Truth Wanted

Oooh, it’s Friday, it’s 5pm in Texas, and today, Dan is joined by perhaps the only educator that could possibly drag me back into a classroom, it’s Richard Firth-Godbehere, on loan from the Non-Prophets! Dan and the good doctor discuss his work and his book before we start taking your calls.Our Patron of the Week this week is Katie Stewart! Thanks for the support Katie, even if you do eat bugs for breakfast!From the Great White North comes Jasmine! In the vein of our discussion of emotion thus far, she wants to talk about how religions use fear and hell. Dan and Rich talk about why the concept of hell doesn’t make logical sense, but let’s be real, emotions don’t always have to. Our hosts discuss the pitfalls of letting go of indoctrination, and remind Jasmine that it’s ok to be scared of something you know isn’t real!Another Canadian? You betcha! Daniel’s back! Diving back in, Daniel alleges that the NASA interactive camera tool that allowed users to pan around the Martian landscape seems to now omit the section that showed the evidence for Martian insectoids. Our hosts are skeptical that NASA would allow and subsequently delete evidence of alien life, past government gaffes notwithstanding, paredolia still seems a more likely explanation.Next up is Coyote Boy, love the name! He asks Rich to quantify what “counts” as a discrete emotion, and Rich talks about how our understanding is still evolving. This is right down the good Doctor’s alley, and we get a crash course on his life’s work.Jamie’s in Texas, who offers circumcision as a great example of how church/state separation can come into conflict with personal freedoms. Dan offers his opinion on navigating these tricky waters, and Richard points out that consent is what’s important here. A JW can refuse a blood transfusion, an infant can’t refuse genital mutilation.That’s the show this week folks! Join us next time, and keep wanting the truth!

Welcome back to Truth Wanted folks! This week, back by popular demand, is Jon the Skeptick! He’ll also be joined by some Dan guy who wandered in off the street. Dan and Jon chat about horoscopes and other kinds of charlatanry before we move on to your calls.This week’s Patron of the Week is I Heart Dogs! Clearly a Saggitarius, who are known for their generosity. Or something. We’ll open the show with Nevyn, whose friends describe him as a conspiracy theorist. He’s just asking questions! In this case, those questions are about the moon landing, and some missing answers. Jon points out that missing answers doesn’t mean the Apollo missions were faked, and Dan doesn’t think a Youtube video is very convincing. This is an interesting example of a credulous caller with an argument from incredulity.Jamie’s calling in from Texas with an observation about how the United States’ veneration of concepts like freedom and liberty may be a roadblock to having universal healthcare. We’ll listen to two Brits dunk on the myth of American exceptionalism for a few minutes before a REAL American chimes in… and agrees. The ghost of Senator McCarthy is coming for you, Dan!Our third caller is Greg, he downloaded a phone app that talks to ghosts. Testing whether the app actually communicates with the spirits of the dead, he got some responses that were eerily relevant, and saw a ghost “tour guide” use dowsing rods. Jon gives us a demonstration of his magical ability, but Dan rains on this parade by suggesting that ideomotor movement is a more likely explanation. We all agree that stories are cool, but they’re just that.Finally we have Daniel in Canada, and he’s convinced that some alien abductions are real and that the government is hiding the evidence. Our hosts quiz Daniel on what he believes and offer some good reasons to be skeptical of claims, as well as a few examples of what might convince them. We finally get to the good part when Daniel claims NASA has footage of insectoids on Mars using tools. Sadly, we lose Daniel when his connection is sabotaged by a Martian insect with an adorable tiny pickaxe.What a way to end the show! We’ll see you all next week, truth seekers!

