The Atheist Experience is an American live, weekly

televised Television (TV) is a telecommunications, telecommunication media (communication), medium for transmitting moving images and sound. Additionally, the term can refer to a physical television set rather than the medium of signal transmission, ...

webcast A webcast is a media presentation distributed over the Internet using streaming media technology to distribute a single content source to many simultaneous listeners/viewers. A webcast may either be distributed live or on demand. Essentially, webca ...

based in

Austin, Texas Austin ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of Texas. It is the county seat and most populous city of Travis County, Texas, Travis County, with portions extending into Hays County, Texas, Hays and W ...

, United States. Listeners are encouraged to call in to discuss the

existence of God The existence of God is a subject of debate in the philosophy of religion and theology. A wide variety of arguments for and against the existence of God (with the same or similar arguments also generally being used when talking about the exis ...

and related topics. Calls from

theist Theism is broadly defined as the belief in the existence of at least one deity. In common parlance, or when contrasted with ''deism'', the term often describes the philosophical conception of God that is found in classical theism—or the conc ...

s are usually given priority, as the aim of the webcast is to encourage theists to question their theistic beliefs and thus, theists are often asked to explain what they believe, and why.

History

In April 1996, Kellen Von Houser took the initiative of forming a group for atheists in the Austin area by e-mailing local atheists. After several informal monthly gatherings, the Atheist Community of Austin was formally founded on December 15, 1996, by which time it had attracted around sixty members. By June 1997, the ACA had its own website, a relatively new medium at the time, to reach out to fellow atheists on the internet. The first episode of ''The Atheist Experience'', a pre-recorded

pilot An aircraft pilot or aviator is a person who controls the flight of an aircraft by operating its Aircraft flight control system, directional flight controls. Some other aircrew, aircrew members, such as navigators or flight engineers, are al ...

, aired on October 19, 1997. From the second show onward, the episodes were broadcast live on cable access television on every other Sunday, giving the opportunity to viewers to call the show live. Initially the show's length was one half-hour. Ray Blevins was the show's first host, while Joe Zamecki served as the first co-host. The show length was extended to an hour in September 1998. From December 1999 on, ''The Atheist Experience'' began streaming over the Internet, enabling anyone around the world with Internet access to watch. Since November 2005, ''The Atheist Experience'' (as well as ''The Non-Prophets Radio'') has also been distributed as a

podcast A podcast is a Radio program, program made available in digital format for download over the Internet. Typically, a podcast is an Episode, episodic series of digital audio Computer file, files that users can download to a personal device or str ...

to a global audience. A

YouTube YouTube is an American social media and online video sharing platform owned by Google. YouTube was founded on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim who were three former employees of PayPal. Headquartered in ...

channel, which became the official channel in August 2012, has over 372,000 subscribers and over 182 million video views as of June 2022. On June 24, 2018, the show aired its 1000th episode. The first episode (pilot) was recorded at Furr's Cafeteria in October 1997. Subsequent episodes were recorded at the

public-access television Public-access television (sometimes called community-access television) is traditionally a form of non-commercial mass media where the general public can create content television programming which is Narrowcasting, narrowcast through cable tele ...

studio at Austin Public (1143 Northwestern Ave). After 18 years, long-standing logistical and technical issues at the public access studio prompted the crew to move to the ACA's Freethought Library (1507 West Koenig Lane) in October 2015. ''The Atheist Experiences success has spawned several spin-off shows also produced by the ACA; as of July 2018, these were ''The Non-Prophets Radio'' podcast, the ''Talk Heathen'' talk show, the ''Godless Bitches'' podcast and ''The Preaching Humanist'' television show. In December 2018, the new ''Secular Sexuality'' live show was launched.

Show details

Purposes

The primary purpose of ''The Atheist Experience'' is to have a discussion or debate on the existence of gods or related topics between theist callers and the atheist hosts and co-hosts. ''The Atheist Experience'' is therefore primarily geared towards a non-atheist audience, and tends to foster confrontational debates. Moreover, the conversations are intended for theists to hear from atheists themselves, rather than from other theists, what atheists actually believe. Another goal is to familiarize the show's audience with relevant arguments and effective debating tactics.

