Cognitive Dissonance - Episode 182: Bar Room Atheist

Episode Date: October 9, 2014

  Special thanks to Bill and Suzy from Bar Room Atheist for joining us.    

Do you want to get cognitive dissonance streamed to your iPhone or Blackberry? If so, download Stitcher free today at Stitcher.com. Be advised that this show is not for children, the faint of heart, or the easily offended. The explicit tag is there for a reason. recording from glory hole studios in chicago this is Cognitive Dissonance. Every episode we blast anyone who gets in our way. We bring critical thinking, skepticism, and irreverence to any topic that makes the news, makes it big, or makes us mad. It's skeptical, it's political, and there is no welcome mat. This is episode 182, because unlike jake we are still counting and in this

episode we are actually joined by bill and suzy from barroom atheist which confused me terribly because there's two of you but your show is barroom atheist not plural that's true they're just gonna have to throw out the whole idea. God damn it, we've got to rebrand the whole thing. I was actually really confused, but I'm like, wait, but there's two of you. It's a concept. Yeah, it's like, it's a concept. It's not a person. Oh, okay.

All right. Have you been to a bar? I've read about them in books and magazines. I hear good things. So if you've been to a bar and you are an atheist, then you are a barroom atheist. Exactly. Okay, there you go. It's not a person.

So welcome to the show. Thank you for being on the show. Thanks for having us. Oh, yeah. We literally couldn't find anybody else who would agree to be on it. Yeah, I know. You're really scraping the bottom of the barrel here. So we wanted to talk to you guys about a story from emirates247.com.

And this is a highly credible story. This is a djinn caught on camera in Makkah ahead of Hajj. Which I love. You're nailing it. I'm pretty sure I nailed the pronunciation. I think you got all that. I think that's good. And thankfully, they have an image on here. So as a skeptic, I was initially a little dubious, but I have to say that this image won me over,

and I now believe in gins, which I think is made with juniper berries, but I'm not 100% on that. You know, I've seen the image, and that's not a gin. I've seen the TV show, it's been supposed to be like a hot chick in a bikini with a ponytail right isn't that what the gins are just be wearing a how do you know it's not a hot chick in a bikini with a ponytail just wearing a burka that's true it is in saudi arabia touche sir touche she had to cover up she was hiding from the the religious police who didn't know she was a jinn. It says it's clad in white, but I think it's actually clad in Photoshop. I was thinking immediately when I saw this, I was actually terrified because that means that there's Muslim predators out there.

And that just scares the hell out of me. That actually explains the suicide bombing. Yeah. Because at the end of Predator, isn't that how he ends it? They have a little thing on their arm, and they're like, doot, doot, doot. Right. Yeah, exactly. Right.

That explains a whole lot more. My favorite part of this article, guys, is where it says, so a Saudi newspaper, which published the picture, said the creature could be a djinn, but did not make clear what he was doing in that place. So evidently they couldn't get him for an interview while they were speculating about what it was. Also, you see that shape all the time in that area of the world. Clearly that's not a he.

That's a she. That's what I was thinking, too. It looks much like a girl. Yeah, right. I'm looking for the bottle that you have to rub to make the gin come out. I didn't see that. If it was all in red, it would look like one of the Imperial Guards from Star Wars. Star Wars.

I love that they couldn't fucking confirm it, either. It's like, what do you do? DNA testing for a djinn? How do you confirm that it's a djinn? Well, I like that the paper was even willing to speculate. Like, it could be a djinn. You guys are

a fucking newspaper, right? You do recognize that. That's because they put you in jail if you say there aren't djinn over there. Yeah. So you go, fuck, well fuck well yeah it could be a gin because i don't want to go to jail yeah i would say it was a fucking gin if i was over there and somebody's like did you see that gin like i fucking see gin everywhere in fact you're a fucking gin that's how many gin i see i see i'll be like throwing down cards in front of them going

you know it's crazy to think that in saudi arab Arabia, if you don't see a gin, you'll definitely be imprisoned. And if you drink gin, you will also be imprisoned. So you're sort of damned if you do, damned if you don't over there. Actually, three times because you live in Saudi Arabia. Yeah, right. Oh, right. They throw you in jail, you don't notice. You're like, huh, still an awful life, so I guess you don't notice you're like huh still an awful life so i guess i don't

i don't know if you've ever been but i would not recommend saudi arabia as like say a vacation spot or something i spent i spent a year there and it's just not fun not fun place yeah holy shit tell us about it why'd you go to go to Saudi Arabia and how'd you get back? How'd you get back? I was in the Air Force and luckily we have an airlift capability to get my ass the hell out of there. What was life like? I'm curious.

