Ep. 29 – Kelley Freeman: President of USC Pastafarians

We’re back! Welcome to another episode of A Matter of Doubt. In this week’s episode we speak with Kelley Freeman about her family struggles and how these caused her to doubt her religious beliefs early in life. As an adult, Kelley is an active member of both local and national atheist, agnostic, and freethought groups. She is also a regular contributor to The Friendly Atheist blog. She explains why it is important (especially for the younger population) to get involved in the secular movement and she cites many different ways in which to do so.

Kelley’s personal website

Secular Student Alliance

American Humanist Association

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Ep. 28 – Home Schooled Pentecostal now Atheist Physicist

Our guest, Gary, tells his deconversion story of being raised in the pentecostal church and all the fundamentalism that goes with it. Home schooled by his mother with a creation ‘science’ curriculum, Gary managed to escape all the dogma and nonsense to become a happy, skeptical, freethinking atheist. Gary tells us the difference between baptizing with water and being baptized in the holy spirit. (This was new to me.) He also tells us about his general distaste for religion and then what a relief and joy is was to discover that none of it was real.

 

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Ep. 27 – Dustin Goes to Reason Rally – Carl Sagan’s Billions and Billions

Welcome back to another episode of A Matter of Doubt. In this episode Dustin a.k.a The Goddless Paladin returns to discuss his experiences with Ashley F. Miller at the Reason Rally. We discuss the purpose of the rally and whether it achieved what it was intended to. Then we play for you two of the more memorable and inspiring speeches made by Jessica Ahlquist and Adam Savage. We conclude our discussion with a few quotes from Carl Sagan that are shockingly still (or more) relevant today and only reinforce the importance of future rallies.

Why Reason Rally? by Ashley F. Miller

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Ep. 26 – Doubts of a Catholic

We apologize for the delay in posting this episode, but we appreciate your continued listening! We are very excited to have as our guest on this episode of A Matter of Doubt, Andres. Andres is currently questioning his beliefs as a Catholic, and he attributes these questions in part to the information he learned since becoming interested in science. Andres walks us through the events in his life (some tragic and some joyous) that have brought him to where he is now with religion. We conclude our discussion with his recent fight for LGBT rights and how activism has fueled his desire for truth and equality in life.

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Ep. 25 – The Secret Atheist

Welcome back to another installment of A Matter of Doubt! We are happy to have as a guest on this episode, The Secret Atheist. In our discussion, he describes his upbringing as a Southern Baptist and how he has come to since work as a Music Minister in a church despite having recently realized he was an atheist. He shares with us the struggles of living a double life and the importance of seeking truth.

The Secret Atheist Blog

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Ep. 24 – A mild realization with guest, Javier

Welcome to another episode of A Matter of Doubt! We are very pleased to have as our guest, Javier. Javier was born in Bogotá, Colombia and raised Catholic. He left behind both his faith and country at about the same time, coming to the States and pursuing a degree in philosophy. For Javier, atheism was nothing more than a mild realization and he shares his journey. We end our discussion with the importance of critical thinking skills to a society and how philosophy can help a person develop these.

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Ep. 23 – Danielo Leaves the Jehovah’s Witnesses

We are very excited to have as our guest on this episode of A Matter of Doubt, Danielo. Danielo describes to us his experience growing up as a Jehovah’s Witness and how he has since become an “atheist with reservations.” While rather religiously mild, his upbringing brought with it various teenage and parental hardships that made it difficult for him to continue believing. We conclude our discussion with Danielo’s interesting perspective on marriage and the sacrifices that are required of him having religious in-laws.

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Ep. 22 – Fighting for People’s Minds (Part 2 with Coffee Shop Atheist)

Patrick Mitchal, author of The Coffee Shop Atheist Blog is a passionate atheist who is fighting for people’s minds. And that is exactly what we at A Matter of Doubt are interested in. If we can’t change minds, we can’t change people. In this episode we talk more about the problem of speaking with emotion when it comes to religion, and more reasons why being an atheist can make many positive changes in a person’s life.

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Ep. 21 – Deconversion Story from the Coffee Shop Atheist (Part 1)

We are happy to have as our guest on this episode of A Matter of Doubt, Patrick Mitchell a.k.a. The Coffee Shop Atheist. In part I of our discussion, Patrick speaks on his surprisingly recent deconversion from a Baptist believer to an atheist. His entire experience is meticulously documented in his wonderful blog. Look out for part II of this discussion where we discuss the importance of reaching believers and the best ways in which to do so.

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Ep. 20 – Guest Chris Cherry and her escape from a Christian cult

We are pleased to have as our guest on this episode of  A Matter of Doubt, Chris Cherry. Chris is a former member of The Higher Life movement, a fundamentalist Christian sect with roots in Kewsick, England. The wikipedia article on this movement can be found below. Chris left her family’s radical church when she was just a teenager and has never looked back since. She shares with us her struggle of overcoming the psychological distress she experienced as a result of this church’s teachings and says she is now much happier being an atheist.

Chris Cherry’s Facebook Page

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Higher_Life_movement

Also, Happy Holidays to all our listeners!

Other links:

Why We Believe in Gods – Andy Thompson

www.losingmyreligion.com

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