The Atheist News Podcast

Episode 024: Deaf and Dumb -or- How not to kidnap 33 children

moJoe — Fri, 12 Feb 2010 07:51:32 +0000

I am sick and high on cold medicine for this show, Richard is… well, Richard.
We had a spot of technical difficulty, but we soldiered through it. I am still sick and high on cold medicine as I post this, so I am going to keep it short.
Don’t forget to check out the new poll I just put up!

Oh, and here is the picture I promised in the show:

Atheist News this week: Christian group utilizes gross misrepresentation to dodge hot lesbians, hate crimes are now belief systems, Jenny McCarthy may have to go back to scratching her crotch and burping for a living, signs are bad, bus + kids + mad dash for the border = ??? and finally, one more state that doesn’t seem to have a firm grasp on the federal constitution.

Episode 023: Haiti, Haiti, Haiti HEY!

moJoe — Thu, 28 Jan 2010 07:09:31 +0000

This is pretty-much the “Haiti Show.” When disaster strikes, so–apparently–do the disingenuous and the mentally unsound.
We talk a lot about the atheist “identity” and toss around some ideas and opinions about the place where charity and the nebulous identity of atheism meet. Not that we actually reach any conclusions, mind you.

And hey, I promised on this show that I’d paste in a link to the official form for complaining to the IRS about the abuse of tax exempt status. Well, here it is!

http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/f13909.pdf

Atheist News this week: You can’t eat bibles, Pat Robertson drools on himself incoherently, Stayin’ Alive: Scientology style, Canada knows how to deal with naughty churches, Veil or Vote and finally, someone notices that electrostatic magnetic ion attraction technology doesn’t work.

If you want to give money to help Haiti, you could do worse than checking out what Richard Dawkins has set up:

http://givingaid.richarddawkins.net/

Episode 022: Poopzilla

moJoe — Fri, 15 Jan 2010 07:09:40 +0000

Richard is back from the “Heads VI” meeting and we talk a bit about what went on during this pow-wow of the high muckity-mucks of atheism. We didn’t have a whole lot of time to spend on it during the show, but I promise we’ll get Richard either on the Chariots of Iron podcast or on a special “extra” edition of the Atheist News Podcast to talk more about the meeting.

As an extra-special treat during our closing credits, ALROmega agreed to let us turn you out with a cheeky little track he just dropped called “Original Front Hug.” [NSFW] which includes a shout out to Atheist News! BAM.

And probably not something you want to let your kids listen to, but if they are already listening to the damn show I don’t suppose that they have much of their innocence left to tear away from them… so uh…

Atheist News this week: Irish posse isn’t going to take this shit lying down, Jesus battles the living dead, Bloomberg finally starts pandering to us, the BHA also isn’t going to take this shit lying down, tickets to heaven, I am tired of Uganda, crazy prophet should have seen this coming and DON’T GO TO DUBAI. SERIOUSLY, DON’T.

Episode 021: Teabagging for Jesus

moJoe — Thu, 31 Dec 2009 21:57:17 +0000

I have the Rev Dr. Mark Esq. IV (R-FLA) (known in some circles as the FIFTH RIDER OF THE ATHEIST APOCALYPSE) with me on the show this week. He is a very important man as can be demonstrated by the absurd number of titles I have appended to his name. While they may not all be technically “true,” it’s the thought that counts; isn’t it? We talk a bit about what we did for Christmas and at some point I think I even talk Mark into being the first atheist to attend Patriot University.

Atheist News of the week: Teabaggers have bad aim, religion ain’t what it used to be, everyone act surprised at news of a homicidal Baptist, atheists hit them where it hurts the most, of biblical apologies from Gaymorrah and finally: a priest actually making some sense for once.

Atheist News Swag!

moJoe — Fri, 18 Dec 2009 22:36:21 +0000

Well, I finally got off my lazy ass and did it… sort of. I can’t get Zazzle to integrate quite the way I want it to, but screw it, you’re smart enough to figure it out on your own I’m sure. I added a Swag! link at the top so you can always get to the store and buy some AN goodies. I added in some other designs that aren’t quite as overt as a giant ATHEIST NEWS logo on your chest and will be adding more in the future I expect.

You See?! Gay Marriage DOES hurt people!

