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The Atheist Experience

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The Atheist Experience is a weekly webcast and cable access television show in Austin, Texas. It first aired on October 19, 1997. As of April 2, 2012, 755 episodes of have been produced and aired[1], averaging on one hour per episode. The show is hosted and co-hosted by rotating regulars Matt Dillahunty, Jeff Dee, Martin Wagner, Russell Glasser, Don Baker, Tracie Harris and Jen Peeples. Frequent topics are religious dogma, morality, ethics and application of the scientific method. The co-host often opens with a theme or current event, after which live calls are taken. Although debate about all theist and atheist-related views are welcome, because of the large number of Christians in the United States[2][3][4], the emphasises is mostly on Christanity.

The Atheist Experience is broadcasted by the Atheist Community of Austin (ACA) is an educational non-profit organization based in Austin, Texas. The central goals of the ACA are to promote positive atheism and the separation of church and state.[1]

The show's YouTube channel has over 50,000 subscribers and its videos have over 8,000,000 views.[5]

Notable appearances

  • David Smalley of podcast Dogma Debate and the American Atheists (episode #753, 012-03-18), guest appearance[6][7]
  • Greg Paul, palaeontologist (episode #708, 2011-05-08), guest appearance[6][8]
  • Ray Comfort, Evangelical Christian apologist (episode #702), live call-in[6][9]
  • David Silverman, president of American Atheists(episode #701, 2011-03-20), live call-in[6][10]
  • AronRa, vlogger[11] and Texas state director of the American Atheists (episodes #648; #668; #703), guest appearances[6][12]
  • Kathleen Johnson, vice-president of American Atheists and founder of the Military Association of Atheists & Freethinkers (episode #647, 2010-03-07), guest appearance[6]
  • Darrel Ray, organizational psychologist (episode #645, 2010-02-21; #686, 2010-12-05), guest appearances[6]
  • Kyle Miller, pastor (episode #639, 2010-01-10), guest appearance[6]
  • Matt Slick, Evangelical Christian apologist (episode #593 broadcast February 22, 2009), live call-in[6]
  • Victor J. Stenger, particle physicist (episode #499, 2007-05-06), guest appearance[6][13][14]
  • Mark Loewe, theoretical physicist (episode #393, 2005-04-24), guest appearance[6]

Awards

  • The Austin Chronicle, Best of Austin 2011: Best Public Access TV Show[15]
  • about.com, Favorite Agnostic / Atheist Podcast of 2011 [16]
  • The Austin Chronicle, Best of Austin 2010: Best Public-Access TV Show: 'The Atheist Experience' [17]
  • about.com, Best Atheist Podcast, 2010 [18]

References

  1. ^ a b "The Atheist Community of Austin". Retrieved 2012-04-03.
  2. ^ Gallup, "This Christmas, 78% of Americans Identify as Christian", December 24, 2009. Accessed February 8, 2011.
  3. ^ American Religious Identification Survey 2008
  4. ^ Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life. U.S. Religious Landscape Survey: Religious Affiliation: Diverse and Dynamic. February 2008, pp. 5, 12. Accessed February 8, 2011.
  5. ^ "Youtube Atheist Experience FAN CHANNEL" [1]
  6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k "The Atheist Experience Show Archive" [2]
  7. ^ http://www.dogmadebate.com/
  8. ^ "The Atheist Experience #708 of May 8, 2011, with Russell Glasser and Don Baker. Topic: "Greg Paul and Atheist Civil Rights." Russell and Don talk with sociologist/evolutionist Greg Paul about atheist civil rights and healthy societies.", Youtube [3]
  9. ^ "Matt Dillahunty and Russell Glasser with guest Ray Comfort. Interview with Ray Comfort. Matt and Russell have a conversation "across the divide" with professional apologist Ray Comfort." [4]
  10. ^ "Atheist Experience #701 20 Mar 11", Youtube [5]
  11. ^ "AronRa - 1st appearance on the Atheist Experience, ep #648 [..] 2nd appearance on the Atheist Experience, ep #668 [..] 3rd appearance on the Atheist Experience, ep #703" [6]
  12. ^ The Atheist Experience TV Show #648: Interview with AronRa, Host: Matt Dillahunty, Guest: AronRa, YouTube Celebrity, 2010-03-14 [7]
  13. ^ "Vic explains the scientific case against God's existence" [8]
  14. ^ "Oct, 29 Thu Austin TX, 6:30 pm, Threadgill’s Old Number One (Longhorn room), 6416 North Lamar, Austin, TX. Atheist Community of Austin. http://www.atheist-community.org/. Don Rhoades. The Atheist Experience. Interview with Don Baker. On web." [9]
  15. ^ "Glory be – or rather, praise be to Richard Dawkins – for this public access show presenting frank and often hilarious sparring on topics such as the naturalistic fallacy, childhood indoctrination, and the Bible's greatest hits. But let's not kid ourselves: We know you're really in it for the many call-in episodes in which Matt Dillahunty, Russell Glasser, and company tackle the kinds of kooky rhetoric that will necessarily surface when people talk about belief. The YouTube best-of clips – spiritual facials, anyone? – are worth the cost of the ticket alone." The Austin Chronical, Best of Austin 2011: Best Public Access TV Show: The Atheist Experience [10]
  16. ^ "Readers' Choice Awards, 2012 - Readers picked The Atheist Experience as their Favorite Atheist Podcast of 2011. This is the second year in a row that The Atheist Experience has won and they won this year with a larger percentage of the vote than they did last year. " [11]
  17. ^ "Best Public-Access TV Show: 'The Atheist Experience' - This international public access show includes debates about religious philosophy while promoting a positive education on atheism. Some of our town's most delightful free thinkers, including Hepcats author Martin Wagner, computer scientist Don Baker, and aerospace engineer Jen Peeples, host this tasteful approach to lively, interactive conversations with viewers of various beliefs." [12]
  18. ^ "Readers' Choice Awards, 2011 - Readers picked The Atheist Experience as the Best Atheist Podcast of 2010. A product of the Atheist Community of Austin, the Atheist Experience may be the oldest atheist podcast around. The Best Atheist Podcast is also quite a bit more than just a podcast because it was originally created as (and still is, of course) a weekly live call-in show on the Public Access cable television station in Austin, Texas.", by y Austin Cline, About.com Guide [13]