Like, what is it like? I mean, what is it? Obviously, so you were on base most of the time, right? No, actually, because I'm a contract person and my job was to go buy things in the local community. I'm a contract person, and my job was to go buy things in the local community. So I spent a lot of time off base interacting with the populace, and it was a little scary, very weird. You know, like going into a McDonald's to have lunch, and I had to go to the men's side of the McDonald's.

Wow. Yeah, they literally have a wall, and there's two doors. There's the family door and the men door. And there's not just like a women door? Like you have to go in the family door if you're just a single? Oh, wait, you can't be a single woman. Yeah, you can't walk around if you're a single woman. Right, and if you're married, you can go eat with your wife and kids. But other than that you know basically the

family door is the woman door it's like it's it's like for women kids and dudes who are slumming and then the dudes go in the other door i don't know if they serve different food over there i wanted to go over and find out but the folks I was with advised me against trying to walk over to the women's side. Isn't that where you experienced the wonders of medicine? Yeah, I experienced Saudi medicine firsthand. That was pretty cool. What was that like? Did they rub a Koran on it?

He had his appendix out. He had acute appendicitis while he was there, and they rushed him to a hospital in Riyadh. It took until about 1 o'clock in the morning before I finally got to my room because they're going to perform surgery on me in the morning. I get to the emergency room about noon and you know how it goes. Any hospital takes forever. So I go into my room.

It's a six person room and when I walk in there's six people already in there. Because there's a dude like living there with his dad. What? Like sleeping on the floor. I mean, he's got a bedroll and everything. And then under one bed, there's old bandages that it looks like they had taken off a dude.

This does not inspire confidence. Oh. And then I wanted a cigarette because I'm a little nervous at this point So I go out and I ask The one nurse on the floor who speaks English I'm like where can I go You know smoke a cigarette I'm like I'm freaked out here

I'm half a world away from home I just need one cigarette And she's like just go in the loo Now I don't know what the fuck a loo is And I'm like the bathroom The nurse in the hospital Told me just go in the bathroom and have a cigarette. I love it. Wow.

I love it. So it's like 1965 in Saudi Arabia. I have a 1965 appendix scar. He really does, yeah. Is it like massive by comparison to this? It starts on his upper thigh. They just cut around we're looking for something that says appendix on it it goes from armpit to asshole and then the really scary

thing was when i in the morning when they're rolling me to theaters it's what they call them over there i think it's european thing theaters Like I'm going to see a fucking movie, right? I'm not fooled. Rolling me in there. And they tell me my doctor is an Iraqi. Now this is during Operation Southern Watch. And I'm like, excuse me, I'm in the Air Force. We're like bombing his home country right now. He might get kind of pissed and take it out on me. Maybe that's why

my scar's so big. Well, don't worry. He trained by playing Operation quite a lot as a kid, so he's totally prepared. And it's difficult when they're dropping the bombs around you. You always touch the tweezers to the side when there's a big bomb that blows. Oh, yeah, that game's fucking mad hard, too, especially if you're drunk.

Yeah. See, now I'm retroactively scared again. Thanks, guys. Now, were there any other conventions that you felt like you had to follow over there or else you would get harassed? Could you wear shorts, let's say, or something like that? I don't know exactly what kind of conventions it would be, but is there anything else that you felt like you needed to sort of fall in line with? Actually, we were given conventions because I was in the military and they didn't want us to offend people. Long-sleeve shirts, no short sleeves.

