Showing posts with label ApostAZ podcast. Show all posts
Showing posts with label ApostAZ podcast. Show all posts

Friday, January 29, 2010

ApostAZ podcast #19

After a multi-month hiatus, the ApostAZ podcast returns:
Episode 019 Atheism and Spooky Bullshite in Phoenix! Go to meetup.com/phoenix-atheists for group events! Intro- Joe Rogan "Noah's Ark (George Carlin Remix)". Paranormal Activity, Chick Tracts and Ugandan Love.
The guy whose name you couldn't think of around 16:22-16:30--of the Stop Sylvia Brown website--is Robert Lancaster.

Saturday, September 05, 2009

ApostAZ podcast #18

The 18th episode of the ApostAZ podcast is available:
Episode 018 Atheism and Free Twizzering in Phoenix! Go to meetup.com/phoenix-atheists for group events! Mark 19? Criticism and analysis. http://arizonacor.org Intro- Immortal Technique- Freedom of Speech from Revolutionary Vol 2. Outro- Greydon Square 'Dream' from the Compton Effect.

Monday, August 17, 2009

ApostAZ podcast #17

ApostAZ podcast number 17 is out:
Episode 017 Atheism and Voluntarily Free Thought in Phoenix! Go to meetup.com/phoenix-atheists for group events! Special Guest Representatives of AZ Coalition of Reason Matt Schoenley, Jim Lippard, and Apostaz hosts Shannon and Brad. AZCoR, Who What what not Why and why not? Tam 7 and Skepticamp. http://arizonacor.org http://discord.org http://meetup.com/phoenix-atheists Intro- Greydon Square 'Cubed' from the Compton Effect. Outro- Vocab Malone 'Track 12'.
This was my first time sitting in on the whole recording, rather than just contributing a short skepticism segment. While this was mainly about the Arizona Coalition of Reason, I did talk a little bit about TAM7 and SkeptiCamp Phoenix.

Monday, June 08, 2009

ApostAZ podcast #16

The latest ApostAZ podcast is now out:
Episode 016 Atheism and Bleep-Free Thought in Phoenix! Go to meetup.com/phoenix-atheists for group events! Special Guest August Berkshire. August Berkshire is vice-president of Atheist Alliance International (AAI), and past president of Minnesota Atheists.

He is also in the midst of a three-week tour through the midwest and southwest visiting various atheist groups along the way including our own Phoenix Atheist group. Intro: Roll with an Atheist by Charlie Checkm. Outro: Fallen on the Front Lines by Galt Aureus.

August is the owner of the “ATHEIST” license plate for Minnesota and is proud to be listed in the reference book Who’s Who in Hell.
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Origin of the "Seven Deadly Sins": http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/7_deadly_sins

Friday, April 24, 2009

ApostAZ podcast #15

Whoops, forgot to report on this one when it was released last month:
Episode 015 Atheism and wheat-gluten-Free Thought in Phoenix! Go to meetup.com/phoenix-atheists for group events! All Music from Greydon Square- CPT Theorem and Compton Effect,Group Events, Sao Paulo- Making Hard Decisions is a Crime Against the Church, Half of UK Folks Agree that Evolution Makes God Obsolete, Thunderf00t's PEARL of a Youtube vid.
Comments: The woman who claimed that someone being "dead" and resuscitated after eight minutes was miraculous is a bit off in her claim, since hearts and lungs are routinely stopped in open heart surgery for 4-6 hours, though that involves oxygenation of the blood by a heart-lung bypass machine. Perhaps more to the point are some hypothermia near-death cases, some of which have lasted for hours, like this recent case in Minnesota.

Tuesday, February 10, 2009

ApostAZ podcast #14

The latest ApostAZ podcast is now available:
Episode 014 Atheism and Sucker-Free Thought in Phoenix! Go to meetup.com/phoenix-atheists for group events! Intro from Vocab Malone 'Lean Back- But think', Guest Shawn from the Tough Questions Podcast and http://www.youtube.com/user/azsuperman01 and Josh, Religion and the Workplace, Outro Music from Greydon Square- CPT Theorem
Comments:

I wish people would stop saying that you can't prove a negative. You can. (Also see this.)

Saturday, January 31, 2009

ApostAZ podcast #13

The latest ApostAZ podcast is now available:
Episode 013 Atheism and Shit-Free Thought in Phoenix! Go to meetup.com/phoenix-atheists for group events! All Music from Greydon Square- CPT Theorem, Ten Things the Pope Hates About Reality, Some Obama Topics, Family Planning and Stem Cell Research, REBT: Self-Downing.
Jan. 31: Filming for ArizonaCOR welcome video (happened today).
Feb. 13: Phoenix Atheists meetup new member welcome at Baby Kay's.
Feb. 15: SMOCA 10th anniversary, Phoenix Atheists will attend.
Feb. 18: Daniel Dennett speaking at ASU on "Darwin's Strange Inversion of Reasoning." Phoenix Atheists will attend.