Theme song

The opening theme used for ''The Atheist Experience'' has changed over the years; in some cases due to copyright issues. From August 2009 to August 2015, the theme song was Bryan Steeksma's "Listen to Reason". Following that, Shelley Segal's "Saved" has been used.

Topics

Although debates about all

theism Theism is broadly defined as the belief in the existence of at least one deity. In common parlance, or when contrasted with '' deism'', the term often describes the philosophical conception of God that is found in classical theism—or the co ...

- and

atheism Atheism, in the broadest sense, is an absence of belief in the Existence of God, existence of Deity, deities. Less broadly, atheism is a rejection of the belief that any deities exist. In an even narrower sense, atheism is specifically the ...

-related views are welcome, because of the large number of

Christians A Christian () is a person who follows or adheres to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. Christians form the largest religious community in the world. The words '' Christ'' and ''C ...

in the United States and their influence in American politics and society, the emphasis is mostly on

Christianity Christianity is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion, which states that Jesus in Christianity, Jesus is the Son of God (Christianity), Son of God and Resurrection of Jesus, rose from the dead after his Crucifixion of Jesus, crucifixion, whose ...

. Frequent topics include religious

dogma Dogma, in its broadest sense, is any belief held definitively and without the possibility of reform. It may be in the form of an official system of principles or doctrines of a religion, such as Judaism, Roman Catholicism, Protestantism, or Islam ...

morality Morality () is the categorization of intentions, Decision-making, decisions and Social actions, actions into those that are ''proper'', or ''right'', and those that are ''improper'', or ''wrong''. Morality can be a body of standards or principle ...

ethics Ethics is the philosophy, philosophical study of Morality, moral phenomena. Also called moral philosophy, it investigates Normativity, normative questions about what people ought to do or which behavior is morally right. Its main branches inclu ...

, and application of the

scientific method The scientific method is an Empirical evidence, empirical method for acquiring knowledge that has been referred to while doing science since at least the 17th century. Historically, it was developed through the centuries from the ancient and ...

Format

The host (on the right) and co-host (on the left) are filmed sitting behind a table. There may also be off-camera spectators in the studio. After the opening sequence featuring the theme song, the co-host often opens with a theme (for example, Don Baker's segment "The Failures of Christianity") or current event discussion, and then the host takes live calls. Callers are put in a waiting queue and screened by the crew before they are put into direct contact with the host and co-host. Although atheists are also allowed to call in, the crew attempts to have at least 50% theists callers. The host has a control panel, which allows them to put a caller temporarily " on hold" in order to clarify a point or address a technical issue, or disconnect a caller who in the host's judgment has been overly rude or has frustrated the discussion. Some callers hold negative stereotypes about atheists, or misconceptions about atheism and science, and occasionally verbally abuse the hosts, or atheists in general. At times, the hosts reply in kind, or even initiate verbal abuse or mockery of the religious beliefs which a caller may hold. However, friendly and respectful conversations also frequently take place, and are preferred. Author Yuriy Nikshych wrote that ''The Atheist Experience'' is "worth watching to get a sense of how to talk to theists", and said it was an "invaluable resource" for people (including himself) in the process of losing their religious beliefs to become atheists.

Presenters

Current

Graham Martin (AKA, "The Cross Examiner"): a lawyer who practiced FDA Regulatory Law. His paper, ''Judicial Deference to Administrative Agencies and Its Limits'', is taught in Administrate Law classes. He is the owner and host of The Cross Examiner Podcast.

Former

;Host: * Matt Dillahunty: a professional magician, exotic animal breeder, and prior member of the

U.S. Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is the world's most powerful navy with the largest displacement, at 4.5 million tons in 2021. It has the world's largest aircraft ...

who was raised a fundamentalist Baptist and was a Christian for more than twenty years. He served in the Navy for eight years before moving to Austin to spend several years in the

video game industry The video game industry is the tertiary industry, tertiary and quaternary industry, quaternary sectors of the entertainment industry that specialize in the video game development, development, marketing, distribution (marketing), distribution, ...

