Speaker 1: Understand the thinking atheist. It's not a person, it's a symbol,
an idea.
Speaker 2: The population of atheists this country is going through.
Speaker 1: The rule, rejecting faith, pursuing knowledge, challenging the sacred.
Speaker 3: If I tell the truth, it's because I tell the truth,
not because I put my hand on a book and
made a.
Speaker 1: Wish and working together for a more rational world.
Speaker 4: Take the risk of thinking. Feels so much more happiness.
Truth Usian wisdom will come to you that way.
Speaker 1: Assume nothing, question everything, and start thinking. This is the
Thinking Atheist podcast hosted by Seth Andrews.
Speaker 4: I am heading to Kentucky this weekend for the Kentucky
Freethought Convention in Erlinger, Kentucky. The tickets are really inexpensive.
Is just one day, but I'm going to be speaking
there Sam McGuire of American atheist Liz Cavell from Freedom
from Religion and others, and I'm bringing some fresh material,
so it's going to be a good time. Kentucky Freethought
dot Org if you want to get some tickets, and
I'd love a chance to see you in Kentucky. I
have to chuckle to myself. Natalie sent me this thing
and she goes, I can't believe that it wasn't you
who posted this on Facebook. So I hit the link
and it was a meme and it said in every relationship,
there is one person who stacks the dishwasher like a
Scandinavian architect and one who stacks it like a raccoon
on crystal meth. And I'm like, yeah, I would have
posted that had I known it existed, because this is
a conversation we've been having for a long time. I mean,
we laugh when we talk about it, but I am
always having to reload the dishwasher. Like Natalie is so
meticulous in her regular life, right, but there's something about
the dishwasher and I'll see it and the bowls are
so close together that no water or soap can get
in there, and then you can't put coffee cups on
their side. You're not gonna get clean on the side,
and the way everything's just jacked in there. And I
take it out and I put it back in correctly.
And I'm not super hyper organized, and I'm certainly not
OCD where everything has to be in a certain spot,
but it just bugs me. I'm like, honey, what's going
on here? And she just smiles. She just thinks it's hysterical,
you know. And so anyway she is, she is the
raccoon on crystal meth. And then I, the Scandinavian architect,
have to come by and just it's almost like she
sat at the other end of the room and she
took the dishes and just threw them just in there
at land in the dishwasher. Now, I know, if you
don't know someone who does this, you probably are someone
who does this. Credit. Stop it killing me. Life's too
short to have to refill the dishwasher dishes. Life's short.
Wasting valuable time. Anyway, A total digression. Next week, I
am releasing two conversations because I had two separate conversations
with an ex pastor. And this guy's got the inside scoop,
you know what I'm saying. This guy has been there,
he has done that, and he's got decades of experience
in the ministry. And his story is just fast. And
the history of that is he and I knew each
other when we were both about believers thirty years ago,
and so our paths crossed again, and before you know what,
he ends up in my house. And at first I
put some cameras on him and we talked, and then
we had lunch and I came back and he's like,
let's talk some more, and I was like, well, I'd
love to. So I put up the podcast microphones and
we did another hour and there was almost no overlap
in our conversation. And so both of those are going
to drop next week. Video to YouTube and the podcast too,
of course, all of my podcast platforms. I thought about
releasing the YouTube audio on podcast as well, but I
don't want to drive you crazy with so much audio
in a week. You tell me, you know, do you
want to hear the second conversation? I can always throw
that out there. I just secured an October interview with
Phil Noble Junior.
Speaker 2: Here.
Speaker 4: If you don't know who Phil is, he is the
editor in chief of Fangoria magazine. Now, I grew up
with Fangoria, and if you don't know what it is,
just trust me. It's appropriate for the Halloween season, it's
appropriate for the month of October. And so, just on
a lark, I had seen Phil on a documentary series
and I reached out and I'm like, look, I know
it's totally not really your lane, but I like to
do Halloween stuff, and I subscribe to Fangoria even today.
But if you ever want to talk about horror movies,
and we're talking about nineteen eighties VHS horror to whatever
released into theaters last week. If you want to get
into scary stuff in the culture, I want to get
into the Satanic panic and everything. Just let me know.
I'd love to have you on the show. And he's like,
I'm down, let's go, let's talk. So that's coming up
in the month of October, along with our annual ghost
Stories podcast. I'm preparing the yard four Halloween. I am
that house on the block, you know that house where
you're like, Okay, here we go. Not for Christmas, No,
I can't do it for Christmas. We have decorations for
Christmas and it's not religious at all. It's lights and
we have these big deer and I make a pond
with led lights. It looks like they're drinking from the
pond and it's lovely. But there's no nativity or angels
or any of that stuff. I thought about doing a
zombie Nativity. Have you seen those zomb the news? Because
it makes the news every time somebody does one. So
they put out the Nativity for Christmas. But the baby
Jesus is like undead. It's this rotted away corpse of
a baby. And then you've got zombie you know, zombie
Joseph and a zombie Mary, and the wise Man are
shambling in, and maybe even the animals are decayed in
their flesh, and it's a zombie Nativity. Every time somebody
does one of these, their neighborhoods always flip out and
they're like, this is offensive to Jesus. I don't want
this in my neighborhood where the children conceived, you know.