Wow. And actually, to be honest with you, in that desert, I'm so fish-belly white anyway. I have two colors, white and pink. Yeah. So I was pretty cool with the long-sleeved shirts anyway. But there was that. There was no religious symbols, which didn't bother me any,

but I fixed her a Christian, weren't allowed to wear a cross out in town or anything. Women had to have, they didn't make them fully gear up, but they did have to cover their hair if we had a woman in our group. I think he said something about if I was there with him, I couldn't drive either or something like that. Oh, no, no, women can't drive over there.

That's a big no-no. I did get yelled at by the religious police once because I was smoking a cigarette on the street during Ramadan. During Ramadan. Which apparently is a bad thing. Well, you didn't eat it, did you? You were just smoking it. Nothing by mouth. No gum.

What? No gum. And the guys are yelling at me. And I don't speak freaking Arabic. I'm like, okay. And the dude I was doing business with, he comes out and he grabs me, throws a cigarette to the ground, and he starts yammering back at them and that stuff they talk. And then he runs me inside and hides me in the back of the store.

And he's like, oh, you can't do that. And I'm like, well, I'm not a Muslim. He's like, doesn't matter. Can't do that. I'm like, okay. Wow, that's intense. So that's how I learned. Smoking counts as eating. Smoking counts as eating.

Smoking counts as eating. Well, and that's why they're so damn bitchy during Ramadan. Because they don't get to eat or smoke? Yeah, because they're like Nick Fiending all day. Well, they can't even drink, right? Well, yeah, no, not even water. I mean, not drink like drink, but they can't even consume water. Nope.

Whoa. Fuck, man. But, you know, during Ramadan over there, they stay up until even consume water. Nope. Whoa. Fuck, man. But during Ramadan over there, they stay up until like 4.30 in the morning. Their shit will be open. Malls, stores, everything's open until like 4.30 in the morning. Oh, I see. So you fucking get your fill. It's just cheating the fucking system, right?

It's like you get your fill as much as you can until 4.30, and then you start your day and you can't have anything when the sun is up. Right, so you sleep until 2 or 3 in the afternoon. Isn't it cool how gods can be fooled? I know. They're just so fucking backward. These gods are so stupid. They left these loopholes in.

Super easy. What were they fucking thinking? It's like in real estate, there's like Sharia lending. Because they can't, they're not allowed to charge each other interest rate or pay interest. So what they do is, let's say you want a loan, like a real estate loan for $100,000. And the rate is, say, 6%, and it's a 30-year loan. That's what would typically be offered. And over the course of 30 years, let's say that that would amortize out to $200,000. What they'll do is they'll give you

a $100,000 loan. They'll charge you a fee, because a fee is an interest. You can pay fees. A fee of $100,000. And then they'll amortize the fee over the course of 30 years in installments so that it happens to come out exactly like a $100,000 loan at 6%. But all the paperwork is juggled as, it's not interest, it's just here's the thing, and then here's the fee, and then the fee. You get to pay it back in pieces. And it works exactly the same as a loan with interest. And in fact, they use a loan with interest to build the other product, the other lending product. And every time I've seen one, and I've only seen a handful of them, every time I've seen one, I just fucking laugh my ass off.

It's like you're going to go to hell and you're like, no, I have the paperwork. And the guy's like, fuck, he got me. And then he lets you in. Allah needs to fire his accountant. That's all I'm saying. Because he's fucking terrible. He can't even catch that shit. I would argue that anybody who argues for sodomy, ask them, is there any life in the rectum? Can two women produce life?

And the answer, of course, would be no. Then the ultimate goal of life is life. So this story comes from the BBC. U.S. rebuffed gay marriage opponents. The U.S. Supreme Court rejected appeals against gay marriage in five states, Indiana, Utah, Oklahoma, Virginia, and Wisconsin. This move increases the number of states where same-sex marriage is legal to 30 plus the District of Columbia.

Take that, bigots. We went from 19 to 30 man like overnight just like boom now we're i mean it's that's if there was ever a fucking tipping point decision this is the tipping point decision yeah yeah it's uh for sure and i don't i don't know tom but i think the two women in this picture are gay. I think they might be. Don't tell anyone. Certainly don't tell Brian Fisher. Yeah. So predictably, the conservatives are up in arms. So that was the good news.

