The Apostate's Playground
An ex-Christian and an ex-Christian adjancent's accounting of religion and its surrouding silliness, toxicity, and media.
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So long, Space Cowboy
03/06/2023
So long, Space Cowboy
/episode/index/show/pbapostasy/id/26124000
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046. Christian Furries Aren't Actually A Remarkable Problem, (Also a 15 Minute Argument About Raisins)
08/31/2022
046. Christian Furries Aren't Actually A Remarkable Problem, (Also a 15 Minute Argument About Raisins)
I've cleaned up the audio as best I could, this is a re-release responding to some articles I came across a few weeks ago. I think we've identified the issues and so hopefully audio quality will improve, if it doesn't, beatings will until quality does. Website: theapostatesplayground.com Patreon: patreon.com/apostatesplayground PayPal: paypal.me/PoweredByApostasy
/episode/index/show/pbapostasy/id/24233217
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045. Asherah, Goddess of the Sea and the Lady Who Should Have Gotten Half of God's Stuff, Part 2
08/15/2022
045. Asherah, Goddess of the Sea and the Lady Who Should Have Gotten Half of God's Stuff, Part 2
When viewed in the context of Asherah's supreme awesomeness it because clear that Ba'al and Yahweh used her to sleep their way to the top. So there's a bit about them, and then tracing through the first half of the Old Testament (the second half is more of the same) and covering a poem before cementing Asherah and Leviathan in show canon as watery-warrior-wizard and mighty steed. Support: patreon.com/ApostatesPlayground paypal.me/PoweredByApostasy
/episode/index/show/pbapostasy/id/24006297
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044. Asherah, Goddess of the Sea and the Lady Who Should Have Gotten Half of God's Stuff, Part 1
08/09/2022
044. Asherah, Goddess of the Sea and the Lady Who Should Have Gotten Half of God's Stuff, Part 1
They-dies and gentle-thems! In this episode there is an addition to the roster of show characters and Patreon tiers! Asherah is a sea (sometimes sun (always mommy)) goddess written about in the Ugaritic texts. Her cult has been revived by Cee (who has a history of drowning fools apparently) and she is El's ex-wife and provides much needed context for Yahweh's subsequent hatred of Baals. This episode covers who she was, a coming out of the closet for a man hating feminist, and also Cee clarifies what she means when she has a soaking wet body count (because of the drowning).
/episode/index/show/pbapostasy/id/23877102
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043. Dobbs v Roe v Wade v SCOTUS v Women, 2
07/19/2022
043. Dobbs v Roe v Wade v SCOTUS v Women, 2
This episode is covering a constitutional and historical analysis from a guy who bursts into tears any time he goes near a history book. https://www.patreon.com/apostatesplayground
/episode/index/show/pbapostasy/id/23770796
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042. Dobbs v Roe v Wade v SCOTUS v Women, 1
07/06/2022
042. Dobbs v Roe v Wade v SCOTUS v Women, 1
In which Phineas explains to Cee how one the recent decisions from the Supreme Court affects her uterus, and what exactly they said because, to quite Brett Kavanaugh's diary I assume, "You can't read if you have a uterus because they go where your eye balls should be." The episode starts off with Phineas glossing over Judith Jarvis Thomson's violist argument and Philippa Foot's Doctrine of Double Effect essay to say where he's coming from and why the 'women's bodily autonomy' fails before getting into the truly stupid things that Samuel Alito said. Sources: The decision: https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/21pdf/19-1392_6j37.pdf The Vox article: https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/23167397/abortion-public-opinion-polls-americans The abortion statistics: https://www.aecf.org/blog/child-welfare-and-foster-care-statistics https://nacac.org/help/how-to-adopt/steps-to-adoption/learn-about-adoption/ https://www.state.nj.us/njfosteradopt/adoption/AdoptiveParentHandbook_5.2013.pdf (edited)
/episode/index/show/pbapostasy/id/23638664
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041. Case for Christmas Pt. 2!
12/28/2021
041. Case for Christmas Pt. 2!
Hey all, Sorry this is late, I don't have anything in the way of show notes (except ). I wanted to include here that I sat down to edit and had to take my son to the E.R. cause he quit breathing right and was nearly admitted, and then sat down to edit it and had to take my wife's grandpa to the E.R. because his insides were in horrible pain and he was admitted. So I'm hoping you can forgive me. Love, Phineas
/episode/index/show/pbapostasy/id/21611150
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040. The Case for Christmas 1
12/10/2021
040. The Case for Christmas 1
Full disclosure, I mangle a Shakespeare monologue in the beginning for no reason other than because Lee Strobel is tedious.