Ehhhh what’s up Doc? This week on Truth Wanted we’ve assembled our crack medical team to dissect… ugh… Matt Walsh’s “What is a Woman?” Oh boy, this is going to be a wild ride. MD and Ben chat about quack medicine before destroying this piece of transphobic garbage.This week’s Patron of the Week is I Heart Dogs. May you never have to explain the difference between sex and gender to Matt Walsh in a busy nightclub. Also, we at the ACA also heart dogs. And cats. And cockatiels. Our first caller once visited a psychic eye surgeon? I didn’t see that coming! After experiencing visual anomalies due to a tricky retinal dysfunction, in desperation, Jamie reached out to a wish doctor. Our hosts discuss the preposterous charlatanry that is psychic healing, MD squeezes in a James Randi reference, and Ben reflects on the ethics of using the placebo effect in medical practice.One-Eyed Heathen is next, they’re a reformed Reiki practitioner who’s come around to a rational approach to health care. MD tries to drill down on the actual practice of this… cough cough… technique… but the actual processes of Reiki are just as nebulous as the perceived benefits. Ben points out that human touch therapy has demonstrated benefits, and doesn’t require magic to work.Next, we have Gerard calling in about the value of fetuses. Yes, it’s an abortion call, bear with us. MD quizzes our caller on the “ends justify the means” aspect of this ethical question, and Ben points out that even surgery is a calculated risk that can cause short-term harm for long-term benefit. We chat about subjective morality and what the word “value” really means to Gerard before moving on.Our final caller in Canada believes that COVID misinformation comes mainly from the conservative side of the spectrum. Well, yeah, tell us something we don’t know! Poor reasoning in political views bleed into poor reasoning in other aspects of the human condition. We get into the self-declared Queen of Canada, who, to no surprise, is an anti-vaxxer before wrapping up.That's all folks! Join us next week, and make sure to answer the survey questions for the upcoming holiday special!

Show notes will be posted upon receipt.

Welcome back to Truth Wanted, the weekly callin show that’s seen the most episodes of The X-Files. Joining Dan today is host of Secular Sexuality, Kara Griffin!Today’s Patron of the Week is Dawn Nelsen! May the sun never set on your glorious empire.Our first caller is Masedog, who mayyybe watches too many pseudoscientific youtube videos? She asks our hosts what they think about content creators that claim to speak to the dead. Dan explains why balderdash and hoakum are too generous a term for this nonsense. Masedog is still working out what he believes, and our hosts offer some techniques for sorting out trash from truth before we move on.Oh boy… Suzie wants to talk about the adoption of the swastika by Nazi Germany. Did Hitler visit the far east and co-opt their symbol? Dan isn’t sure, but Kara has a whole lot to say about pseudo-archeology and how National Socialism perverted the traditional meaning of the symbol that’s come to represent evil across the world.Heath in Canada witnessed a rain of frogs. A toadstorm, if you will. A tizzy of tadpoles. Upon further conversation, we determine that the toadstorm occurred in a rainforest during a storm, so a natural explanation seems more likely than a resurrection of an Egyptian curse. Heath tells us about another strange occurrence he experienced after a seven day bender, but our hosts aren’t convinced that this is anything other than a product of a drug-addled brain.We wrap up the show with Dan’s Deep Dive into Severus Snape, the only character from Harry Potter ever to be dropped from Nakatomi Plaza. Sorry, wrong movie… is love of this complicated character a religion? God I hope not.That’s the show tonight folks, we’ll catch you next week!

Hey Truth Seekers! Welcome to another episode of Truth Wanted! This week MD Aware is joined by Adam Elmasri.First up is Red from OH who talks about a conspiracy that her friend believes revolves around the government having a cure to cancer, but won’t release it because they make money off of cancer treatment.Next is Jasmine from Canada who brings up the subject of religiosity being engrained in hospitals and medical culture.Next is Frank from IL who has questions surrounding the philistines and how and why they exist biblically or scientifically if we all came from the same two people.

In today’s episode of Truth Wanted, Dan is joined by creator of the show Belief It Or Not, Trevor Poelman. Trevor is a former youth group leader and would go through actual theology audits. Together this team will ask viewers what they believe and why. Special thanks to Lauren Zhuge, the Patron of the Week!First up is RedDeadBread from CA who is wondering about how the environment in which a person is raised causes anger towards religion. How does religiosity affect the nature of atheistic beliefs? Dan explains the difficulty involved with separating religion from politics and how conservatives would get mad at Obama for just breathing. Trevor confirms that since he has lived that life, he tends to get more angry about these things than his co-host who was not raised in religion. There is still the perception that atheists are a bunch of whiny, angry white dudes that go off about all sorts of things, and we need that to change. Muhammad in CA wants to talk about western morality and eroding belief. Is this being caused by “tolerance” and being okay with everything? Tolerance can be a tightrope to balance. Trevor mentions that he can tolerate beliefs until those beliefs start to harm others. Tolerance can lead to great things but it can also lead to bad things such as giving bigots platforms. The intention of the U.S. was to create a secular democracy where individual denominations would not influence aspects of government. There are people who are intolerant to those who don’t have beliefs. Is it a common occurrence that people become more tolerant and progressive prior to leaving Christianity? Conservative, evangelical types rail against being tolerant because they know what it threatens. Maybe it is time to move on from some of the moral codes we had. A question from the chat asks if either host has had paranormal experiences. When Trevor was a kid, an orb of light went over his head and thought it was an angel at the time. Years after leaving the faith, it was discovered through research the carbon monoxide can cause this type of hallucination. Next is Red in OH who as a kid came to the conclusion that the Loch Ness Monster might be leviathan in the Bible. She would draw pictures of it and show it to creationist professors who actually liked her theories. Dan remembers a fundie pastor on TV talking about a leviathan verse in The Book of Job that proves dinosaurs lived at the same time as humans. Trevor explains how the famous picture is made with a toy submarine and plaster for the head that can be pulled with a string. Tonight we have learned that the truth is everybody knows BigFoot is king! Thank you for joining us this week! Special thanks to Trevor! Be kind and always keep wanting the truth.

