Featuring Guest Host Genetically Modified Skeptic! | Skeptic Generation | Episode 3 Season 3

-AUDIO WARNING-
The first few minutes of the call with Drew includes an echo. We are able to resolve the echo within a few minutes, but feel free to skip to 3:30 if the echo is unbearable.
Personal friend and fellow YouTuber Drew aka Genetically Modified Skeptic joins the show today! Before we take calls, he shares how he has taken a scholarly approach to trans issues and has been going to bat for the community in responses to seriously bad arguments made by the religious right. Here is a link to the videos that Drew is referring to during the intro. If you haven’t seen them, check them out! They’re fantastic!
https://youtu.be/ABojJ2rW6vA?si=GEOcTJ75tss5FfIA
https://youtu.be/22W7I3yV-NY?si=BTwBYfP9wSxUN2VB

As always, getting the show started came with its technical setbacks, but we were able to get up and rolling for a fantastic show. Here are the timestamps if you’d like to skip to specific calls.


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TIME STAMPS & CALL NOTES 
00:00 - Intro  
03:30 - Drew’s Echo is fixed!
14:58 - Why are there so many denominations? | Ronan (He/Him) - NY
30:33 - How to build interfaith community | Isaiah (He/Him) - South Korea
45:41 - Where do morals come from? | Tug (He/Him) - CAN
55:48 -  Reliability of the Gospels | Phil-oginy (He/Him) - USA
1:06:56 - Atheists shouldn’t cohabitate | Andrew (He/Him) - FL
1:22:48 - Atheism has a branding problem | Brian (He/Him) - CA
1:38:46 - Faith, Community, and Smart Recovery | David
1:56:07 - Understanding our religious neighbors | Connor (He/Him) - VA
2:03:38 - Community building and smart recovery | David (He/Him) - NC
2:10:57 - Superchats

14:58
Ronan was raised in a non-religious household and is really wondering why there are so many denominations even if they are all reading the same bible.
For more resources, we recommend resources like:Dan McCclellan - https://www.youtube.com/@maklelanReligion for Breakfast- https://www.youtube.com/@ReligionForBreakfastDigital Hammurabi- https://www.youtube.com/@DigitalHammurabiAndEsoterica- https://www.youtube.com/@TheEsotericaChannel

32:03
As a believer, Isaiah is finding it harder and harder to connect with fellow religious friends and family. He wants to know, how can a Christian like himself both connect with more hardcore family members as well as find common ground to engage with nonbelievers? Speaking for the show, this is the exact kind of conversation we hope to have and applaud anyone making the effort!
45:41
I don’t think we’re ever going to get away from questions like what is morality, but at least we can do it serving Kant! In this call, Tug wants to know just how we develop morals and why. We ask ourselves, do we need a transcendent lawgiver to ground our morality? Does objective morality exist? Let us know what you think in the comments!
55:48
Stepping back from the narrative, how much can actually be taken from biblical scholarship? What about secondary sources? Lets talk about what we have, what we want, and what we can hope for!
1:06:56
Andrew thinks that atheists should still wait until marriage to live together. We talk about taboos against divorce, the positives of living together, and what that means with data from religious sources.
1:22:48
Brian sees a shift in the way atheists have talked about themselves in the last 20 years, and thinks