SamuelC — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 14:08:14 +0000

First the good news. Last Tuesday the Washington DC city council for the second time voted in favor of a measure that would legalize and recognize same sex marriage in the District of Columbia. All that stands before this becoming law is the signature of Mayor Adrian M. Fenty (he has affirmed that he will sign) and a 30 day legislative review period. By next Spring, Washington DC will legalize same-sex marriage, and the peasants rejoiced.

Now the bad: This has sparked the ire of the local Catholic archdiocese. They have threatened to halt all social services in the city including drug treatment, homeless shelters and foster care if the bill passes and becomes law. This would leave around 68,000 of the city’s residents even needier. The archdiocese claims that it’s main contention with the bill is that charities doing business in the city would have to extend spousal benefits to same-sex partners.

Apparently cutting off services to tens of thousands is preferable to the Catholic Church loving their neighbors as they love themselves (why does that phrase sound somehow familiar?). This sort of “WAH! I’m taking my toys and going home” mentality is by no means a new M.O. for Catholic organizations. When Massachusetts stopped barring same-sex couples from adopting, the Catholic Church halted all operations that facilitate any adoptions. Specific operations in other states that have legalized gay marriage have also been halted, but should the archdiocese make good on their threats, this will dwarf these in scale.

Episode 020: The Etiquette of Killing Gentile Babies

moJoe — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 13:05:37 +0000

It’s the Atheist News Podcast with Me and “Bro-Ro” again this week. Did you know that Snoop Dogg was going to be fronting for his own brand of GPS? I didn’t. Richard really does have his finger on the pulse of America. Well, Christmas is coming, so inevitably, we talk about that a bit–as well as all the rest of the Holidays. Things sure do get sticky for us non-believers this time of year, don’t they? Christmas and atheism are not good bedfellows. Oh well, I like it anyway. Ho, ho, ho.

In the news: Kosher Killing–The do’s and don’ts of slaughtering the innocent, Jew vs. Hipster throwdown, “Yes, Virginia… There is no God,” Why we have a federal constitution, Moses the holy cow and the effing CHRIST-mas tree.

Episode 019: Gimmie that atheist front hug

moJoe — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 02:12:32 +0000

After this week’s atheist news, I look forward to the day when I, Joe Prova, must come to you and say that religious people haven’t done enough loony shit in the last week to justify me bothering with a news podcast. Alas, that week is not this week. Brother Richard joins me so that I have someone to listen to me rant like a madman for an hour. I also subject him (and you) to almost three minutes of christian rap music.

Thank me later.

Speaking of thanks: Lord Scarab rocks my socks. Thanks for posting last week’s show, old chap.

In the news: Is Belief in God Hurting America? Ireland’s clergy and police for were in cahoots. “Cut out of an arm chair for Jesus.” The seal of the confessional is apparently more important than your life. The former pope kicked his own ass. Give me an atheist front hug any day of the week.

Tis’ the Season

SamuelC — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 13:33:18 +0000

So it’s getting to that time of year where we start seeing the spaces in stores previously occupied by pumpkins and turkeys being filled with holly leaves and all sorts of trinkets that hearken the year’s end. No one can be bothered by the fact the health care bill limped out of the house as a crippled shell of itself or that tens of thousands of additional troops will be shipping to try to stabilize a part of the world to which the Mongols, Soviets, the Greeks, and the British have all at some point said “fuck that”. But no one can be bothered by that. There’s too much stress and consumption involved in the time of year that’s been perfectly crafted so that no matter what religion one ascribes to, there’s and excuse to bust out that credit card, crank up those lights, and compromise every value you hold and shop at Wal-Mart. It’s that time of year that always made me feel isolated in my cynicism and surrounded by a huddled mass willing to ignore all the problems of the world and suckle eagerly from the teat of over consumption.

And this was when I was in high school and still believed in God.

In case it isn’t blatantly obvious yet, the end year holidays are an institution I feel jaded about on a level equal to marriage and professional sports. This however is the first Christmas I’ll go through as a realized atheist. So what this brings to me is an important question that all non-theists must answer at sometime or another: How do you deal with the religious holidays as an atheist? Although there are religious holidays throughout the year, this question comes up particularly in December, since during this month so many different faiths find some excuse to buy shi… I mean celebrate their faith it’s become ingrained into our economy and culture at large and is thus unavoidable. So what obstacles and challenges, if any, are you faced with? Do you go through the motions to satisfy your family? Do you take a defiant stand against any and all festivities?

