Featuring Guest Host Genetically Modified Skeptic! | Skeptic Generation | Episode 3 Season 3

What's in YOUR Toolbox? | Skeptic Generation | Episode 7 Season 3

It might seem easy to see the flaws in other people's thinking when it comes to religion, but what happens when we don't apply that logic elsewhere? If you've found yourself deconstructing other belief structures in your life, give us a call!  Whether you believe in a supernatural world, believe in exceptional metaphysics, or just want to tell me that I'm wrong... Give us a call at 412- SKEPGEN (412-753-7436)  OR tiny.cc/skepgen to call online! ___________________ TIME STAMPS & CALL NOTES  00:00 - Intro   04:31 - Jim (He/Him) OH - How did life begin? 14:48 - Trent (He/Him) MO - Staying a mormon after deconstruction 52:04 - Ashley (she/they) MN - Conscientious Satanism 1:02:25 - Sarah (she/her) WA - I saw a ghost! 1:17:22 - Chelsea (she/her) NC - Meeting in the middle 1:28:06 - Pete (He/Him) CA - Deconversion tactics 1:42:15 - Superchats 04:31 Jim feels like a hypocrite when he thinks about life in the universe, since he doesnt have sufficient evidence. They both talk about possible beginnings of life on earth and conspiracies. Ultimately, apportioning our acceptance of a claim should be tied to how much evidence we have. 14:48 Trent has been wrestling with the idea of holding on to religious concepts even though he knows that the supernatural pieces aren’t true. More to the point, he has found that “othering” things like anxiety and genius gives him a leg up in working through things for both him and his kids. Eric does his best to address the topics before losing his train of thought! 52:04 As a satanist, Ashley uses ritual in their day to day life. The problem is, they really want to make sure they’re not inadvertently appropriating other people’s culture. It’s a strange line that we need to walk when we find ways to embrace rituals as a humanist. From fetishizing others, to alt-right pipelines, the path to a “secular spirituality” is full of pitfalls. 1:02:25 Sarah has done the work to deconstruct her religion, but theres a problem that has been in the back of their head. When she was a kid, she distinctly remembers seeing a ghost, but how does that work?! 1:17:22 Chelsea wants to sort out how to really meet people where they’re at when it comes to conversations around religion.  1:28:06 Pete has thoughts about it as well! From epically owning our family members, to making strangers extremely uncomfortable, an enormous amount of cringe can be had if we’re not careful. Cheers for wanting to read the room, listen actively, and not just waiting for your turn to talk! _________________ Skeptic Generation is LIVE every Sunday at 11:00am-1:00pm CT Call on your phone: 412- SKEPGEN (412-753-7436)   Call online: https://tiny.cc/skepgen Love the show? Become a patron: https://tiny.cc/donatetoSG  Join us after the show on Discord: tiny.cc/SGdiscord To find out more, visit https://www.skepticgeneration.com  Copyright © 2024 Skeptic Generation. All rights reserved.

