Archive for June, 2009

Episode 31: Inoculating Against the God Virus

Posted in Podcast on June 23rd, 2009 by Lamar – 1 Comment

Dr. Darrel Ray, author of The God Virus, joins us to talk about his book and his group, Recovering Religionists. Our good friend Mark also joined us in Joe’s absence, and while we definitely missed Joe, it was fun having Mark with us.

We begin the show with a rousing discussion about Pastor Wiley Drake and his use of imprecitory prayer against Dr. George Tiller and President Obama. Follow this link for a radio interview with Pastor Drake on YouTube.

In the news: Testing the power of prayer is problematic. Hate crime legislation infringes on the rights of conservative Christians to plot the eradication of homosexuals. Ken Ham’s creation museum is a huge success, and the kids love it. Christian prayer crosses the thin blue line. Guppies fall victim to natural selection, and we get to watch. The “namby pamby” liberal theists carry the torch for Christian Dominionism.

In the second half of the show, Dr. Ray discusses his book and support group with us. More importantly, he answers our questions and makes a case for his overriding metaphor; religion as a virus.

Links:

TheGodVirus.net: The official website of Dr. Ray’s book, The God Virus: How Religion Infects Our Lives and Culture.
RecoveringReligionists.com: Recovering Religionists is an organization, founded by Dr. Ray, to help people navigate the path out of religion.
The God Virus Video: Part One of a multipart series of Dr. Ray discussing his god virus metaphor and other concepts from the book.

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Episode 30: Shambling toward Abaddon, towing James Morrow

Posted in Podcast on June 3rd, 2009 by Joe – Comments Off

This week we have two time Nebula award and two time World Fantasy Award winning author James Morrow sitting in with us. Quickly, Joe confesses that he is a giant fan boy. There is an awkward silence.

But before it gets too cloying, we go to the news. The fight against Darwinism has moved to South Carolina. We answer the question: what came first, religion or hammering toddlers? More good news for atheist bus campaign supporters, Wikipedia gets rid of its body theatans, Christians go head-to-head over evolution and we follow up last week’s discussion about the Irish reform school madness.

Here is the video we reference in the news:

We’re really glad we had Mr. Morrow on the show. If you want to support Jim and support the show too, you can buy his books through the Chariots of Iron Store!

James Morrow’s Official Website

A quick FYI: The next Chariots of Iron show won’t be for a couple more weeks as we are trying to get our schedule straightened out. There will be two Atheist News shows in a row, however. We’ll see you in a few weeks!

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