/episode/index/show/pbapostasy/id/21448439
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039. Fowl House Fires and Pope Noses
11/25/2021
039. Fowl House Fires and Pope Noses
Patreon: patreon.com/apostatesplayground References: https://youtu.be/t9Dhhxnvt2Y https://youtu.be/ww47bR86wSc https://www.thekitchn.com/the-science-of-roasting-turkey-nathan-myhrvold-explains-the-maillard-reaction-197591 https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4745522/ https://newswire.caes.uga.edu/story/7780/Frying-Turkeys.html https://www.mashed.com/314799/this-is-why-we-call-a-turkeys-tailbone-the-popes-nose/ https://www.theglobeandmail.com/arts/the-war-of-the-noses/article18275122/ https://www.vice.com/en/article/nzzkpm/science-explains-why-oil-and-water-don-t-mix-how-viruses-attack
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038. Satan's 17th Century European Vacation
10/31/2021
038. Satan's 17th Century European Vacation
In which 2 cases of possession and Satan's handwriting samples are discussed amid Cee Cee tricking Phineas into disparaging Italian Sorcerers until he has a breakdown, that's my story and I'm sticking to it.
/episode/index/show/pbapostasy/id/21000386
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037. Theocracy 3, the Threeocracy
10/11/2021
037. Theocracy 3, the Threeocracy
Covering religious nationalism from the founding of the United States to the decision by the Supreme Court to not issue an injunction (with Future Phineas busting in to address the injunction and appeal that -was- granted by noting it exists)
/episode/index/show/pbapostasy/id/20771987
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036. Genesis 31! Or, Genesis 31 and Theocracy 3 part 1!
09/29/2021
036. Genesis 31! Or, Genesis 31 and Theocracy 3 part 1!
CC is back! To hang out with her buddy but also to help me knock down Genesis 31 while I'm lining it up. In this episode there is camel chases, land claiming, god-napping, and grown ass men being afraid of menstruation. Just a day in the life of a bible-thumper.
/episode/index/show/pbapostasy/id/20639276
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035. Genesis 30 and Behemoth (And Dinosaurs)
09/07/2021
035. Genesis 30 and Behemoth (And Dinosaurs)
This episode is a little of a try something new time and will be punctuated with hippo junk, but only after dinosaurs and baby having contests.
/episode/index/show/pbapostasy/id/20386568
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034. Moral Argument For the Existence of God Part 2, the Philosophy Part (Part 1?)
07/26/2021
034. Moral Argument For the Existence of God Part 2, the Philosophy Part (Part 1?)
The second part of the twitter-fight episode deals with the philosophical argument for the existence of God and uh... I'll be doing a whole couple of episodes of that with real research so I kinda phoned in. If you don't want to listen to me phone it in might I recommend Embrace the Void? I told him I'd give him a shoutout if I decided to rip him off and I didn't as much as I thought but give it a go.
/episode/index/show/pbapostasy/id/19928366
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033. Moral Argument For the Existence of God
07/12/2021
033. Moral Argument For the Existence of God
For real, I had a fight on Twitter where someone told me I didn't know an argument I got pissed off because there's multiple arguments under the he-
/episode/index/show/pbapostasy/id/19778285
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032. Genesis 29, but mostly semicolons
06/21/2021
032. Genesis 29, but mostly semicolons
An episode about Jacob being tricked out of his wife-wage goes into a tailspin when discussing an errant semicolon.
/episode/index/show/pbapostasy/id/19545731
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031. Genesis 28
06/07/2021
031. Genesis 28
In which a conversation about Genesis 28 goes violently into different models of God and about how Ray's god hates you!
/episode/index/show/pbapostasy/id/19379888
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030. Genesis 26 and 27
05/24/2021
030. Genesis 26 and 27
Isaac copy and pastes Abraham's adventures with Abimilech, Jacob escalates the prank war.
