@Matt_Dillahunty / sansdeity Skepticon.org This talk was part of Skepticon 7, November 21-23 in Springfield, MO. 100% of the ad revenue from this video is donated to causes and organizations that I believe in.
Matt would make one HELL of a televangelist. He's charismatic, passionate, obviously comfortable speaking in public... AND, he doesn't believe in Christianity. And that's all one REALLY needs to be a televangelism.
After watching this for perhaps, the 3rd time I realized something. If Matt were a dishonest person, he'd be one hell of a preacher and could probably make 100x more money doing that than what he does not. I'm glad he's on our side even if I don't agree with him on everything.
+Shane Wilson He'd make one HELL of a televangelist. He's charismatic, passionate, obviously comfortable speaking in public... AND, he doesn't believe in Christianity. And that's all one REALLY needs to be a televangelism.
Jerry DeWitt is even more preacher-like than Matt. He actually WAS a preacher for many years, and a Pentecostal at that. He still sounds like a preacher, even when he's talking about atheism.
I can't decide if that's a bonus, or not... I mean, do we really WANT to sound like preachers? Every time I see a televangelist program, I feel like I need to take a shower.
OK, I gotta share a story about this talk, not so much the talk but the after. As usual Matt Dillahunty stuck around to talk and answer question. And although I was in the background having my own conversation I was paying attention. After talking to a couple that had their kids with them, well at least one, a little girl of 6 or 7 I'm guessing, they thank him and turned to leave and just as they we walking away the little girl turned around and gave Matt a hug - Just about the most precious thing you can imagine because it was not only unprompted but totally unexpected by all. Too cute. I guess Matt is about as scary to kids as a big fluffy teddy bear. I was thrilled to be there for the talk and very happy to be there for that moment.
I don't know about the 'not scary to kids' bit. Were I a 5 yr old, I'd run the other way, then again, Matt's demeanor is generally quiet, confident and smiling. Is there an official Matt Dillahunty Fan Club yet? There should be!
@Frieza Force I think he's as considerate on the show as who he's talking to. Honestly even more so; any time a religious person expresses any form of nonreligious people can't be moral or deserve eternal hellfire goes beyond inconsiderate to immoral. Justifying slavery or genocide shouldn't be met with respect as doing so loses consideration of the humans that suffered due to this belief
Indeed matts a good guy, trying to help those who have been lied to and brainwashed the fact he doesnt blow up more often is impressive, especially when he is brought tge same lame half ass attempt at proving X religion
i've been a fan of Matt for a couple of years now, love the guy. But this is the first time he has made me cry with one of his speeches/talks. that last part had me in tears!
could you give me a time stamp? I would really like to feel the same as you. Matts arguments were a big help for me 10 years ago in my phase of leaving church
I love how he said "I want to change the world" and actually meant it. All too often people are discouraged from thinking that way, or believing its even possible. People like him remind us that we can and inspire us to. Keep it up Matt
+Eleanor Fitz Jesus changed the world . He envisioned a world where people could live outside the confines of the materialistic world . He envisioned a world where brotherly love , grace , and compassioned outweighed the lust of money and power . He envisioned a world where all would where values and morals were most important . He gave us Freedom from our sin and a way to have eternal life . ( Prove it ) I can't prove what the heart knows is true , sometimes in life listening to ones conscience that accepts the spiritual side of oneself is the proof we look for . There won't be a physical realization or anything huge until God himself decides it's time for the return . For Believers , Jesus has already changed , and raised the bar of what a perfect world represents . Freedom from sin and endless selfless love, grace , and forgiveness .
@Jesus Christ Glorified Thats an old post. I suppose he should embrace what jesus ordered when he said, "Slaves obey your masters!" We can argue that is kind of unifying i guess.
@Jesus Christ Glorified Nobody "rejects" this jesus character any more than they reject Thor. Although you may think its just an attempt to compare it to something ridiculous, and you wouldn't be wrong, you must know it is 100% on the same level playing field. You cannot disprove Thor either. Its litteraly that silly.