. Although he intended to attend

seminary A seminary, school of theology, theological college, or divinity school is an educational institution for educating students (sometimes called seminarians) in scripture and theology, generally to prepare them for ordination to serve as cle ...

and pursue a career in the ministry, he came to reject his previous

theistic Theism is broadly defined as the belief in the existence of at least one deity. In common parlance, or when contrasted with '' deism'', the term often describes the philosophical conception of God that is found in classical theism—or the co ...

beliefs. He co-founded Iron Chariots, a

counter-apologetics __NOTOC__ Within criticism of religion, counter-apologetics is a field of thought that criticizes religious apologetics. Every religious apologist criticizes the defense of other religions, though the term counter-apologetics is frequently applied ...

wiki A wiki ( ) is a form of hypertext publication on the internet which is collaboratively edited and managed by its audience directly through a web browser. A typical wiki contains multiple pages that can either be edited by the public or l ...

, co-presented ''The Atheist Experience'' for the first time in March 2005 and served as the president of the Atheist Community of Austin from 2006 to 2013. On October 2, 2022, Matt announced, at the beginning of the live episode, that it would be his final episode. In response to this surprise announcement, the ACA leadership locked him out of his ACA email account and posted an announcement portraying Dillahunty's departure as a retirement as host of ''The Atheist Experience'', almost eighteen years after his first broadcast. Approximately one month later, they canceled his life membership. Jeff Dee

* : a

computer scientist A computer scientist is a scientist who specializes in the academic study of computer science. Computer scientists typically work on the theoretical side of computation. Although computer scientists can also focus their work and research on ...

in the field of

computer-supported cooperative work Computer-supported cooperative work (CSCW) is the study of how people utilize technology collaboratively, often towards a shared goal. CSCW addresses how computer systems can support collaborative activity and coordination. More specifically, the ...

, who has a strong interest in the field of

memetics Memetics is a theory of the evolution of culture based on Darwinian principles with the meme as the unit of culture. The term "meme" was coined by biologist Richard Dawkins in his 1976 book '' The Selfish Gene'', to illustrate the principle that h ...

and has spent several years exploring the implications of Christianity as a meme complex. He has served as secretary of the Atheist Community of Austin. *

Jeff Dee Jeff Dee is an American artist and game designer. He was the youngest artist in the history of pioneering role-playing game company TSR when he began his work at the age of 18. He also designed the ''Villains and Vigilantes'' superhero game. He ...

: an artist and

game designer Game design is the process of creating and shaping the mechanics, systems, rules, and gameplay of a game. Game design processes apply to board games, card games, dice games, casino games, role-playing games, sports, Wargame (video games), war ga ...

whose work shows

comic book A comic book, comic-magazine, or simply comic is a publication that consists of comics art in the form of sequential juxtaposed panel (comics), panels that represent individual scenes. Panels are often accompanied by descriptive prose and wri ...

form and influence. He is the co-creator of ''

Villains and Vigilantes ''Villains and Vigilantes'' (abbreviated as ''V&V'') is a superhero-themed role-playing game which competed primarily with '' Champions'' and ''Superworld'' in the early to mid-1980s. Origin ''Villains and Vigilantes'' was the first role-playin ...

'', illustrator of the ''

Dungeons & Dragons ''Dungeons & Dragons'' (commonly abbreviated as ''D&D'' or ''DnD'') is a fantasy tabletop role-playing game (TTRPG) originally created and designed by Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson. The game was first published in 1974 by TSR (company)#Tactical ...

'' manual ''

Deities & Demigods ''Deities & Demigods'' (abbreviated ''DDG''), alternatively known as ''Legends & Lore'' (abbreviated ''L&L'' or ''LL''), is a reference book for the ''Dungeons & Dragons'' fantasy role-playing game (D&D). The book provides descriptions and game ...

'', artist for ''

Master of Orion ''Master of Orion'' (abbreviated as MoO) is a turn-based, 4X science fiction strategy game in which the Player character, player leads one of ten races to dominate the galaxy through a combination of diplomacy and conquest while developing techn ...

