TTA Podcast 126: Atheists Who Changed The World

[@blackice9088]

I am thankfully glad that I have come across many of the skeptics and atheists on this platform. You Seth, are one of my favorites. I also have to give a shout out to one of the first ones I came across and that would be a skeptic who goes by the name Logicked (a fellow Canadian) Finding all of these channels let me know that I was not nearly as isolated in my atheism, and I see now it's a large and growing community.

[@kennediens]

Steve Shives should TOTALLY be on this show. His series "An Atheist Reads.." is one of the best resources new atheists can possibly find. His counter arguments are so thoughtful and well reasoned. He doesn't get half the credit he deserves.

[@timothymostad8968]

Edwin Powell Hubble (November 20, 1889 - September 28, 1953) was the American astronomer who raised my interest in science and played a crucial role in establishing the field of extragalactic astronomy and is generally regarded as one of the most important observational cosmologists of the 20th century and my personal hero. Like many American's he was forced to believe, Hubble was raised as a Christian, He later became an agnostic

[@JT-ds2gn]

I remember my high school teacher was the turning piont for me. He said, "Religion is what people use to explain things they do not yet understand. Ancient humans hear thunder and see lightning, and think there must be a higher power."

[@TheWdayton]

Sean Carroll, Dan Barker, Jerry DeWitt. I love the work Sean and Dan do in combatting the abuses of religion in our country. Jerry DeWitt has been an inspiration. He came out right about the same time I realized I was an atheist.

[@wynchesster]

Bertrand Russell was the only person that didn't get a mention that I was surprised about. His essay / lecture on "Why I am not a Christian" is really fantastic.

[@JohnShrader]

My dad called Carl Sagan, 'Sagan the Pagan' - though he still let me watch Cosmos and other science shows. I think my dad's confidence and openness is one of the reasons I didn't question my religion for a long, long time.

[@ginagamba]

Atheists who have changed me: You (Seth Andrews), Dawkins, Dennett, Harris, Hitchens, James Randi. Gene Roddenberry (I am a huge geek), Mr. Atheist, Telltale, Genetically Modified Skeptic (him first). I found freedom to embrace and develop my natural skeptical nature where I thought it was a hindrance to progress as a former peddler of woo. I found more joy and laughter, and kindness, real, unconditional compassion outside the trappings of religion and dogma.

[@PurifierUnit]

"She was born in Warsaw..." Instantly recognized as Marie Curie. Didn't even have to keep going, Seth!

[@pickitflipit]

It's a damn shame he doesn't have more subscribers. He is top two of my favorite atheist channels and has less subs than anyone I watch. Dude deserves better.

[@mitchfindergeneral]

Grub, I'm sorry to hear about your distress. I hope you're doing alright. As a former christian, I can relate to what you posted A LOT.

[@TedApelt]

I agree with Seth. When I used IE it was very choppy, but on Safari it came across just fine. Still, it would be nice to be able to download it as an mp3, so that you could play it on anything with no Internet connection required.

[@Grubbistch123]

I'm a Christian, or at least I think I am, things have been...very difficult. A few weeks back, I had something of the opposite of an epiphany. When I thought of all the people that are in hell, all the people just suffering and burning terribly and for all eternity, I broke down, cried and felt sick the entire night. I don't know if I can to believe in a God that will just punish people for all of that. I wasn't sure how to email this to him, but I knew I needed to tell someone.

[@brieoncrackers]

I really don't know what you're talking about. I am an atheist and I hope and wish for the betterment of my fellows. I can experience pain and suffering just like you, when I am hurt, when my friends and family are hurt. When someone dies, they may rest in peace from the torments of life, though it is somewhat more figurative for us atheists. I think Shylock said it best: If you prick us, do we not bleed? If you tickle us, do we not laugh? If you poison us, do we not die?

[@dafl00]

Very excited for the Dawkins interview, I'm sure it'll be awesome!

[@sarahreyes4093]

Early cult of dusty, darkmatter2525, and amazing athiest on youtube were my guides out... then I discovered Dawkins and never looked back ♡

[@MarceloDiCocco]

If skeptic inquire of nature renders religion outdated, incoherent, inconsistent, etc, there are three options: -Realize it should not be that way if any of the magic books were telling the truth, -Realize you need magic in your miserable life and thus, deny the findings that contradicts the tales of your book, -Realize the contradictions but fear the consequences if you do not believe in something, just in case, and keep science and your religion in separated boxes. Only one is consistent.

[@mr.meeseeks8567]

Subscribed to both of them for a long time. and they're both great. (:

[@ddoyle11]

This is a good place to start questioning.

[@michellej3140]

Dave Allen (Google him ) was an Irish comedian with his irreverence of religion. He makes me think oh Tim Minchin, Dave is his mental grandfather.