And then the news always gets involved and they bring
out their cameras and bands and they're like a local
resident has caused serious controversy when he put a Nativity
in his front yard, populating the Nativity with zombies. Maybe
they do an on screen poll, you know, call this
number and tell us what you think. Is it free
speech or an offense to God. I've thought about it.
Natalie would never let me do it. It's just the
grief alone. She's like, no, no, But I am preparing
for Halloween and we're going to do the Wizard of
Oz again at my house. We did it two years ago.
Built a spinning ten foot tornado just out of tubes.
We just twirled a bunch of tubes and spray painted
it with metal glitter, and I put a little motor
at the bottom so it spins, and then there's a
fog machine which causes the debris at the bottom. It
looks like debris coming up. I've had that tornado in
my backyard for two years, like I couldn't throw it out.
I've put too much time into it and it's too awesome.
What am I going to do with it? I'm like
those people, actually, I am those people who start to
store Halloween decorations in the attic and it stacks up
over time. There's a section of my attic where I
have stashed one, two, three, four, six six skeletons, plastic skeletons.
If somebody was to ever buy this house and they
were to go up and take a look around the corner,
it would look like that was where I hid the bodies.
I have heard about people who put in a new kitchen,
or they replace the walls the sheet rock in a
room in their home, and just for kicks, they will
hide a skeleton inside and then they will plaster over it.
Or put lumber, sheet rock, whatever over it, knowing that
at some point there will be a renovation. In fifteen
twenty years, someone is point to discover someone's going to
be like, oh wait, there's a skeleton in the walls.
That is my bag. I saw one where they were
putting carpet over an old wood floor, but before they
laid the carpet pad and the carpet itself, they painted
a pentagram. I mean they weren't Satanists. They just thought
it was awesome and they took red paint and they
painted a pentagram on the wood floor and then they
laid carpet over it before they sold, expecting that at
some point somebody was going to replace the carpet and
feel like they had been living in the home or
the guest home of Satan. That's my jam. I mean,
that is my kind of humor. And you know there
are people who would have then said, well, you know,
the reason little Kimmy got sick was because there was
a bit of gram in the floor. You know, the
reason I lost my job eight years ago and had
to get a new one, The reason the lawnmower wouldn't
start every summer, the reason that our water tastes kind
of funny in this house is because it's the devil.
You know, those people exist, you know it Anyway, I
always post a pictures and video on my Facebook page.
So we're going to do a Wizard of Oz again.
I'm resurrecting the Twister. We're going to have the Witch.
Dorothy's going to be in a little house with Toto.
I'm making a yellow brick road that's going to have
little neon borders so it kind of glows. One of
our neighbors said that she'd like to maybe tie in
to our theme. She's talking about maybe doing the Emerald City.
And if that's the case, then I'm going to take
a can of spray chalk and I'm going to make
that yellow brick road leave our house and then kind
of zigzag to the other three houses and at hers
at the Emerald City, so the kids can all walk
the yellow brick road and any pictures. If it all
comes together, and I think it will, it's going to
be a lot of fun. I'm kind of ready. I'm
done with summer. I'm sick of one hundred and five
degrees and five thousand percent humidity. I'm tired of sweating.
I'm tired of it being so freaking hot that I
can't walk the dogs because the sidewalks and the asphalt
are frying pans. They just burn their paws. So I
got to take linus. We have a routine. You want
to go, autsigne you want to go? A sign you
want to go? You ready, you gotta go. Instead of
us walking out, I have to pick him up and
I walk him down to this field and I sit
him on the grass. The problem is is after he goes,
he wants to go walk on the asphalt. You can't
do that, buddy, You're gonna get burned. No, no, no,
no no. So now I'm reeling him back in on
the leash like I'm pulling in a fish. No, don't go. No, no,
bad dog. Actually I never say bad dog. I just
say don't do that. And then you know, I pick
him up, walk him to the next section, sit him down,
and then I talk to him like I'm an idiot.
Come on, hurry up, come on. I know you got it.
I know you're not done. You haven't pooped in three days.
You know you're just going to explode. And I don't
want it to happen in the master bedroom. Actually he's
never gone three days. It's just funnier that way. A
little peek into my pathetic world. Coming up next, We're
going to take a peek into your world as we
go to the switchboard and hang on. My patrons get
the show early and commercial free. Thank you so much
for your support. Patreon dot com, slash Seth Andrews. I've
got Ellen at seven three two. Can you hear me?
Speaker 5: I can, Beth?
Speaker 3: How are you Ellen?
Speaker 4: Where you calling from?
Speaker 6: Coming from the Jersey Shore, I'm here in New Jersey,
you know, this lovely blue state where we still have
our abortion rights here and our reproductive rights from poti plane.
But I am really nervous about this election coming up.
I actually have a chronic illness. Unfortunately, I have something
called endometrios.
Speaker 3: Last year I had major surgery for it. It's essentially
the lining of your uterus, attack inside the body, attach
itself to your work in which is not fun at all.
Chronic you can't do anything about it, and the way
you treat it is you have to take birth patrol.