Personally, I think Christmas lost almost all of it’s religious significance ages ago (if it ever really had any). This makes it easy to regard any family gatherings as nothing more than what they are on the surface. An excuse to see relatives I don’t see often enough and give away books of mine that I’ve already read several times.

Religious or not, this can be a stressful, depressing, and hectic time of year. I wish you all the best in confronting it.

God Smacks

SamuelC — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 12:13:27 +0000

Even in relatively civilized societies, we are sometimes confronted with physically violent situations. Everyone at some point in their life has to decide what circumstances, if any, would lead them to assault another person. Violence can be for some a simple solution, a last resort, or not even an option. These differing philosophies give us characters ranging from the passive who cannot imagine harming another person under any circumstances to the bully who will physically antagonize others merely for their own amusement. What exactly is the stance on major religions in this scheme though? Each religion has devotees that act in ways ranging from universal pacifism to outright terrorism and murder. But in each of these systems of faith, where does the radical fundamentalism end and the explicit dogma begin? When do the gods say it’s acceptable to intentionally harm another human being?

A bit of a disclaimer that should really go without saying: Wading through the mountain of religious texts and analytical writings thereon would take forever and would likely still not produce any definite conclusions. What I present here is at best an at-a-glance primer on just the Abrahamic faiths.

Christianity
This one should be pretty simple. In the gospels, Jesus is asked point blank what the greatest commandment is and he replies that it is to “love the Lord your God with all you heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind”(Matthew 22:37). Okay, that’s not what I’m getting at. The important part is that Jesus is kind enough to go on and say “And the second is like it: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself”(Matthew 22:39). That sounds rather simple to me. It doesn’t mention any additional clauses about exempting your love for your neighbor on grounds of race, religion (or lack thereof), gender, sexual orientation, or occupation. There’s also the well known adage from the sermon on the mount in which Christ compels his followers “…whoever slaps you on your right cheek, turn the other to him also” (Matthew 5:39).

Both of these passages give the impression that Christianity is a peaceful religion that implores it’s followers to forsake violence even when it is visited upon them. If only this was more universally practiced.

Islam
This is often a large target for followers of other religions seeking to make themselves look less extreme. It’s no surprise either. The Quran has some pretty radical passages that can easily be presented to make a case for Islam being a religion based on conquest, war, and violent domination of others.

2:190-193 “Fight in the cause of God those who fight you … And slay them wherever ye catch them … And fight them on until there is no more tumult or oppression and there prevail justice and faith in God …”

2:216 “Fighting is prescribed for you and ye dislike it. But it is possible that ye dislike a thing which is good for you, and that ye love a thing which is bad for you. But God knoweth and ye know not.”

2:224 “Then fight in the cause of God and know that God heareth and knoweth all things.”

Apologists say that these quotes are misinterpreted and misread and that Islam is synonymous with peace even on an etymological level. There are even passages in the Quran that call on Muslims to respect Jews and Christians, the “People of the Book,” who worship the same God (29: 46). In words quoted by Muhammad in one of his last public sermons, God tells all human beings, “O people! We have formed you into nations and tribes so that you may know one another” (49: 13)–not to conquer, convert, subjugate, revile or slaughter but to reach out toward others with intelligence and understanding.

Judaism
Hoo boy, this is a heavy one. On the one hand, the old testament is rife with war, slaughter, brutality, and genocide. While the sanctity of life is a key tenet to Judaism, so is the elimination of evil. Acts of aggression aren’t strictly forbidden, as long as a few guidelines are followed such as an initial offering peace (Deut 20:10) or the presence of a disagreement (Deut 20:12). God even gives his followers a pardon for any distasteful acts committed during wars on his behalf. “God will have compassion on you, and reverse any display of anger that might have existed” (Deut. 13:18). Man, if only all of our soldiers coming back from the “War” on Terror fronts were Jewish and had this automatic post war counselling.

Conclusion
So we see varying degrees of the same thing in the Abrahamic faiths. They all have the potential to bring together the masses in peaceful harmony, but history has shown us several spectacular and horrific cases where it fails to do this. The Crusades, Zionism, and Al Queda’s insurgency. What do these all have in common? They are brutal campaigns of violence perpetrated on the behalf of false Gods who supposedly wouldn’t even condone them in the first place. Any justification or rationalization for any of these is irrelevant. It’s just another case of the faithful being picky about how faithful they need to be.

