[irrelig]For episode 103, we have selected some of the most basic and oft-repeated crazy-ass stories found in the Book of Mormon, including Lehi’s vision of the Tree of Life, Nephi’s “acquisition” of the brass plates, the origin of GPS devices, and what happens to two atheists in ancient America under the Nephite prophets and judges.

All that, and a new candidate for Skunk Dick of the Year.

[chuck]So given the amount of questioning going on about the source of our Hate Mail #2 and similarities in tone, content, and concerns with the E4F debate and particularly Kirk Hastings’ various emails, I followed the advice of one of our posters and checked the headers:

From: KirkHastings5@aol.com
Message-ID: <55b03.43193a8d.3adf0d24@aol.com>
Date: Tue, 19 Apr 2011 12:07:00 -0400 (EDT)
Subject: Re: A brief note from an Irreligiosophy listener
To: irreligiosophy@gmail.com
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: multipart/alternative; boundary=”part1_55b03.43193a8d.3adf0d24_boundary”
X-Mailer: AOL 9.6 sub 130
X-AOL-IP: 108.25.154.141
X-Originating-IP: [108.25.154.141]

From: GrantGardner44@aol.com
Message-ID: <63321.1885153b.3ae318b2@aol.com>
Date: Fri, 22 Apr 2011 13:45:22 -0400 (EDT)
Subject: Re: Your website
To: irreligiosophy@gmail.com
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: multipart/alternative; boundary=”part1_63321.1885153b.3ae318b2_boundary”
X-Mailer: AOL 9.6 sub 130
X-AOL-IP: 108.25.154.141
X-Originating-IP: [108.25.154.141]

Now, I’m not a techie, but those originating IPs look exactly the same to me. Anyone in the know care to expound on exactly what that means?

PS: The IP address traces to … New Jersey, headquarters of Evidence 4 Faith.

UPDATE: Lying hypocritical Christian Kirk Hastings of Evidence 4 Faith has admitted his sock-puppetry in an email reply to one of our posters, copied to us (the header of that email exactly matches the headers of the previous two). I’m going to give Kirk the benefit of the doubt and assume that this behavior is the absolute bottom of the barrel for him. Given past history, though, I will not be surprised if it isn’t.

[chuck]Two years, four months, and today we get our second piece of hate mail, from an attorney named Grant. I guess we’re just mostly too darn loveable to generate much hate mail. This particular piece is from a concern troll who would like us to change our attitude because gosh darn it, we just might be harming the cause of atheism.

Grant doesn’t like us, but he’s mighty impressed by Lee Strobel, who apparently was so curious about Christianity in his hard-hitting investigative Quest for Truth that he only talked to conservative evangelicals. Grant’s bit about thermodynamics and evolution is also priceless, betraying a fundamental lack of knowledge about both. You can read it yourself after the jump. Not surprisingly, it originates from an aol.com email addie.

In this episode, Joemma discuss Zoroastrianism; the world’s first “revealed” religion (meaning a prophet pulled this shit out of his ass/arse). Zoroastrianism’s theological innovations provided the backbone for the Abrahamic faiths as we know them today. It is admirable for its emphasis on celebrating life and its optimistic perspective, as opposed to the asceticism and self-loathing promoted by more emo religions of yore like Manicheanism.

Joe knows a fair bit about this shit, so he takes the lead while Emma says “OK, yep, interesting” a lot, and leaves the more linguistically dextrous Joe to pronounce all the foreign words just right.

Good thoughts, good deeds, good words and a good time will be had by all. Rev up your Mazda, you’re in for one hell of a ride.

Joemma

[irrelig]For this episode we have President of American Atheists David Silverman on the show, talking about growing up Jewy, deconverting at an early age, his experience on Bill O’Reilly, and the importance of the atheist movement. And oh yeah, a little atheist convention in Des Moines, Iowa.