There is no getting around that. You have to take it. Unfortunately,
also with this disease, even if it's you know, I
don't have it at the moment. They grow back, and
it does even with the removed. Unfortunately, it can lead
to a lot of complications if you try and get pregnant.
I know I have a higher chance of miscarriage and
a higher chance of a topic pregnancy, high risk pregnancy.
And I think with this election will determine if I
want to in a year or two try and have
a kid. I am afraid. I'm terrified. Everything is just
still so close, and what are our chances of winning.
It's like I just wanted her feefast.
Speaker 4: I'm not superstitious, but I talked to Natalie and we
both say we don't want to jinx it because what
we're seeing is enthusiasm and positivity and intelligence and kindness
and strength. And I mean, is it perfect.
Speaker 7: No.
Speaker 4: The people that were talking about Palestine and some of
the other issues, they have a good point. But I'll
tell you right now, for us, it's not even close.
And we are abulliant that there is an adult in
the room. I think Kamala Harris in a debate will
just mop the floor with Donald Trump. I think the
enthusiasm that she and Tim Waltz have generated in this country.
We're seeing a surge in voter registrations. I just posted
a news Nation poll that said that the eighteen to
twenty nine crowd is like three to one Kamala. Honestly,
I'm surprised it's not higher. And they are more and
more registering to participate. They're getting ready for November. I
have this. I don't want to jinx it. I don't
want to jinx it Ellen, but I'm saying I want
to see I want it to be overwhelming. I don't
want it to be, oh, it's fifty three to forty seven, right.
I want it to be a mandate, something that no
one can deny, even though he's going to deny it.
I want a statement made about the values we hold,
the protection of the very rights you've been talking about.
So I'm like you, I'm encouraged, but I think we
got to keep our eyes on the target, not give up.
These people are slimy, they're capable of anything. We got
to just keep on. But have you seen the ad.
It's not an ad, is it? It's a video or
a short video from the Lincoln Project regarding reproductive rights.
The father's driving his daughter and the pulls them over.
Have you seen that yet?
Speaker 8: I just saw a.
Speaker 3: I know some people going to Twitter, but I saw
it on Twitter. Now now they poll it X right.
I didn't watch the whole thing.
Speaker 4: No, it's Twitter. It will always be Twitter. I don't
care what it's Twitter. It's Twitter, all right, keep going,
keep going. I'm sorry. So you saw a snippet of
it on Twitter.
Speaker 3: I did.
Speaker 4: It's chilling and it speaks to exactly what you've been
talking about here. So my short answer is I'm on
your page. I think we keep kicking. We try to
maintain some hope, and my hope is that maybe sanity
will prevail.
Speaker 3: I'm really crossing our fingers here.
Speaker 4: We'll just keep working and kicking and the hopes that
staying her heads will prevail.
Speaker 3: Okay, my friend, absolutely, Lisa, Thank you so much for
all your hard work.
Speaker 4: Oh it's an honor. Thanks so much for calling. We'll
see you soon.
Speaker 3: Have a good day.
Speaker 4: The Lincoln Project, I don't know much about them, except
I do follow the content that they produce online. They
are conservative Republicans who reject Donald Trump and Maga cult
and they say this is not the Party of Lincoln.
This is not the Republican party that we signed up for.
And we can have a conversation about what that even
looks like, but the headline is they are very much
advocates for a pluralistic democracy. They are against Christian nationalism,
They're against a culture of cruelty. They are pro LGBT rights,
their pro female reproductive choice, and they post a lot
of very polished contents on the Internet. And they just
released a short form video scenario where a cop pulls
over a car. Inside the father is driving, his daughter
is in the past seat. Now, a lot of this
is sort of reinforced visually as you see their expressions.
But let me play you the audio and see if
it gives you the chills and the way it gave
me the chills.
Speaker 2: Driver's license registration. There you go, sir.
Speaker 7: How's your day going?
Speaker 2: That's your daughter? Sure is Abigail right?
Speaker 4: How do you know?
Speaker 9: Where are you about eight weeks pregnant? So you've been
spotting recently? You've had any cramps or nausea?
Speaker 2: That's personal? You've been taking your prenatal vitamins. Excuse me?
Speaker 7: Are you ticketing me for something?
Speaker 2: Where are you ahead? And Abigail to go see my
older sister Natalie. Well, that's strange.
Speaker 9: This says here, and Natalie is at a concert in Dallas,
and your navigation this out to a woman's health clinic
in one of those abortion states.
Speaker 4: We have the right to travel, not anymore.
Speaker 2: Step out of the car, police officers.
Speaker 10: Both of you out now, use are under arrest for
crossing state.
Speaker 9: Lines to obtain an abortion for a minor under your care.
And you, young lady, well, you're under arrest for evading motherhood.
Speaker 4: I'll put the link to that in the description box
in case you want to watch the video of it.
But I mean, I don't think it's hyperbole to say
hashtag Handmaid's Tale. A totalitarian regime where people are controlled
by the zealots, you know, the theocrat, the people who
acquire obscene amounts of power and use that power to
control the lives of supposedly free people. I think that's
a legitimate that's a legitimate concern, and we're facing a
choice on that coming up in a few months. And
my listeners right now, who are going to line up
in the comments and complain about the fact that Seth
Andrews always goes after Trump and mag and gets political.