Comments on this episode:

I don't think the difference between a religion and a cult is just the number of members, though growing large enough certainly tends to change social perception. As I've written previously at this blog, I think the characteristics that make a group a cult are something like Steve Hassan's BITE model (Behavior control, Information control, Thought control, Emotional control) or better yet (since it doesn't depend on questionable notions of mind control), Isaac Bonewits' Advanced Bonewits' Cult Danger Evaluation Frame (ABCDEF).

Wednesday, January 14, 2009

ApostAZ podcast #12

The latest ApostAZ podcast is now available:
Episode 012 Atheism and Nonsense-Free Thought in Phoenix! Go to meetup.com/phoenix-atheists for group events! Solstice Party Wrap Up, January Events, UK Atheist Bus, Papua New Guinea Witch Burning... In This Century! Yeah! Jeremy's Funeral Proselytization, REBT: Unconditional Other Acceptance.
Comments:

The "penis panics" (also known as "koro" or "genital retraction syndrome") are typically in Nigeria, Ghana, and Benin, but have also appeared in parts of Asia such as China and Singapore.

Jeremy's funeral proselytization story is unfortunate. I've attended a few too many funeral services of late (six so far this century), of which four have been religious and two have been completely secular. All of the religious ones had a tone to them that occasionally seemed to assume that everyone present was Christian, but none had a hellfire component or a call to Jesus that I remember--they were focused on remembering the person who was gone and addressing the loss of the people present. I have heard of churches that emphasize the hellfire component, and in 2003 a priest at the funeral service of Ben Martinez in Chama, NM, said that the deceased was a lukewarm Catholic who now burns in hell. The family filed a lawsuit over it.

Shannon and Noel, congratulations on your engagement!

Re: Jeremy's godfather story--you should say sure, you'll be happy to tell the kid all about their faith, thinking to yourself, "including that most of what you believe is not true."

Wednesday, November 19, 2008

ApostAZ podcast #11

The latest ApostAZ podcast is now available:
Episode 011 Atheism and Feces-Free Thought in Phoenix! Go to meetup.com/phoenix-atheists for group events! Shyness, Group News,Election Post-Mortem, Email from Shawn of Tough Questions Podcasts, Winter Solstice, Musings on Rhetorical Debate Styles, Ridiculous Marriage Amendment.
My comments: Duane Gish was vice president of the Institute for Creation Research.

Nice listener email on the FLDS members pretending to be truck stop hookers--I like the listener feedback.

Obama opposes same-sex marriage.

On proving a negative, please see this and/or this.

Monday, November 03, 2008

ApostAZ podcast #10

ApostAZ podcast #10 is out:
Episode 010 Atheism and Dogma-Free Thought in Phoenix! Go to meetup.com/phoenix-atheists for group events! Quiverfull, Innocence, Over-population, Which Came First, Religion or Ignorance? (Some of David's artwork: http://www.flickr.com/photos/davidbessent/), Fear and Dogma, Ignosticism, Priming the Gish Gallop.
There's some discussion of what the legal standards should be for government prevention of abuses by separatist religious groups like Warren Jeffs' FLDS group. It's a tough problem, especially when various child protective agencies themselves have a poor reputation and cause harm themselves. In the FLDS case in Texas, the state raided the FLDS compound on the basis of a hoaxed complaint, adult women were taken and held as minors, and the Texas CPS repeatedly misrepresented the facts to try to justify its actions (links are to several of numerous blog posts by economist David Friedman, who blogged the FLDS situation in detail).

Tuesday, September 23, 2008

ApostAZ podcast #9

ApostAZ podcast #9 is out, and it's something new and different--atheists Brad and Shannon in conversation and debate with evangelical Christian hip-hop artist Vocab Malone and Omri Miles.
Episode 009 Atheism and Evangelism in Phoenix! Go to atheists.meetup.com/157 for group events! What can be euphemistically termed a conversation between two non-believers, an evangelist, and a non-denominational Christian. Guests Vocab Malone and Omri Miles. How long can a civil conversation last? Brad's brain turns to mush (even more than usual)!
Additional info from Susan Jacoby's History of American Secularism (great book, buy it!)
There's an interesting followup exchange between Vocab and Brad at the Phoenix Atheists Meetup Group forum.

The ApostAZ podcast is also now available through iTunes.

I'm looking forward to listening to this one, and may add some commentary here and at the Phoenix Atheists Meetup Group forum when I do.