Just Begging The Question! | Skeptic Generation | Episode 6 Season 3

Here's a thought: Does asking for proof beg the question that only a naturalistic worldview can answer? If so, is that unreasonable? If not, can we assume that naturalism is the de facto assumption except when it isnt? Whether you believe in a supernatural world, believe in exceptional metaphysics, or just want to tell me that I'm wrong... Give us a call at 412- SKEPGEN (412-753-7436)  OR tiny.cc/skepgen to call online! ___________________ TIME STAMPS & CALL NOTES  00:00 - Intro   04:23 - Michael (He/Him) NY - Cosmic Justice 36:48 - Evan (He/They) WA - Challenging Christians on the street 54:39 - Jon (He/Him) CAN - How did Eric lose his faith? 1:07:42 - John (He/Him) TX - Thanks for the advice! 1:18:04 - Philo-Sophistry (He/Him) USA - Atheist Atrocities fallacy? 1:30:41 - Superchats 04:23 Michael suffered as the target of a false allegation and he’s struggling with the lack of accountability for people who acted maliciously toward him while people who believe in god can say “they’ll get what’s coming to them” and be okay with it.By the way, here’s that Madea clip Eric was talking about!-https://youtu.be/CTPzXwNVc9g?si=0fBp2hQwt5Isek8Y [https://youtu.be/CTPzXwNVc9g?si=0fBp2hQwt5Isek8Y] 36:48 Evan wants to talk about two Discworld characters who are witches, one of whom chooses to be good and one of whom chooses to be evil, and how these characters impacted his faith and his family. He goes on to talk about how atheists saying “I don’t believe god exists” forces people to challenge their own self worth. 54:39 Jon wants to talk to Eric about his journey away from faith. Eric talks to him about his journey away from faith and people from other religions he spoke to, including some key advice given to him by a rabbi. 1:07:42 John wants to thank Eric for advice he gave him on setting boundaries with his theist family. At first they didn’t react well, but then they realized they still love him. 1:18:04 Philo-Sophistry wants to know if it’s really a fallacy when theists bring up atheist atrocities? Should he push back against believers who bring this up? Eric explains that evolution is not social Darwinism. ___________________ Skeptic Generation is LIVE every Sunday at 11:00am-1:00pm CT Call on your phone: 412- SKEPGEN (412-753-7436)   Call online: https://tiny.cc/skepgen Love the show? Become a patron: https://tiny.cc/donatetoSG  Join us after the show on Discord: tiny.cc/SGdiscord To find out more, visit https://www.skepticgeneration.com  Copyright © 2024 Skeptic Generation. All rights reserved.

Featuring Guest Host Secular Rarity! | Skeptic Generation | Episode 5 Season 3

Is this a crossover episode?! This week Eric will be joined by long time friend of the show and all around sweet guy Secular Rarity! This is (surprisingly!) the FIRST time we've hosted a show together and we're really excited! As always, if you would like to talk about what you believe and why, please call 412- SKEPGEN (412-753-7436)  OR tiny.cc/skepgen to call online! If you'd like to get some extra features, early access, member discord and more, check us out on our Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/skepticgeneration ___________________ TIME STAMPS & CALL NOTES  00:00 - Introducing Secular Rarity! 07:12 - Sarah (She/Her) WA - Can I pull ideals from religions into my secular life? 26:59 - Nick (He/Him) UT - Supporting public figures that tithe to harmful churches. 38:30 - Red (They/Them) TX - Atheists, Pagans, and Imaginary Friends 55:46 - Jesse (He/Him) WA - Should we use labels that most people can’t define? 1:12:16 - Chas (He/Him) AZ - Putting the Atheo in Atheopagan 1:37:58 - Steve (He/Him) NY - Antitheism VS Pluralism 2:07:23 - Outro, superchats, final discussion 07:12 Sarah wants to know if it’s okay to find good things from religion and bring them into her secular life. Secular Rarity and her talk about buddhism and some of its practices, then SR, Eric, and Sarah talk about collecting rocks. Eric asks some questions about Buddhism and supernatural claims. 26:59 Nick wants to talk about Brandon Sanderson, and other public figures, being religious and whether or not it’s okay to support them by purchasing their products if we know they are tithing to organizations that lobby for harmful political policies. SR and Eric talk to him about perfect morality and ethical consumption. 38:30 Red wants to follow up with Eric about a previous conversation they had with him. Eric had previously recommended to them a pagan community in TX. Red checked it out and learned about atheopaganism. They want to know if they are still considered an atheist if they are talking to “gods” which are imaginary friends, and they don’t believe they are necessarily real but also don’t know they aren’t real. 55:46 Jesse wants to do a friendly nitpick about labels. He heard Secular Rarity identify as a theological non-cognitivist and he has a small bone to pick about using the label without actually telling people what the labels mean. Eric and Secular Rarity have a conversation with him about how the labels can be helpful. After the caller hangs up, Eric and SR have a friendly conversation where Eric is challenging theological non-cognitivism. 1:12:16 Chas thanks Eric for being there during a dark time. He has a different perspective of atheopaganism than Red, the previous caller, and he elucidates his perspective and how he came to this place in his religion. 1:37:58 Steve was the first atheopagan caller. He wants to talk about anti-theism vs pluralism, he advocates for pluralism and provides some opinions about supremacist religions and gives details about a pagan group that is run by a white nationalist. ___________________ Skeptic Generation is LIVE every Sunday at 11:00am-1:00pm CT Call on your phone: 412- SKEPGEN (412-753-7436)   Call online: https://tiny.cc/skepgen Love the show? Become a patron: https://tiny.cc/donatetoSG  Join us after the show on Discord: tiny.cc/SGdiscord To find out more, visit https://www.skepticgeneration.com  Copyright © 2024 Skeptic Generation. All rights reserved.

