1 00:00:00,840 --> 00:00:08,839 We understand the thinking atheist. It's not a person, it's a symbol, 2 00:00:09,400 --> 00:00:13,759 an idea. The population of atheists this country is going through the rule, 3 00:00:14,000 --> 00:00:19,839 rejecting faith, pursuing knowledge, challenging the sacred. If I tell the truth, 4 00:00:19,920 --> 00:00:23,800 it's because I tell the truth, not because I put my hand on 5 00:00:23,839 --> 00:00:28,839 a book and made a wish and working together for a more rational world. 6 00:00:29,079 --> 00:00:33,200 Take the risk of thinking. Feel so much more happiness. Truth Usian wisdom 7 00:00:33,359 --> 00:00:40,320 will come to you that way. Assume nothing, question everything, and start 8 00:00:40,840 --> 00:00:57,479 thinking. This is the Thinking Atheist Podcast hosted by Seth Andrews. Just a 9 00:00:57,600 --> 00:01:04,680 quick interjection into your week. I want to introduce you to Larry. Larry 10 00:01:04,760 --> 00:01:11,120 is the skeleton that's sitting in my yard right now. Obviously you know me 11 00:01:11,400 --> 00:01:15,519 right with ghost stories coming up this month and I'm always posting about Halloween, 12 00:01:15,640 --> 00:01:21,480 did you see there was somebody on Facebook? In fact, let me just 13 00:01:21,640 --> 00:01:30,239 pull it up very quickly here from a religious page called there it is God's 14 00:01:30,640 --> 00:01:34,040 Glory. It's said, if you celebrate Halloween in any way, shape or 15 00:01:34,200 --> 00:01:42,159 form, you are celebrating evil and darkness. And you know it. And 16 00:01:42,200 --> 00:01:48,640 I responded, cool, what okay? You know? Bring on the evil 17 00:01:49,079 --> 00:01:52,959 and darkness. I'm not worried about that. As somebody who came out of 18 00:01:53,000 --> 00:01:57,439 the Satanic panic and is watching everybody lose their minds over the month of October, 19 00:01:57,480 --> 00:02:02,920 I think it's amazing. It's just amazing. So I decorate every single 20 00:02:04,000 --> 00:02:09,120 year. This year I decorated really on the cheap, recycling a bunch of 21 00:02:09,199 --> 00:02:14,400 old stuff, but it really sort of panned out. I had the idea 22 00:02:14,439 --> 00:02:22,360 that I wanted a skeleton in an electric chair, like an old prison electric 23 00:02:22,479 --> 00:02:27,439 chair. Right he's on death row, and I'm vehemently anti capital punishment, 24 00:02:27,759 --> 00:02:32,240 but I'm also vehemently anti slashing teenagers with a machete. So I don't think 25 00:02:32,319 --> 00:02:38,439 these are commentaries on society. But a buddy of mine, I told him 26 00:02:38,439 --> 00:02:45,000 my idea. He's got skills in carpentry. He's just a craftsman, and 27 00:02:45,080 --> 00:02:50,439 he found an old wooden palette behind a department store. It was then a 28 00:02:50,560 --> 00:02:53,479 dumpster. It's kind of sticking at the top of a dumpster. Obviously it 29 00:02:53,520 --> 00:02:55,919 wouldn't hold any more weight. They were tossing it out, but the wood 30 00:02:57,120 --> 00:03:00,520 was amazing. It looked like a hundred years old. It'd been weathered, 31 00:03:00,560 --> 00:03:04,840 and he just grabbed the palette and he threw it in the back of his 32 00:03:04,879 --> 00:03:07,919 pickup truck and he drove it home. And just because he wanted to, 33 00:03:08,199 --> 00:03:16,719 he built me an electric chair and it looks fantastic. You can see those 34 00:03:17,199 --> 00:03:24,000 photographs on my social media page on Facebook and Twitter, which is not ex 35 00:03:24,080 --> 00:03:30,120 it's still Twitter. But so I just put the chair in my yard and 36 00:03:30,159 --> 00:03:34,840 then I stuck one of my skeletons in it, and I spray painted him 37 00:03:34,879 --> 00:03:39,840 with kind of a chalk looking spray to catch the light, and then a 38 00:03:39,879 --> 00:03:45,759 few two by fours to look like bars, and the rest was just recycled 39 00:03:45,800 --> 00:03:47,560 stuff. You know. There's a reaper with his hand on the switch. 40 00:03:47,639 --> 00:03:52,240 The Reaper's been in my attic for years. I've got skeletons. They're all 41 00:03:52,280 --> 00:03:55,280 pointing that direction toward the chair. I had those stored in the attic. 