/episode/index/show/pbapostasy/id/19213043
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029. Is Atheism A Religion? (And Dawkins Is A Transphobe)
05/03/2021
029. Is Atheism A Religion? (And Dawkins Is A Transphobe)
List of charities at the bottom: https://www.marieclaire.com/politics/a35479305/anti-transgender-legislation-2021/ Also has a list of organizations: https://www.seventeen.com/life/a35978774/trans-healthcare-rights-organizations/ Are organizations: https://www.aclu.org , https://www.thetrevorproject.org Are articles: https://www.hcn.org/issues/53.4/north-activism-montana-trans-two-spirit-and-non-binary-activists-fight-anti-trans-legislation https://www.them.us/story/montana-senator-bryce-bennett-trans-athlete-ban-op-ed https://www.them.us/story/activists-fighting-2021-anti-trans-bills-onslaught ---------------------------------------------------------------- Are more relevant to the show: Mad cow: https://www.cnn.com/2013/07/02/health/mad-cow-disease-fast-facts/index.html HIV death: https://www.statista.com/statistics/184594/deaths-by-hiv-disease-in-the-us-since-1990/ Growth of atheism: https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2019/09/atheism-fastest-growing-religion-us/598843/ Earth needs to settle down: https://earthdata.nasa.gov/learn/sensing-our-planet/matter-in-motion-earth-s-changing-gravity Sam Harris and Utilitarianism: https://theobjectivestandard.com/2012/11/sam-harris-unscientific-morality/ ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Patreon poll: https://www.patreon.com/posts/which-to-play-1-50371889 The Teepublic (support independent artists, I don't take any money from them): https://www.teepublic.com/stores/powered-by-apostasy?ref_id=14752 e-mail: [email protected] Twitter: @XistentialPanda and @ApostatePowered
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028. Genesis 25 Part 2
04/25/2021
028. Genesis 25 Part 2
Two paragraphs from Genesis expanded into a full episode about magic pants, soup, and sibling jealousy about holes that have your mom in them. https://www.aish.com/tp/i/wbr/48938527.html https://www.chabad.org/parshah/article_cdo/aid/2372639/jewish/Esau-Sells-His-Birthright-for-a-Mess-of-Pottage.htm ------------------------------------------------------------------ The Game Poll: https://www.patreon.com/posts/which-to-play-1-50371889
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027. Genesis 25 Pt. 1
04/19/2021
027. Genesis 25 Pt. 1
Abraham dies, and then is recast as Isaac for the reboot. And I'm pretty sure the vowel dots in Hebrew weren't around for the old testament and the vav makes a v sound? Mostly it's just me gettin' mad about stuff.
/episode/index/show/pbapostasy/id/18773474
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026. Rasputin and the Khlysty
04/04/2021
026. Rasputin and the Khlysty
A good natured shallow dive of Rasputin and the KGB files on the Khlysty sect of the Russian Orthodox church.
/episode/index/show/pbapostasy/id/18594155
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025. Genesis 24
03/22/2021
025. Genesis 24
Show notes:
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024. Why Christianity?
03/08/2021
024. Why Christianity?
https://greatnonprofits.org/state/Alabama/category:LGBTQ/sort:review_count/direction:desc
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023. Vissarion and the Church of the Last Testament
02/21/2021
023. Vissarion and the Church of the Last Testament
Spoiler: The Commies Arrested Jesus
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022. Antisemitism Through Time
02/08/2021
022. Antisemitism Through Time
In which some of the history of antisemitism is explored, connected to Q and MTG, and boy is that not great coming from the theocrat party.
