Shows
A Christian and an Atheist Walk into a BarDumb and Christendumber - Part II: Christian NationalismSend us a textIn Part II of our "Dumb and Christendumber" mini series, we look at the origins of Christian Nationalism, the connection between Christian obedience cults and Christian Nationalism, and what Christian Nationalists ignore from the Bible. For our Bible passage we wish literalists would take literally we discuss Genesis 17: 15-22 where, in promising the birth of Isaac, God also promises to bless Ishmael who is considered the father of the Arab nations in many Christian, Jewish, and Islamic traditions.There's a lot more in here and as always, plenty of t...2025-05-3057 minA Christian and an Atheist Walk into a BarDumb and Christendumber - Part I: The Long Hangover of the Civil WarSend us a textThis is the first in a three part series exploring how the United States got to the current multi-faceted crisis. In Part I, we discuss how most of the moral and theological questions leading to the Civil War never really got resolved and have now come roaring back like a virus that's mutated into a stronger strain. In Part II, we'll look at the rise of Christian Nationalism and how myths of Christian America mix with Christian Reconstructionism to create the toxic concoction that is dismantling democratic institutions. I...2025-04-281h 07A Christian and an Atheist Walk into a BarIntroducing Season 3: Dystopian Non-fictionSend us a textWe’re back with Season 3 of A Christian and an Atheist Walk into a Bar and our theme is (totally coincidentally) Dystopian Non-fiction. In Episode 1, Neil gives us an update on the impact of the fires in LA and we discuss the efforts to dismantle the Federal Government. We’re also introducing two new regular segments: 1) Bible passages we wish biblical literalists would take literally and 2) things Neil thinks Americans should know about the rest of the world. So obviously, we will talk about Psalm 72 and English Premier League Darts.2025-03-201h 00A Christian and an Atheist Walk into a BarSkoden: Culture and Spirituality in Reservation DogsSend us a textSPOILER ALERT: All the spoilers! If you have not watched the amazing series Reservation Dogs, just hit the mute button now! So we've finally reached what we are considering the final episode of Season 2 . The world is on fire literally and figuratively and so yeah, we're going to spend an hour talking about our favorite TV series maybe ever, Reservation Dogs.If you're feeling numb from the chaos and just need a great, highly entertaining, thought provoking series to binge, go watch Rez Dogs. Then come back and listen to...2025-02-251h 01A Christian and an Atheist Walk into a BarDanzilla's Theory of The Big LebowskiSend us a textIn Season 2 (ish) Episode 6, Neil relates an encounter with an unhoused person in LA, Dan (or Danzilla), who offered a very unique take on one of our favorite films, The Big Lebowski. We then take a deep dive into what Phil considers to be perhaps the most Big Lebowski story in the Old Testament, Judges 17-18, wherein Micah, a Levite, and the tribe of Dan very confidently get everything completely wrong. We checked the "explicit material" box for this because there are a couple of F-bombs in honor of T...2024-06-0148 minA Christian and an Atheist Walk into a BarA Christian and an Atheist Epiphany SpecialSend us a textWe were determined to do another holiday special and this year we wanted it to be about the Magi/astrologers in Matthew 2, which is technically not Christmas but Epiphany. The season of Epiphany begins on January 6 and runs all the way to Ash Wednesday (which this year is also Valentine's Day, so Ash Valentine's Day!) so we are getting this baby in right under the wire!In this Epiphany special we discuss the wise astrologers from the East, Herod and other tinpot despots, and weird divination practices that hang around in...2024-02-1142 minA Christian and an Atheist Walk into a BarCritical Race Theory: What it Is and (mostly) What it Isn'tSend us a textWe wanted to do an episode on Critical Race Theory because it’s one of those phrases that has come to mean everything except what it is. We draw a careful (and we would argue obvious) distinction between discussing the history of race relations in the U.S. and Critical Race Theory as a discrete legal movement addressing racism in the American system of justice. Along the way we dive into controversies surrounding important Black Christian writers like Jemar Tisby and Esau McCaulley and critique some of the gratuitous attacks on the...2023-12-031h 07A Christian and an Atheist Walk into a BarThe Creation Story and the Freedom to DisobeySend us a textWith both the