42 00:03:55,439 --> 00:04:00,560 Actually, the way they were stored is if like invest if detectives had ever 43 00:04:00,599 --> 00:04:04,800 had to come to my house and they searched my attic, it would look 44 00:04:04,919 --> 00:04:09,360 like I had bodies in the attic. That's how they restored. But I 45 00:04:09,400 --> 00:04:12,800 pull those out, and then the lights and fog I already had from years 46 00:04:12,800 --> 00:04:16,759 and years ago. So everything's pretty much recycled, but it looks amazing and 47 00:04:17,120 --> 00:04:21,839 it's also they're posed, so it's not going to freak out the very young 48 00:04:21,959 --> 00:04:28,560 children who are walking with their parents at dusk. You know, they're out 49 00:04:28,720 --> 00:04:31,720 in a sort of getting some exercise in the neighborhood. My intent was to 50 00:04:31,759 --> 00:04:36,879 create smiles, not trauma. And the skeleton in the chair, I just 51 00:04:36,920 --> 00:04:42,959 thought he looked like a Larry. He looks like a Larry to me, 52 00:04:43,120 --> 00:04:46,759 so now when I talk about him, I'm always talking about Larry, So 53 00:04:46,839 --> 00:04:50,800 I'm in the Halloween spirit anyway. My larger point is this. I mentioned 54 00:04:51,600 --> 00:04:58,000 that I built this year's display on the cheap. That's out of necessity. 55 00:04:58,279 --> 00:05:01,560 I'll be totally honest, and I hesitated to bring this up, but I 56 00:05:01,639 --> 00:05:08,560 kind of need to. COVID nineteen just kicked everybody's ass. I'm sure you 57 00:05:08,639 --> 00:05:14,279 know exactly what I'm talking about, and the podcast verse has really taken a 58 00:05:14,360 --> 00:05:17,800 hit, including this show. I've been a full time activist since twenty fifteen. 59 00:05:17,879 --> 00:05:24,000 The show's been on the air since two thousand and ten. Yeah, 60 00:05:24,040 --> 00:05:31,160 thirteen years. But with COVID, I lost like forty percent of my patrons, 61 00:05:31,360 --> 00:05:36,279 the advertisers that I'm so thankful for but these speaker advertisers, they're not 62 00:05:36,439 --> 00:05:42,360 paying a fraction of what they used to pay and I am and this channel 63 00:05:42,439 --> 00:05:46,720 is kind of in need of a reset at this moment, which would I 64 00:05:46,759 --> 00:05:50,199 think get me back on track for the rest of fall winter and into twenty 65 00:05:50,279 --> 00:05:57,639 twenty four. So I have an ask, and Larry joins me. I 66 00:05:57,680 --> 00:06:01,279 have Larry, and I would like to ask for just a quick shot in 67 00:06:01,319 --> 00:06:08,519 the arm for this channel, if you would help me reset. And for 68 00:06:08,720 --> 00:06:12,759 that, I have a couple of links in the description box. The big 69 00:06:12,759 --> 00:06:15,399 one, the one that would be the most help, is just a straight 70 00:06:15,439 --> 00:06:20,680 donation of a few bucks via PayPal or and or become a patron and you 71 00:06:20,720 --> 00:06:26,759 can set the parameters for that. And again, with everybody struggling, I 72 00:06:26,920 --> 00:06:29,959 just hate to do that. I know a lot of other content creators have 73 00:06:30,040 --> 00:06:35,040 been making the same pitch. And with four million global podcasts plus all the 74 00:06:35,040 --> 00:06:39,240 weight that you're already carrying, I'm not trying to add to your burden, 75 00:06:39,439 --> 00:06:46,040 but being someone who is trying to do this full time and make videos and 76 00:06:46,120 --> 00:06:49,600 podcasts and do speeches and write books and try to do all of those things 77 00:06:50,160 --> 00:06:56,279 against the tide of religious insanity in the world. You genuinely are a big 78 00:06:56,360 --> 00:06:59,759 part of helping me to do that, and so if you'd partner with me 79 00:07:00,199 --> 00:07:03,199 with a small donation, it would allow Natalie and me the opportunity to keep 80 00:07:03,279 --> 00:07:09,120 kicking and to do what we do, to do what I do for the 81 00:07:09,160 --> 00:07:13,399 rest of this year and into twenty fourteen, and I think after a quick 82 00:07:13,439 --> 00:07:15,759 shot in the arm, we should be good. The links to donate in 83 00:07:15,800 --> 00:07:21,360 the description box. Our full time broadcast the main show will release next week. 84 00:07:21,399 --> 00:07:27,199 I'm talking to author Katie Cohen about the need for atheists to just come 85 00:07:27,240 --> 00:07:31,120 out and say they are atheists. I've got ghost stories later on in the 86 00:07:31,199 --> 00:07:35,399 month, and so much more to come. Thank you, my family, 87 00:07:35,519 --> 00:07:40,680 and I will see you back here next time. 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