Podcast Archive - Minnesota Atheists ~ Positive Atheism in Action Since 1991

"Morality With and Without God" August Berkshire on Atheists Talk #88, October 17, 2010

My least favorite claim is that morality has an absolute source in religion, and that humanity would have no morals if we were non-theistic. August Berkshire, the president of the Minnesota Atheists has been studying the morality found within religion, and the depvelopment through non-religious sources of morality and ethics. Sociology, social psychology and other social sciences have examined evolutionary roots of morality as have philosophers. Now even evolutionary biology has made some interesting discoveries, suggesting that morality is not necessarily unique to humans. If non-human animals can be good without God, are humans weaker and need God?

ETHICS

Lawrence Kohlberg’s six stages of moral development

HOW MORAL ARE CHRISTIANS?

unChristian: What a New Generation Really Thinks about Christianity - David Kinnaman & Gabe Lyons

“ A Christian by Any Other Name” - Lisa Miller, Newsweek [Christians running away from the word “Christian”]

“Religious Leaders Battle Abuse Bill in New York” - The New York Times

Subscribe to FFRF’s Freethought Today newspaper to get listings of “Black Collar Crimes”

WHAT DOES THE BIBLE SAY?

“The Character of God in the Bible” - August Berkshire

NATURAL ETHICS

Mirroring People: The New Science of How We Connect with Others - Marco Iacoboni

On Being Moved: From Mirror Neurons to Empathy - Stein Braten, ed.

Mirrors in the Brain - Giacomo Rizzolatti, Corrado Sinigaglia, & Frances Anderson

Primates and Philosophers: How Morality Evolved - Frans de Waal, edited by Stephen Macedo & Josiah Ober

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Listen to AM 950 KTNF on Sunday at 9 a.m. Central to hear Atheists Talk, produced by Minnesota Atheists. Stream live online. Call in to the studio 952-946-6205, or send an e-mail to radio@mnatheists.org during the live show.

"Darwin and the Holocaust:" Dr. Hector Avalos on Atheists Talk #87, Sunday, October 10, 2010

Dr. Hector Avalos is a Professor of Religious Studies at Iowa State University in Ames, Iowa. He has been a great resource in analyzing and debunking the claims of Intelligent Design creationism. He sorts through the nonsense of poor scholarship and and misunderstanding of history in claims that the study of evolution has been responsible for evils in the world since Darwin's publication of On the Origins of the Species and The Descent of Man.

Dr. Avalos has written two books on religion, Fighting Words and The End of Biblical Studies. He has contributed two chapters to John Loftus' new book The Chrisitan Delusion. Avalos' chapter 8 "Yahweh is a moral monster" deals with the moral reprehensibility of the Yahweh character in The Bible, and his chapter 14 "Atheism was not responsible for the Holocaust" explains how a history of Christian anti-Judaism in Europe (including a terrifying screed by Martin Luther) far better explain the Holocaust than anythning that Charles Darwin may have inspired.

"Dr. Paul Copan, Apologist for Genocide" by Dr. Hector Avalos at Debunking Christianity

Avalos Contra Weikart, Part I and Part II

Dr. Avalos will be the featured speaker at the Minnesota Atheists regular monthly meeting on October 17. See Meetup.com for details.

"Atheists Talk" is produced by The Minnesota Atheists. August Berkshire is the director and Scott Lohman is the host for today's show.

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Write a review of Atheists Talk

Listen to AM 950 KTNF on Sunday at 9 a.m. Central to hear Atheists Talk, produced by Minnesota Atheists. Stream live online. Call in to the studio 952-946-6205, or send an e-mail to radio@mnatheists.org during the live show.

"The Humanist Approach to Happiness." Jennifer Hancock on Atheist Talk #86, October 3, 2010

"The Humanist approach to Happiness is a book that basically says – here are personal ethics, here is why they are important, and here is how you can apply them to your daily life and why doing so will help you live a happier more productive life. It isn’t a philosophy book so much as a book about the pragmatic reasons for being an ethical, compassionate and responsible person."

Jennifer Hancock is the author of the book and Scott Lohman will be getting more details from Jennifer as to what you can expect to learn about happiness as a humanist from reading this book.

The Humanist Approach to Happiness: Practical Wisdom, by Jen Hancock

Jen Hancock's Blog

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"The Bible: Folkore as Fact." Dr. Mark Welter on Atheists Talk #85, September 26, 2010

There are almost 3000 years of high culture and folklore preceding the Book of Genesis. Many of the stories that we consider to be original to the Bible are in fact shared across many cultures in slightly variant forms. Fables of the Sumerians, the Persians and other cultures have found their way into what Christians and Jews claim to be factual, historical records of events. Even the story of Jesus has antecedents dating back to 1000 years BCE.

Dr. Mark Welter of St. Cloud State university teaches World History and the perspective of World Religions and will be our guest today for a discussion on the unsure footing on the rock of Christianity.

Books referred to during the show:

"Cosmos, Chaos, and the World to Come, 2nd Ed." - Norman Cohn

"The River of God: A New History of Christian Origins" - Gregory J. Riley

"One Jesus, Many Christs : How Jesus Inspired Not One True Christianity, but Many" - Gregory J. Riley

"History Begins at Sumer: Thirty-Nine Firsts in Recorded History" - Samuel Noah Kramer

"The Oldest Stories in the World" - Theodor H. Gaster

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Atheists Talk

Radio with a frankly atheist perspective.

"Morality With and Without God" August Berkshire on Atheists Talk #88, October 17, 2010

"Darwin and the Holocaust:" Dr. Hector Avalos on Atheists Talk #87, Sunday, October 10, 2010

"The Humanist Approach to Happiness." Jennifer Hancock on Atheist Talk #86, October 3, 2010

"The Bible: Folkore as Fact." Dr. Mark Welter on Atheists Talk #85, September 26, 2010

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