Shut up. I'm so sick and tired of people saying, well,
I wish you wouldn't get political. Everything's political, the choices
we have, the choices we are allowed to make that
we are free to make, bodily autonomy, the health and
wealth and safety of our fellow human beings, our jobs,
our paychecks, regulation, the economy, the environment, climate, whether or
not we are able to freely go in and go
out to mayor or partner or be with or love
or do have whatever, children and raise our children in
whatever way if we decide to have children, and all
of our life choices, everything's political. Everything is political. If
you are so privileged that you can just sort of
say I don't get political, shut up, Just shut up.
I know I'm supposed to be the mister rogers of
the movement. I'm supposed to be super kind about this.
That just shut up. God, just leave such a bad
taste in my mouth. Take that shit elsewhere. I'm just
done with it. Nine to three one, Jeremy, are you there?
Speaker 8: I am here, Seth. How are you?
Speaker 2: I am?
Speaker 4: Well? What's going on? What do you want to talk about?
Speaker 8: Oh?
Speaker 7: No, I just let's say thanks.
Speaker 8: First off, since I realizing I'm an atheist back in
twenty twenty one, your voice in your program have been
a source of constant happiness.
Speaker 2: So thank you, Thank you.
Speaker 8: I have such a stupid follow up question or subject
to talk about after that woman serious thing, But I
have issues listening to songs from the past that I
now know as an atheist that are Christian. Like I
went and saw a band a couple weeks ago and
they played one of my favorite songs and he said, oh,
this song was about me having an argument with God
and how we resolved it, and how it used to
be one of my favorite songs. Now I can't stand it.
Does that make me weird?
Speaker 4: Or that does it make you weird? It's funny. I
grew up loving Christian music and people will ask me, well,
do you ever listen to it now? And my answer
is always nah, I kin don't seek it out. There
are a few songs that I might hear that take
me to a certain memory, a certain fondness for a
time in my life, a chapter. But when I know
that it's selling lies as truth, and that much of
it is part of the marketing machine, right, it's Christian retail,
It's what's become a multi, multi, multi million dollar industry.
I have a difficult time enjoying it.
Speaker 2: So yeah.
Speaker 4: We were watching a documentary the other day about singer songwriters,
the people behind the scenes who write music for the
biggest stars in the world, but nobody knows the songwriters' names.
And they were talking to the guy who wrote Jesus
Take the Wheel. So I went from, oh, man, look
at this amazing talent. Oh, how wonderful these people are.
Look at how oh wow, beautiful voice. They deserve to
be a star. I was just all in. And the
second he starts singing Jesus Take the Wheel, I'm like, shit,
that's the dumbest song I've heard.
Speaker 2: And I don't know.
Speaker 4: I'll ask you, Jeremy, it was I being pedantic? Or
can you relate to that?
Speaker 8: I can relate to that too, Yes I can.
Speaker 4: I don't think it's dumb. I know music is a preference.
Listen to what you want, and if it rubs you
the wrong way, it may there may be a reason
it rubs you the wrong way. So I wouldn't I
wouldn't sweat that too much.
Speaker 8: I believe a good song is a good song no
matter what so, but I agree, thank you.
Speaker 4: There are some Christmas songs all right. I love Oh
Holy Night. I love the melody. I love sort of
the haunting production of it when it's done a certain way,
the piano work. Whenever it's produced with piano, it just
gives me the chills. But I don't believe that Jesus
was born in a manger, so I can compartmentalize that.
But you know, it's song by song, situation by situation.
I don't think there's a wrong answer. Don't beat yourself up.
Just listen to what you love.
Speaker 2: Okay, I appreciate it.
Speaker 8: Thank you for your time.
Speaker 4: Yes, the you elater Kimmy at five one two? What's
going on, Kimmy? What do you want to talk about?
Speaker 2: Hey?
Speaker 11: So I'll try to give the reader's digest version because
it's a lot. But the breakdown is that I am
younger for a person to get this type of illness
that I have. I have a type of cancer called
multiple miles and it never goes away. It's just something
that I take medicine for now. But I had to
go through the hospital of the chemo and I actually
read Christianity made me talk like an idiot. When I
was recovering, and it really got me, like it brought
me into a happy place just out of like, you know,
a lot of people bring prayers and they focus on
religion and times like that. And I'm part of a
Facebook group that is a community of people who have
this disorder, discancer, and a lot of them are older,
and a lot of them, oh my gosh, Like every
other day there's religious posts, and I don't know, like
I can be respectful. I was raised in a very
religious family, so I can be respectful to religious people,
but it's difficult to be that voice of reason and say,
you know, hey, you're giving all this glory to God,
which is you know you're saying to you. But at
the same time, all about all this fantastic like scientific
background work that has literally extended our lives from five
year prognosis to like a twenty five thirty year prognosis.
Speaker 4: You know, So when you read the part of the
book where we talked about people thanking God that the
chemo was working, that must have.
