Today we have Kenneth Leonard and the incomparable JMike for another fun episode of Talk Heathen. Watch how this combo handles the calls spanning questions of existence, autonomy, and scripture quoting.

First we have Amit in CT who wants to discuss Christians thinking it is effective to quote Bible verses to others when trying to win their souls over. They think the book is right because it says it is right. Sometimes Christians think that atheists were always heathens and did not come from a religious background. Ask the person what interpretive principles are used for the book’s claims and why we should care about what the book says. Get people to start with whether they care or not if their beliefs are true. Since faith can be used to bring people to both true and false beliefs, how do we know if faith is the correct path to truth?

Next is K from nowhere who is asking about the likelihood of Mary’s virginity. This is already irrational; we don’t have to do any work here. A virgin gave birth after being impregnated by a supernatural entity. Anything that is natural is more likely than ghost sex.

Richard in the UK brings up the historical existence of Jesus topic. We don’t have an objection to the idea that there was a historical Jesus or Rabi with followers, but we have no reason to believe he was performing miracles as the bible indicates. When trying to prove biblical figures as historic, people are trying hard to establish a foundation to which their claims are based. We find success when starting the conversation with the smaller claims such as turning water to wine and from there you can get to the resurrection.

Next is Setuf from Spain would like to talk about the horny violinist analogy. If a violinist wants to have sex with Setuf, and causes a third party to be reliant on her body for survival, then there is a question about the right’s being violated of that third party. The problem with this analogy is the use of the word person; you first must establish that the fetus has person hood. When the properties are listed, the fetus and human are not the same thing. You also must demonstrate why a woman should not have a right to her bodily autonomy. Is it a moral good to allow people to have autonomy over their own bodies?

R in an undisclosed location mentions bodily autonomy of animals as a broadened well being of conscious creatures because we may not be able to demonstrate that one suffers more than another. Many practices that we currently have are reprehensible. Effective altruism has people that figure out the minimum amount they can live on and then donate the remainder. This is not something everyone can do, very much like veganism.

Zealous in MO has some questions about the existence of god and how we came from a game realm that we did not know about. Religious claims hide in the category of not being proven. If god is the player and we are in the game, how do you know that this god could exist?

Thank you for tuning in and we will see you next week! Thank you essential workers!