'', art director for ''

Ultima VII ''Ultima VII: The Black Gate'' is the seventh installment of the ''Ultima (series), Ultima series'' of role-playing video games, released in April 1992. In it, the player returns as The Avatar, a would-be paragon of moral virtue who faces down m ...

'', and lead designer for '' The Sims: Castaway Stories''. He co-created ''The Non Prophets'', an

Internet radio Internet radio, also known as online radio, web radio, net radio, streaming radio, e-radio and IP radio, is a digital audio service transmitted via the Internet. Broadcasting on the Internet is usually referred to as webcasting since it is not ...

show. *Keryn Glasser: a gerontological social worker who has worked in

hospice Hospice care is a type of health care that focuses on the palliation of a terminally ill patient's pain and symptoms and attending to their emotional and spiritual needs at the end of life. Hospice care prioritizes comfort and quality of life b ...

and, having come from a Jewish atheist background, is "interested in exploring death and dying from a non-religious perspective." She identifies as a " pacifistic, animal loving, tree hugging,

vegan Veganism is the practice of abstaining from the use of animal products and the consumption of animal source foods, and an associated philosophy that rejects the commodity status of animals. A person who practices veganism is known as a ve ...

." *: a

software engineer Software engineering is a branch of both computer science and engineering focused on designing, developing, testing, and maintaining software applications. It involves applying engineering principles and computer programming expertise to develop ...

who has been involved in ''The Atheist Experience'' since 2000 and produced the internet radio show ''The Non Prophets''. He has served on the ACA board and was elected ACA president in 2016. *Ashley Perrien: served as co-host and host from 2001 to 2008 *Ray Blevins: served as host from 1998 to 2000 * Martin Wagner: an artist,

cartoonist A cartoonist is a visual artist who specializes in both drawing and writing cartoons (individual images) or comics (sequential images). Cartoonists differ from comics writers or comics illustrators/artists in that they produce both the litera ...

, and

filmmaker Filmmaking or film production is the process by which a Film, motion picture is produced. Filmmaking involves a number of complex and discrete stages, beginning with an initial story, idea, or commission. Production then continues through screen ...

who

self-publish Self-publishing is an author-driven publication of any media without the involvement of a third-party publisher. Since the advent of the internet, self-published usually depends upon digital platforms and print-on-demand technology, ranging fr ...

ed the comic book '' Hepcats''. *: a former Christian fundamentalist who has worked as a

graphic artist A graphic designer is a practitioner who follows the discipline of graphic design, either within companies or organizations or independently. They are professionals in design and visual communication, with their primary focus on transforming l ...

, and

publishing Publishing is the activities of making information, literature, music, software, and other content, physical or digital, available to the public for sale or free of charge. Traditionally, the term publishing refers to the creation and distribu ...

professional and has drawn the ''Atheist Eve'' strip hosted on the Atheist Community of Austin website. She has served as secretary and vice president of the ACA board and has co-hosted the ''GB 2.0'' podcast since February 2018. *: became a co-host on March 24, 2013 (episode 806), after operating the cameras and providing technical assistance. He brought a Unitarian perspective to the show. Iacoletti has served as a board member of the ACA several years, as of 2018–19 as treasurer. *: an

aerospace engineer Aerospace engineering is the primary field of engineering concerned with the development of aircraft and spacecraft. It has two major and overlapping branches: aeronautical engineering and astronautical engineering. Avionics engineering is s ...

and self-described "foxhole atheist" who served in the

U.S. Army The United States Army (USA) is the primary land service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is designated as the Army of the United States in the United States Constitution.Article II, section 2, clause 1 of the United Stat ...

for 26 years, retiring as a lieutenant colonel. She is openly gay and has co-hosted ''GB 2.0'' podcast, the reboot of ''Godless Bitches'', since February 2018. She has served as president of the ACA board. *: became a co-host on June 26, 2016, having previously worked on the television crew. In college, he tried to reconcile his Christian faith with his homosexuality; failing, he left Christianity and first identified as '

spiritual but not religious "Spiritual but not religious" (SBNR), also known as "spiritual but not affiliated" (SBNA), or less commonly "more spiritual than religious", is a popular phrase and initialism used to self-identify a life stance of spirituality that does not reg ...

