Talk Heathen 09.24 with Christy Powell and Scott Dickie

Talk Heathen

Atheist Community of Austin

Society & Culture

4.6 • 607 Ratings

🗓️ 15 June 2025

⏱️ 77 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

In this Father’s Day edition of Talk Heathen, Christy Powell is joined by co-host Scott Dickie for a thoughtful episode focused on the balance between reason and empathy. The hosts open with a discussion on hyper-rationality within skeptic communities and the importance of making space for vulnerability and emotional honesty. From there, they take a few deep calls exploring belief, truth, and the boundaries of skeptical inquiry.

Benji in Alabama attempts to discuss secular morality, but technical issues delay his participation. The hosts use this time to reflect on the interplay between logic and emotion in how we engage with others, particularly in conversations about religion, science, and belief.

Tucker in Iowa shares that he still holds some spiritual or supernatural beliefs despite identifying with the skeptic community. He speaks about personal experiences, such as perceived communication from his deceased father and a belief in a friend’s psychic abilities. The conversation explores definitions of “supernatural,” the tension between personal conviction and external skepticism, and the challenges of maintaining authenticity within a sometimes rigid atheist framework.

Nick in Massachusetts brings a densely abstract discussion involving truth paradigms, mechanistic reasoning, and epistemology. The conversation struggles to find clarity, with the hosts encouraging Nick to refine and simplify his ideas for better communication. While the points raised touch on government, religion, and logic, the lack of a clear thesis leaves the hosts and audience searching for firmer ground.

Despite some technical hiccups, Christy and Scott deliver a show rich in reflection and mutual curiosity. Viewers are encouraged to think deeply about the ways we balance emotion and logic—not only in belief, but in how we talk to one another. Thanks for joining us, and talk heathen to us: How do you balance reason and empathy in difficult conversations?
00:00 Intro
08:18 Benji – AL | Secular morality (connection issues)
25:06 Tucker – IA | Spiritual beliefs and skepticism
49:29 Nick – MA | Mechanistic truth and epistemology

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Transcript

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0:00.0	To start with, I really want you to know that I do understand and genuinely value how important
0:06.6	logic and reason are. Whether we're talking about presuppositional arguments for God or just good
0:11.9	old fashioned p equals p, please don't mistake my position on this. I love a good clean syllogism
0:17.9	as much as the next skeptic. But as a therapist, I can't help but notice
0:22.5	and worry about the role that hyper-rationality and skepticism at all costs often play in the so-called
0:29.7	angry internet atheist experience. I don't buy into tired stereotypes of our community as a collective
0:37.0	of spox and data's, stripped of emotion
0:39.9	and running on pure reason.
0:42.1	And yet, I've spent enough time in this space to know how easy it can be to use logic
0:47.9	as armor and intellect as a way of keeping vulnerability at bed.
0:52.1	Like our friend Dr. Firth Godbe here recently pointed out,
0:55.0	you can't love logic or hate sentimentality without getting pretty emotional about it.
1:00.0	There's always a heart behind the argument.
1:02.0	So no, I have no ambition of settling the war between logic and emotion,
1:07.0	but I am interested in making space for both. Because when someone calls in with
1:12.5	their story, their doubt, their outrage, or grief, or confusion, we owe them more than just a
1:18.9	flawless syllogism. We owe them empathy, curiosity, and the courage to say, I don't know
1:24.5	when that's the most honest answer we have. This is Talk Heathen, a community for conversations where reasons meet compassion and where
1:33.1	every question deserves a thoughtful human response.
1:37.0	So give us call because the show is coming right now.
1:52.8	Okay, well, welcome everyone. Today is Father's Day, June 8th, 2025. I'm your host, Christy Powell. And with me today for our first time together is Heathen Scott Dickie. All right,
1:57.4	all right. I'm looking forward to working with you today, Christy. I've been looking forward to this to this show for a long time. I do want to point out that at least in Minnesota, it's June 15th today. June 15th. Yeah, that is on me. Thank you for catching that. I didn't know if there was a time difference or what time zone you're in there. But yeah, we don't need to talk about what year it is right now.
	...

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