This is a weekly podcast for those who want to WATCH it via YouTube to discuss stories from the past week involving religion and politics.
0:00 Intro
1:20 Nearly half of Gen Z says Trump makes them less likely to attend church.
15:45 Christian preachers are turning airplanes into unwanted worship services.
22:51 Kim Davis still owes $565,000. A new lawsuit says she hid her inheritance to avoid paying it.
30:30 A Trump judge redefined "diversity" to excuse an almost entirely Christian "religious liberty" panel.
40:45 The Justice Dept's new “religious liberty” memo gives Christians more power to discriminate.
50:53 In 2026, atheists make up only 0.066% of the federal prison population.
57:45 New survey suggests Australia's Census may dramatically undercount the non-religious.
Psychologist and author Mary L. Trump delivers a powerful critique of the misuse of religion in American politics, arguing that Christian nationalism threatens democracy and that secular Americans must challenge the system that enables it. She also presents FFRF’s Uncommon Nonsense Award to Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick for his role in promoting Christian nationalism and intertwining religion with government.
Jesus tells eleven disciples to go make disciples of all nations, and somehow that became a guy with a guitar in row 14.
This episode, we dig into what the Great Commission actually says in Matthew 28, what "make disciples" meant to a first-century audience, and why the word translated "witness" in Acts 1 is the same word that gives us "martyr."
Along the way: costly signaling, the medieval shortcut of just converting the king, and why celebrity endorsements are doing far more conversion work than anyone at baggage carousel nine.
Chapters:
0:00 Intro
1:15 The Great Commission
1:41 Matthew 28, Read Aloud
2:52 All Authority, Daniel 7
3:42 From Commission to Annoyance
4:40 The Airport Evangelist
6:01 Was It Only the Eleven?
7:07 What "Make Disciples" Means
8:27 Convert the King
9:21 Evangelism as Identity Marker
10:33 Costly Signaling
12:03 Performing the Concern
14:28 When Kids Get Hurt
17:50 Witnesses in Acts 1
19:21 The Greek Word Is Martyr
20:13 A Good Example
21:22 Servers, Tracts, and Fake Twenties
23:00 God Gives the Growth
25:15 Does It Actually Work?
26:08 Celebrity Conversions
27:56 If the Dans Turned Heel
30:18 Coexist Versus Convert
31:50 The Official Stance
This is the 21st Century folks.
Time to stop believing in magic.
Come and discuss!
Timestamps
00:05:30 – Rimas – Argues that religion is more dangerous than a bedtime story because children are taught myths as reality, sharing examples from Islamic schooling where science and religious claims directly conflicted.
00:11:08 – Jack – After audio glitches, atheist caller asks about divine command theory; the hosts explain why God’s commands would still be subjective preferences and cut the technical friendly discussion short.
00:19:13 – Leaf – Says God is more like a horror story than a bedtime story, leading to discussion of children’s credulity, religious fear, and why indoctrination depends on teaching stories as fact.
00:33:02 – David – Challenges the bedtime-story framing, asks about agnostic atheism versus atheism, then debates God as tradition, definitions, burden of proof, and fine-tuning/design arguments.
00:58:43 – Dr. Digg – Noticed in the queue after David’s call, but missed before joining; the hosts invite her to try again later.
00:59:14 – Jerbear – Asks about The Satanic Temple; discussion covers secular pushback against religious power, Baphomet displays, religious freedom versus religious preference, and trolling religion through equal access.
01:05:11 – Six Spiritual Six Scribe Six – Challenges the claim that atheism is the default by describing early memories of a spiritual connection; the hosts discuss false memories, child development, born-atheist language, imagination, and testing ideas against reality.
01:20:48 – T – Briefly joins to point out the Pigeon Lady fundraiser link is in Discord, joke about John being an AI/cyborg, and help with stream logistics.
01:24:56 – Austin – Offers a taste analogy for subjective morality, arguing that rejecting objective morality does not make harm arbitrary; the hosts discuss shared values, wellbeing, empathy, and evaluating actions within chosen goals.
01:41:29 – Matthew – Returns to discuss theist claims that God grounds objective morality and how morality, God’s nature, free will, heaven, and “because God says so” fail to escape deeper problems.
01:52:59 – Nicholas – Initial audio attempt fails, then he reconnects to explore a non-tri-omni God, divine subjective morality, hell as coercion, and whether weakening God’s properties makes the concept any more useful.
