Talk Heathen 04.50 12-13-2020 with Eric Murphy and Vi La Bianca

Greetings Heathens! This is the last live episode of Talk Heathen for 2020, and Eric Murphy and Vi La Bianca are here and ready to hear from you!Let’s get to calls! Jonathan from Georgia has a friend who is questioning whether or not he believes. His unbelieving friend was experiencing chronic chest pains when a woman came into his place of work, prayed in Hebrew, and his chest pain went away. Eric explains that the placebo effect is a real means of pain reduction. Jonathan agrees with Eric and Vi that we should align our beliefs with the evidence presented to us, but doesn’t think all evidence is tangible. Fran in Colorado is up next. They’re an amputee and had a woman approach them in the store and offer to pray for them. This woman laid hands on them and started praying very loudly. When Fran explained their leg wasn’t going to grow back, she said “God can do anything.” While they were able to laugh it off, some people may be dealing with religious trauma and can’t shrug it off so easily. It is always unethical for evangelists to prey on people in vulnerable situations.Michael in Florida wants to know Eric and Vi’s take on people's supernatural claims in the present like demon possession or miracles. We need to first establish that god or another entity are possible causes. We know that mental disorders exist, epilepsy exists, and symptoms of these conditions may be attributed to demons. While “I don’t know” can be an uncomfortable answer, we have to examine possible answers from the types of causes that we know to be real before making any other conclusions.Next is John in Texas who says that if you are unable to understand the evidence, that is not the fault of the person explaining it to you, it is your fault for not comprehending the evidence. He says we choose to believe whatever we think best explains reality. The thing is, we cannot choose our beliefs. Our beliefs come about as a result of the evidence presented to us and how we evaluate that evidence. Sadly, John doesn’t want to engage honestly, but prefers to gaslight the hosts.Our last call for today is from Rande in California asked for a sign that wouldn’t be open to interpretation and had a dream that an old friend called him and Rande berated this friend for not being there for him.The next day, that same friend called him and the call went the same as the dream. Rande is disappointed that this might mean the biblical god is real because he thinks that god is immoral. But if this sign wasn’t open to interpretation, Rande wouldn’t have called in!That’s our show for this week, please continue to be safe in your area, wear your mask. The world is better with you in it. See you next week!Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/talk-heathen--3195702/support.