[@AlchemistOfNirnroot]

Can people from the UK call TTA?

[@Etothe2iPi]

Marie Curie discovered polonium, not plutonium. Plutonium was not discovered but produced in 1940 (it occurs in nature in trace quantities).

[@golemkonty]

great! make one for Michail Bakunin and his work "God and the State" in which he states "Even if god exists, it would be nessecary to abolish him"

[@FSnetofficial]

Two awesome atheists/humanists from Germany: - Phillip Möller, educator & author - Michael Schmidt-Salomon, philosopher & author The latter even debated William Lane Craig once! :-) ...Greetings from Germany! :-)

[@MenwithHill]

On YT I feel like Steve Shives doesn't get enough love. He's nice, clever and down-to-earth. And he also puts up quite alot of work, especially the "An atheist reads" series.

[@SmallFries01]

With or without religion, you would have good people doing good things and evil people doing evil things. But for good people to do evil things, that takes religion.” ― Steven Weinberg Your guys fall into the evil people category. Atheism was not a requirement.

[@Troubleshooter125]

Steve Shives gets it DONE! He's a regular guy who has FIGURED IT OUT and knows how to communicate it to others in an accessible and entertaining way. There are a lot of KZbin atheists whose works I enjoy, but Steve is Number One With A BULLET!

[@acerbicatheist2893]

Einstein. MM O'Hair...oh she gets mentioned, goody! What a twit of a son, though, dearie me...and what a terrible end. Treated dismally even now, but she made a serious impact. Great lady. Bill Hicks.

[@MBarberfan4life]

That's exactly what I'm experiencing. You nailed it on the head. It's frustrating because my family is highly religious. At this point, I can't come out yet. I'm easing my way into it so to speak. They all know I'm skeptical about a lot of things. I feel like I'm living two lives. Not a fun place to be at all.

[@pumpuppthevolume]

very interesting article

[@snitcheyes411]

A Halloween episode about Chthulu? Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes Please!

[@TheSadieCam]

My sympathies (and empathies)! I tend to play it as a freewheeling uncommitted type who may or may not agree with those around me but doesn't come out and say it directly. Most of the religious folk I interact with are well-meaning older folks who are very set in their ways, and I don't challenge them. They operate in a narrow world where they automatically assume I think and believe exactly as they do. People like that melt down if they are challenged, and I'd like to keep the peace. Familiar?

[@Lewa500]

Don't forget that they consider themselves to be garbage, so of course it's no surprise that they'll tarnish their own principles sooner or later. But they'll just pray it away, because Christianity is the perfect justice system, no loopholes at all.

[@blackice9088]

Aron Ra and Thunderfoot are also favourites of mine as well...

[@lDrownded2]

His vid today was especially good because he brilliantly dissected the myth that Moses wrote the Pentateuch by going over the documentarian theory. I haven't heard this stuff since college.

[@ishtarian]

I assume you are referring to "Supernatural Horror in Literature", which wasn't a textbook, but an essay written for an amateur magazine. It has since been reprinted numerous times, including a very good annotated edition. Anyhoo... though in the main I think this is fairly accurate, there are certainly those who are strong indicators in the opposite direction, including some of HPL's favorites, such as Algernon Blackwood and Arthur Machen.... (cont.)

[@fizzynizzle]

I hope I'm not thee only one that tried to guess the person while he was reading their 'fact files' out! got most of them shortly after birth dates and locations, go me!

[@SuzyQzyful]

The famous atheist that helped change my world was Penn Jillette (& Teller). I grew up in the LDS church and was faithful.Two years ago I found the Creationism epi and the Bible epi of BS. I was shaken and wanted to smack Penn for being loud but it didn't change the fact that he said made sense. The Story of Suzy was on the video suggestions,then I found ExMormon.org through TTA's video among the podcasts I listened to, which lead to me being atheist and a Penn fan. "Elvis never did no drugs!"

[@MBarberfan4life]

I concur with everything you're saying. Sucky situation. Faith isn't an argument. It's gullibility and stupidity.

[@pickitflipit]

He puts out probably 5 to 1 from other channels I sub.

[@TedApelt]

I have been having serious internet issues and you keep breaking up. Any way I can download your show as an mp3 like I can with FFRF? I just can't listen with this format.

[@mikeenwright333]

Hey Seth, thanks for turning me on to Madalyn Murray O'Hair. Great show.

[@TimeShockwave]

If you truly knew what Atheism was you wouldn't make comments and ask questions like this. We're all human and share the human experience with hopes and dreams just like everyone else. Religion or belief in a God or Higher Power has nothing to do with it. Of course we can say 'rest in peace' just like you can say Santa Claus is coming to town both of which true purpose is to make the living feel better.