02:13:26 – Too Skinny To Be Fat – Discusses deconstruction and a worried Christian mother; the hosts advise boundaries, love, therapy, and accepting that some family religious differences may remain unresolved.
02:21:50 – Pigeon Fluff / Darvi – Introduces herself as the Pigeon Lady, thanks the community for fundraiser support, defends pigeons, and shares that reading the Bible as a Christian-raised child helped make her an atheist.
02:26:19 – Mikhail – Muslim-raised caller deconstructing his faith asks why the channel focuses on belief being involuntary; discussion covers willful denial, genuine disbelief, religious guilt, repeated debate topics, and objective morality.
02:43:41 – Aether – First attempt to reconnect fails due to audio/video problems.
02:45:29 – Aether (return 2) – Discusses hell, annihilationism, resistant versus non-resistant nonbelievers, proportional punishment, mortal sin, church doctrine, and whether “resistant” nonbelief really deserves annihilation.
03:05:42 – Greg – Starts with evolution and religious demographics, then slides into Muslim/white-population conspiracy claims; the hosts distinguish genetics from culture and end the call over racist framing.
03:30:46 – Mullers – First TikTok attempt fails when the platform cannot bring him in.
03:31:31 – Kelly Weber – Responds to Greg by discussing religion, high birth rates, cultural reproduction, and indoctrination without turning demographic concern into racism.
03:37:12 – Mullers – Asks what “God is a bedtime story” means, then discusses symbolism, Jesus’ message, inner voices, morality without God, humanism, and why symbolic readings do not make religious claims true.
04:12:30 – Steph – Briefly thanks the hosts and raises concern about chat moderation during bigotry call-outs; the hosts suggest handling mod criticism by DM and acknowledge how difficult moderation is.
04:16:11 – DMC – Debates materialism, consciousness, free will, objective morality, divine purpose, the God of Israel, suffering, skin cancer, and the “seesaw” problem for God’s goodness and power.
04:51:46 – Esspresso Jack – Responds to Greg by explaining white nationalist/replacement-theory signals, racist misuse of statistics, and the difference between social causes and racial explanations.
04:56:34 – PVG – Briefly notes that Scientific Snitch/Ella was in the queue and recommends her and Dr. Digg as strong science voices on race, biology, and pseudoscience.
04:59:33 – Dang the Host Does Exist – First attempt fails because the mic/audio does not work.
05:00:09 – David Timson / Tim Davidson – Friendly caller reveals he is Tim Davidson from chat, thanks the hosts, jokes about his bad-joke lineage and M’s distinctive voice, and praises the community.
05:05:04 – Dang the Host Does Exist (return 2) – Christian caller argues God must be good and eternal, then debates omniscience, omnipotence, young-earth creationism, Genesis, Exodus archaeology, Noah’s Ark, and whether biblical myths undermine Bible-based claims.
05:47:27 – Kradrol – LDS caller says God would be a terrible bedtime story, agrees atheists are rational without personal experience, explains reliance on testimony and Book of Mormon claims, and outlines an LDS afterlife as teaching/reeducation rather than torture.
05:55:12 – Rasol – Challenges the bedtime-story metaphor as unjustified; discussion turns to Bible mythology, talking donkeys, magic, whether mythic stories justify skepticism, and ends in a hostile crash-out.
06:12:05 – Marquise GT – Questions calling biblical miracles “magic” when modern technology can also seem amazing; the hosts distinguish explainable technology from miracle claims and discuss coincidence, miracles, and biblical magic.
06:28:21 – Anna Banana – Brought in from TikTok, but appears to have joined accidentally and does not respond before being dropped.
06:29:00 – Shorebag – Questions how confidently the hosts reject biblical miracles, then discusses certainty, evidence, teleportation, alien-tech possibilities, mockery, tone, anger, and the distinction between miracles and magic.
06:54:39 – Gohan – Returns to discuss natural evil, fine-tuning, earthquakes, tsunamis, childhood suffering, God’s power, logical possibility, and why the hosts think fine-tuning does not solve the problem of evil.
07:26:37 – K – Challenges the implication that God is fictional, asks about evidence and probability, then tries to present a composition/essence argument before the hosts end it due to time and complexity. Interview:
It can't be morally wrong to fail to be convinced by a claim.
Come and discuss this one!