Monday, September 08, 2008

ApostAZ podcast #8

ApostAZ podcast #8 is out:
Episode 008 Atheism and Sam Kinnison!!! in Phoenix- Go to atheists.meetup.com/157 for group events! Discussion of Matthew 10:10's Energeticism. (Matt: you have an open invite to be on the show and discuss it) Basics of Evolutionary Psychology. http://www.mixx.com/s... Billboards and Photos.
This is really #9, and #8 is the "lost" podcast, thanks to the burglary of Brad's home and theft of his computer.

My comments on energeticism may be found at the Phoenix Atheists Meetup Group message board. I've got a copy of Matthew's book but haven't been able to get past the first chapter.

Saturday, August 23, 2008

Tom Willis suggests labor camps for evolutionists

Tom Willis, the creationist behind the "Lucy's knee joint" claim I debunked in a Talk Origins FAQ, who in June stated that evolutionists should be "violently expelled" from the United States or denied the right to vote, now says that evolutionists should be imprisoned in labor camps.

I think Mr. Willis is either a lunatic or desperate for attention. I think he should get the latter, as a poster boy for creationist rationality.

I discussed Willis and the Lucy's knee joint claim in the fourth ApostAZ podcast.

(Willis is not actually in Kansas, but in Missouri, where he runs "The Berry Patch.")

UPDATE: Ed Brayton has a more detailed take-down of Willis' latest at Dispatches from the Culture Wars.

Sunday, August 17, 2008

ApostAZ podcast #7

The latest ApostAZ podcast is out:
Episode 007 Atheism and Freethought in Phoenix- Go to atheists.meetup.com/157 for group events! Monthly Meetup Epilogue. Debate Tactics and Rhetoric. Sweden Rules Against Prayer as Truth: http://www.guardian.co.uk/. Prayer and Aggression. Obama and Faith Based Initiatives. Pickett Church? http://www.atheistrev.com/ Aggression study: http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/journal/120083092/abstract. Greydon Square's Album 'The Compton Effect'
Funny analogy from Shannon: "Prayer is a homeless dude on your couch."

Charity Navigator is another site similar to CharityWatch.

Shannon incorrectly states that McCain is a creationist. He's not. And the Creation Museum is in Kentucky, not Tennessee.

Picketing churches on the basis of its beliefs and doctrines is a terrible idea that should be left to Fred Phelps and similar kooks. The picketing of the Church of Scientology has generally been based on its behavior, not its doctrines--to the extent the focus is on opposing criminal behavior, that's reasonable.

Saturday, August 02, 2008

ApostAZ podcast #6

ApostAZ podcast #6 is up:
Episode 006 Atheism and Freethought in Phoenix- Go to atheists.meetup.com/157 for group events! Jim Lippard teases three cool books. "Squared" from Greydon Square's 'The Compton Effect'. Evolution Laments God of the Gaps. Saying Naughty Words. Bad reasons to be an atheist. Outro from 'Dream' Greydon Square's Album 'The Compton Effect'
Comments: The podcast gets better each time. I disagree with the idea that everyone who is an agnostic is just trying to be politically correct, or is fence-sitting out of non-rational reasons. John Wilkins and Paul Draper are two examples of philosophers who are agnostic because they have rational reasons for thinking that there is some balance between arguments for and against the existence of gods, that there aren't methods for weighing such arguments, or that there isn't sufficient evidence to conclude that gods exist or do not exist.

Friday, July 18, 2008

ApostAZ podcast -- Apostamini #1

The latest ApostAZ podcast is available, and it's an "Apostamini"--a short one. This one has a short commentary from me about The Amazing Meeting 6.

Contents:
Apostamini 001 Atheism and Freethought in Phoenix- "Squared" from Greydon Square's 'The Compton Effect'. Ingersoll's Vow. Amanda :). Pope George Carlin. Jim Lippard illustrates the cool points of TAM6 in Las Vegas (http://www.discord.org/). Greydon Square, "Dream" from 'The Compton Effect' album.

Sunday, July 06, 2008

ApostAZ podcast #5

The fifth ApostAZ podcast (MP3) is out:
Episode 005 Atheism and Freethought in Phoenix- "Every Sperm is Sacred" from Monty Python's 'The Meaning of Life'. Group Events. Phoenix, Billboards! Suckics hone in on Autism. Astromnology. Us vs Them? Phelps Hallucinations. Gay marriage, still an issue, still a tax money black-hole! Greydon Square, "Dream" from 'The Compton Effect' album.
I didn't get my contribution in on time, but I'll have a science and skepticism segment in episode 006.

