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Serious Inquiries Only

Join Thomas for some critical thinking on questions of science, philosophy, skepticism and politics. These serious topics are discussed with some serious guests, but in an entertaining and engaging way! This is not your typical interview podcast; it's a friendly dialogue, conducted thoughtfully and with plenty of humor. It's Serious Inquiries Only; but like, not boring or anything.

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Episodes

AS67: Cognitive Dissonance on Atheist Celebrities, Part 1

Tom and Cecil are back! Talking with these guys is the absolute most fun. They are such a great blend of humor and insight! This time we're discussing the phenomenon of atheist celebrities. We rehash a bit of the Dawkins Twitter stuff simply because it's germane to the discussion, but we also go on to …

Sep 15, 2014 · 50 min · With Thomas Smith

AS66: Abortion with Tracey Moody

Tracey and I have a lengthy discussion on abortion. Despite both being pro choice, there is still quite a lot of gray area that is very interesting to discuss. Then of course, there's always Richard Dawkins to spice things up. Is it ethical to abort a fetus that has a high chance of Down's Syndrome? …

Sep 11, 2014 · 61 min · With Thomas Smith

AS65: The Portable Atheist, Part 2, and More

Part 2 of The Portable Atheist features Omar Khayyam. Poet, astronomer, mathematician, husband, lover, rotary member, blood donor, etc. Omar had it all. He was a multifaceted Iranian who lived around 1050ish to 1150ish. Then I discuss 3 comments at length. One of them has a corresponding link. Here is that link. This is not …

Sep 8, 2014 · 48 min · With Thomas Smith

AS64: Stealing Private Nude Photos is a Sex Crime

Can't really put it any more plainly than that. But FIRST, I have a long and uninteresting story about being Comcast free at last! I've gone through some decently big life changes and you get to hear about them for 20 minutes! (fast forward to 20:00ish if you want to skip straight to discussion on …

Sep 4, 2014 · 53 min · With Thomas Smith

AS63: Euthanasia with Jake Farr-Wharton

Jake joins me to discuss a topic very near and dear to him. Jake lost his grandfather some years back in a slow and undignified process. His grandfather had been a vocal supporter of the right to die with dignity so his being denied that right was particularly difficult for Jake.

Sep 1, 2014 · 46 min · With Thomas Smith

AS62: History of Christianity, Part 1

We have a very special guest on today's show! Lydia joins me to start on a long journey through the history of Christianity. We'll be working through the book A History of Christianity: The First Three Thousand Years which I heard Christopher Hitchens recommend in a debate video. Lydia brings the research and I'm sure I bring …

Aug 28, 2014 · 50 min · With Thomas Smith

AS61: Tommentary Time

Lots to talk about this episode! Catching up on listener comments and reexamining some of the major stories of recent times. It has been quite the depressing month of news. Cool new segment coming up on Thursday, and an exclusive interview with Tracey Moody coming up on Bonus Content! Better sign up at http://patreon.com/atheist !

Aug 25, 2014 · 49 min · With Thomas Smith

AS60: Atheists Can't Be Republicans, with CJ Werleman, Part 2

Part 2 of my discussion with author CJ Werleman. His new book is Atheists Can't Be Republicans, If Facts and Evidence Matter. http://www.amazon.com/Atheists-Cant-Be-Republicans-Evidence/dp/1908675276 Atheistically Speaking ventures into rare political territory! This discussion is sure to spur opinions, make sure to leave them on the facebook page or on the website!

Aug 21, 2014 · 61 min · With Thomas Smith

AS59: PZ Myers Tommentary; CJ Werleman Part 1

PZ Myers has really lost me. I had no previous reason to dislike him until he wrote the following two posts: http://freethoughtblogs.com/pharyngula/2014/08/12/robin-williams-brings-joy-to-the-hearts-of-journalists-and-politicians-once-again/ http://freethoughtblogs.com/pharyngula/2014/08/13/even-atheists-have-sacred-cows/ Plus, we welcome back the great CJ Werleman! He has a recent book about why atheists cannot be Republicans. http://www.amazon.com/Atheists-Cant-Be-Republicans-Evidence/dp/1908675276 Find out why!

Aug 18, 2014 · 52 min · With Thomas Smith

AS58: The Portable Atheist, Part 1

I'm doing something new here on Atheistically Speaking! I'm summarizing and reading selections from the first reading of The Portable Atheist. I really enjoyed doing this and I think it could be a great chance for us all to learn some new stuff together and be exposed to more brilliant writing. Please let me know …

Aug 14, 2014 · 49 min · With Thomas Smith

AS57: Richard Dawkins Twitter Explosion

Richard Dawkins Twitter Explosion What in the world is Richard Dawkins Twitter up to? As you likely will have read/heard by now, Dawkins tweeted several tweets that had people in uproar. Essentially, he said that asserting x is bad but y is worse is not an endorsement of x. Why was this such a problem? …

Aug 11, 2014 · 57 min · With Thomas Smith

AS56: Scathing Atheist on the Israel-Palestine Conflict, Part 2

Scathing Atheist on Israel-Palestine Scathing Atheist Noah joins me to help wade through the incredibly polarized world of Israel-Palestine commentary. It's likely you already have a staunch opinion on this conflict, if you're anything like mine and Noah's Facebook/Twitter friends. The focus of this show is to do my best to take an unbiased approach …

Aug 7, 2014 · 63 min · With Thomas Smith

AS55: Scathing Atheist on the Israel-Palestine Conflict

Scathing Atheist on Israel-Palestine Scathing Atheist Noah joins me to help wade through the incredibly polarized world of Israel-Palestine commentary. It's likely you already have a staunch opinion on this conflict, if you're anything like mine and Noah's Facebook/Twitter friends. The focus of this show is to do my best to take an unbiased approach …

Aug 4, 2014 · 40 min · With Thomas Smith

AS54: Free Will with Ryan Born, Part 2

Free Will with Ryan Born This week we've got Ryan Born, who you may remember as the winner of the Sam Harris essay contest. Ryan is a philosopher who runs the blog http://pointofcontroversy.com. Last time we spoke, Ryan had a ton to teach us about Moral Philosophy. This time though, we're here to discuss a very …

Jul 31, 2014 · 59 min · With Thomas Smith

AS53: Free Will with Ryan Born

Free Will with Ryan Born This week we've got Ryan Born, who you may remember as the winner of the Sam Harris essay contest. Ryan is a philosopher who runs the blog http://pointofcontroversy.com. Last time we spoke, Ryan had a ton to teach us about Moral Philosophy. This time though, we're here to discuss a …

Jul 28, 2014 · 59 min · With Thomas Smith