Timestamps (sorry for the delay, I had technical problems)
00:01:24 – Mister Mister – Agnostic theist caller agrees that atheism as a lack of belief cannot be morally wrong, then discusses definitions of belief, epistemic humility, the Old Testament God, and why belief itself should not be punishable.
00:14:56 – Silly Cat – Shares a difficult family and religious background, being labeled atheist/rebellious, panic around family conflict, and emotional frustration with claims that God or the divine is good.
00:18:58 – Not Your Valentine – Agnostic/deity-believing caller from Nigeria cites rituals, blood sacrifices, and rain-stopping claims as evidence for deities; the hosts challenge anecdotal reasoning, correlation, prayer efficacy, and gullibility.
00:26:30 – Heinrich – Asks about causation, the Big Bang, afterlife, agnostic atheism, double-slit experiments, and simulation theory; the hosts clarify that atheism is lack of belief, not a claim to know no God exists.
00:31:51 – Doberman – Christian caller argues from Jesus, Romans 1, nature, design, the devil, and a “reprobate mind”; the hosts challenge his claim that atheists are refusing God and argue that Romans 1 leaves no room for honest nonbelief.
00:58:31 – VA David – Raises an evolutionary-argument-against-naturalism / presuppositional-style challenge about how atheists can trust reason and sense data; the hosts respond with natural selection, pragmatic assumptions, solipsism, certainty, logic, and TAG-style apologetics.
01:29:42 – Vitor Sarano – Noisy TikTok caller argues that God exists beyond space and time, questions the Big Bang and beginning of time, and claims the greatest minds believe in Jesus; the hosts challenge his cosmology and the claim that “outside time” explains anything.
01:41:32 – Steve – Attempted TikTok call fails when Steve does not respond after being brought in.
01:41:56 – JD Tallproof – Practicing Christian asks about the Big Bang, Genesis, God as explanation, free will, hell, and whether God revealing himself would violate choice; the hosts argue that explanatory power is not evidence and that honest nonbelief should not be punishable.
02:04:04 – Big Vaz – Debates whether “atheism cannot be wrong” is just a word game about belief states, then discusses strong versus weak atheism, Christianity, moral culpability, hell, belief as involuntary, and whether people can choose to reject evidence.
02:36:14 – Snowflake – Briefly agrees with the prompt and says they are atheist toward other people’s gods, but the hosts move on quickly because the stream is focused on debate.
02:37:18 – Fro – Mentioned as waiting on the YouTube side, but the stream ends before they are brought in.
02:37:30 – TrueJoy – Christian caller asks what atheism offers compared with Christianity, then debates worldview replacement, hope, morality, moral obligation, nihilism, divine command theory, and whether God’s commands could justify atrocities.
02:54:40 – Jam-M – Seen waiting in the TikTok queue, but the hosts say they cannot take the call because the stream is ending.
Brad Onishi hosts a live event panel with Sarah Posner, Dr. Julie Ingersoll, and Dr. Matthew D. Taylor on the religious dimensions of the Iran conflict and its effects on Christian nationalism and MAGA. Posner explains how influential Christian Zionists have long sought U.S. confrontation with Iran, tying it to end-times prophecy, unconditional support for Netanyahu, and Republican foreign policy influence through figures like John Hagee, Paula White, and ambassador Mike Huckabee. Ingersoll contrasts this with postmillennial Christian Reconstructionism linked to Doug Wilson and Pete Hegseth, noting no special theological role for Israel and emerging internal fissures over the war. Taylor describes Iran as a Shiite religious nationalist state and argues religious extremism on both sides amplifies escalation, highlighting NAR “spiritual warfare” against the “Prince of Persia.”
As the discussion unfolds, the panel explores fractures within the religious right, including tensions between evangelicals and far-right Catholics, generational divides among Reconstructionists, and the uncertain political future of figures like J.D. Vance. With attention to media ecosystems, ideological alliances, and the role of key influencers, the episode situates the Iran conflict within a broader struggle over power, identity, and the future of American politics. The result is a nuanced portrait of a movement that is far from monolithic—and whose internal contradictions may prove as consequential as its external ambitions.
In this final episode of the season, there are three parts which support the concluding chapter of The Christian Past That Wasn't. The first part is former Secretary of Health and Human Services Ben Carson's false telling of Ben Franklin's call to prayer during the Constitutional Convention in 1787. Carson said the delegates stopped and prayed after Franklin called them to prayer. They didn't. This is the kind of folklore which I correct in The Christian Past That Wasn't.
