PineCreek, A YouTube Channel for Nonbelievers in Search of Good Conversations

I’ve been enjoying PineCreek, Doug’s YouTube channel, for a while now. Doug’s channel offers up interesting conversations without a lot of mockery or arguing, which allows his most of his guests to give honest answers instead of being on the defensive. Doug finds people – sometimes well known people like Richard Carrier, Paul from Paulogia, Greg Locke and James White (whose comments were prerecorded in answer to questions from Doug) – and has satisfying conversations about their beliefs. Sometimes it’s about religion, sometimes it’s about the shape of the Earth. Doug challenges his guests in ways that allow them to give different responses than you would usually hear. And he answers comments. So do some of his guests (you’ve been warned). If you catch his videos live, you can even participate in live chats with him and his guests. He’s started a podcast which you can find here.

Doug is a former Mennonite turned atheist and married to someone who still believes in God (just as I am). He was born in Canada, but lives in Arizona now. Note what it says on his Twitter account:

I believe doubt is a virtue that can lead to humility and certainty can lead to arrogance.

I tend to agree.

Doug’s videos can run more than two hours. So I often take them in pieces, not always listening to them in full at one sitting. It’s totally worth it. They can also be half-an-hour or less. He goes through some of his longer videos and breaks them down into chapters, which you can advance through by using links in the description below his videos. This makes it easy to go back and listen to parts of them again if you need to.

Here are some favorites of mine.


A christian who accepts evolution and one that doesn’t.

This is the video pictured at the top of the page. Doug has had both guests on before (links below). Both are Christians. One is a scientist who believes evolution is true (he promotes this web site in one of his other interviews with Doug). The other is a pastor (with his own YouTube channel) who doesn’t buy it. A lot of good stuff in this one.

Faith and Science; Dr. Mary Schweitzer and Dr. Randy Isaac

Randy Isaac is the scientist interviewed in the first link above. Both he and Mary are scientists who also happen to be Christians. Doug respectfully talks to them about their beliefs and about how they reconcile their faith with the knowledge of science.

Pastor Mike Winger and I talk about Objective Morality

This is another one with Mike Winger, the Pastor from the first video. Mike’s points were good enough that I had to start thinking about and weigh the specific merits of skepticism. It isn’t that often when a believer presents ideas that I haven’t heard before. This is also the basis of his first podcast.

Mike Brown, MDiv, MA: Belief, Evidence, and Dragons.

I won’t lie to you. This one was tough. So much so that I finally started commenting myself. Mike Brown is a PhD candidate with a B.S. in history. When Doug asks him some challenging questions about his views on the historicity of Jesus and his views on the Bible as an authoritative source, Mike refuses to answer one or more of Doug’s questions. This got a lot of us riled up, as you’ll see in the comments, where I accused him of being evasive and disingenuous with his answers and his refusal to answer. Mike responds to many of our criticisms in the comments. Doug interviews Mike again here, and Mike talks a bit about his refusal to answer one of Doug’s question. One word: Dragons.

Despite the challenging nature of these videos, both are still worth a watch. Especially if you’re a Mythicist.

True or False Interview with Dr. Richard Carrier

Many of you know who Richard Carrier is. Doug and a friend get to ask him a lot of questions about the Bible and the historicity of Jesus.

Talking with several flat-earthers in chat

Finally, we have a video where Doug talks with several flat-earthers. Their views are unconventional, as you might expect, and they don’t always agree with one another.

Interviewing Ocean on his belief of the god Odin (and other beliefs)

Doug interviews a believer in Odin. Contrary to popular belief, belief in gods like Odin and Zeus is still a thing.

I hope some of you will check out Doug’s page, especially if – like me – you’re bored with debates and arguing on atheist channels.

Merry Christmas 2014

Merry Christmas to all my fellow geeks and heathens. As a (sort of) gift, I am providing links to some of my YouTube playlists for you to ignore or enjoy. Note that I would like to edit the start and end times for some of these, but it seems that YouTube (aka Google) has decided to take this feature away. For some reason.

I maintain all these playlists to varying degrees.

Entertainment

Canada’s Worst Driver is probably my favorite reality TV show. And most episodes are available on YouTube! The last 6 seasons are at least. I maintain this playlist because my wife and I like to go back and watch it from time to time. As more episodes become available, I will add them.

Canada’s Worst Handyman is another good reality TV show from Canada. It’s also very Wintery, so it feels like Christmas. 🙂

Here is a playlist featuring movies, TV shows and other videos for geeks. Many of these are anime. Note that some of these get deleted from time to time and I have no control over that.

This is a playlist of standup comedy in no particular order.

Secularism, Atheism, and Skepticism

Conspiracy Roadtrip is a BBC show that takes true believers in various conspiracy theories, including the idea that evolution is a scientific conspiracy, on a bus throughout the United States to show them the evidence that their belief is wrong and to see if they can change anyone’s mind. Note that the host of the show is a nonbelieving comedian, but he seems to treat the people pretty respectfully.

This is a collection of secular and atheist videos I’ve found across YouTube in no particular order.

Below are two playlists of my favorite Atheist Experience episodes and clips.

List 1:

List 2:

Here is a small list of ex-Jehovah’s Witness videos. Note that it includes the one about Kissing Hank’s Ass. 🙂

From the AWAKE! Magazine: “I WAS RAISED AN ATHEIST.”

Is Atheism On The March?“I WAS RAISED AN ATHEIST” is the last article about atheism in the November issue of the AWAKE! magazine. This one gives us a personal testimonial of an atheist turned believer, named Frantisek Vyskocil.1 That could make this article the most interesting part of the whole AWAKE! for many people. When you consider how predictable the rest of these articles have been (they were almost exactly like the last AWAKE!2 on atheists) I’m really hoping this one will shine. If you’ve been following the rest of this series (which started here) you know that I haven’t been too impressed so far.3 So you’re probably wondering if this article will stand out or just blend into the crowd.

It’s been a few days since my last post (darn my real job!) so now, I’ll go ahead and give you the complete set. Let’s get started.

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  1. The Wikipedia article makes no mention of his conversion. Darn it.
  2. Once I went back to check, it looks like I was actually thinking of an article in the Watchtower magazine. Oops.
  3. I plan to do another article, coming soon, where I look at the formulaic nature of the Watchtower Society’s publications and how they affect their readers. Stay tuned.

From The AWAKE! Magazine: HAS SCIENCE DONE AWAY WITH GOD?

Is Atheism On The March?This is the second article in the November AWAKE! that deals with atheists, following “IS ATHEISM ON THE MARCH?” Current and former Jehovah’s Witnesses may notice that atheism isn’t a topic that the Watchtower Society covers very often. I guess we aren’t their typical bread and butter when it comes to making converts, as most Witnesses are trained to convert believers rather than nonbelievers. So it’s always interesting when the Society breaks out half a magazine that talks about atheists or atheism generally, especially if you’re a Jehovah’s Witnesses turned atheist like I am. Thanks go to P.Z. Myers for jumping on this one, too. Atheists across the web are all over this issue of the AWAKE! because of him. Including me.

Still, I have to wonder, will this be another one of those condescending “aren’t atheists silly” articles? Also, will the Society resort to its old habits, like quote mining, leaving out important details, and generally skewing the facts in subtle (and not so subtle) ways to shore up its arguments? Or have they improved their style since my days at the Kingdom Hall and learned to give readers everything they need to truly make up their own darn minds about “the truth?”

Read on and find out.

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