@John Digsby "it's it odd that jesus said there won't be any empirical evidence?" -you No, not odd. He was running a scam. Empirical evidence was not even an option. Your shy god did a terrible job with his human sacrifice. And he showed no urgency alerting people about hell. Your god is the only omniscient fuckup in history. Your god sucks.
This is such an excellent talk. Matt hit a home run here. I can say as an atheist who is surrounded on my wife's side of the family by theist (Mormons), this talk makes me want to be more tactfully outspoken. In a sense, come out of the closet. My wife now knows after years of denial that I am indeed an atheist but still struggles to accept it... I don't believe I should have to hide this fact from her family as I have done for many years. I liked the part where Matt basically said if they already know you're a good person its hard to go back on that just because they've found out you're an atheist and that alone can help change the minds of the hardened theist who think atheist are such horrible people. It might even lead them to asking questions, which is ultimately what I would want. Matt is one of my favorites. Keep up the good work!
good luck man, just remember if you do choose to have these talks to keep your cool, especially if youre not used to talking about it with other people who are emotionally charged,
+youweechube I hear you. I'm a pretty laid back kind of guy but I know that people can get pretty emotional when talking about religion. My first step really is to let it be known that I am an atheist. If they chose to start asking questions at that point, I can take it from there. When the discussions came up with my wife it was amazing how unwilling she was to accept that I was an atheist. She couldn't fathom that someone could not have a believe in god. Believe me she was emotionally charged but I survived.
R2TheBeach as you have found with your wife, the fact that someone cant believe another person could not believe in god suggests theyve never really critically examined it for themselves.
The Electoral College is the mechanism. But they just vote according to OUR dictates. Electoral College sucks, but it is WE who hold the ultimate responsibility.
Matt Dillahunty One of the best, engaging, well-constructed talks I've seen given in a long time. Mixing humour and wit, with empathy and conviction and ending on a brilliantly rousing call to arms. For anyone who already loves Matt Dillahunty for those who have never heard of the guy, for dyed in the wool atheists or those just finding their feet with a newly secular outlook - this will go down as one of my favourite talks ever. Thanks to Matt, Skepticon and Hambone Productions for getting this out there for us all to enjoy. Much love x
Henry Ford was taken to some shrine in France. His companion pointed out the pile of wheel chairs, canes, and walkers thrown in the corners of the great room. He asked Mr. Ford if he was impressed by the evidence of healing he could see. Mr Ford said "I would be more impressed if I saw a pile of prosthetic limbs and glass eyes".
@13:55 , Matt is exactly right ! Even having been born and raised in Mississippi, I simply never believed any of this religious crap. When I was very young, I was forced to go to church with my Grandmother. Around age 8, I began asking a LOT of questions in sunday school. The preacher asked my Grandmother not to bring me to church because I was a disruption in the other children's learning.
The reason we don't have the answers to all of our questions (why does God do this or do that) Is because if we knew the reasons for how God works we would just confuse ourselves and get in the way of God's plan, thinking and acting on the notion that we can change the outcome of a situation or outsmart God. Not only that but sometimes we act on false beliefs and get somewhere we don't want be. If youre going to ask questions just to try do propose a contradiction in The Bible, or God's logic, you'll never find an answer because youre not actually curious or looking, youre just trying to prove a fault in the logic of God, there is no fault in God, onky in human judgement
Can't stop crying at the last few minutes of this even though I enjoyed the whole thing. Thank you Mat D. I wish I had friends like you and your partner to have in my life.
Ah, love the volunteer at the beginning! The way she threw her head back and laughed had me smiling. The whole talk was wonderful. Can’t believe Matt did this on the fly ✌️👍
"If you read it correctly." A Catholic Priest told me that only the priests are able to interpret the bible, and that us uneducated are not supposed to try. He also got offended when I laughed. Nice guy, though, he just seemed to believe that he had some "divine insight" that I could not have as an atheist.
nitehawk86 it is such a disgusting example of the bullcrap they peddle and the last thousand plus year's of insanity and every group interpreting it as they see fit and everyone else is wrong...... All those dumbasses are wrong.... Or they are con-artist's, or absolutely insane..... Yea ride nyc transit and you will see them spewing that crap on the train.... Of course I yell back to set them straight from time to time.