The second part of this segment is a brief analysis of Al Mohler's admission that the Constitution doesn't acknowledge any Christian foundation. This significant admission came in a short video this week. Even though Mohler is honest about one aspect of the Constitution, he considers the lack of explicit Christian language to be an error on the part of the founders. Here is where he is wrong and I respond to Al Mohler's opposition to the American Constitution.
The third and final part tracks with the Conclusion of The Christian Past That Wasn't. I discuss separation of church and state in light of the golden rule and the moral teachings of Christ. I end the podcast where I started it by examining the issue of posting copies of the Ten Commandments in public school classrooms. I come down on the side that posting the Decalogue is an imposition of one faith over others and thus an improper establishment of religion. As such it violates the golden rule. If I don't want someone to impose their faith on me, I shouldn't do that to others.
In the words of Texas state legislator John Bryant from the podcast, "That's not fair, and that's not American." Interview:
0:01:26 - Marquise GT - Claims Jon and Sean are not open minded for rejecting old epistemic methods of ancestors that led them to conclude there is a God
0:26:55 - Bouldur - claims religion is all about hope to some people and questions why theists cannot accept some people cannot believe in God even if they tried but endorse their punishment.
0:34:56 - Shahed - Shares his personal ethical dilemma around islam and asks for advice on how to deal with close friends and family with religious beliefs.
0:46:12 - Soldierick - Claims evidence of God in the 2nd law of thermodynamics & that atheist physicists are biased. Gets educated by Dr.digg on fine tuning.
1:27:12 - AdamTaylor - Discusses the nuances of goldilock zone, universe as not being a closed system, life in the universe & fundamental laws in physics.
Superchats & bingo
1:50:37 - Moakmeister - Collective Brainstorming session on the argument points used by critical thinking rationalists like Sagan, Hitchens & theists that oppose them
Superchats
2:01:53 - John Mondragon - Argues that jon is making a positive claim in saying 'atheism makes sense in the absence of evidence for God'. Inquires what rationality and truth means.
2:16:07 - Dr.Joe - Asserts that inductive reasoning by humans can infer that supernatural claims were always debunked by scientific ones and not the other way around.
2:26:02 - Mark - Asks how atheists account for logic & what ontological stance they take to prove atheism. Claims logic (logos) comes from God and are uncreated.
2:40:31 - Kirby Newkirk - Asks for advice in dealing with judgemental theists in his network that look down upon him for his atheism.
Superchats
2:52:39 - Cameron - inquires about the special stream on deconstructing mormonism. Also shares about a police case in the united states that is related to people from mormonism
Superchats
3:05:01 - Common Ground - Discusses common fallacious arguments and inconsistent, hypocritical narratives in the bible.
Superchats & youtube hate comments.
3:31:33 - Sober - Discusses if a God can exist in concept and about the epistemic & cognitive limitations of humans & animals
3:43:59 - Dr.pepper - Posits that Universal constants & naturalistic phenomena, life all point to a design.
4:21:41 - Herb - Deep-dives into his deconstruction story and ethical inconsistencies in christianity.
4:36:17 - Buzz & superchats - Buzz shares a bit about his theistic past & reprimands the common motivated reasonings christians use.
4:45:46 - Christopher - Shares personal experience of an all good God and claims that eucharistic miracles happen in the world.
5:28:16 - Slytherinprefect - Argues that the bible is a codex, and that God does necessary evils for a greater good. Claims he believes in a monad.
5:32:42 - Dcs47 - Explains nuances in probability that debunks fine tuning arguments.
5:36:16 - Dustin k - Argues the bible is entirely symbolic & stories in it ought not to be taken literally.
Superchats
6:03:49- PVG - catch up & acknowledgement to the community.
6:08:21 - Marzby - Catch up. Discusses cognition in theists & AI psychosis.
