples didn't write the Gospels? Even in modern times with video recordings, people come up with all kinds of narratives of how they perceive current events. What do you think it was like 2,000 years ago?

    Landy in FL wants us to know that we are all beings of light and science is catching up to what the Bible tells us. Why do letters in a text adding up to a certain number matter with anything? Why should we believe this is any kind of code? Every religion uses number games within their scriptures. Why should we believe one over another? What Biblical information is science just catching up to?

    James in CA asks what the hosts think about Paul’s argument for Christ being the Messiah. Paul, Mohamed, and Joseph Smith all said the same thing and we reject all of them. How can we believe Paul’s claims if he is not even an eye witness? Why is Paul’s revelation moment any more true than those that others have had?

    Thank you for joining us this week. Question of the week is “What is Jesus's Secret hobby?

    Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-atheist-experience--3254896/support.
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    1 hr and 57 mins
  • The Atheist Experience 28.20 with JMike, Jim Barrows and Shelley Segal

    The Atheist Experience 28.20 with JMike, Jim Barrows and Shelley Segal
    May 20 2024
    Today you will have a total Atheist Experience as the one and only Shelley Segal treats us to the best start to the show ever! Jim Barrows and JMike walk us through what does and does not matter when providing evidence just before learning there are holograms in our brains! Shelley provides a beautiful concert to conclude our show.

    Nick in WI believes that he has found god in the same way he would find a specific car in a car lot. If you were to search for god, what reason would you have to think god exists before you start searching? Why would we care about the characteristics if this god has not been demonstrated to exist? How do you explain a Christian foundation’s findings that say prayer has no more effects than a placebo? What does “spiritually alive” mean? Considering the history of the Cananites, how did they get from polytheism to theism? Why blame god for something that is part of you and wanting to know as many true things as possible?


    Mac in CA has the argument from perennialism to prove god and is described as god has been contacting humans through history. The sound trailed off into underwater territory.


    Sura in India says there is a strong force that is driving all religions. All religions attempt to explain things we have no control over is a more reasonable explanation than adding a supernatural god to the equation. Why postulate a god for natural phenomena? How do the percentages of people that believe something have any bearing on the truth?


    Oliver in FL wants to know what science or LGBTQ has to do with atheism and atheists use faith for not having evidence for god. By your definition of faith, what am I believing in as an atheist that I can’t substantiate or confirm? What is the entailment for when we continue to ask for evidence? Why would Einstein saying anything get us to believe in this useless god of Spinoza?


    Angus in NE, Jesus Mythicist asks what the hosts think of Yahwey or Yesua never saying anything. The same thing can be said of The Hobbit or other stories. What does what someone says prove anything about their existence?


    Dave in India asks the hosts if they would consent to the point that there is a hologram in their brains. How would that point to god? Personal experience does nothing to move the needle here. How does your brain making you see stuff get us to god? Under what circumstances should we assume the supernatural is real? Why would you believe our lives as atheists are meaningless?


    That was awesome wasn’t it? Thank you for hanging out with us this week! Question of the week is: Why did god really go no contact with people?

    Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-atheist-experience--3254896/support.
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    2 hrs and 7 mins
  • The Atheist Experience 28.19 with Secular Rarity and Forrest Valkai

    The Atheist Experience 28.19 with Secular Rarity and Forrest Valkai
    May 13 2024
    Have an Atheist Experience with Secular Rarity and Forrest Valkai as they work together to catch a troll who won’t answer a question only to later have another transphobe try a bait and switch tactic with the call screeners.

    Kevin in GA asks the hosts why he is incorrect by believing there is an intelligent designer without having specific proof such as a video describing how a car is made. What do you have to compare a designed universe with? Not knowing something is not the same as magic. There are multitudes of different types of proof that are needed for us to believe that a creator designed the universe. We do know where things came from and they are all from natural sources. If there is no proof, what is it that leads you to accept it and why do you believe your god is real?

    Royal Trans Atheist in the UK asks about the morality of homosexuality under atheism. Why are you going out of your way to poke at people? What is your understanding of how reasoning and logic leads one to accept that being homosexual is how one is born? Overwhelming consensus is that it is not a choice but is part of the spectrum of human sexuality. At what point in your life did you decide to be straight? Do you believe that homosexuality is immoral? “Pleading the fifth” is now how this show works; if you are going to be a troll, at least be honest.

    Seethi in OH asks Forrest about a call where Forrest had said there is no gender of a sex. Forrest explains that gender is a social construct and changes throughout time. Using the proper terminology from a scientific perspective will be inclusive. Agreeing on the facts and agreeing on what the facts mean are two different things. It is important to be careful to not cause more harm when describing how gender does not line up with sex, even when trying to be well intentioned.

    Caleb in OH has evidence of the supernatural and asks the hosts their belief of the supernatural. Neither host believes in anything they do not have evidence for. How would accepting the universe having a beginning get us to god? Why would we believe anything contrary to the wealth of knowledge we already have about the universe?

    Mr. British in London asks the hosts if atheism is appropriating the word “theist” in a proper way? What could this possibly mean? Is it misappropriating the word “symptom” to use the word “asymptomatic”? Can a term be used to describe whether or not something possesses a particular quality? Why should we use the word “secularism” when it does not mean the same thing as atheism?

    Mike in SC asks SR about his prior belief and if he just grew out of religion. SR explains his deep belief and involvement early in life until an effective method was demonstrated to him. Forrest describes his exposure to a variety of churches and religions and how he applied the same rules to those beliefs as he did for anything else. Mike then asks if all atheists believe that gender is fluid. The majority care about gender identity, but as with other groups, there are atheists that are transphobic. If you are not willing to speak up against policies that are harming trans people, then we would argue you do not have a trans friend.

    Thank you for joining us this week! Remember to call the show and not just comment in the chat! The prompt for this week is: What is a good come back for, “You need Jesus”?

    Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-atheist-experience--3254896/support.
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    2 hrs and 7 mins
Management Economics Spirituality
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Profile Image for Zack

Fantastic show

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

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Profile Image for Joyous N

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

so glad this podcast is made, honestly i miss matthew dillahunty. but its still a very worthwhile listen. keep it up!

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I love this show

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

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Profile Image for flossy_lala

Frustrating to listen to

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

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