Speaker 2: Really hit absolutely.
Speaker 11: Even though whatever spirituality religion you have behind everything when
you're going through it. I sat with nurses, I sat
with doctors, people held my hand by I was sick
that were in the medical field, and those people are heroes.
Those people are like you've written your book, you know.
Those are the people who are there day to day.
They're doing the hard work, they're heavy lifting.
Speaker 8: You know.
Speaker 11: It's like the old adage that I used to hear
all the time. Trust in God, but lock your car.
You know, yeah, sure, if you have faith, great, that's a.
Speaker 4: T shirt hang on, trust in God, but lock your
cars Like that's actually that sounds like a country song
like Jesus take the wheel coming up next. Trust in God,
but lock you your car? By So and so? What
is multiple my loma? And share only as much as
you want. Can you describe what we're talking about? I've
been I don't know that I've ever heard of it.
Speaker 11: Oh sure. So it's a cancer that affects the cells
in your bone marrow that make your immune system. So
I had to go through a stem cell transplant where
they took my marrow, love my blood, they cleaned it,
and then after they took that initial blood draw, a
couple of weeks later, they brought me back in and
gave me six months of chemo. In thirty minutes, killed
my entire bone marrow system. I killed my immune system,
and then they in the height of COVID, I'm in
the hospital in a room that's like five hundred square feet.
Only my mom and my aunt could come visit me
and I you know, they had to like go through
washing their hands and all this stuff. Everybody had to
be very very careful around me because essentially they had
to reboot my immune system. But the cancer attacks your
immune system. So there's a lot of political stuff that
went on too, where I had to wear a mask
in public. I still wear a mask a lot of
times in public because I can get sick really easily.
And when I get sick, like if I get a cold,
it gets me down for like two weeks because my
immune system is so weak. I have the immune system.
Speaker 7: Like a toddler.
Speaker 11: So it's crazy, but that's multiple malemma. It attacks your
immune system and it stays with you. Like it's kind
of one of those things where I'm in remission now.
I just found on immutenance medication, but it's going to
come back, and it's just a matter of like that's
the fantastic thing about the science. You know, I might
not have to go through chemo next time, I might
just have to be able to take a different medicine regimen,
or you know, maybe go get a few shops or
a few inductions at the center. You know, that's where
the all this new medicine comes in. It's great, but
most of the people who get it are in their
sixties and seventies. In fact, the most, like the demographic
tickets to the most are elderly black men, and I
am none.
Speaker 7: Of those things.
Speaker 11: So it's a very different community.
Speaker 4: And when you say that people are bringing their prayers
and Jesus loves you, is it just them trying to
express that they care or do you feel like there's
some agency behind it? Are they preaching to you? Well,
I don't know. I mean, are you gauging intent? Can
you give me the situation? Yeah?
Speaker 11: On Facebook it does feel quite preachy. And the leader
of the Facebook group, he has gotten in a couple
of times to say, you know, I'm the person of
faith and that's him. That's cool, but he says, this
is a little over the edge. Guys like telling it
down a little. You know, it's so many people just
giving it's almost like they don't believe. They literally do
not believe they would have gotten through it without God.
And there are people within the group from all over
the world. They might not necessarily even be Christian, you know,
they might not be ideous either, but they might be into,
they might be Muslim, you know, and that's a whole
different vibe. And you know, to some people, a very
different God, and like that infighting sometimes I kind of
get that vibe on the group, Like most of the
posts are positive, but a lot of them are like
almost defending their beliefs that like, well, I couldn't have
gotten through without this, so none of you could have
gotten through without it.
Speaker 4: What I worry about is that they're weaponizing your tragedy
to become their soapbox. Right They're standing on your situation
to be able to chest thump about whatever apologetic or
belief or superstition they've embraced. And right now, I mean,
if Natalie was just picture me, Natalie, Linus and Kat
we are all coming through the internet line and we
are all hugging you right now. We're just wrapping our
arms and paws around you at this moment. Are you
doing okay today? Is there anything you need from us
as a community? How can we help you anything.
Speaker 11: Oh, I mean just this conversation helped a lot, just
to kind of vent a little bit about that.
Speaker 5: You know.
Speaker 11: It's thankfully I haven't felt so much like they've used
my tragedy as a bullhorn as much as they're performing
the It's almost like with that tradition, if you suffer
and you make it through, you have to tell everybody
that that's why you made it through. Like the evangelizing
part of it, I guess. And I'm definitely not an
evangelist and I'm definitely not like a I try to
be a little bit of a science evangelist. Like if
I see people, there's so many people who are like, oh, yeah,
you don't have to do this procedure, you don't have
to listen to your doctor, and I'm just like, oh
my gosh, Like the these are professionals, Like I'm going
to listen to my doctor rather than somebody's uncle on Facebook.
Like that's just how life has to be.
Speaker 4: So when you're sharing your story, they're saying, oh, I
remember when I went through something and Jesus helped me through.
Speaker 11: Yeah, And it's not only that, it's that Jesus is
the whole new reason I'm alive today and you need
to get right or else you know that's been a
change for you.
Speaker 4: Okay, all right, Now we've got a boundary violation, Kimmy.