Welcome back to Truth Wanted, the ACA call in show with the highest frequency. This week Dan is joined by rock scientist and former groupie for the Grateful Dead, R Kelley Laughlin! (Ok I made that last part up, kinda)This week’s Patron of The Week is Gabriel Guerra. We may not believe in angels on this show, but you’re a close second in our books Gabriel. Thank you for the support!We’ll kick calls off with Scottland, and he makes his case for why a multiverse might indicate that his particular god is real. Not particularly well, but hey, at least he’s a friendly theist! Dan isn’t so interested in deities that exist outside our universe, Kelley throws in a Tolkien reference for all you nerds out there, and somehow we land on John Lennon being a jerk? Luc’s in Canada, he asks our hosts what sort of evidence would convince them that gods are real. Kelley wants a sandwich in the hand of every starving child on Earth, and Dan wants to see a manipulation of nature that couldn’t be done naturally. We fence with Luc about what qualifies as a miracle, how we might test for one, but he’s not getting it. Next is Jamie who’s become increasingly intolerant of bullshit. Horoscopes, crystals, you name it, holding beliefs without good reason is dangerous, and Jamie is frustrated. Dan advocates for having healthy conversations in a constructive manner, and plugs Street Epistemology for the 148th time. Kelley is just as curmudgeonly as Jamie, perhaps more, but he offers a few tips on avoiding alienating people we disagree with.Finally we’ll talk to Gabriel, who asks if classism plays a role in people buying into conspiracy theories. Is Marxism a gateway drug to believing in the New World Order? Dan points out that political ideology tends to be more based on observation than Uncle Frank subscribing to QAnon, but we can definitely see the overlap there.That’s it for this week folks, if the FBI asks, we definitely have no top secret nuclear documents squirreled away at the Freethought Library. See you all next Friday!

Show notes will be posted upon receipt.

Welcome back to Truth Wanted, the ACA show least likely to be trampled by elephants. This week we have ExXtian Erin in the host chair, joined by Chris Keaton.This week’s Patron of the Week is Jonathan Hull! Thanks to patrons like you, the ACA can finally hire someone to come to the Freethought Library and investigate those strange sounds coming from the crawlspace.Kennita’s calling back from Cali, she identifies as an atheopagan, and also as an atheist. She shares her journey from Catholicism into skepticism, and while she doesn’t believe in the supernatural, she finds the practice therapeutic. We don’t see any harm in reflection Kennita, but beware the dangers of believing things without good reasons!Phil wants to talk about Godzilla! Just kidding, he offers the myth that there was an alternate ending to a monster film as an example of how it’s possible to do the leg work as a skeptic, yet still get it wrong. We take a quick tour of some common misconceptions, and both hosts agree that we must continue to be vigilant and open-minded about our beliefs.Next up is Jasmine, she asks if our hosts miss anything about being Christian. We get an emphatic no from Erin, and several examples of why. Chris is conflicted, but realizes it’s the community he missed, and he’s found other ways to find that, through volunteer work and social groups. We’ll stomp on the dangers of faith healing for a few minutes before we move on.That’s it for this week folks! We’ll see you back here next week, but in the meantime, be wary, Godzilla is still out on the prowl, searching for the lost hidden ending of his film, where he beats King Kong.

