Sinful Sunday: Blasphemy

I don't really consider blasphemy to be a sinful indulgence, per se. Nevertheless, many people consider it a sin and some even feel that people give up religion or gods as a way to allow themselves to do whatever they want without guilt, which would be an indulgence in their mind. Personally, I wouldn't want to be able to commit horrible acts without guilt or conscience, but perhaps other people fantasize about being a sociopath, I don't know.

But for those of you who are considered blasphemers by others and would like to find a community of your peers, curious about the increasing presence of the atheist voice in popular culture, and those who believe keep your friends close and your enemies closer, I am going to link to my favorite sources on atheism (by atheists).

The Internet Infidel's Secular Web was the first site on atheism I ever found in around 1997. I hadn't really thought of looking for an online community for secularism, and I was very happy with what I found. In addition to a huge library of modern and historical documents on atheism and religion and links to a large number of sites (atheist authored as well as religious sources), they also have a very large and active forum. There are secular only forums but also many where believers are welcome to come and debate their beliefs. I find these threads to be great ways to learn about religion from multiple points of view including a lot about the Bible and philosophical ideas that relate to religion.

For those just starting to study agnosticism and atheism, the about.com section on atheism and agnosticism answers all the common questions. There is plenty of information and reference sources for those beyond the basics as well. Most of the many recent essays in the news about atheism by believers would have benefited from even a quick glance of this website in order to save them from making their many straw man arguments made against atheism.

Although Reggie Finley's Infidel Guy podcast has been going through a lot of changes in the last year, Reggie is the pioneer of atheist audio shows, starting at least 8 years ago as a live internet broadcast. Some more recent shows can be found here. He does not have all of his hundreds of shows available for free download, but I think he has some for sale for about $1 a piece, or if you are a gold member you have access to the whole archive. I've listened to almost every show, and it's unfortunate it is not as frequent as it once was. Reggie and his family were also featured on an episode of Wife Swap and afterward he and his wife did a very long show explaining the many ways they edited it to deceive viewers. Very enlightening. Don't let the frequent construction on the site keep you from listening to his many great shows and guests (including many prominent people). Try to catch it live on stick cam including a chat room.

Recently I have become a huge fan of two productions of the Atheist Community of Austin. First, they do a weekly public access show The Atheist Experience in order to discuss religion and atheism within the community. It's a live call in show with lots of interesting discussions. And yes, they have this show in Texas. But Austin is a lot different from the rest of Texas, and a popular bumper sticker says, "Keep Austin Weird," and it has a great music scene. I never thought I'd want to live in Texas before.

The second show produced by the ACA is The Non-Prophets. It is intended for the atheist audience, and is a very casual 1.5 hour (or more) show of guys sitting around talking about news of interest, listener mail and just whatever comes up. It's very unstructured and at least once, 45 minutes or so were spent on a debate on some obscure point by two out of the three or four there. Once you get to know the personalities on the show, it becomes even more entertaining. The show is broadcast via internet every other Saturday at 2:30 PM CT, and has a simultaneous chat room that is fun to participate in. Full archives are available, and I suggest going through many of the old ones to get to know Jeff Dee and Russell Glasser who have not been on the show much in the past year but will be participating more often in the coming year.

Point of Inquiry is a more serious and professionally produced interview show by the Center for Inquiry, an organization that promotes rationalism and secularism and publishes two great magazines, Free Inquiry and The Skeptical Inquirer. This show interviews many prominent scientists intellectuals, and other major players in the areas of secularism such as Richard Dawkins, Michael Behe (promoter of intelligent design), Lawrence Krauss, Steven Pinker and Francis Collins (theist and evolutionary biologist).

Last but definitely not least is a podcast I wish were recorded more frequently but is restricted by the demands of this family's many activities. Will and Iris are a Wisconsin atheist couple with three sons (two of them twins) who go by the names, Jason, Jake, and Mr. Nobody. Iris recently won a local political office and is extra busy, and is often barely awake during the recording. They casually discuss politics, their family life including their children's misadventures (sometimes involving religion), and Will's frequent segment, "Band of the Week." The whole family is into indie rock, and once a year, Will and Jason review their respective top ten albums of the year. Jason is maybe 10 now, and already a music snob. Awesome!

It's Worth listening to if only for the Iris rant and the patented Iris laugh. This podcast makes the idea of having a family not so off-putting. :D (emoticon added 1/29/08)

I know there are many more great sites and podcasts, but these are my absolute, must listen favorites. If you aren't into podcasts yet, start off by downloading directly from the sites. If you get hooked, you can get a "podcatcher" like Juice that will automatically download new episodes for you. There are also sites like Podnova and Odeo that will collate links to the latest shows you are subscribed to.