Shaking it up! | Skeptic Generation | Episode 4 Season 3

Eric is making some big changes in his life, we're gonna find out just what that means for the show! As always, if you would like to talk about what you believe and why, please call 412- SKEPGEN (412-753-7436)  OR tiny.cc/skepgen to call online! If you'd like to get some extra features, early access, member discord and more, check us out on our Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/skepticgeneration ___________________ TIME STAMPS & CALL NOTES  00:00 - Intro and patreon update 10:02 - Steve (He/Him) - OH - How do I talk to my child about going to church? 23:40 - Raphael (He/They) - Hungary - Are anti-zionists racists? (bad audio) 49:59 - Chase (He/Him) - ID - How confident are you that god isn’t real? 1:15:59 - Sober (He/Him) - CA - How do we find out what’s true and what do we do after? 1:29:00 - Will (He/Him) - TN - What are the teleological and ontological arguments?  1:40:22 - Christopher (He/Him) - SCT - Are the gods in the Torah, Bible, and Quran the same god? 10:02 Steve and Eric discuss a previous phone call where Steve got some advice from Eric regarding the topic of death. Steve had to have the same conversation again. Today, he wants to talk about his child going to church and becoming absorbed into it. They go on to discuss various facets of Steve’s child going to church. 23:40 Raphael only hears people talk about zionism when they’re using racially motivated speech. Him and Eric discuss how he identifies with the state of Israel, whether it’s irrevocably linked to his faith, and how he feels about anti-zionism. Eric advises him to meet people where they are when talking to them. 49:59 Chase wants to talk about Street Epistemology and his confidence level in the god of Christianity being not true. He asks Eric how confident he is that the god of the bible doesn’t exist and does a Street Epistemology session with Eric, who returns some epistemological inquiry to Chase. 1:15:59 Sober wants to follow up about the earlier caller with the Israel caller and determining the truth of reports of current affairs and hard choices that someone has to make after they have the truth. Eric and the Sober talk about how people put spin on things and how everything is colored by the people telling the story and this is why it’s good to apply skepticism to things and find different viewpoints to get a well rounded understanding of things. 1:29:00 Will wants to know more about the teleological and ontological arguments and Eric falls on his face. The teleological argument is the watchmaker argument. The ontological argument is that a being that necessarily exists is greater than a being that doesn’t necessarily exist. ___________________ Skeptic Generation is LIVE every Sunday at 11:00am-1:00pm CT Call on your phone: 412- SKEPGEN (412-753-7436)  Call online: https://tiny.cc/skepgen Love the show? Become a patron: https://tiny.cc/donatetoSG  Join us after the show on Discord: tiny.cc/SGdiscord To find out more, visit https://www.skepticgeneration.com  Copyright © 2024 Skeptic Generation. All rights reserved.