Now we got somebody who's stepping way into personal territory.
And that's when I get pissed. And I think it's
just fine if you get pissed as well. I mean,
because now it's well, if you don't recover, or if
you have a bad day, or if you end up
in chemo again, or or if the worst happens, it's
because you were not in league with the father, or
you didn't have his covering, his blessing whatever, that's that's
not appropriate. I think that's really kind of offensive. And
I think you have every right to push back against that,
to shut that down, to walk away from it, to
block it. You don't have to watch, you don't have
to listen to that, because that's not Hey, we care
about you. It's oh, turn or burn. Really it's a
variation of that. And so I mean, if I was
standing over your shoulder when that stuff came onto your
computer monitor, I'd be the person going, hey, you don't
have to put up with that, Like I would totally
be your cheerleader. On that score. I'd be like, don't
you If you mess with Kimmy, you mess with all
of us. Man, it's on. We would have your back.
I promise you.
Speaker 11: That, Thank you, thank you.
Speaker 4: We are on your page. We're on your side, and
you know, I think we have high hopes that science
and human connections, human support will provide everything that you
need moving forward. And it's my hope that you have
a good, long and a full and fulfilled life ahead
of you despite these challenges. Thanks for sharing your story
with me, and thanks for encouraging me how we ought
to be encouraging you, Kimmy, for Pete's sake, and yet
you're you're throwing the goodness our direction. But you're greatly appreciated.
So big hugs from me and my family and all
of us to you.
Speaker 11: Okay, thank you, and you know, thanks for your kind
words and just it's one of those examples of you
never know what stuff you do that's gonna ripple down
the line, you know, Like your book brought us miles
to my face in a very difficult time, and I
appreciate that, and like I was able to meet other
people that I was sitting in the chairs within Kimo
smile with you know. I was in New York, so
you know, there was a guy wearing a Yankee fat
and he was an elderly in with by himself and
he had lost his wife, and it was just like,
you know, you reach out with that connection and you
never know what little thing can help make someone's day.
I'm glad that I got to share that with you,
and glad to have let you know that you got
to make my diat that way.
Speaker 4: Jimmy, don't you make me cry. Don't do it. Don't
do that. All right, my friend, Well let's talk again.
You keep us sort of in the loop on your
journey in the months and years ahead.
Speaker 11: Okay, thank you for let's staff, you take care all right.
Speaker 4: Thanks a bunch you. We'll see you. Bye bye. Holy cow.
I don't even know what to do with that except
say thank you. I've got Josh three one seven. Are
you there? Yes, I am, Thanks for calling. What do
you want to talk about?
Speaker 5: The main thing I called about was with Kamala Harris
saying putting Tim Waltzess or Vice President pick. I don't
know if you've heard, but Republicans at least someone in
my family have been going crazy about him, saying that
he's a predator because back when he was a coach
at the school he was coaching for, he headed up
a club for a bunch of gate adolescents back in
nineteen ninety nine, and at the time it was pretty
dangerous for anybody to come out like that because you know,
it was a different time. The Internet wasn't as vast
information were flowing away this today. And so they're all
calling him a predator for some reasons. And I've looked
up all this and haven't found any evidence to it.
And so my thought is just because he's defended gay
people before, now they're calling him a predator for no
reason but that.
Speaker 4: They got nothing. So anybody who is not essentially a
white hetero evangelical is a predator, probably a sexual predator.
In the eyes of these people. They have no bottom,
there's no conscience. They are as many of them are
just absolute sociopaths. I swear the entire pretty much the
entire Fox News lineup is just freaking killing me. These
people are libeling and slandering good people on the left
or elsewhere, and essentially trying to align them with everybody
from Jeffrey Dahmer to Adolf Hitler to a child molester.
Speaker 5: It's terrifying, and they dehumanize people to such a crazy level,
and then they act like they have integrity and stand
firm on human values that they wrap in their Bible.
It's a while back I called you I explained some
of the abuse I had with my parents. I don't
know if you remember that call or not.
Speaker 4: Earlier the shooters, I recall my father.
Speaker 5: Yeah, yeah, yeah, my father. He's been supporting a lot
of insanity. And this is a man who is so
mentally delusional that he'll literally post he's a predator and
he knows it's a bunch of nonsense. And at this point,
I'm pretty certain that as a kid growing up, he
always said that he leaned on the Bible. And really,
what I think at this point what that means is
is what they're doing is they're leaning on the Bible
for their how they balance themselves in reality. But they
have no intego to be outside of that. If reality
violates are dogma, they'd rather follow dogma than follow reality.
I'm just like, but the contradiction is so obvious, and
yet they don't want to admit reality. Is it simply narcissism,
that's their problem.
Speaker 4: I think motivations vary from person to person. I do
think there's an entire culture that just sees a monster
under every rock for a number of reasons, anybody who
was not them is the other. And then they do
that riff on their coming for our children. How many
generations have had to hear that shit? It doesn't matter
what it is, you know, is it recreational marijuana, is
it rock?
Speaker 6: You know?
Speaker 4: Is it a kiss album? Is it a drag queen?