writers and now the actors who play Neil and Phil on strike, it’s taken a while to get this episode (which was recorded on Easter Sunday 2023) out. Fortunately, the episode was completed by AI and we think you’ll notice a big improvement over the organic episodes. In Season 2 - Episode 3, “Neil” and “Phil” discuss the increasing brazenness around racism and fascism and explore the role disobedience plays in the story of creation and fall in Genesis. I, your Robot Overlord… uh… Neil and Phil… come to some surprising con...2023-07-1648 minA Christian and an Atheist Walk into a BarCorporate Prophets and the Freedom to DisobeySend us a textHumans don’t like being told what to do. Shocking, we know!In Episode 2 we explore one of the three freedoms David Graeber and David Wengrow postulate in The Dawn of Everything, the freedom to disobey. We start with how the freedom to disobey is expressed in the Old Testament prophets' relationship to the priesthood and the monarchy, and do a deep dive into I Kings 22 where Ahab and Jehoshaphat plan a battle with Aram. Only one prophet, Micaiah, is willing to say anything contrary to what Ahab wants to hear. (It’...2023-03-2655 minA Christian and an Atheist Walk into a BarThe Dawn of Everything: Introduction to Season TwoSend us a textSeason 2, Episode 1 is finally here! And y’nz are not gonna believe it, but we have…A PLAN! This season we will use the amazing book by the late David Graeber and David Wengrow, The Dawn of Everything: a New History of Humanity to frame many of our discussions about the Bible. We love this book — enough to shamelessly crib from the title for the name of Episode 1. We spend a good bit of time discussing the book and why it’s important, and we give particular attention to what Graeber and Wengr...2023-02-271h 01A Christian and an Atheist Walk into a BarA Christian and an Atheist Christmas SpecialSend us a textIn this bonus episode, Neil and Phil compare the story of Hannah in the book of I Samuel to the story of Mary in the gospel of Luke and draw out some themes that turn out to be important throughout the Bible. In the course of the conversation, they discover that the Old and New Testaments have surprising parallels to the Peter Green and Buckingham/Nicks eras of Fleetwood Mac. And speaking of music, as an homage to Vince Guaraldi’s classic music for A Charlie Brown Christmas they’ve composed a jazzy, Chri...2022-12-2438 minA Christian and an Atheist Walk into a BarRecent Supreme Court Rulings and the White Power MovementSend us a textWe said Episode 10 was the season finale, but then SCOTUS unleashed a series of really stupid and damaging rulings and we needed to talk about it. One of the questions we keep hearing is, "Why do guns have more rights than women?" It seems like an obvious logical contradiction, but historian Kathleen Belew has shown that within the white power movement lots of guns and complete opposition to abortion form a twisted sort of coherence. In this episode we spend a lot of time talking about Belew's book, Bring the War...2022-07-0930 minA Christian and an Atheist Walk into a BarSeason Finale: Aliens!Send us a textOur Season I Finale was delayed by supply chain issues, but it's finally here! In episode 10, Phil and Neil discuss whether aliens exist, why they may or may not believe in aliens, and how belief in aliens may have more in common with belief in a deity than we thought. In the triumphant return of "Should I Really Care About This?" Neil and Phil squeeze in a convo about Wordle just in time for the full Wordle backlash to begin. What we're drinking: Hitchhiker Brewing Company's "Clouded Distraction" Imperial Sm...2022-06-2756 minA Christian and an Atheist Walk into a BarDismantling DualismSend us a textIn this episode we get down into the weeds discussing the philosophical problem of dualisms touching on the work of Hermann Dooyeweerd (Dutch Neo-Calvinism), Graham Harman (Object Oriented Ontology), and Emmannuel Levinas. But hang in there! We also delve into some very concrete expressions of dualism as found in Terry Gilliam and Tool, and it may even help us understand why the internet is so frequently awful! On a more serious note, understanding and dismantling dualism can give us tools to help confront white supremacism. Beer appearing in this episode:2022-03-121h 02A Christian and an Atheist Walk into a BarPhilanthrocapitalism: Why You Should Distrust ItSend us a textIn this episode of ACAAAWIAB, Neil and Phil discuss how plutocrats use philanthropy for image laundering as well as to protect their power, an emerging movement of entrepreneurs who have embraced the idea that treating your workers well is both the right thing to