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.

News and Links for Atheists: “The Secret Knowledge is just ignorance by another name.”

The Secret Knowledge is just ignorance by another name

Meaning that body of information not everyone has, that body known only to those few people who had the good sense to go off the beaten path and seek it. It is information you’ll never see in your “newspapers” or “network news” or any other place overly concerned with verifiable “facts” and reliable “sources.” It will not come to you through a university “study,” peer-reviewed “article,” renowned “expert,” government “agency” or any other such traditional bastion of authority.

I have to agree, in general.

Your Brain Is Primed To Reach False Conclusions

But, as Offit’s story suggests, the fact that a child became sick after a vaccine is not strong evidence that the immunization was to blame. Psychologists have a name for the cognitive bias that makes us prone to assigning a causal relationship to two events simply because they happened one after the other: the “illusion of causality.” A study recently published in the British Journal of Psychology investigates how this illusion influences the way we process new information. Its finding: Causal illusions don’t just cement erroneous ideas in the mind; they can also prevent new information from correcting them.

Myths Debunked

Religious Right Activists Love To Spread False Information About The Separation Of Church And State. Here Are Ten Rebuttals:

Biology Professor Says Creationist Magazine Misquoted Him To Perpetuate Lies Against Evolution

This one is both for ex-Witnesses and atheists, really.

A biology professor is speaking out, demanding an apology and calling for an end to attempts to “perpetuate lies against evolution” after a statement from him was taken out of context in a creationist article in Awake!, a Jehovah’s Witness publication. He says that a portion of his statement was picked from the whole, leaving a completely different impression from his actual statement.

What? The Watchtower Society misrepresent someone’s point of view? I mean, they’ve been doing that for over a century, so why assume they’d stop now? Wait, that’s totally consistent. Sorry.

The dinosaur deniers

So now apparently it’s a thing amongst the devoutly religious not only to believe that evolution is false, but that dinosaurs never existed.

College Students Are Abandoning Religion In Record Numbers

More than 1,000 Ontario teens potentially exposed to measles at Toronto Christian concert, health officials warn

Crows Understand Analogies

 

Interview With Kyria Abrahams, Author Of “I’m Perfect, You’re Doomed.”

I'm Perfect book coverI recently finished reading Kyria Abrahams book, I’m Perfect, You’re Doomed: Tales from a Jehovah’s Witness Upbringing. Since I’ve used its cover image several times on my web site, actually reading it seemed fair. Here’s the thing I should have guessed from the cover: I’m Perfect, You’re Doomed isn’t a hate fueled rant or a whoa-is-me sob story. It’s a memoir that’s actually funny!

Kyria has also posted plenty of YouTube videos for your viewing pleasure and writes for a website called Street Carnage. Check’em out. They’re worth your time. (I’ll be adding links to them on my blog roll soon enough.)

Here’s what she has to say about her book.

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Was The Sparlock Video Really Made By The Watchtower Society?

Kingdom Hall announces talk on SparlockSince I first posted my article about Sparlock the Warrior Wizard, I have seen several attempts by Jehovah’s Witnesses to declare the video an apostate (or atheist) trick. There’s even an image of these conversations on YouTube for posterity. Well, I felt it necessary to issue a response on behalf of myself and other ex-Witnesses who have adopted Sparlock as our new mascot.

For those who doubt that the Sparlock video is the real deal, I offer the following incontrovertible proof.

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