Is it what? I mean? Just choose whatever villain they
decide that they're freaked about, and then just add we've
got to protect the children to the end of whatever
they're bitching about. And I it makes me weary. But
the upside is I see a lot of this panic
as evidence that they may realize they're on the wrong
side of history, or at least on the minority side
of history, and they are becoming more and more irrelevant
against the larger, more egalitarian culture. Right they see the
writing on the wall where people are less judgmental, and
they don't want to discriminate against gay people, and they
want to protect trans people, and they think it's awesome
that Tim Waltz has the backs of people of all
ages for whatever identity, sexual or other that they have,
and they're great with that. I think maybe their panic
is an indicator that something right is happening on the
right side of the discussion. I don't know, would you
agree disagree? Am I just being is that pie in
the sky? Am I getting myself?
Speaker 2: Josh?
Speaker 5: No, No, I agree with you. But it's like something
you said at the beginning that really hit up a
court of me because we both grew from the time.
I grew up in the late nineties, but you went
through the eighties too, So the satanic panic is really
what this reminds me of, you know, like how every
little thing was like hyper religified. If it's Pokemon, it's
of the Devil. If it's dungeons and dragons, you know,
of the Devil. That's some gnarly stuff. And it's funny
how all the people in Trump's cabinet when he was
in office were all members all their parents were actually
members of the Maral majority. So it's kind of like
we're repeating the Maral majority, just in a different time period.
Where there's more information, so they can't hide behind the
bullshit as well as they used to. You know, back
then the.
Speaker 4: Moral Majority for those who aren't aware, was a political
action group headed up by a big evangelist founder of
Liberty University, Jerry Folwell Senior, and these people essentially un around.
Speaker 5: Go ahead, No, no, I'm sorry, I don't. I don't
mean to be rude, but I thought I would mention
one of the kitchens where he called him a slimy
little toad but you're good.
Speaker 4: Oh it was Hitchin's I think who said Jerry Folwell
Senior was so full of shit that if you were
to give him an enema, you could bury him in
a matchbox. Yeah, that was Jerry Folwell.
Speaker 5: He did that on Fox News and on CNN, and
one of the hostess of Fox News said, how darry
you say that? So he goes, well, then you shouldn't
have me on your show if you didn't want me
to have integrity.
Speaker 4: I think that was in the wake of Jerry Folwell's death,
and they were doing a riff on why would you
speak ill of the dead, especially when he's done so
much good. But you know, Jerry Folwell was one of
the guys he and Pat Robertson blamed nine to eleven
on the fact that we were accepting gay people. Those
are the types. And I remember, the other ring is
killing us, the other ring, the vilification, the Satanic panic
is not over. But I would like to think, and
maybe I'm just painting the silver lining, but I would
like to think that one of the reasons they're so
freaky and losing their mind is because they see the
world around them out of their control and they think,
holy shit, what are we going to do now? So
let's hope that the good overwhelms the bad out there.
Speaker 2: Okay, Josh, thanks for all you do.
Speaker 4: So thanks for calling. We'll catch you later. I'm going
to talk a little more about Jerry Fallwell. I pulled
up a list of various quotes and things he said
and done over his lifetime. I'm going to share those next,
and then we'll go back to the phones quick break,
be right back. My previous caller had brought up Jerry Fallwell.
He was the founder of the Moral Majority, and this
is one of those organizations that they always use things
like Freedom, Family, Liberty, Moral to brand themselves as they
go out and just say and do awful stuff, usually
in the name of golf, and they say it like that.
I don't know if they all go to a preacher
school where they learn how to inflect their voice like this.
Jerry Folwell used to say his words. He used to
communicate from the stage the pulpit, align himself with the
White House, and he would always have that sort of
John Hagy vibe. Did they send people to a place
or do they grind him out of a factory and
be like, all right, well, here's what a preacher's supposed
to sound like. It's not as much the case these
days with all the hip preachers. I'm going to talk
to a hip ex preacher next week. I don't know.
I just find that interesting. But Jerry Folwell he said
some stuff that even all these decades later, long after
his death, it remains just as offensive as it ever was.
September eleventh, he said this, the abortionists have got to
bear some burden for this, right the attacks of nine
to eleven. The abortionists have got to bear some burden
for this because God will not be mocked. And when
we destroy forty million little innocent babies, we make God mad.
I really believe that the pagans and the abortionist and
the feminists, and the gays and the lesbians who are
actively trying to make that an alternative lifestyle, the ACLU
people for the American Way, all of them who have
tried to secularize America. I point the finger in their
face and say, you helped this happen. The pressure on
him was so bad, the blowback was so intense that
he came forward afterwards and he did kind of that
mitigation move where he's like, well, you know, I meant it,
but I mean I didn't meant it. I was misinterpreted
or something. Here's what he said about Martin Luther King
Junior quote, I must personally say that I do question
the sincerity and non violent intentions of some civil rights
leaders such as doctor Martin Luther King Junior, mister James Farmer,
and others who are known to have left wing associations.