[@TwistedTruffles]

She's getting way better. Everybody is inexperienced at some point or another.

[@Knightyme]

Around the 1 hour 7 min mark you mention a quote, by Madalyn Murray O'Hair, that says in part '.. put away childish things.' in reference to religion. That sparked a memory of a vid be Darkmatter 2525 that has the same message. Link to the vid: watch?v=ODetOE6cbbc I recommend everyone to watch it all. But then I recommend DM252's channel in general. :)

[@PurifierUnit]

What she believed in was laissez-faire capitalism, which even a cursory examination will tell you is a terrible idea. Not everything is automatically improved by allowing the invisible hand to dictate the market. Bigger corporations hold more sway over product availability and pricing, usurping supply and demand economics. Some measure of regulation is required to maintain equilibrium (and safety too). See: Theodore Roosevelt and the Sherman Antitrust Act.

[@sarahreyes4093]

Hugo & Jake athiest bible study is addictive ♡♡♡

[@lDrownded2]

Shives would be great for a show. I would pay cash money to see/hear a panel with both Coughlan and Thunderfoot.

[@jermaineslaughter6898]

Talk about renowned freethinkers

[@MBarberfan4life]

It's sad and harmful. Lots of atheists don't realize that faith comes with a lot of negative things like guilt, pride, irrationality, mysticism, changing of public policy, etc

[@scepollo]

Woo! Shout-out to Zappa!

[@jlmex74]

Seth, you had DarkMatter2525 as a guest with Evid3nc3 and Bionic Dance on podcast #14 on 1-22-11.

[@nivvus13]

A show with Darkmatter would be awesome.

[@ImTabe]

Well he was a "friend" (I think he paid TJ to let him advertise on his channel) when he was a christian so what makes you think he converted sometime in the last year?

[@Arcus2658]

Let's not claim Ayn Rand if we can help it. She's more of an autotheist than an atheist anyway.

[@gussy1z]

I think Ray Comfort and eric hovind were a big part of me becoming an atheist. Especially when they would make up some story for why god had to be involved in some process, and without doing any research they would take this random idea that they just pulled out of there ass and teach it to thousands of people.

[@kennediens]

Seth - definitely Steve Shives is the guy to bring on the podcast. He's brilliant.

[@zencat999]

"do what u want, do what u will, just dont mess up yo neighbors thrill. and when u check out, kindly leave a tip to help the next poor sucker on this one way trip" frank zappa

[@pickitflipit]

Steve Shives is awesome. I also watch JaclynGlenn and CultofDusty. The guy's at TheBibleReloaded are really cool too.

[@christianneij1741]

You should do a show with TheAmazingAtheist, that would be interesting.

[@jesusbrown8398]

Im deist and I respect athiest more then thiest

[@strahd09]

wasnt there some old scroll. supporsedly oldest one found that mentioned the number of the beast where it was 616 not 666?

[@rchuso]

Bertrand Russell. You didn't mention Russell (or me, for that matter. :-)

[@gottimw]

when you lack arguments you start to personal attacks, its sign of desperation.

[@Troubleshooter125]

The idea of a roundtable with KZbin atheists is TERRIFIC. Contributors such as DarkMatter2525, Thunderf00t, NonStampCollector, Steve Shives, QualiaSoup, TheraminTrees, ZOMGitsCriss are remarkable in that these are all regular guys and gals Who Have Figured It Out ... and give brilliant and unique expression to their atheism. That is a must-do show, guy ... please!

[@TheFounderUtopia]

What makes me feel terrible for Hawking is imagining how slow it must be for him to write/communicate compared to how fast his mind must function. I can only imagine the frustration of blazing through twenty paragraphs of complex explanation, then having to just hold that in your mental RAM while you tediously work out one letter at a time.

[@PurifierUnit]

Last I checked, the Ten Commandments don't stop Christians of any sort from lying, stealing, killing, coveting, committing adultery, swearing, or making graven images. Just because something is against someone's beliefs doesn't mean they won't do it -- they'll just do it to protect and defend said beliefs, because then it makes perfect sense, obviously! "I will not compromise the fundamental tenets of my devotion in order to preserve it." --Stargate: The Ark of Truth

[@allyraymond9483]

Christopher Hitchens...he is the god of atheism! Absolutely, there was NONE like him! Miss him dearly.

[@TwistedTruffles]

I looooove them! :)

[@stevenshatswell53]

October is gonna be awesome. Scantily clad nurses and witches, Seth will have a video with Dawkins (The God Delusion is what made me realize I was an atheist), and Seth will tell ghost stories. To quote Jay of Jay and Silent Bob, "Bong!"