Superchats
Member credits, member questions/comments, bingo, caller rankings conclusion. Interview:
— Christian influencer brags that she had six kids to “help the white race.” (0:41)
— Lindsey Graham was an opponent of church/state separation. (16:28)
— Pastor files discrimination lawsuit after losing library job over pronouns. (21:51)
— A pro-Trump activist is raising money to install a giant Christian cross on the moon. (33:45)
— Indiana’s Lt. Gov. says Muslims shouldn’t be allowed to have “public calls to prayer.” (45:35)
— Evangelical GOP candidate Rod Joseph: “You cannot be born gay. That’s impossible.” (53:27)
— Tennessee gubernatorial candidate Monty Fritts is trying to out-Christian Marsha Blackburn. (1:03:59) Interview:
After reporting national Christian-nationalist news and local state/church victories in the schools, we talk with journalist Carlos Orsi, author of the new book, ”What Science Says About Astrology.”
In this episode of It's In the Code, host Dan Miller tackles one of the most provocative questions a believer can ask: Did God lie in the Garden of Eden? Beginning with a listener's question about Genesis and God's warning that Adam and Eve would die if they ate from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, Dan takes a close look at the biblical text itself rather than the assumptions many Christians bring to it. Along the way, he explores how later theological traditions—including original sin, spiritual death, and the identification of the serpent with Satan—have shaped the way this familiar story is understood, often in ways that go beyond what the text actually says.
Drawing connections to his previous episode on Job, Dan argues that some of the Bible's most challenging passages become even more unsettling when read carefully and without inherited interpretations. He examines the role of the serpent, the meaning of knowledge, and why difficult questions about scripture are so often discouraged in high-control religious communities.
Rather than seeing these questions as signs of weak faith, Dan suggests they emerge from taking the Bible seriously enough to wrestle honestly with its complexities.
If you've ever been told there are questions you're not supposed to ask in church, this episode invites you to ask them anyway.
This episode it's Twisted Scripture: Proverbs 3:5–6 — "trust in the Lord and lean not on your own understanding" — and the way it gets wielded to shut a conversation down.
We dig into the claim that you can only "really" understand the Bible if you read it with the Holy Spirit, why that's textbook special pleading, and how John Lennox's red Ferrari ends up parked in the same garage as Carl Sagan's invisible dragon.
Along the way: intuition versus reflective cognition, why every tradition reports the same spiritual "confirmation," and the difference between private faith and public claims.
In today’s episode of the Atheist Experience, Justin and Scott Dickie celebrate Mother’s Day by examining the "bad design" of childbirth and the failed promises of the Bible! They dismantle the myth of messianic prophecies, the forgery of the Shroud of Turin, and the logical gymnastics required to ground reality in a transcendental deity.
Isaac in AL argues eyewitnesses and the Shroud of Turin prove Jesus. Justin notes the "500 witnesses" are unnamed, and the shroud is a confessed forgery. They analyze Hebrew text to see if Jesus failed the messianic job description. Will he find a counter?
Joel in AZ asks if a perfect God could create imperfection. Scott challenges the vague term "perfection," while Justin notes that if God is good, unnecessary suffering is a contradiction. Does this resolution simply delete the Christian message?
Toby in Italy asks how God grounds logic. Scott explains logic is a descriptive tool for reality, not a transcendental entity needing an anchor. They critique Platonism. If logic is just a language, what happens to the transcendental argument?
00:00:00 Intro
00:08:32 Isaac-AL | Historical Evidence and Messianic Prophecies
01:12:08 Joel-AZ | Perfect God and Imperfect Creation
01:26:54 Toby-Italy | God as the Grounding for Logic Interview:
After reporting a slew of Christian Nationalist nonsense from pastors, government officials and our President, FFRF Action Fund’s Senior Policy Counsel Ryan Jayne and State Policy Manager Ryan Dudley describe a slew of good and bad state-church bills in state legislatures so far this year.
9:30 - Interfacing Meatball - Could God make a world without original sin? Is original sin unjust? Is it fair to go to Hell if you are not convinced there is a God?
55:25 my mommmm - Friendly hello
58:30 Not meek and mild - How can we discount personal experiences if so many individuals have them, especially if they change people over a lifetime? Answer: benefits do not equal truthfulness
1:29:30 Buckaronni - Can you choose what you believe? Why would God punish someone for not being convinced of something?
2:08:20 (Buckaronni) - Why did God give Satan the ability to deceive people?
2:28:25 Jesus rules - Why won’t Justin criticize religions other than Christianity? Caller gets dropped for being a soundboard.
2:33:53 Truth in Telos - Caller claims the Bible doesn’t mention morality nor does it say God is just; Some arguing over ancient Hebrew; Caller claims it may be fair to punish people for crimes they didn’t commit