We noticed it blew right past that. Right. Yeah, the good news is 30 states. Right. And now on to the nut jobs. So the religious right is reacting to the scotus gay marriage decision which by the way the gay marriage decision wasn't even a decision it was a refusal to hear a case so let's let's do that for all the like oh my god the supreme court is a bunch of unelected judges that are you know deciding all the yeah they just refuse to hear a case their

refusal to hear a case meant that the lower court decisions stand. That's all that that means. But, of course, you hear all this like, well, nine unelected judges of our country hostage, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, sort of nonsense. So, Cecil, let's go through some of these reactions to the SCOTUS non-decision decision. reactions to the SCOTUS non-decision decision. Let's start with Brian Fisher because we think that, you know, when I think of idiots who speak for people who are really stupid, Brian Fisher really just takes the cake. This is the de facto Roe v. Wade of sodomy-based marriage.

Let me repeat. This inaction, this decision not to decide, this action not to act, this represents the de facto Roe v. Wade of sodomy-based marriage. It's going to be virtually impossible now to stop this press and this push toward nationalizing, imposing on every state in the union, marriage that is based on the infamous crime against nature. Yeah, it sucks, Tom. I actually, Sarah and I got a divorce today, and I had to put a thing on the Grindr today.

I had to get my Grindr app from my phone because I got to be gay now. Yeah, I know. It was the de facto sodomy decision. So, like, I just went out and just fucking sodomized everyone I met, like, all day. I was just like, hey, how you doing? Like, yeah, hey, how are you? And then we shook hands and it was just fucking sodomy all day.

It was just sodomy, bro. I mean, what could we as independent, free-thinking adults, what other possible actions could we have taken? Right. Yeah. The government is mandating it at this point. The government actually, I actually sodomized the government. Yeah. Is that why they changed their mind?

It was your sweet, sweet loving. That was it. That changed their mind. That was it. There's more of Brian Fisher, so let's play him. The Supreme Court today, they're trying to pretend we're not involved. We haven't settled anything. We haven't addressed this issue.

It's not before us. We're not going to deal with it. We're not going to make a ruling on this. But they have made a ruling. Their decision today imposes sodomy-based marriage on 11 states that don't want it, that voted against it, that have constitutional and legal protections in their states against the recognition of sodomy-based marriage.

And the Supreme Court said, we don't care. Just suck it up. You're going to have to deal with it. We're going to impose it on you by our refusal to act. That's the bottom line. Supreme Court cannot dodge responsibility here. They've made a decision themselves today. The Supreme Court just imposed same-sex marriage on 11 additional states it's unconscionable unconstitutional and completely absolutely un-american i would argue that it's completely american right you know the best part is like it turns out amer America did it. You know, like if the Supreme Court had taken up the case and then still ruled in favor of gay marriage, so against the opponents, then you'd be hearing the same fucking outcry, right?

So it's like, well, they don't take up the case. Ah, fucking by not taking up the case, they made a non-decision decision and then de facto blah blah blah and if they had taken up the case and they ruled in a way you didn't want well you know fucking nine unelected judges are deciding the fate of the whole world blah blah blah all that kind of nonsense nobody cares though when that comes to like uh repealing parts of like obamacare or something you know whatever it is that they do that's on their side. They're like, oh, the Supreme Court is awesome. Right. And then when they do something else, like they're unelected.

Yeah, Hobby Lobby happens. It's like, fuck yeah, dude, Supreme Court. What's up, Supreme Court? Let's party. What? Scalia in the house. But like they do this and it's like, hi. T.J. Scalia.

It's like Skrillex, except for fat and lame. His name is just as hard to spell, too. Scalia shows up. He's got his fucking red Solo cup. He's like, what's up? He's fucking a badass at some beer pong. Exactly. Wow, that's unexpected.

You wouldn't think that. You wouldn't think that. You wouldn't think that. Although he's got a low center of gravity, so he should be good at sports. But, you know, the thing is, it's almost like they're the Dark Knight. You know what I mean? When they do good stuff, they're awesome. Right, right. But once in a while, they do something that's a little bit...

