The Current State of Atheism and Separation of Church and State

The Michael Shermer Show

Michael Shermer

Dialogue, Science, Reason, Michaelshermer, Natural Sciences, Skeptic

4.4 • 921 Ratings

🗓️ 30 November 2024

⏱️ 88 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

In this thought-provoking conversation, Dan Barker, a former evangelical preacher turned prominent atheist and co-president of the Freedom from Religion Foundation, explains the current state of separation of Church and State, the influence of Catholicism on the Supreme Court, and the ongoing debates surrounding public education and religious symbols.

Barker also discusses the legal challenges tackled by his organization, and introduces “Contraduction,” a new philosophical concept that reexamines how beliefs and arguments can reverse in order and meaning.

Plus, the moral implications of belief systems and the fine-tuning argument for the existence of God, the nature of nothingness, and free will.

Dan Barker is co-president of the Freedom From Religion Foundation, co-host of Freethought Radio, and co-founder of The Clergy Project. He worked 19 years as an evangelical minister and is a member of the Lenape (Delaware) tribe of American Indians. His new book is Contraduction.

Transcript

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0:00.0	You're listening to The Michael Shermer Show. And here's the new book.
0:27.0	Contraduction.
0:27.9	Oh, you can't see that too good.
0:29.7	Contraduction.
0:30.4	There it is.
0:31.3	All right, Dan, nice to see you.
0:32.4	How are you?
0:33.0	Yeah, good to see you again.
0:34.5	What's new in the world of atheism?
0:37.3	Well, our group is mainly concerned with state church separation, but we do atheism,
0:43.7	you know, a lot of debate.
0:44.5	In fact, you and I did that debate in Oxford together, if you remember, a few years ago.
0:48.9	That was epic, yeah.
0:50.0	Yeah, that was fun.
0:51.0	Wasn't that with Christopher Hitchens' brother, Peter Hitchens, right?
0:54.2	Peter Hitchens.
0:55.4	Yeah, epic, yeah.
0:56.8	And Annie Lorry's going to debate him in Cambridge in next month, actually.
1:01.5	Oh, wow.
1:02.1	For some reason, he's going to defend feminism in the Bible.
1:05.0	I don't know how that's going to work, but...
1:06.7	Well, talk about spin-docturing and updating scriptural meanings.
	...

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