Religion is political cult to controll masses Religion is a Mental Illness Religious God invented by Religious books Why did not religoius god Present before religious book written Religion is most unscientific thought ever invented . No book send by any God. God did not write any book for human There are many big lie , Fraud done by evil people in the name of God. “Why did not religious God made religous animals. Like Muslim elephant, Christian elephant, Jews elephant etc. if animals don't religious than they are non believers” conversion gang must converter them into there religion . Religion always distory and courrpt local culture. If religious books are really word of God ,why it is so Unscientific, Imprecise & Muddled All flat Earth religion have faith and believe based not facts based . Religion is based on Fear , conquest, conversion and invasion
I think Matt challenged the christians in this comment section a little _too_ much, they've resorted to hurling infantile insults about his character instead of addressing literally any of his claims the ONE person ive seen who even addressed a point addressed the one about slavery, and his excuse was "Well, uhh, it still HAPPENED, but the bible speaks of indentured servants who function identically to slaves" If this one little lecture is making you rethink your beliefs and cope this hard, maybe the fault isnt in Matt, but your belief system? Especially if you couldnt go as far as to refute even a single claim? I think thats a pretty easy way to tell that you're on the losing side
In the debate Matt discussed, if anything is going to affect the mindset of those Christians, I believe it will be in Matt's saying, "I don't know." I'm hoping it will make them think hard about how and why their church thinks it has answers for everything.
+Eric Morisch The statement "I don't know" cannot be a delusion by definition. "I don't know" is a knowledge claim while a delusion refers to beliefs, not knowledge. Non belief in god is the default position. We are not born with that belief. It's something that is proposed to us and some people choose to believe it while some of us cannot. Much of the world's suffering certainly can be blamed on man including the invention of religion.
True Ministry "A felt relationship with God/Christ" is what most people mean when they say they know God. Am i right to assume that includes you? We have learned to misattribute sensations we couldn't place until trusted person 1 through 5 or so assured us "that's what God feels like", when being moved or feeling inspired are, i'd argue, likelier contenders for what we feel. Poetry and philosophy evoke no less emotion, but they weren't the events everybody celebrated twice a week growing up. Repetition is the mother of learning and we will learn what trusted circles drum into us since we were in diapers. Mass is a ceremony of emotional priming, meant to spread the good word. Hallelujah, brilliant. Matt talked on the subject of appeals to personal experience(1) if you wanna check it out. Another lecture was called "Do they really believe that?"(2), which makes for a nice companion piece that reminded me to not be so militant in my exchanges with theists. "How can an atheist affect the mindset of someone who knows God?" Same as the other way around, sharing our beliefs and convictions, values and experiences, whichever underlying reasoning facilitated them. That case either convinces or it doesn't, maybe not then and there, maybe our perspectives are so foreign to one another that we overlook whatever common ground we share. I like to think not all atheists are depraved, duplicitous damnation lures in your eyes. Perhaps i'm the wrong messenger and it will be received better from somebody you trust. I hope your account is still active :D 1. Atheist Debates - Appeals to Personal Experience 2. Atheist Debates - Do they really believe that?
Somehow Matt saying over and over again, “I don’t know” is a virtue but if someone who believes in God answered his questions that way his answer is, “See, your faith is a blind faith.” Knucklehead 😁
Matt, I want to make a world as you described it. It would certainly be a better world than that ruled by ignorance and intolerance of religion. My motto to myself for the last 50 years has been "It is better to light one small candle than to sit scream about about the dark". Thanks for lighting one huge candle to enlighten the world Matt.
amazing against religon a pile of shit on social life a feminst cancer that spreads lie of pay wage gap he is disgusting person and worse its his far left nazi group that has made education at a all time low for US universties not religoun . funny how he can be so ashamed of his white skin and having a dick a true bitch in male body
@John Digsby Obviously not even believers can understand the bible hence so many denominations. Or there's nothing to understand. By the way, who are you to say "you havent got the basics to begin to understand and you probably dont have the solid and necessary character to be a good christian or person"? If the bible was really "word of god" it should be easily understood by everybody.