My comments on this episode:

While McCain opposes gay marriage and pays lip service to the idea of same-sex civil unions, Obama also opposes gay marriage (though says he'd like to repeal DOMA and institute a federal law supporting same-sex civil unions, even in front of audiences that oppose gay rights, so he is somewhat better than McCain on that issue). They also both support faith-based government programs--neither is a strict separationist on church and state. (But again, I think Obama is slightly better than McCain on that subject in terms of what he says--at least he opposes giving federal funding to groups that discriminate or proselytize, though it's unclear he'll take action to stop it.)

On abortion, there can certainly be secular moral arguments for restrictions on late-term abortion, just as there can be secular moral arguments against infanticide. Arguments that abortion involves killing a person, a being with a right to life, need to come to terms with Judith Jarvis-Thomson's violinist argument, which argues that even if a fetus has a right to life, it doesn't have the right to be supported by its mother's body if the mother did not consent. This has further implication that if the fetus could be transplanted or removed and survive on its own (e.g., it's already reached the point of viability, which is the standard applied by the U.S. Supreme Court in Roe v. Wade), then that's immoral and criminalizable. But it also implies, it seems to me, that there is a reasonable range of actions which could constitute consent to supporting a fetus--such as voluntarily engaging in sex without contraception, which any reasonable person should know has a reasonably high probability of producing a child.

My own view is that abortion is immoral to the point of justifying legal prohibition in any case where (a) there's such at least tacit consent to carry a child and (b) the fetus has reached a point of brain development where there's a reasonable case to be made for personhood. I'm not convinced that (b) ever happens in reality, since I think there's a strong argument that personhood requires a capacity for self-awareness, which doesn't seem to occur until about six months after birth, but I can certainly conceive of empirical evidence that would change my mind about when that point is reached. There may be other cases where abortion is immoral, e.g., intentionally waiting until late in the pregnancy, and then terminating for a trivial reason of convenience.

On the Biblical justification for opposition to medical treatment: Jehovah's Witnesses oppose blood transfusions on the grounds of Old Testament prohibitions on consuming blood (Genesis 9:4, Leviticus 17:11-14, and Acts 15:20, 29), even though those all refer to consuming animal blood and have nothing to do with transfusions of human blood. Christian Scientists oppose medical treatment not on the basis of anything in the Bible, but based on the teachings of Mary Baker Eddy. Their view is that everything good and holy is spiritual, while everything physical or material is evil, yet is also illusory or at least a distortion of the spiritual world. This has some resemblance to Buddhist views of "maya," and also to the early Christian heresy known as Docetism, which was the view that Jesus' humanity was an illusion, because the physical cannot be holy. Thus, under this view, engaging in physical repair (medicine) of what is an illusory distortion of the underlying spiritual reality is not only a waste of time, but sinful--the only real repair possible is spiritual, through prayer. (And further, illness itself is of the physical, and thus illusory.)

The ApostAZ website is here.

Wednesday, June 25, 2008

ApostAZ podcast #4

The fourth episode of the ApostAZ podcast is now out, and this time I contributed a segment on "Lucy"'s knee joint.

Episode 004
: Atheism and Freethought in Phoenix- Squared by Greydon Square. Happy Freuder's Day. Inappropriate Teachers and the Children They Burn. Philly Coalition of Reason creates the Sign of the Times, wow. Science and Skepticism Segment by Jim Lippard, "Lucy's Knee Joint". Fleshing Out the Humanity of Godlessness.

Check it out.

(BTW, correction to the podcast: there's a reference to Kenneth Starr that should be a reference to Ken Lay of Enron--but he died of a heart attack, not a suicide or fake suicide like Samuel Israel III. And the quotation about "nothing in biology makes sense except in the light of evolution" is from Theodosius Dobzhansky. ApostAZ talks about EquallyYoked.com, which this blog has discussed here.)

Wednesday, June 11, 2008

ApostAZ podcast #3

ApostAZ podcast #3 is now online: "Jesus Loves the Little Zygotes" written by Frank Zindler, performed by Brad. Rev Wright is All Wrong for Obama. Catholic Anti-Feminism. Nóel's story. For Love or Faith? Deity Nihilo: Proof #3 (2/50 from http://godisimaginary... ). Absurd Dunkin' Terror. God's Own Dealership. Group Events. Outro from 'Dream' Greydon Square's Album 'The Compton Effect'

Monday, June 02, 2008

ApostAZ podcast #2

The second ApostAZ podcast is now available for listening at ApostAZ.org. Topics include the Virgin Mary visible on a biker's leg wound, Phoenix atheists meetup group organizer Shannon's deconversion story, an "Arizona Atheist Action" segment on the current proposal to create another anti-same-sex marriage amendment to the state constitution, and more.

Correction, guys--our sun is a Class G star, not a Class B star. (It doesn't negate your point--Class G stars are more common than Class B stars.)