The Good Atheist

This is it folks! The 300th Episode of The Good Atheist Podcast. Ryan joins me as we reminisce about the long history of both our websites, and give you a tour through time. Now, if you’re confused as to why the last episode was 199 1/2, be sure to listen and your questions will be answered. For those of you who want to leave a question in the comments for the DVD, please do so, and you could win a TGA cup!

This week, my special guest is Vyckie Garrisson, founder of “No Longer Quivering“, a movement aimed at helping victims of spiritual abuse. She joins me to talk about her past in the movement, the challenges facing women in the atheism scene, and so much more.

This week, Ryan joins me for a general news show, where we discuss the death of Savita Halappanavar, who was denied a life saving abortion because of Catholic superstition. Also on the show, the FFRF sues the IRS for failing to uphold its own laws, and Italians finally want to tax the Vatican. Come get your fix! - Ireland top 10 atheist countries [1]: -Young woman dies in irish hospital after being denied abortion [2] - Irish PM doesn’t want to be rushed into changing abortion law [3] - FFRF sues IRS for failing to uphold law [4] - Help support the site [5] [1] http://www.irishcentral.com/news/Ireland-losing-its-religion—among-top-ten-atheist-countries-166870236.html [2] http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-20401081 [3] http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/11/16/us-ireland-abortion-idUSBRE8AD1QD20121116 [4] http://www.thenewamerican.com/culture/faith-and-morals/item/13687-atheists-sue-irs-for-failure-to-prosecute-churches-christian-groups [5] http://www.thegoodatheist.net/upgrade-today/

This week, my special guest is author, linguist, and podcaster Karen Stollznow. On the show, we discuss the dangers of faith healing and other dangerous pseudoscience, her upcoming books, and some of the more hilarious bunk beliefs. Come and get your fix, people. Notes for the show: - Tam Talk: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=woViCFeDFcU - Website: http://www.karenstollznow.com - Monster Talk podcast: http://www.skeptic.com/podcasts/monstertalk/ - JREF Swift blog: http://www.randi.org/site/ - Good Word (formerly The Naked Skeptic) column for CSI:http://www.csicop.org/specialarticles/archive/category/the_good_word - Bad Language column for Skeptic magazine: http://www.skeptic.com/magazine/ - Twitter Feed:@karenstollznow

This week, I offer you guys a sneak peek at my upcoming “The Essentials DVD” by featuring an interview with yours truly. I talk about the early beginnings of The Good Atheist, my book, and my relationship with Carisa. It’s a must have for any true fan of the show! It’s even encoded in higher quality for your audio pleasure. Enjoy. [Notes will be made available on the DVD at a later time]

This week, my special guest is Dr. Andy Thomson, author of the book Why We Believe in Gods, and a psychiatrist with his own private practice in Charlottesville, VA. When he’s not also teaching students at the University of Virginia, he’s also a forensic psychiatrist and writes on evolutionary psychology. We talk about his book, Lee Harvey Oswald and the JFK conspiracy, and the future of psychology. Don’t miss out! SHOW NOTES Andy Thomson Videos - Why We believe in Gods [1] - Imagine No religion two [2] JFK Conspiracy books - Reclaiming History: The Assassination of an American President [3] - Case Closed [4] - Oswald’s Tale: An American Mystery [5] - Marina And Lee [6] [1] http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jnXmDaI8IEo [2] http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HJj1qu65T1Y [3] http://www.amazon.com/Reclaiming-History-Assassination-President-Kennedy/dp/0393045250 [4] http://www.amazon.com/Case-Closed-Gerald-Posner/dp/1400034620 [5] http://www.amazon.com/Oswalds-Tale-An-American-Mystery/dp/0345404378 [6] http://books.google.ca/books/about/Marina_and_Lee.html?id=AiEaAAAAYAAJ&redir_esc=y

This week, my guest is fellow podcaster Geroge Hrab of the Geologic Podcast. We discuss the pros and cons of Internet stardom, Why Iron Man is better than Batman, and how we can change our image among believers. Come and get your fix!

This week, part 2 of our Bible Stories Book of Samuel, featuring David, his bromance with Jonathan, the fight with Goliath, and King Saul tries to kill him. Come and get your fix!