Welcome back to Truth Wanted, the weekly call-in show with the highest nutritional value on Youtube. Today, Dan is joined by an ACA regular, it’s Talk Heathen host and lover of video game recommendations Johnny P. Angel!This week’s Patron of the Week is Garret AJ! May the Flying Spaghetti Monster extend his noodly appendage in your direction.Our first caller is Wayde, and he wants to psychologically profile his favourite deity as part of a doctoral thesis. He gives us a few nebulous descriptions, but Dan and Johnny are less interested in what God is, and more curious about whether God is. We have an interesting exchange about competing religions, and Johnny asks questions about Wayde’s education in theology. I don’t know about you folks, but if I was to get a degree in magic, I’d prefer it be from Hogwarts.Mark is calling back to share more of his deconversion journey. He’s come to realize that vampire tales have a lot in common with resurrection narratives in the Bible, and Dan offers are few more contemporary examples of visitors from beyond the grave that are equally silly. Johnny steers Mark towards finding activist involvement that doesn’t have a religious bent as a method of finding purpose without the agenda, and Dan gives Mark a few specific resources for finding secular community.Next up is Alyssa, her father tragically disappeared when she was a child. Her family consulted mediums, and even as a skeptic, she finds the similarities in their stories to be compelling. After hearing the similarities, Dan points out that “being in water” is a very common image sold by psychic charlatans. Johnny talks about James Randi, and his lifetime of testing psychic claims with zero results in the clairvoyance column. We all agree that taking advantage of grieving families is disgusting.Finally we have Tyler, who claims that there are empirical reasons to believe in God. Johnny drills down on Tyler’s notion of justice using the example of Hell. Tyler’s stumped, as he should be, because infinite punishment for finite crimes is wrong, and even Tyler admits this. He attempts to rationalize his position, but Johnny’s not having it. We get a scathing yet cogent contrast of free will vs. omniscience from our hosts, but Tyler’s having trouble seeing the point. Johnny tries to get through with analogies to Anne Frank/Hitler and his role as custodian of his adorable dog. Tyler seems like a nice guy, but needs to shake off the indoctrination. Thanks for tuning in tonight everyone, we’ll catch you next Friday!

Hey there Youtube wanderer. Sit a spell, warm up by the fire, and enjoy another episode of Truth Wanted! This week Dan is joined by former pastor turned humanist author Drew Bekius!This week’s Patron of the Week is Richard… just Richard. May you join the ranks of folks like Cher, and be showered with fame, fortune, and enough plastic surgery to keep you looking young well into middle age!Our first caller is Richard (no, not that Richard) from Arizona. He’s struggling with a lingering fear of hell, and asks how our hosts got over this hurdle. Drew asks some probing questions, and Dan reminds our caller that this stuff takes time to conquer. Drew recommends finding community, and shares a great analogy to car accidents that seems to help. Be patient with yourself Richard!Isaiah’s calling back from Korea, asking if a multiverse could affect the likelihood of a god being real. Short answer, no. Dan and Drew can’t see how multiple universes could affect the null hypothesis or make deities more likely. Drew pushes back on the idea that more universes equals greater probability for creator gods, and Dan refutes Isaiah’s argument from incredulity. Nature is beautiful, but lots of pretty things we have explanations for don’t require sky wizards.Next we have William in Canada, who thinks humanism is just a reimagining of concepts from holy texts. Drew draws a great picture of how those authors then, and people now, construct our moral views through the lens of our experience. Dan simplifies the discussion by pointing out that most people want the same things, regardless of the century they’re living in. Is humanism a new iteration of humanity’s efforts to build a moral code? Sure, but that’s a far cry from a religion.That’ll wrap it up for this week folks, join us next week, although it won’t be hosted by Ashton Kutcher and Russell Crowe’s atheist avatars, it’ll still be pretty good. See you then!

Something something Truth Wanted? Sorry Youtube reader, coming up with witty intros every week is tough, so this week…. I’m phonin’ it in! Fortunately our guest tonight will be far less uninspired, Dan is joined by The SkepTick!This week’s Patron of the Week is SkeptiKarl, may you not be zapped by magical laser beams, thank you for the support!Sven’s a skeptic making a living from ghost hunting apps, but he’s conflicted about enabling folks that believe in nonsense. Our hosts both agree that framing his content as “for entertainment purposes only” is an ethical way to make money from people who hold different beliefs. No judgment here, Sven.Next up we have Richard, who’s under a think attack by “prayer warriors” in his family asking their imaginary friend to make him come back to Christ. Unfortunately, the recent converts are his wife and stepson, and this is causing strife in their relationship. Dan thinks honesty is important, and the Skeptick has quite a humorous, yet frank method for communication that might work. This can’t be easy Richard, keep us posted!Ricardo’s calling in from Italy, and asks how Christians reconcile the character of their God in Old vs. New Testaments. Dan gives a brief history of the Bible, and explains New Covenant theology. Of course it’s silly, but hey, this is what they believe. Ricardo asks how religious folk are able to cheerfully ignore the parts of the Bible they don’t like. Cognitive dissonance is a powerful thing my friend!Jean’s replying to our chat poll, which was asking the live chat if they believe Shakespeare actually wrote all the works attributed to him. He’s got a degree in theatre and gives our hosts a brief backstory on this myth. After Jean mentions the forensic analysis of the Bard’s writing styles, Dan brings up that experts believe only half the letters attributed to the apostle Paul were actually written by him. This is quite the entertaining chat, don’t miss this call!We wrap up with a quick exchange about Georgia guidestones and our guests experience in the USA. Enjoy your weekend fellow Truth Seekers!