', then a 'nonbeliever' after accepting the

argument from inconsistent revelations Religious pluralism is an attitude or policy regarding the diversity of religious belief systems co-existing in society. It can indicate one or more of the following: * Recognizing and tolerating the religious diversity of a society or c ...

, and finally as an atheist when he heard that word on a YouTube podcast. He served as vice president of the ACA. * * In June 2019, Tracie Harris, Jen Peeples, John Iacoletti, and Phil Session left the show after a disagreement with the ACA's handling of a guest host who made a controversial video on trans women athletes.

Notable guest appearances

Occasionally, a notable scientist, scholar or activist is invited to take the role of co-host on the show; after an interview with the host, the guest participates in answering calls. These have included: * Seth Andrews, host of ''The Thinking Atheist'' podcast and video producer, former Christian radio show host (episode #22.25), guest appearance * Ray Comfort, Evangelical Christian apologist (episode #702), live call-in * Kathleen Johnson, vice-president of American Atheists and founder of the Military Association of Atheists & Freethinkers (episode #647, 2010-03-07), guest appearance * Mark Loewe, theoretical physicist (episode #393, 2005-04-24), guest appearance * Noah Lugeons, host and creator of ''Scathing Atheists'' podcast (episode 23:02) * Jonathan McLatchie, doctoral student in cell biology, ''Apologetics Academy'' (episode #22.31, 2018-08-05), live call-in * Kyle Miller, pastor (episode #639, 2010-01-10), guest appearance * Greg Paul, paleontologist (episode #708, 2011-05-08), guest appearance * Aron Ra,

vlogger A vlog (), also known as a video blog or video log, is a form of blog for which the medium is video. Vlog entries often combine embedded video (or a video link) with supporting text, images, and other metadata. Entries can be recorded in one ta ...

and Texas state director of the American Atheists (episodes #648, #668, #703, #875), live guest appearances * Darrel Ray, organizational psychologist (episode #645, 2010-02-21; #686, 2010-12-05), guest appearances * David Silverman, president of American Atheists (episode #701, 2011-03-20), live call-in * Matt Slick, Evangelical Christian apologist (episode #593 broadcast February 22, 2009), live call-in * David Smalley of podcast ''Dogma Debate'' and the

American Atheists American Atheists is a non-profit organization in the United States dedicated to defending the civil liberties of atheists and advocating complete separation of church and state. It provides speakers for colleges, universities, clubs, and th ...

(episode #753, 2012-03-18), guest appearance *

Victor J. Stenger Victor John Stenger (; January 29, 1935 – August 25, 2014) was an American particle physicist, philosopher, author, and religious skeptic. Following a career as a research scientist in the field of particle physics, Stenger was associated ...

, particle physicist (episode #499, 2007-05-06), guest appearance * Mandisa Thomas, the founder and president of Black Nonbelievers Inc (episode #22.38, September 23, 2018), guest appearance * Forrest Valkai, biologist and paleoanthropologist, creator of the ValkaiLabs website; his

channel presence is @RenegadeScienceTeacher as a science popularizer and teacher (multiple episodes)

Awards

About.com Dotdash Meredith (formerly The Mining Company, About.com and Dotdash) is an American digital media company based in New York City. The company publishes online articles and videos about various subjects across categories including health, hom ...

Readers' Choice Awards 2012, Favorite Agnostic / Atheist Podcast of 2011 * ''

The Austin Chronicle ''The Austin Chronicle'' is an alternative weekly newspaper published every Thursday in Austin, Texas, United States. The paper is distributed through free news-stands, often at local eateries or coffee houses frequented by its targeted demogra ...

'', Best of Austin 2012: Best Public Access TV Show * ''

'', Best of Austin 2011: Best Public Access TV Show * About.com Readers' Choice Awards 2011, Best Atheist Podcast, 2010 * ''

'', Best of Austin 2010: Best Public-Access TV Show

References

External links

*
YouTube Channel
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Atheist Experience, The Atheism in the United States Atheist Community of Austin American non-fiction web series American public access television shows Atheism in television 1997 American television series debuts Creative Commons-licensed podcasts Articles containing video clips 1997 web series debuts