Of course, it's the left wing that wants violence, moral
anarchy on feminists. Jerry folwell Sor said, I listen to
feminists and all these radical gals, and yes he used
the word gals. These women just need a man in
the house. That's all they need. Most of The feminists
need a man to tell them what time of day
it is and to lead them home, and they blew it,
and they're mad at all men. Feminists hate men. They're sexist.
They hate men. That's their problem. He had thoughts on
climate change. I can tell you our grandchildren will laugh
at those who predicted global warming. We'll be in global
cooling by then, if the Lord hasn't returned. I don't
believe a moment of it. The whole thing is created
to destroy America's free enterprise system and our economic stability.
It's a vast conspiracy to try to remove the American way.
They want to control us by forcing people to act
more responsibly in regard to the environment. Wasn't it the
Jewish space laser claim by Marjorie Taylor Green? She said
that some Jewish cabal, some secret society of Jews, were
flying a satellite over California using a laser to start
the wildfires, to choke the atmosphere with smoke, so that
those evil libs would be able to pass suffocating climate
change regulation to strip Americans of their freedom and turn
the United States into God. I don't know communism. It's
always comes back to communism and socialism and Marxism always
comes back to that with these people one more right.
Jerry Folwell Senior thought the Jews followed a false religion.
He said, in my opinion, the Antichrist will be a
counterfeit of the true Christ, which means he will be
male and Jewish, since Jesus was male and Jewish. Now,
the Jews don't hold to Jesus, right. They have the
pentituke of the Torah, the Hebrew Bible, but they don't
hold not New Testament people. Jesus not the Messiah in
that culture. So Jesus was male and Jewish, his counterpart
will be male and Jewish. I have no idea where
that comes from. If the Antichrist was the flip side,
wouldn't it be a female and a non Jew Anyway,
Jerry Folwell, he's one of those guys where he died,
but he is not missed, if you know what I mean.
Forgive the digression, but just a little context for you.
I've got Matthew at age six ' four. Thanks for waiting.
Are you there, hey, Seth?
Speaker 7: I'm here.
Speaker 4: What's going on?
Speaker 7: I just wanted to say thanks. I've want to tell
the story of I hope you don't find me bringing
up the passing time, but we'll say ten or eleven
years ago, I saw your the Thinking Atheist logo on
a friend's dad's computer screen. I was like, oh, atheist,
whatter atheist? You know, I was like thirteen, and it
just blew my mind that people believed in God didn't exist.
But now I've been listening to you for months and
been keeping me sane.
Speaker 4: Were you a Christian?
Speaker 7: H I was up until recently last year, and I
kept listening to the atheist material online. I was like, oh,
Seth Andrews. Seth Andrews is that guy from years back
that that person's dad was listening to. I was like,
I just finally listened, and then I was like, oh
this it just makes so much sense. And the thing is,
the things that really took me out, what allowed me
to be honest finally with myself, was just realizing that
I had thought all the same things before and just
put them to the side, you know, like with the
Mormons they say put it on the shelf or something
like that. And it took reading my Bible more and
more and I finally read enough to you know, it
was like enough reading the Bible and enough honesty to
just let it fall.
Speaker 4: Isaac Asimov has this quote, Properly read the Bible is
the most potent force for atheism ever conceived, And I
think there may be some truth to that. If you
read it correctly, you're probably not going to buy it.
Speaker 11: That's right.
Speaker 7: Well, hey, I was thinking. As soon as I realized,
I was like, you know, if I was honest with myself,
there's no evidence, there's nothing, And it's like I snapped
and I was in a dystopia. You know, we're talking.
This is the election season, so you know, rhetoric is
hotter than usual, and you're saying sanity will prevail. I
really hope it does. I've got hope. I think we
have more hope than we've had in eight years when
Kimla entered the race. I think it's reason enough to
get excited. So I'm looking forward to November.
Speaker 4: We have to be realists about the culture that has
enabled what is happening. I mean, it's been a black light.
The last ten years whatever have been a black light
on the bigotry and the cruelty and the hatred and
the superstition, and those aren't going away. So you and
I are probably in the same boat. We know that
no one election, no one candidate, no one platform is
going to fix all of this. This is going to
be a long game. And long after whoever is gone
from the office or from our headlines, the bigots and
the charlatans, the cons, the grifters, the cruel the tyrants,
they will remain and they're going to continue to oppress
people and try to take all of the you know,
all of the spoils for themselves. And I think we
have to be realists about that, but I still want
to hold on to Hey, righteousness will overcome kind of,
So we'll just keep kicking, Matthew, and I feel you
and I appreciate your kind words, and I'm glad you
found your voice and thanks for the compliment.
Speaker 7: Yeah, well thanks for the tone.
Speaker 4: All right, be safe out there, We'll catch you later.
Saw the thinking atheist logo on a computer over a
decade ago. You just never know, you just never know.
Tremendously honored to hear those types of stories. And I'm
so glad that you are here in part of this community,
and that you have been with me and allowed me
to be with you over the last. I guess it's
fifteen years and we're still moving and shaking and debunking
and learning and living together. And I'll keep going if
you will, so thanks again for being here. Be safe.
I will be back with Pastor No no, no ex pastor,
a guy named Timmy Gibson. He will be my guest
on the show next week. Looking forward to that. We'll
see you then.
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