Get ready for a very wacky episode of Truth Wanted, because this week Dan is joined by Calvin Smith, podcaster and aficionado of all things weird and wonderful!This week’s Patron of the Week is Fortuna Ex Machina! May extraterrestrials shine down their hidden knowledge upon you. John’s up first with a divine thought experiment. After an explanation of what a god is to him, our hosts offer their take on how likely that entity is to exist. John responds with an argument from popularity, since most people believe the Earth is round, and most people believe in a deity, aren’t both likely to be true? It takes Dan & Calvin a few minutes to explain why not, but we get there eventually.Next up is returning caller Ransom, who’s wondering if the UAP footage recently confirmed by the Pentagon is evidence of alien visitors. Everyone agrees that unidentified doesn’t mean extraterrestrial, but Ransom wants to focus on how unlikely the phenomenon are to be advanced foreign (ie. Earthly) technology. While it is fascinating that even the governments of the world can’t identify these, we’re going to withhold belief until we have good reasons. Finally, VJ wants to chat about the shift towards religious extremism in India, and how the media frames these events to favor the Muslim worldview. Dan briefly describes the historical context for sectarian violence in the subcontinent, and we all agree that religion has a habit of encouraging folks to hate each other for no good reason. That’s the show folks, we’ll see you all next week!

Psst. Hey there. Yeah you. Thanks for joining us for another episode of Truth Wanted! This week, Jason Sherwood emerges from behind the ACA camera like a curmudgeonly grizzly bear in spring to join Objectively Dan!This week’s Patron of the Week is Allegedly Dave, but we’ll need a citation before we can accept this assertion.John’s up first with a silly reductionist argument for why abortion is the termination of human life, which is quickly dismantled by our hosts. Jason discriminates between terminating a life and terminating a pregnancy, and Dan points out that a clump of cells isn’t suffering. This is kinda irrelevant John, even if a zygote is a person, bodily autonomy is still paramount, and no, I won’t give you my kidney.We have Kaylen calling from the Land of the Rising Sun next, and he doesn't think there’s a Biblical justification for theocracy. Both our hosts agree, and offer a few abhorrent examples from the Bible that reinforce Kaylen’s perspective.Red’s concerned about moving to a state where it’s likely she’ll be denied healthcare, and our hosts couldn’t be more sympathetic. We’ll chat about potential solutions for this current crisis, and how this recent decision will disproportionately affect those without the means to travel for healthcare.Loving the international callers tonight, Ricardo’s from Italy, and he’s struggling with picking your battles when having constructive conversations with theists. Dan thinks we have to examine our own motivations before we even approach using Street Epistemology to build better interactions.Our next caller is concerned about moving to a red state in the current political climate, and we’re sympathetic. Fascist policies lead to a brain drain, learn from Nazi Germany folks. We’re all better when we’re all healthy and free.Nick’s wondering how to talk to people who are so staunchly committed to their beliefs that they won’t consider changing their mind. How do we get through to these people? Dan throws exposure therapy out there; normalize it, plant the seed, and hope it grows. Jason thinks you oughta ask yourself, “Is it worth it?” No one’s required to be the arbiter of progressive policy Nick, but keep fighting the good fight.Finally we have Dylan who suggests replacing our legal system with a poll system where the internet decides what’s correct. We’ve seen this episode of Black Mirror, but if you haven’t, loyal TW viewer, check it out. It was a disaster. At this point however, anything might be better than having lifetime appointments to the highest court in the land in a time of a quickly shifting moral landscape.That’s the show tonight. It’s a dark day in the history of the United States, but activism and hope will see us through. Stay strong, vote, protest, do anything but remain silent. Catch you next week!