@John Digsby..... dude, you sound crazy as fuck. You're talking about indoctrination and don't even seem to realize it. Take some time to think for yourself, it may do you some good.
I really like you Matt- hopefully I am getting to be a better judge of people in my senior years. I would like to see you run for political office as a senator and see where that goes. I was going to say run for president but there is still too much bogotry and ignorance out there. I wish you (and Beth) well and hope you get far and keep reaching out to lots of us. I think you get the point across with knowledge, truth, sometimes sarcasm and some humor. I realized I did not believe in the Bible stories by 9 years old and thankfully was not forced to go to services. I am the only one in my family who is not religious and yes it is sometimes difficult to discuss certain topics. BUT they do not run my life, nor I theirs. I miss Hitchens and love listening to Harris and Dawkins but I think that you can reach out to the public more easily. Take care. Do whatever you can to reach as many people as possible but don't burn the candle at both ends. Take time to recharge. Of
1:08 now normally this is not something I would call attention to and the only reason I am doing it now is because I am was very happy to be at Skepticon 7 and to see Matt Dillahunty give this talk live because it really was a great talk and for a guy I already liked and respected he really did kick it up a notch. Anywho, see that nearly bald head in the lower right corner? THAT'S ME!
While at Skepticon down in Springfield Missouri I took the time to interview some of the attendees and speakers, it give you a real sense of how much fun these are. ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-krUgaiQODjU.html skepticon.org/
@John Digsby Have you read Leviticus 25:44-46 that tells you to buy your slaves from the nations around you, you can own them as property for life and bequeath them to your children as inheritance? That's chattel slavery. Only Hebrew servants were released after 6 years and couldn't be treated harshly. Different rules for them. Exodus 21:20-21 describes how bad you could beat a slave with a rod. As long as the slave recovered in a day or two, the owner wasn't punished since the slave was his property. You should study your bible a bit closer so you know what you're talking about when you spout off.
@John Digsby I just gave you verses that clearly support chattel slavery. Can you provide any scripture that supports the BS apologetic you gave? I doubt it.
The guy who asked Matt about what he could do about sex after his wife died (around 34:25 on) didn't e-mail Matt back, probably because he died completely shagged out, with a huge smile on his face! *_:0)_*
I think the preacher is using special pleading in regards to God hardening the Pharaoh’s heart. Everywhere in the Bible, “God” means “God” and “God” DOES NOT mean “the Pharaoh”. For example, John 3:16 DOES NOT mean “For the Pharaoh so loved the world that the Pharaoh gave his only begotten son…” However, the preacher is insisting that in that ONE VERSE, “God” really means “The Pharaoh”, but there is no justification for making that exception, except for the fact that he doesn’t like the idea of God appearing to take away the Pharaoh’s free will.
It's a book with alternating pages blank and with text, with pages of two different lengths (size). If you flip the pages one way, you see the text. If you flip them the other way, you see blank pages. Do I go to Hell for revealing Matt's magic tricks? Pretty sure you go to Hell for that.
Matt Dillahunty In early Christianity, slavery was endorsed independent of the Bible. Polycarp (a supposed disciple of John the Apostle) wrote in a letter to Ignatius that slaves should "endure their slavery for the glory of God". Moreover, they shouldn't expect the church to use it's money to purchase their freedom because that would make them greedy! "Do not be haughty to slaves, either men or women; yet do not let them be puffed up, but let them rather endure slavery to the glory of God, that they may obtain a better freedom from God. Let them not desire to be set free at the Church’s expense, that they be not found the slaves of greed." (Ignatius, Ad Polycarp 4.3)
Jesus Christ Glorified I'm well aware that you think you can justify any verse in the Bible. A Muslim thinks he can justify every verse in the Quran in the same way. So I'll ask you the question I ask every Christian: why should I believe you and your religion and not the Muslim and his religion?
