The Atheist Experience 30.18 with Godless Engineer, Genetically Modified Skeptic, and Fish Stark

The Atheist Experience

The Atheist Community of Austin

Business, Non-profit, Religion & Spirituality

4.6 • 2.6K Ratings

🗓️ 4 May 2026

⏱️ 90 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

In today’s episode of the Atheist Experience, Godless Engineer and Fish Stark from the American Humanist Association tackle the encroaching tide of Christian nationalism and the hollow promises of deity-focused morality! They dismantle the "axis of nonsense" between billionaires and bishops, exposing how forced Ten Commandment displays in schools are more about power grabs than historical accuracy. Can a secular focus on human dignity provide the community we crave without the authoritarian baggage of ancient myths? From military secularism to the "American Empathy Project," the hosts explore how humanists are building real-world power to protect civil liberties for all.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Christian morality loves to sell itself as human-centered, but when you actually read the source material, that's not what you get.
0:08.4	You get a worldview where the greatest command is to love God with everything you are, where you're told to deny yourself, to take up your cross, seek God's kingdom first, and place loyalty to Jesus above family, comfort, and even your own life.
0:23.2	And it doesn't stop there. God tells you to lean not on your own understanding, and biblical wisdom
0:29.6	supposedly begins with fearing him. That's not a person-focused morality. That's deity-focused,
0:36.8	obedience with human beings somewhere down
0:39.4	the priority list. Secular humanism starts in the opposite place. It asks what reduces suffering,
0:45.3	protects dignity, and helps actual people flourish. So the question is simple. Should morality
0:51.9	serve a God, or should it serve persons? If you have an answer to this question, then please call in because the show starts now.
1:03.0	What's up, Heathens? How y'all doing? Today is May 3rd, 2026, and I am your host, Godless
1:12.6	engineer, John Gleason. And joining me right now is Fish Stark. What's up there, Fish? How you doing?
1:18.5	Hey, John, it's good to see you again and good to be streaming with you again, man. I am doing
1:22.6	really, really well. It's great to be at the atheist community of Austin. This is my first time here.
1:29.0	Such an awesome setup and awesome space. One of our, I'm not supposed to have favorite American
1:33.7	Humanist Association local groups, but you guys are one of my favorites. Yeah, I mean, I'm, I'm
1:39.6	envious, actually, that I'm not actually there right now. And I wish that I didn't live in the hell
1:44.8	hole that is Alabama. But in case there's anybody out there that doesn't know who you are,
1:52.0	what you do, why don't you tell people about yourself?
1:55.2	100%. So my name is Fish Stark. That's Fish Like the Animal Stark like Iron Man. I am the
2:00.4	executive director of the American Humanist Association. Humanism is for Stark. That's Fish like the Animal, Stark like Iron Man. I am the executive director of the
2:01.7	American Humanist Association. Humanism is for anyone who believes science tells us what's real,
2:07.4	and compassion tells us what's right. And for coming up on a hundred years, the AHA has fought
2:12.4	to promote humanism, build humanism community, and fight the religious rights so that we can all live with
	...

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