This week, we confront my ‘Ageism’ and discuss ‘generational theory’ and why the world is as crappy as it is. Plus, more on the Tea Party and who comprises their ranks. It’s a must for any political junkie. SHOW NOTES Introduction: Lecture on Tea Party by Prof. Theda Skocpol lecture at Oxford:[5] 1980-2000 – Millennials or Generation Y 1965-1979 –  Generation X 1946-1964 –  Baby Boom 1925-1945 –  Silent Generation 1900-1924 –  G.I. Generation What are generational differences dependent on? What factors influence generations? First, members of a generation share what the authors call an age location in history: they encounter key historical events and social trends while occupying the same phase of life.[3] Generations tend to go through cycles - High: Period of strong institutions but weak individualism. Things get comfortable, but people begin to tire of such strong social obligations and the stifling of creativity and expression - Awakening: Period when institutions are questioned. Boomers make up this demographic. Individualism is strong, (sometimes referred to as summer). - Unraveling: Institutions are weak, distrusted, (Reagan era of individualism, ‘small government’). This is the generation, shortly after the boomers, which have now come of ‘voting age’. This generation leads inevitably to - Crisis: (My generation) Institutional life is rebuilt, stock market crash, the 2008 market crash all happened in Crisis eras. These are moments that redefine national identities (perhaps global identities with the coming of the Internet. Rising civic engagement, (winter). In these times, Archetypes appear - Prophets: come of age as self-absorbed young crusaders of an Awakening, focus on morals and principles in midlife, and emerge as elders guiding another Crisis Nomads: born during an Awakening, a time of social ideals and spiritual agendas, when young adults are passionately attacking the established institutional order. These were shrewd realists who preferred individualistic, pragmatic solutions to problems. Heroes: Tend to be more militaristic, strong political leaders. They are overly confident, having grown up as cocky young adults during a time of crisis. This tends to shape them into leaders. Artistic: The strong, political overbearingness makes the previous generation more prone to compromise and pragmatism. Prophet Nomad Hero Artist High Childhood Elderhood Midlife Young Adult Awakening Young Adult Childhood Elderhood Midlife Unraveling Midlife Young Adult Childhood Elderhood Crisis Elderhood Midlife Young Adult Childhood We share more in common with the old. Hence, now the fashion of our grandfathers become present day affectations. What is old is fresh again. We reject those values of the midlife of our parents, cling to those of our grandparents instead, but influenced by the different phases. Voting Statistics Age        Size      Voters      Percent 18-20   11.7 m   2.05m     (17%) 20-24   15.6m   4m           (24%) 25-34   41.2m   12.85m    (31%) 35-44   39.9m   17.19m    (43.1%) 45-65   80m       43.9m     (54.4%) 65-99   39m       23.7m     (60.4%) If Generational theory is correct, that would mean 66 million people are 55 or older Voting and registration rates tend to increase with age. In the United States in 2010, only 21 percent of 18 to 24 year old citizens voted, compared with 61 percent of those 65 and older. Many Generation Xers came of age during the Reagan-Bush years (1980 to 1992) or the ‘Republican Revolution’ marked by the 1994 midterm elections. Today’s Generation Y has reached maturity in a time period largely marked by the administration of George W. Bush, and certainly for many the nascent Obama administration is a major formative factor in their political orientation.[1] Perhaps the most striking change since 2004 has come among voters born between 1956 and 1976 — the members of Generat[...]

This week, Carisa joins me as we review the movie Prometheus. If you haven’t seen the movie, we recommend you do (unless you don’t want to waste 2 hours of your precious time).

This week, my special guest is Dan Fincke from the blog Camels with Hammers, and we discuss the level of discourse in the atheism community; and we voice our differences about the Atheism + movement.

This week, Ryan joins me for another exciting episode of Bible Stories, featuring The Book of Samuel, part 1. Clocking in at almost 2 hours, this episode features the birth of Samuel and the rise of King Saul. Don’t miss out!

This week, my special guest is Deon Barnard, a former pastor and now atheist organizer, and we discuss his past, his current weird-ass job, and why we both love comic books. Check out his podcast at primordial-soup.org, or check out his blog.

This week, Ryan joins me for a discussion about group polarization and its effect on society and the atheist community at large. Also on the show, the realities of Abortion, and why no one puts Baby in a corner. SHOW NOTES Psychologists have found that social media outlets such as Facebook and Twitter demonstrate that group polarization can occur even when a group is not physically together. As long as the group of individuals begins with the same fundamental opinion on the topic and a consistent dialogue is kept going, group polarization can be observed.[1] - 1961, an MIT student named James Stoner wrote a thesis that was never published on ‘risky shift’, how groups tended to push each other towards more extreme positions. - Polarization is an attempt to de-unify an organization, like a kind of cell mitosis. Like a genetic shift that causes ant colonies to suddenly rebel and fight. - Natural cure for this is a ‘Tit for Tat ‘strategy, and many times, this strategy involves often taking abuse without retaliating. This kind of passive resistance helps to break ‘death spirals’, a time when two opponents playing a game decide that each side perceives itself as preferring to cooperate, if only the other side would. But each is forced by the strategy into repeatedly punishing an opponent who continues to attack despite being punished in every game cycle. Both sides come to think of themselves as innocent and acting in self-defense, and their opponent as either evil or too stupid to learn to cooperate. Tit for two tats is similar to tit for tat in that it is nice, retaliating, forgiving and non-envious, the only difference between the two being how nice the strategy is. In a tit for tat strategy, once an opponent defects, the tit for tat player immediately responds by defecting on the next move. This has the unfortunate consequence of causing two retaliatory strategies to continuously defect against one another resulting in a poor outcome for both players. A tit for two tats player will let the first defection go unchallenged as a means to avoid the ‘death spiral’ of the previous example. If the opponent defects twice in a row, the tit for two tats player will respond by defecting. [2] Example: The Game of Monopoly. Many games will end with stalemates because two parties have reached a limit to their ability to cooperate with each other once they are faced with the possibility of losing the perceived advantage. Abortion as subplot in Dirty Dancing [3] [1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Group_polarization [2] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tit_for_tat [3] http://www.genderacrossborders.com/2010/05/25/an-interview-with-eleanor-bergstein-on-dirty-dancing-feminism-and-the-film-industry/  

This week, Taylor Muse of the band “Quiet Company” takes some time from his busy schedule to come on the show and talk about his new album: We Are All Where We Belong, as well as his journey towards Humanism. Come get your fix!