The Supernatural, Space-Time, and Anti-Evolution Creationists | The Atheist Experience 27.13

00:00 Intro
01:08 Omar-CA | Nature Can't Create Itself
25:10 Jon-(CA) | What If There Is Evidence For The Supernatural?
34:23 Steve-NV | Evidence For Mental Illness And Evidence For God
47:04 David-TN | Space Time Approach And Triangulation
1:09:45 Samuel- TX | Why Creationists Go After Evolution
1:28:30 Jason-NV | Has Evolution Been Stunted By Modern Medicine?

SHOW NOTES
In today’s episode of the Atheist Experience, the amazing pair of Forrest Valkai and Paulogia dig deep into questions of science and the universe's origins.

First caller is Omar in CA who believes in god because if energy cannot be created or destroyed, then nature can’t create itself. What makes you think that cosmologists ever said that energy ever was created or had a beginning? When we talk about what happened outside of everywhere and before time, the logic breaks and we don’t have a way of asking questions. Once you throw god into the mix, you are adding, “and also” which is one more step and assumption. If something does not make sense, we don’t get to just say that it is probably magical.

Jon in Canada asks the hosts what they would do if they found something to confirm the supernatural. It is only when the supernatural is the only possibility left that it would be considered. Science and faith are not compatible. Faith is believing things without evidence and the point of science is to do away with that belief. Religion was our first and our worst attempt at understanding the world around us.

Steve in NV compares the evidence for god to evidence of mental illness. Psychology has statistics and is objective in the real world, where the belief in god is subjective. The experience of the person is real, but the problem is with attribution. This is why with psychology, we don’t have the person self diagnose. Evidence for god and evidence for mental illness are not comparable.

David in TN states that scientists don’t approach space time consistently and talks about triangulations. A common young earth argument is there is not enough distance between points. It does not matter if light is bending because the wavelength is not altered when things are bending. The universe is finite without true boundaries and space is expanding in all directions. This expansion of space is what causes redshifting. If you care about truth, you owe it to yourself to see what the scientists say, even if you reject it, and not use the same creationist lingo. It is not incoherent to talk about infinite things such as time and positive integers that have starting points.

Samuel in TX asks why the creationists go after the hardest to disprove theory of evolution. This is because evolution takes away the specialness of being created. The specialness goes away when the creationist accepts humans are apes and merely just the latest incarnation of life. The idea of extinction was radical because we thought that there was nothing that existed that is no longer here.

Jason in NV asks if modern medicine has stunted evolution. We are able to take control of our evolution because we have changed the selection pressures and natural selection process, therefore we see it as a net positive.

Thank you for tuning in! The question of the week is: why was Jesus betrayed? (Wrong answers only). Never stop learning and we will see you all next week!

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[TheAtheistExperience]

00:00 Intro
01:08 Omar-CA | Nature Can't Create Itself
25:10 Jon-(CA) | What If There Is Evidence For The Supernatural?
34:23 Steve-NV | Evidence For Mental Illness And Evidence For God
47:04 David-TN | Space Time Approach And Triangulation
1:09:45 Samuel- TX | Why Creationists Go After Evolution
1:28:30 Jason-NV | Has Evolution Been Stunted By Modern Medicine?

[wickjezek]

Forrest somehow delivers verbal smackdowns while maintaining his usual pep, kindess, and sensitivity. ❤️

[thomasowens]

The best conclusion ever: "So was the basis of all religion just a misunderstanding of the natural world" Nice one Jon.

[mirandarensberger]

"Religion is a domestication tool for humans." --Forrest Valkai, 2023

[sjc]

Forrest is the best host ever. So glad you’ve got him on board. It’s brought me back to watching and enjoying AA from au

[stringbass]

Jesus wanted to split the last supper check evenly even though Judas only got water and a salad

[briangriffin]

I see Paulogia and Forrest on the thumbnail and I immediately preempt a "like". I know this is going to be fantastic.

[bug_blues]

These two both individually helped me evaluate my old Christian beliefs. Seeing them work together is awesome and I’ve been looking forward to it

[danielduvana]

Forrest is such a breath of fresh air, with his positivity and being actually nice to all callers. This approach is sooo much better, healthy and nicer to listen to than being angry and shouting all the time and having no patience with callers as a certain previous host always did… this is the way! And Paul is amazing as always, also showing enormous patience, respect and humility always. Two amazing people!

[Never-mind]

Jon (CA) If the supernatural is found to exist, it automatically becomes natural. As George Calin used to quip - "once you have identified an unsung hero, he no longer is."

[joshsheridan]

27 years and your still unconvinced. I've been on the planet for 60 years and I'm still unconvinced that there is a valid argument for a theistic god.

[optimus_rhymes]

David was the most frustrating calls I’ve ever heard. They very politely, gave explanations for his points. Telling him to do honest research, and he’s just like “cool story, bro”.

[roybarrows]

Jon from CA has historically been among the most absurd, least honest repeat callers ever to call this type of show. He seemed to be ready to embark on that track again until he learned that Forrest is actually a scientist, so he hit the brakes. From there, it appears that Forrest *may* have actually gotten through to him and given him something he might actually be willing to consider. I'll believe it if I see it, but I'm holding a shred of hope.

[smochygrice]

Such an awesome episode! Forestt and Paul duo worked well.
Keep up the great work ACA.

Peace Love Empathy From Australia 🇦🇺 ❤

[TreeBeother]

Ok! Paul and Forrest, your answers you gave on the answers to evolution were heart felt, sincere and such a great way to paint those feelings. Thank you for being patient, loving and compassionate.

[crypticraps]

Paulogia has helped me so much. He's an amazing human being.
He has the most in depth knowledge of the bible over anyone else I've seen on youtube.

[foxbutterfly-eden]

FORREST!!!! It’s always a joy to see your smiling face 🥰
Excited to hear you two work together! Paul is so great and I love his channel

[thekwjiboo]

That classic question "if you could sit down for a meal with one living person who would it be?" I'm pretty sure my answer would be Forrest Valkai. He's such a smart fella, always has a big smile on his face and has a wicked good sense of humor. In one video on his page he goes on this rant where a computer programmer realizes he can't write code that says one thing forward and another thing backwards "I have seen through time and touched the beard of Odin!!! MOTHERRRR!!!". I laughed for a solid 20 minutes.

[jquest]

Jon called in to try his usual BS but got thrown off his script and politely ended his call. That was the most well-behaved that I've seen him.

Normally, he rage quits with some anti-abortion or anti-LGBTQ rant.

[jquest]

Omar: I want to translate my belief from English to Spanish.

Hosts: Do you even understand Spanish???

Omar: Of course I do! "Donde esta la biblioteca?"

Hosts: You are just asking where's the library.

Omar: No, no, you aren't getting my point. "DONDE ESTA LA BIBLIOTECA???"