/episode/index/show/pbapostasy/id/17862728
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Traditional Christian Ethics and Bein' Gay
01/31/2021
Traditional Christian Ethics and Bein' Gay
I have a subscription to, and occasionally read, Philosophy Now. In the November issue Doug Groothuis tries to defend a conservative Christian view of gay sexuality in “Homosexuality and Christianity”. Now this isn’t going to be a very long blog entry and that’s why it isn’t an episode. In this essay Groothuis argues that it is more Christian to not have sex, or to have sex with an opposite sex partner if you’re Christian and that not acting gay in the sexual sphere doesn’t negatively impact the people in question. There are three things that I take issue with in this essay that I will address in turn: The erasure of bisexuals. The insistence that there’s no reason you can’t be happy and healthy and go to heaven if you only give up this point in your life. Coercion In the essay he refers to people who are same sex attracted but are perfectly happy living with and having a sexual relationship with members of the opposite sex. My wife does this. She is same sex attracted but is perfectly fine being in a heterosexual, sexual relationship. The reason this is is because she is bisexual. There seems to be an idea that same sex attraction means that you’re gay that permeates Christian ideas of sexuality that are not true, and this contributes to the invalidation of pansexuals and bisexuals. This isn’t okay and is the result of a narrow view of sexuality taken from a book that also does not allow for these things in the sexual rules. I’m not going to say that everybody Groothuis is aware of that is same sex attracted but in an opposite sex relationship is bisexual, I’m not here to classify the sexuality of people I don’t know. I am going to say that the pattern of it not being considered as a possibility that seems to be common in Christianity oversimplifies human sexuality to a problematic extent and seems to be present here. Quick considerations before I go on: moving forward I am going to assume that Groothuis is straight. This is because he talks about his wife and not about his struggles with same sex attraction (struggles because if you are same sex attracted and denying it than it stands to reason you might not object to classifying it as that). Since he talks about his wife I am also going to assume that he, like the majority of people, had a sexual relationship. Now Groothuis makes it a point to present his thesis at the end of the essay, “I have simply responded to the idea that Christian sexual ethics is especially unfair and unlivable for Christian gay people.” Of course he insists that it isn’t. But I think that this leads to the question of is the kind of sexual relationship he suggests, without including celibacy, healthy? I don’t think that he has a healthy attitude toward sex driving this concept, and while the gets a little more spiritual than I would like, they seem to be on my side on this. They say that parts of healthy sexual relationships are “Decide on what is personally “right” and act on these values. Demonstrate tolerance for people with different values. Are not threatened by others with sexual orientation different from theirs. Show respect to others whose cultural values, ethnic heritage, age, socioeconomic status, religion, and gender are different from theirs.” On the other side of this we have taking Professor Groothuis’ word for it. Unfortunately Professor Groothuis’ word relies on not deciding what your sexual values are and instead letting his orthodoxy decide for you, which I also would classify as not respecting the sexual orientation or values of others. Now in order to deal with the fairness question we have to ask what could be missing for people who don’t have sex? The answer is health benefits. According to an article on the health benefits of sex range from a better immune system to lower risk of hypertension, living longer, helping with migraines and headaches, preventing incontinence, preventing types of cancer and so forth. Now if this were just a conversation about sex it could easily be sad that “Well that list includes masturbation and other types of sexual activity.” While I support masturbation and other types of sexual activity wholeheartedly I can’t help but think that maybe “traditional Christian ethics” would be against those sorts of things. So to answer the fairness question, would it be fair if a system of ethics demanded that a certain subset of people not take in the health benefits of certain other physical activities? Then there has to be some reason why it’s not a fairness issue to deny this one. That seems to hinge on Heaven. This also seems to be coercive. We’re not talking about this abstractly, we’re talking about this in an ethical system that rewards disobedience with pain. I’m not going to pretend I know what version of Hell Professor Groothuis believes in, but I know that depictions run from a wailing and gnashing of teeth due to separation from god, to Promethean styles of eternal torture. Prescribing sexual ethics, or any ethics, in the face of that creates a situation where you’re not saying let’s let the best ethics win, or relying on evidence to work out a system using philosophical methods to does the best for the people living, and instead you’re saying this or else. That is coercion, and coercion of sexual activity, in this case a coercion to avoid sexual activity that doesn’t do anybody any demonstrable harm, is wrong. At least in my mere atheist humanist estimation of ethics. Groothuis finishes by saying, “...if Christianity is true, its sexual ethic is not especially detrimental to gay people who are conservative Christians.” As long as being denied a potentially health improving activity with intolerant coercion is not, in fact, a detriment. I think that disagreeing with Groothuis is a reasonable stance to take in that, since it would seem that denying health improving activities between appropriately consenting people would have to be a detriment. At the very least, potentially to their health. Of course the conversation only matters “...if Christianity is true…”. Clearly we have two different starting points, he says Christianity is true and goes from there, and I say I’m going to need him to demonstrate empirically that that is a true starting point. Fortunately there’s nothing on the line here when we choose our startling lines. Except maybe your health.
/episode/index/show/pbapostasy/id/17761793
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021. Genesis 22-23
01/25/2021
021. Genesis 22-23
The sacrifice of Isaac and the death of Sarah. It's not interesting but you should listen anyway so I can get the downloads.
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020. Jesus With a Capitol Trump
01/11/2021
020. Jesus With a Capitol Trump
No show notes for this one, it was pretty off the cuff.
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019. Christmas, the War on
12/25/2020
019. Christmas, the War on
In the glittery, pepperminty trenches.
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