And they're like, oh, who fucking had this dark night watching the city? Vigilantes suck, you know? You know, the Supreme Court really is like the local sports team of politics, right? It is. It totally is. You know, like you tune in, and you're like, oh, come on, come on, local sports team, do your thing. And it's like sometimes they win, and you feel fucking elated. You're like, ah, yes, my side.

I love local sports team. and you feel fucking elated, you're like, ah, yes, my side. I love local sports team. And then, like, when they rule against you, it's like, I fucking hate those guys. I'll fucking set their babies on fire. When are they going to get rid of this quarterback? Yeah, that's exactly it. Well, you know, the thing is he's all up in arms, but there's a lot more people.

So let's get Pat Robertson here. This is from his 700 Club. This is the Patster talking about the SCOTUS decision. Well, I think once again the courts have muddled the waters. You don't know the Supreme Court has punted. Instead of taking a clear stand, there are a number of circuit courts that picked up on some verbiage that took place in another Supreme Court decision, and they are ruling overriding the wishes of the states. State after state after state, the voters overwhelmingly voted to protect traditional marriage.

Here in the state of Virginia, for example, there was an election. The man running as a Democrat for Attorney General said, I will support the laws that are on the books. That included the Defense of Marriage Act that was on the books here in Virginia by referendum. The minute he was in office, he turned against it and did everything he could to undermine it. Now he's saying what a great day it is for Virginia that homosexuals are getting married. The people didn't like that. But, you know, it's the same thing with abortion.

Instead of letting the people decide as they should have under the Constitution, it was taken out of their hands by a Supreme Court decision, Roe versus Wade. was taken out of their hands by a Supreme Court decision, Roe versus Wade. And because of that, no effort by the people has been successful ever since. And it's been a tragedy that we've seen over 50 million unborn babies slaughtered in this land. A tragedy? I'm so glad I let it go. A tragedy's a tragedy i think he's talking about our show actually he's like what a tragedy that show is i you know okay so what i don't get is they always talk about this in in conjunction right tom they always say well gay marriage nobody wants gay

marriage and gay marriage is bad and blah, blah, blah. And they shouldn't have it. And people voted against it. And abortion is bad and people don't want an abortion is voted against or whatever, if they would let it go to votes or whatever. But, you know, the thing is, both of these things are voluntary. I know, man. Both of the things. It's not like, you know, you're required to have your gay marriage or you're required to have your abortion. This isn't fucking Logan's run or whatever. THX 1138 or something like that. This is not a fucking futuristic world wherein, you know, the government is making these decisions for you.

This is just you making a decision for yourself whether or not you want to marry another man. If you're a man or a woman, if you a woman you know that's all it is it's not it that that's the decision or if you want to have an abortion that's your decision you know they they regulate abortion like crazy in this country it's back and i mean like you know there's so many different places where you gotta fucking like look at the ultrasound and fucking say you really want it three times and you know like all the different things you gotta do you gotta name it and write it a fucking letter yeah yeah and then you gotta fucking get a college scholarship for it and stuff like then you gotta fucking like wish upon a star that you really want it you know like all

these other fucking things you gotta do to jump through all these hoops to make women just feel bad just like you know we really just want you to feel bad and the same thing here it's like they just want other people to feel bad because they don't really want it. Well, fucking don't have one, man. Nobody's lining up to marry you, Pat. Yeah, it's so funny because it's like your argument so clearly doesn't hold water. If nobody wanted an abortion, then nobody would be getting abortions like that would be be fucking it. It'd be done. It's like it's like, yeah, well, fucking the country doesn't want it, but the Supreme Court's imposing it. Well, look, man, if the country doesn't want it, nobody would be fucking asking for it.