I think Bart Ehrman, who actually studied the original texts and has written extensively on the subject is a more trustworthy source than someone who calls himself "Jesus Christ Glorified". If Ehrman concludes your "holy" book to be so flawed that Christianity must be just another man made religion with just another god created in our image, then that should make you pause and think. You are worshipping a paper god. Last I checked, that is idolatry.
@Jesus Christ Glorified, you believe in the invention of the Roman's, Jesus. You're a serious nut case. The only reason us atheists have to be atheist is because you nut bags won't let it go. Not one of you have heard from or seen Jesus. If you say you have your lying. There is not one shred of evidence that supports Jesus. I know you don't know the definition of evidence.
@Jesus Christ Glorifiedyou mean like how America used to want and cherish immigrants, now our dear leader wants to get rid of them. Kinda similar. You can have as many scrolls and writings the world has to offer, how does that prove anything? Idiot!
@Jesus Christ Glorified, wrong! I have studied christianity. I have read, listened, researched. I come from a very religious upbringing. We had our own church, a big church. But I decided to prove what I believed in was true. After years of reading, listening too and studying many religions. I was determined to understand the origins of religion. With an open mind I began to realize that every single one is a manifestation of man. In other words, bullshit. You can't tell me anything about me. You believe in ancient goat herders, but can't come to believe modern man that know how things work. That's what makes you pitiful.
I am also interested in seeing these. I knew about this conference but didn't know there were videos of it posted anywhere. Matt didn't mention where to find them.
Had a chance to watch them yet? As with most of Matt's debates I eventually had to start skipping through the other guy's talks as I was afraid that vein in my forehead would burst. Matt was right. The level of sheer, gleeful, joyful ignorance there was staggering... and at the same time, just really really sad.
That's what I'm thinking too. When you see him flip through the book he is holding his finger on some of the pages and not flipping though them. So I'm thinking the first part of the book have 4 small pages on every page from the real book.
"How did he do that trick? Maybe the words are smaller and near the start of the book while blank in the parts he showed to the audience?" this indeed may not be correct, however the way the trick was presented would be possible using this method I should also add, a fantastic talk by Matt
I live in South Africa and only recently learned about Matt!!! I think he's genius and wonder how he has learned so much since being a theist, because he wouldnt have researched anything having belief! So it is so impressive that he is so well read and has such recall!!! Amazing man!!
Hello, just wanted to inform you that I subscribed to your channel just yesterday, I found this video today and when I went to click on it to watch it noticed that I was not subscribed. I have hit the subscribe button yet again but I just wanted to let you know that this is beginning to become a thing with RU-vid. Their algorithms are still sending select videos to my feed, but some of the sights that I know I've subscribed to have been unsubscribing me. It's not me I assure you. Love your channel!❤ please keep up the enlightenment of the world.
This should be archived in the Library Of Congress, and viewed in a Critical Thinking high school class in every public school in this country. I hope (and believe) that Matt knows that he has already changed the world... admittedly not as much as his goals provide for, but certainly enough to be remembered for posterity.
Usually I'm real picky about tech errors at venue, but in this case... I think the opening mic feedback glitch was due to Matt's leather blazer being SO AWESOMELY COOL!!!
Matt, I am not uncomfortable with not knowing where and how I am going. I have spent my whole life not knowing it, even though everyone around me tried to convince me that I should. I smile and think, "I will go with the cosmos, wherever it takes me." I am no more important than the cosmic dust. Back to where I came from--even if I don't know it. That is as it should be.
"What's keeping you from doing it?" Massive confidence issues. I'd love to fight for a world that Matt describes but I struggle to get confrontational. I feel like I can't really do anything, and even though I believe science and skepticism are the right things, I do end up freezing up and unable to articulate my thoughts when confronted by the opposition. Especially given that the evangelical trumper christian types do tend to get angry and use their fists when unable to counter with words. How does one handle this?
As a former believer in the Christian God for some 35 years, now free from its clutches on my mind and wallet, I find Matt to be e real national treasure and a truly knowledgeable teacher for everyone thinking of joining any religion or cult. My thoughts are view him first before engaging in the programming and brain washing from any pulpit and as he said know the bible better then those preaching it! Good advice for sure.