Episode 018: Minute-and-a-half Man

moJoe — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 12:47:17 +0000

Richard joins me for another fabulously entertaining episode of the Atheist News Podcast. This week we start the show off with a candid discussion about why Dragon Age is likely to ruin my life. We also talk a bit about my printing misadventure as well.

In the news this week: The Catholic Church is apparently bursting at the seams with uninsured gay couples, unrepentant fetus defenders, doing God’s work, mamby-pamby Muslims, bankrupting the baby-boffers one diocese at a time and PRAYNAPPING® for Dummies.

Rank and File

SamuelC — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 12:15:33 +0000

As an atheist in America, there are a lot of religious ideas my country communicates that I disagree with. Ideally, the constitutional separation of church and state should make this a non-issue, but in a similar fashion to Iggy Pop not being recognized as the true king of rock and roll, there is often a large disparity between what should be, and what is. How this impacts us at home is important, but what fascinates me more is how religion in America informs the perception of our nation abroad.

The image America projects is not nearly as God-centric as it used to be in the days when the government worked tirelessly to differentiate us from the “godless communists”, and with such recent developments as President Obama declaring that America is “not a christian nation” to the world, our image is continuing to shift in the right direction. There are still several aspects of our country though that falsely perpetuate the notion of our rights and freedoms as being the effect, not the cause, of religious practice in America. The facet of this I will explore here is religion in the U.S. military.

It would be naive to say that there is no religious pressure put on young men and women serving in the military. Several of us working on the blog and podcast are no strangers to the presence of religion in the armed forces and can attest to it personally. Assertions that there is no such thing as an atheist in a foxhole (there is actually) help to make religion, rather than freedom from it, the social norm.

I remember my first day at the Marine Corps Recruit Depot where we were stripped of everything that made us individuals and given new clothes, titles, routines, and a shiny new pocket sized bible and a rosary for any catholics. This didn’t irk me significantly. It’s not as if anyone had much down time to ever read it. On Sundays we were offered to go to one of several different religious services offered for recruits. These are enticing to recruits both religious and otherwise as a means to escape the drill instructors for an hour.

In the fleet, religion is still always present. Each unit at the battalion level has a commissioned officer who is ordained in a religious faith serving as the unit chaplain. In the entire four years I served, only twice did I see one of these that wasn’t a Christian (one Jewish and one Muslim). Besides counseling services that would be much better handled by a mental health professional, performing religious services, and the occasional charity function, they serve little practical purpose.

This does have several unintended consequences as well ranging from indirect discrimination against atheists in the military to emboldening hostile forces who perceive conflicts with America as being religious in nature. The image of the American Crusader (a term invoked both by Bush and Bin Laden) has damaged relations with other nations and emboldened our enemies.

What do you think? Do you perceive the US military as having an overly religious element? What do you think should be done about this?

Notice: I don’t really have a notice to put here.

moJoe — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 16:04:47 +0000

But I don’t want to leave up a notice that says that there is no show this week when there is a show this week.

So uh…

Hi.

Episode 017: Demoncandy

moJoe — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 15:56:58 +0000

Happy belated Halloween everybody!

Halloween is a favorite holiday of mine, and of course–because it’s fun and there is no Jesus involved–it’s under fire from the loonies. Richard joins me for a SPOOOOKTACULAR Atheist News Podcast show in which we discuss topics such as DEMONCANDY, God naming rights, the terminally credulous (some dead, some only sweaty), Michael Beeheeatch, the thwarting of political tomfoolery and which days of the week it is and is not acceptable to pick your nose. And, not to be left out, the Pope had some stupid shit to say about Halloween as well.

Enjoy!

Download Episode 017!

Episode 016: I am a big fat liar

moJoe — Sat, 24 Oct 2009 05:58:00 +0000

I am a filthy deceiver.

A falsifier, a prevaricator, a misleader and also, a guy who is fond of the thesaurus.

My computer really did die, but then, miraculously, it came back from the dead for no apparent reason. An atheist holiday miracle? Who’s to say.

This week, Brother Richard joins me as we talk about books we like, movies we like and also we manage to squeeze in some news as ill prepared as we were. Brother Richard sings again, but what else is new?

In the news:
Book burnin’, Texacutions®, do-it-your-self toddler genital mutilation and naughty presidents.