[leighton]Recently Charley forwarded me an email concerning the offense I’ve given to some of our listeners concerning things I’ve said with the latest offense coming from my using the word “retard” to describe the real retards in the world. Now, I ain’t going to apologize for my actions because that would be much like apologizing for the man I am, but I am going to tell all those out there who find me offensive to take me as a grain of salt. Understand this, while Charley was going through years and years of schooling I was getting a different sort of education by hopping from one country to the next. My time was spent not only in the beauties of a country, but in the rough patches. I’ve been stabbed four times, shot at, hid behind the skirts of a woman while those hunting me passed by, fled countries, etc. Hell, I can’t smell much of anything because I’ve been punched so many times in the face(probably the biggest reason I’m not that pretty to look on but I have a very special spirit). You crawl in the dirt long enough and that “son of a bitch” part of life has a tendency of clinging to you.

Take it or leave it I’m an old dog. Only in Christ will my tricks ever change and that’s about as possible as my shitting out a golden idol, which when that occurs you all should worship. Obviously the fecal leakage that comes out of my mouth ain’t where my thoughts are at, but if you feel you must, go ahead and hate me for this. I’m sure I can find another woman’s skirts to scurry behind when the pitchforks come out.

[chuck]The commercial we were spoofing in the Job podcast is the NOM spot against gay marriage, filled with such WTF moments as “I will have no choice” (err … what?), “my freedom will be taken away” (your freedom to discriminate?), and “rainbow coalition” (right, because it can’t be discrimination if people of enough colors are doing it). It is so bad, it’s almost as if these guys were secretly parodying themselves.

For comparison purposes, here is our commercial:

[chuck]I mean, really. If any of our 7 and 1/2 listeners read Leighton’s post below, we’ll be right back down to 2. And after all my hard work getting to this point, I’m just not willing to take that chance.

Besides, I’m 90% certain he’s gay.

[leighton]Recently we received an email from a pair of viewers who requested that we make them our honorary #13 1/2 listeners. Although we never have, and despite Charley’s foolish hopes never will, have more than four or five listeners at a time it is with great pleasure that we bestow Kate and “boyfriend”(Is he the half you speak of or are you?) as our first double digit listeners.

We discussed giving the one and a half of you a trophy, but realized that the best gift we could ever give you is our prayers that you’re children could be raised by gay penguins. Someday your children will frolic as free as these two(Please ignore the second definition of “frolic” because I believe that may be bordering on animal abuse i.e. ‘play about with someone in a flirtatious or sexual way’.):

[chuck]To celebrate our 25th episode, I redesigned our Irreligiosophy podcast logo. It encompasses the Egyptian Eye of Horus that’s also found here on our website (it’s our favicon, too!), but does so more prominently and the text is more legible, especially when scaled. I may even get around to designing a different one for our Atheist News Network one of these days.

Meanwhile, Leighton celebrated the same way he always does: he did nothing.

[leighton]This month Charley and I have come across Michael Dowd who, as explained by our last guest, has a fascinating perspective on evolution and religion. This adds up to possibly being our most intriguing guest podcast yet.

Michael Dowd is one of the most inspiring speakers in America today. He is the author of Thank God for Evolution: How the Marriage of Science and Religion Will Transform Your Life and Our World, which has been endorsed by 5 Nobel laureates and other leading scientists, as well as by religious leaders across the spectrum. He and his wife, Connie Barlow, a noted science writer, have spoken to more than a thousand groups since they launched their itinerant ministry in 2002.

Michael graduated with highest honors from Evangel University in Springfield, Missouri (affiliated with the Assemblies of God), where he received a B.A. in biblical studies and philosophy. He also graduated with honors from Eastern Baptist Theological Seminary (now Palmer Seminary) in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (affiliated with the American Baptist Church), where he earned a Master of Divinity degree. Rev. Dowd served as a United Church of Christ minister for nine years, pastoring churches in Massachusetts, Ohio, and Michigan. His 1991 book, EarthSpirit: A Handbook for Nurturing an Ecological Christianity (Twenty-Third Publications) was one of the first attempts to look appreciatively at traditional Christianity from the perspective of a modern cosmology.