So clearly there are some people that fucking want it. You're obviously mistaken. And it's also the case that the rights of minorities or minority groups, numerical minorities or power minorities, they deserve protection too. That's how that works. Otherwise, there would be a tyranny of the majority. And that's something that the Supreme Court exists to protect us all from, because we could very well find ourselves in the minority. And I find it incredibly amusing that, you know, the bigots now are finding themselves in the minority and they don't like it and they don't have any idea how to place themselves in a world where they are, you know,

they are the voice screaming into the void. And so they create this false narrative where, you know, hey, most of the people in the world are on my side. And it's this, you know, small cabal of liberals that are really running the show. Look, man, that's not what the polls show. That's not what 30 states now show. So you fucking lost, dumbass. There's a piece here from Huckabee. Now Huckabee went on Today's Issues program on

American Family Association. It's like the American Family Association fucking like fucking field day here because they did not like this decision. So this is Mike Huckabee, Governor Mike Huckabee talking about some of this SCOTUS decision as well. I'm utterly exasperated with

republicans and the so-called leadership of the republicans who have abdicated on this uh issue when if they continue this direction right uh they guarantee they're going to lose every election in the future guarantee it and i don't understand why they want to lose, because a lot of Republicans, particularly in the establishment and those who live on the either left coast or those who live up in the bubbles of New York and Washington, are convinced that if we don't capitulate on the same sex marriage issue and if we don't raise the white flag of surrender and just accept the inevitable, then we're going to be losers. I tell you, Tim, it is the absolute opposite of that. And if the Republicans want to lose guys like me and a whole bunch of still God-fearing, Bible-believing people, go ahead and just

abdicate on this issue. And while you're at it, go ahead and say abortion doesn't matter either, abdicate on this issue and while you're at it go ahead and say abortion doesn't matter either right because at that point you lose me i'm gone right i'll become an independent i'll start finding people that have guts to stand i'm tired of this yeah dude let's see tell me how that's gonna fucking work out for you in the two-party system right yeah go ahead and be an independent you know throw your vote away i'll be honest'll be honest. I look forward to people becoming independents. I'd love to see a multi-party system. I'd love to see an opportunity for huge swaths of these different parties to disappear from their current place and go somewhere else and be like, fucking, I want to be somewhere else. I want to.

You don't follow. Our views are different enough where we need a whole nother party. I'd love to see a multi-party thing happen. This would be fucking great. I look forward to that happening, but I don't think it will. Yeah, I was going to ask, do you think an issue like this is big enough to divide the Republican Party? He's pissing his pants right now, but he's not going to go anywhere. Why would he go anywhere?

This guy knows that he's not going to become an independent because he's never nobody's ever going to fucking get elected. Then if they because basically what you're doing is splitting the Republican vote. Well, you know, it's funny because there have been people who have who have been successful as independents running in Congress or who have been part of a party. And then they switched to independent once they got elected and then they were able to get reelected as independents. So there's, you know, there's some history of them being able to do that in the congressional seats. But, you know, what's funny is that they have to be established politicians first, generally. A lot of times they'll run on a ticket and then switch the last minute, but they've already kind of gathered steam. And then when they become independents, they don't oftentimes act really independently.

What they act like is, you know, they're an independent, but they're really a Democrat. Yeah, they're basically a Democrat who votes once in a while to something else. Right, yeah, precisely. It would be interesting if something like this really did split the Republican Party, but, you know, I don't see it fracturing it that badly. And the reason I don't see it fracturing that badly is the fucking writings on the wall for this issue. This is not an issue the Republicans are going to make political hay out of anymore. It's fucking it's donezo, man. It's over. Like you've got 30

states at this point. This is a settled, this is a nearly settled question. This would be the same thing as like being pissed off about Brown versus Board of Education. Alright, last tantrum. This is Sandy Rios and she's talking about, I mean this is basically the SCOTUS decision

but I think she's referring to some other stuff too. I would say haven't said this to you on this station, on this radio show, but I would say if we don't do something, I think we're going to see, and this is radical, so stay tuned. I think we're going to see riots in the street. We're going to see starvation. We're going to see things we have never seen before.

We're going to see a complete have never seen before we're going to see a complete breakdown in terms of law enforcement it's going to be a nightmare and this will be what you are handing to your children if you don't speak up now i'm not sure we can pull it back but do you want to say in retrospect that you did nothing that you just sat and watched it? You just kept going to Bible study on Thursday nights and ignoring it? Please don't do that. Be salt and light. Be salt and light?