Featuring Guest Host Genetically Modified Skeptic! | Skeptic Generation | Episode 3 Season 3

-AUDIO WARNING- The first few minutes of the call with Drew includes an echo. We are able to resolve the echo within a few minutes, but feel free to skip to 3:30 if the echo is unbearable. Personal friend and fellow YouTuber Drew aka Genetically Modified Skeptic joins the show today! Before we take calls, he shares how he has taken a scholarly approach to trans issues and has been going to bat for the community in responses to seriously bad arguments made by the religious right. Here is a link to the videos that Drew is referring to during the intro. If you haven’t seen them, check them out! They’re fantastic! https://youtu.be/ABojJ2rW6vA?si=GEOcTJ75tss5FfIA [https://youtu.be/ABojJ2rW6vA?si=GEOcTJ75tss5FfIA] https://youtu.be/22W7I3yV-NY?si=BTwBYfP9wSxUN2VB [https://youtu.be/22W7I3yV-NY?si=BTwBYfP9wSxUN2VB] As always, getting the show started came with its technical setbacks, but we were able to get up and rolling for a fantastic show. Here are the timestamps if you’d like to skip to specific calls. ___________________ TIME STAMPS & CALL NOTES  00:00 - Intro   03:30 - Drew’s Echo is fixed! 14:58 - Why are there so many denominations? | Ronan (He/Him) - NY 30:33 - How to build interfaith community | Isaiah (He/Him) - South Korea 45:41 - Where do morals come from? | Tug (He/Him) - CAN 55:48 -  Reliability of the Gospels | Phil-oginy (He/Him) - USA 1:06:56 - Atheists shouldn’t cohabitate | Andrew (He/Him) - FL 1:22:48 - Atheism has a branding problem | Brian (He/Him) - CA 1:38:46 - Faith, Community, and Smart Recovery | David 1:56:07 - Understanding our religious neighbors | Connor (He/Him) - VA 2:03:38 - Community building and smart recovery | David (He/Him) - NC 2:10:57 - Superchats 14:58 Ronan was raised in a non-religious household and is really wondering why there are so many denominations even if they are all reading the same bible. For more resources, we recommend resources like:Dan McCclellan - https://www.youtube.com/@maklelan [https://www.youtube.com/@maklelan]Religion for Breakfast- https://www.youtube.com/@ReligionForBreakfast [https://www.youtube.com/@ReligionForBreakfast]Digital Hammurabi- https://www.youtube.com/@DigitalHammurabiAndEsoterica- https://www.youtube.com/@TheEsotericaChannel [https://www.youtube.com/@TheEsotericaChannel] 32:03 As a believer, Isaiah is finding it harder and harder to connect with fellow religious friends and family. He wants to know, how can a Christian like himself both connect with more hardcore family members as well as find common ground to engage with nonbelievers? Speaking for the show, this is the exact kind of conversation we hope to have and applaud anyone making the effort! 45:41 I don’t think we’re ever going to get away from questions like what is morality, but at least we can do it serving Kant! In this call, Tug wants to know just how we develop morals and why. We ask ourselves, do we need a transcendent lawgiver to ground our morality? Does objective morality exist? Let us know what you think in the comments! 55:48 Stepping back from the narrative, how much can actually be taken from biblical scholarship? What about secondary sources? Lets talk about what we have, what we want, and what we can hope for! 1:06:56 Andrew thinks that atheists should still wait until marriage to live together. We talk about taboos against divorce, the positives of living together, and what that means with data from religious sources. 1:22:48 Brian sees a shift in the way atheists have talked about themselves in the last 20 years, and thinks a new label would be helpful. Drew has wondered about how useful it could be, and Eric shares the shameful history of atheist rebranding. 1:38:46 John has been on the path to deconstruction for a few months now, and has a few questions. Eric and Drew chime in on reading the room, setting boundaries, and atheist evangelism. 1:56:07 Connor wants to talk about the nature of discourse with religious folks. Drew talks about how our history informs our approach and how former believers have an easier time understanding the other side. Eric talks about respecting people vs respecting ideas. 2:03:38 David follows up to John’s call about secular community building and resources for recovery that don't rely on a higher power. You can learn more by going to smartrecovery.org ___________________ Skeptic Generation is LIVE every Sunday at 11:00am-1:00pm CTCall on your phone: 412- SKEPGEN (412-753-7436)  Call online: https://tiny.cc/skepgen Love the show? Become a patron: https://tiny.cc/donatetoSG Join us after the show on Discord: tiny.cc/SGdiscord To find out more, visit https://www.skepticgeneration.com  Copyright © 2024 Skeptic Generation. All rights reserved.