SHOW TIME-STAMPS

00:00:00 Introduction
00:06:27 Dan’s Weird Job Interview Discussion
00:14:29 What are Christian Apologetics?
00:16:53 Caller: Matt - MD
00:35:43 Merch & Hosts Struggle with Clothes
00:37:33 Caller: Ian - AL
00:56:51 Caller: Dean Meadows - NC
01:17:04 Caller: Jeremy - IA
SHOW NOTES

Jen Aldrich joins us, replacing planned guest Sci-Man Dan who will appear in a later show. Jen hosts the new ACA reboot show Godless Bitches 3.0! (It’s a lot of fun.) Jen reveals an upcoming personal project where she’ll cover a range of non-atheist topics with other atheists, which sounds pretty neat to me.

Dan tells a story of a weird encounter before a job interview wherein someone asks if he’s a Christian...spoiler: the conversation partner isn’t very polite. Also, Jen is verbally assaulted for wearing a symbol someone doesn’t like. How reasonable! She also ends up on a date where the guy tells her he’s afraid she’ll go to hell. Wonderful first date talk, this is bound to go well for him.

Dan and Jen get into a discussion on Christian apologetics history and get into a few apologetic arguments.

Our first caller, Matt, explains that he thinks the left/right political spectrum isn’t valid and is mostly arbitrary. He may have a point to some extent, but there is a utility to be found here! Matt asks what makes something left or right fundamentally, or are we applying these labels arbitrarily after the fact? Jen gives an explanation of where this comes from, and we get into a conversation about how parties can change their left/right alliance, which happens more frequently than you might think. We cover a lot of ground on this call, including false narratives and the general tone of today’s politics being quite divided.

Dan and Jen have a quick talk about NEW TRUTH WANTED MERCH available at bit.ly/aenmerch, and how they struggle with clothes. Adulting is hard sometimes.

Caller Ian hooks us in with an “out there” topic: he believes that humans (later clarified to be all living things) all share the same consciousness, because, “How could we not share the same consciousness?” Or, is it the same nature of consciousness? Definitions seem to be an immediate issue...this will be a fun call! After the call, Jen and Dan get into their pasts with Eastern philosophies and “woo.”

The amazing Dean Meadows returns to ask how we can navigate consciousness without a belief in the supernatural, as there seems to be something strange about the connection between minds and bodies. Dan explains consciousness having clear physical roots, and we have a springboard for an interesting call. (Dean Meadows is a friend of our shows who studies apologetics and calls into Truth Wanted and Talk Heathen frequently. Check those calls out if you liked this one.)

After some brief discussion on telecommunication infrastructure, Jeremy presents a case for an “objective filter for measuring morality from a secular perspective.” Dan sees it as possible to build an objective moral framework, but is interested in what should compel him to follow that (philosophically, of course...Dan won’t be out doing horrible things tomorrow, we promise!). Jeremy thinks religions remove people’s bodily autonomy and sovereignty, but what if someone doesn’t want bodily sovereignty? Hm… This is getting deep.

Dan ends the show with a bad joke that leads to fun sound effects with new tech stuff! YAY!

Faithless Forum is upcoming, with dates TBA (likely in June). We have merch at bit.ly/aenmerch, and you can support the show at patreon.com/truthwanted, where you can pay for access to the show ad free! Dan is on Twitter @ObjectivelyDan, and Jen is on Twitter @JenDragonQueen.