What are you talking about? I want to address the starvation thing first. A man can live for three weeks to 70 days without food. I can live 180 to 300 days, I'm guessing, without food. They could ship you to Mars and you wouldn't have to eat the whole way. In fact, actually, I've been in some high-level talks with NASA. fact actually we've we i've been in some high level talks with uh with nasa the only problem is we don't so far possess enough fossil fuels to get my weight off the earth yeah and they they told me the reason why they bounced me is they said i might actually pull the earth out of its

rotation so they were like sorry if we beat you up there you might actually actually have like a binary planetary system here that would spin around that it would be fucking just havoc. Actually, our geosynchronous satellites are counting on your mass. It would throw the tides off. You don't even know the fucking chaos that it would... Starvation? Starvation? What fucking

tragedy is going to occur in the united states that all of a sudden it's like oh man is there any food no gay people are getting married fuck dude there hasn't been food for so long fucking gay people i hate all these are you guys done getting married? It's like, what happened? Did it all go to catering? Did all of the food get redirected to gay weddings? I have no idea what you're even talking about. I really don't. I really wish I knew.

I wish I knew why she's so afraid. And the thing is, all this is is fear mongering. All this is is just trying to get people to be because you tried to reason with them, but you didn't have any reason on your side. So that's not effective. And so you're like, fuck, that's not effective. What do we do next? Well, we'll just try to scare them.

And that's really all that religion is anyway. I mean, like, you know, it's just scaring people into thinking that they need to do something because if they don't, there's some punishment outside of us. You know what I mean? Most religions have that hell component or some sort of punishment component. So, you know, those religions use fear as a way in which to control other human beings. And she's just falling back on it by saying like, well, now you won't have to worry about it in the afterlife.

It's actually going to be here. on it but by saying like well now you won't have to worry about it in the afterlife it's actually going to be here well where's the mechanism for you know like are all the farmers in the united states just going to be like well now that there's gays getting married there's no way i'm fucking making crops anymore there's no way i'm going out and planting oh no you can't actually like as soon as you try to make food but gay people are happy. Then you just can't. Then no food? I don't know how that works. I can't even finish that sentence. Maybe she'll figure it out in the second. She has a second bit

here. This is, again, Sandy Rios talking about the SCOTUS decision. There's a part of me that's sad and a part of me that's glad that they're not taking the case. Kelly, I guess the thing I'm concerned about ties into the theme of our discussion, this religious freedom.

It's almost become a cliche, and I don't want it to. But by not doing anything yesterday, we have seen a glimpse of what the homosexual movement, and I'm not saying every single gay person listening to my voice is in this camp. No gay people. The leaders of the movement are absolutely in this camp and they are never satisfied. They are fascists when it comes to this issue. We have

seen, you know, people in business threatened, whether it's cake decorators or, you know, bakers or whatever. Can't think of another example. Get out of the service industry. Get out of the service industry. I love it. Jesus. Whether it's cake decorators or bakers. Yeah. Or people who frost cakes. Or people who make cookies.

Or those folks who make donuts. Or the people who cater weddings with cakes. Or that one example. The one fucking example you literally can't think of another profession. It's photographers, idiot. Oh, my God. It's funny because it's like the two things. And I get it.

I understand that people want to protest. They don't want to do it. It's like, okay, well, then find another profession. Because I can't tell my boss I don't want to do this thing. You know? I won't stay in business very long. If I tell people I don't do, I can't tell my boss I don't want to do this thing. Right. You know, I won't stay in business very long if I tell people I don't do, I can't do that. I love it too, because it's not like the government

shut down these businesses. It's just that people don't want to buy their shit. It's like people find out like In a couple of those places, you're right. In a couple of those other places though, there was fines. Fines levied, like that woman who fucking got all weepy. She had fines levied against her. Sure, she couldn't pay her fines, but she was breaking a law she was breaking an existing law you know what i mean it's

like it's not like it's not like she was like yeah i don't want to bake a cake and the government is like close down your business it was like hey you can't discriminate well i'm going to discriminate anyway oh well then you have to pay the fine because that's how fucking laws work oh i don't want to pay the fine i I just wanted to discriminate. It'd be like if I was like speeding and the cop was like, yeah, you're getting a speeding ticket for speeding. And I was like, well, that's bullshit. I can't afford my car anymore.

