Welcome to another episode of AxP. Matt’s guest this week, on loan from Truth Wanted, is MD Aware!

Dan in Indiana asks how absurd a claim has to be before one can summarily dismiss it. MD points out that scientists don’t use a yardstick of absurdity, they do experiments and test claims!

John is a believer, he states that since the existence of gods can’t be proven or disproven, atheists and theists are in the same position. He then says he CAN prove gods are real in a different way, but, sadly, he doesn’t. MD and Matt remind him that you can’t write deities into existence, real life isn’t a screenplay.

Michael in Florida asks our hosts about a psychiatrist who claims to also be an exorcist. Matt doesn’t think demons have been shown to be real, and MD Aware reminds us that psychiatric diagnoses aren’t quantitative, and offering a hidden entity as a cause of mental illness is irresponsible.

Next up is Allen, who suggests that Christianity is an atheist religion, because their god died. We’re not sure if you’re familiar with the dogma Allen, this character’s still kickin! Our hosts make it clear that atheism is incompatible with belief in Jesus, be he dead or alive.

Another Michael? This one’s from Texas, and thinks a planet-spawning alien is probable. Also, God. Umm… neither has been shown to be real Michael, and our huge universe doesn’t guarantee that everything you can conceive of must exist.

Eran in Israel wants some help in sussing out definitions of gods from theists. He’s tired of them saying what God isn’t, he wants them to make a positive claim. Matt and MD agree that what we don’t know about God isn’t as useful as what we do.

Next up is Bryan from Utah who thinks Matt’s standards of evidence are off, and that his approach leaves the door open for mysticism? Turns out Bryan’s just frustrated that people are allowed to make wild claims, we’re sympathetic, but we’re gonna move on.

Abby asks when our hosts think religion will die out. Matt doesn’t think it will, MD Aware thinks it’s more likely to take a backseat in the form of cultural habits, rather than actual belief in gods. Matt points out that many religions have died out, and its current iterations will too. Abby asks for advice on how to start teaching critical thinking, and our hosts encourage cautious activism in dangerous places.

Issa wants to know why our hosts don’t believe in god, and offers the complexity of an iPhone as a metaphor for why the universe must have been created. MD Aware replies that the universe isn’t necessarily complex, what emerges from the laws of physics is. Matt asks what information Issa has that cosmologists don’t, but Issa wants to play dodgeball.

Alex wants to talk about a study that he thinks shows evolution can’t be real. Mutations in enzymes would have taken too long, so therefore, God did it. MD Aware reminds Alex that proving one explanation wrong doesn’t mean yours is true, Matt uncovers the bias that the experimenters had. MD Aware offers to have a look at the study, perhaps we’ll have a chapter two on Truth Wanted!

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