[@etidancal]

Seth... The audio sucks.... Please try to fix it!!!! Thanks

[@taterman1234]

Ricky Gervais is a pretty influential atheist. He's in the public eye a lot and he's very vocal about his beliefs.

[@dfadden62]

After watching Seth's new "I Am The Innocent" video I venture to say Seth Andrews is an atheist changing the world. Or he sure as hell is trying to.

[@eightdollarsmore]

The universe and Pong are two drastically different subjects. Besides, we still don't quite know if the universe has a cause or not. That's a very difficult question that many trained experts are working to answer. However, you seem to be very interested in this Pong game. I'd look into that on this thing called Google. You've probably heard of it...

[@RavenTreasures]

📚 books of all kinds are my Pat on the back for my atheisom

[@PurifierUnit]

Refuting irrational belief in supreme beings since 341 BCE.

[@UnforgivingDemon]

wait wait wait, Richard Dawkins will be on the show? THE Richard Dawkins on TTA? I can't wait!!!!

[@Voltanaut]

Don't forget Jack Nicholson!

[@dionclark6581]

Madalyn Murray Ohare, may she rest in peace. A HERO for women atheists.

[@Lewa500]

True, I was in her shoes once. They were tighter than I thought.

[@HucksterFoot]

Pumpkin pie. Nice way to start.

[@eightdollarsmore]

Our emotions come from our brain neurons, actually. Besides, that argument would be better suited for convincing someone they have some sort of spiritual force inside them, a metaphysical "soul" -- not a gigantic leap to an omniscient, omnipotent, omnipresent being that created the universe to begin with and controls everyone and everything inside it, along with these two other abstract places we know as Heaven and Hell.

[@FreethinkingSecularist]

Yes!!!! Finally...I hope you got your facts right about the Witnesses'. By the way you don't have to worry about being sued, as civil court/small claims suits or the like are against their beliefs.

[@pickitflipit]

I am in the same boat you seem to be in right now. My entire family is super Christian and I am the first person in it to actually educate myself and lose the faith. I have basically forced three members of my family, one a pastor, one my mom and the other my cousin, and I have utterly destroyed their arguments. I still haven't admitted that I am an atheist to them but they are well aware that I doubt. All of them say their best argument is faith. I say that's not evidence.

[@shway1]

You can have hope as an atheist, even as a skeptic. Just not false hope. If you think all hope comes from religion then I am truly sorry for you.

[@lorddude123]

what about tj aka The amazing athiest?

[@MadBrainBox]

Never do anything wrong unless you do it for god.Then it is ok.The Bible reinforce that behavior.

[@yvonnethompson844]

i liked the unbabtism of the relative of the romneys... it made me laugh, and as a witch i actually kinda felt some real energy there.... lol

[@Necrothian]

Pumpkin pie is delicious, I made 2 a few days ago.... I need to make more.

[@RevengeofGothzilla]

I like Sun Chips! GIVE ME YOUR SUN CHIPS, THEIST.

[@greenghost2008]

HP Lovecraft even wrote in his textbook about how atheists have an easier time making supernatural horror fiction because they don't have any bias.

[@bloodyRetailer]

But since you'll be less likely to come across an accident, know what a person believes, nor how they will react you'll never know that a person will cry out to a god. Unless you're psychic you have no 100% chance of actually knowing what a person will say or do. You may be certain of it yourself but believing your opinion/intuition is right does not make it true.

[@MatthewDeanIreland]

There is no official (FDA) definition for 'pumpkin' so most likely your 'pumpkin pie' is some sort of spiced squash.

[@marklaferney3443]

I'm actually rather surprised at how many famous people are non-believers. they're revered in this christian nation, but their lack of faith seems to not be mentioned, or even known.

[@jasonwojnicz]

You can DL any of the podcasts for free via itunes and easily convert them to mp3.

[@pensamentosconscientes446]

it is incredible!!! you know what?? the efford atheist must make to show that all the believes are wrong without hurtig susceptibilities... sorry about my english...all developed societies can share the knowledge that there is no such thing as gods and bla bla bla , but it is better to keep most people being righteous because o their believes

[@ccordell1111]

It does? where at?

[@eareimaj]

Stephen Fry and Bertrand Russell.

[@JohnShrader]

Oh, he knew, but he was also using it in the colloquial (perhaps only for christians) sense of 'not christian' - but mostly because it rhymed rather than it being a correct label. The various definitions and careless use is probably why there is such confusion and anger over the terms. Though, fun fact, I did encounter an atheist who used pagan as an adjective meaning following any superstition, including Christianity. *shrugs* Similar to saying 'turks' for Muslims I suppose?

[@Kellerwerks]

Harlan Ellison Bertrand Russell