do and good business, and how to move toward a just society so that we need less philanthropy. This isntallment features a lot of essential reading (but don't let that stop you from downloading):Winners Take All: The Elite Charade of Changing the World by...2021-12-201h 00A Christian and an Atheist Walk into a BarHoly Forking Shirt! Neil and Phil Discuss the Afterlife!Send us a textIn Episode 7, Neil and Phil take a deep dive into Bart D. Ehrman's Heaven and Hell: a History of the Afterlife. They'll talk about how dualism effects both ideas of heaven and of hell, Biblical concepts of embodiment, pan-psychic notions of consciousness, and more or less spoil the final season of The Good Place (you've been warned!). In "Should I Really Care About This?" they discuss the nagging question of whether we need courses in composting.Beers appearing in this episode:Chameleon New England IPA, Grist House Brewery2021-11-211h 11A Christian and an Atheist Walk into a BarPhil and Neil Read Tolstoy's "The Gospel in Brief" So You Don't Have ToSend us a textIn this episode of a Christian and an Atheist Walk into a Bar, Phil and Neil read and discuss Leo Tolstoy's The Gospel in Brief. Much like Thomas Jefferson, Tolstoy wanted a version of the gospel that preserved the teachings of Jesus without referencing what we usually refer to as miracles or the supernatural. So is Tolstoy's "demystified" Jesus an appealing moral teacher or just an arrogant jagoff?For "Should I Really Care About This" your hosts reveal the hidden fascism of the oft-used terms "impactful" and "addicting."Beers* app...2021-11-0748 minA Christian and an Atheist Walk into a BarThe Scopes Monkey Trial as MemeSend us a textIn this episode of A Christian and an Atheist Walk into a Bar, Neil and Phil dig into the Scopes Trial and reassess the competing legacies of William Jennings Bryan, H.L. Mencken, and Clarence Darrow. Along the way they’ll talk about memes that have nothing to do with kittens.In “Should I Really Care About This?” they expose the injustice of serving appetizers in odd numbers. Beers appearing in this episode:Cinderlands’ Tracks Again Unfiltered PilsnerAyinger Jahrhundert BeerIndispensable Reading: Under God: Religion a...2021-10-1858 minA Christian and an Atheist Walk into a BarFreedom of ReligionSend us a textIn Episode 4 of ACAAAWIAB, Neil and Phil explore the meaning of freedom of religion. What is is it? What are some common ways it's misunderstood? Can real belief even exist without it? We'll discuss British theologian Leslie Newbigin's distinction between de facto and ideological pluralism and how it applies to contemporary society, the parable of the blind men and the elephant, and the telephone game. And it will all connect… somehow…In “Should I Really Care About This?” we discuss relegation and promotion in professional sports and why U.S. sports desperate...2021-09-2050 minA Christian and an Atheist Walk into a BarKnow Your ReligionsSend us a textIn Episode 3 of ACAAAWIAB, Neil and Phil explore how there is often a difference between what we say we believe and what we really believe. Maybe we participate in institutional religion and maybe we don’t, but either way we may find that aspects of our experience such as economics, science, or technology (or all three) begin to function as unofficial belief systems. We’ll discuss ideas by Roy Clouser, Bob Goudzwaard, John Rapley, Kenneth, Arrow, and David Graber who makes an encore appearance. (Editor’s note: when Phil was talking about Roy Clouse...2021-09-071h 00A Christian and an Atheist Walk into a BarDebt and the Biblical JubileeSend us a textIn this episode, Neil and Phil talk about the Levitical Jubilee (Leviticus 25), how the concept of Jubilee gets transformed in both Old and New Testaments, and the implications of Jubilee principles on how we think about ecology, debt, justice and more. Along the way they discuss ideas about debt and society by David Graeber, Louis Althusser, and more.In "Should I really care about this?" Neil and Phil unpack the Pittsburgh Left and the its LA counterpart. What is the Pittsburgh Left you may ask? Listen in and find out!2021-08-2242 min
A Christian and an Atheist Walk into a BarThe Back StorySend us a textIn the premiere of A Christian and an Atheist Walk into a Bar, Neil Newton and Phil Thompson talk about their back stories and how they came to hold their beliefs, the general idea of belief systems, common grace, Emmanuel Levinas, empathy, and more. For this episode’s “Should I really care about this?” segment, Phil and Neil will hold forth on VAR/Instant Replay. Beers appearing in this episode: Cinderlands Skydog IPALucky Luke Millwright Oatmeal Stout2021-08-101h 01