The government made me get rid of my car. It's like, wait a minute. The government didn't make you get rid of your car. Like, you fucking missed a car payment. It's got fucking nothing to do with me. bed and breakfast organ you know small time business is threatened and lose because a gay marriage has advanced and it seems to me that the gay marriage activists the homosexual activists will not stop

until people who object are brought to their knees. Or they just get what they want, which is people to get married. People that love each other should be able to get married. You don't have to go to your knees. You don't have to care. Yeah, right. And it's like, yeah, sometimes people lose. Like sometimes there's two ideas and one wins. And the other one didn't.

And that's how this works. It's my sincere hope that every time that happens in this country, that the one that gives people more liberty is the one that wins. Right. I mean, because to do less is to restrict people's ability to live a free and joy-filled life. I can't imagine. I really can't imagine being like, man, we really have to stop consenting adults from being happy

man they'll fuck that up by fucking buying small dogs god can you imagine fucking can you imagine the fucking epidemic of small dogs and throw pillows and cardigans can you believe how many cardigans they're gonna own it's chaos it's riots in the street the small dogs ate all her food believe how many cardigans they're going to own. It's chaos! It's riots in the street. The small dogs ate all her food. Yeah, it's really unconscionable

what's going on there. It's hard for me to even understand people that think like that. I mean, it's the ultimate intolerance. What are you talking about? All I want to say to all the people that we played, though, Tom,

na-na-na-na-boo-boo. Yeah. You got 20 states left. Well, I like what Sandy Rios says, you know, and not all the other gay people listening to my show. What the fuck are you talking about? Yeah,

the fucking legions of gay fans that Sandy Rios has. Right. They're all in there furiously voting against their own freedom. They're voting against their own best interests. Fuck this, I hate me. I'm intolerant of me. Want to contact the guys? Go to dissonancepod.com to get links to their Google Plus,

Facebook, and Twitter accounts. If you want to contact them directly, send an email to dissonance.podcast at gmail.com. Or you can call and leave a message at 740-74-DOUBT. That's 740-743-6828. Do you want to support the show? Go to patreon.com. That's p-a-t-r-e-o-n dot com forward slash dissonance pod. Or click the link on the podcast homepage, and you can donate to the production of Cognitive Dissonance on a per-episode basis. If you can't spare any money,

take a second to give us a five-star review on iTunes or Stitcher, or spread the word about the show. We want to send a big heartfelt glory hole to all the patrons and people who rate us. You fucking rock. So this story comes from the Friendly Atheist blog. License? Registration? Have you accepted Jesus as your personal savior? This is a story

about Indiana. Cecil, our neighboring state. Yeah. It turns out if you get pulled over for passing another car illegally, you may be harassed by the po-po asking you where your church was and whether or not you had accepted Jesus Christ as your personal savior. Because conversion at the point of a gun is how they do shit in Indiana. What it really is, is the conversion, I think, at the threat of a ticket.

what what it really is is the conversion i think at that the threat of a ticket right you know because that's what it feels like to me is more like you know because if and this is i think this this author of this blog gets it perfectly when they say you know i would just say yes anyway just so he would leave me alone like even if i wasn't i wouldn't come out and be like no i'm an atheist if he was like hey have you accepted lord of jesus i'd be like, no, I'm an atheist. If he was like, hey, have you accepted the Lord of Jesus? I'd be like, I would never say I'm an atheist. I'd be like, oh yeah, I have. I'm a born again what do you call yourself? Whatever you are, I'm one of those. I'm one of those

plus. So whatever you have, I do that even better. Here's somebody who's standing at your car window with a gun on their hip, a fucking taser, the ability to arrest you, the ability to ruin the next, certainly the ability to ruin your day. Like they have, they are standing there and they're basically asking you questions, um, that they have no fucking business asking you.

And they have the ability to make your day quite awful, quite unbelievably, terribly bad. And it's just, it's just absolutely insane to me that somebody's standing there asking him like, where's your church? And then you see, they do read about the pamphlet. The pamphlet was like outlines God's plan for salvation and a four point list that advises the reader to realize you're a sinner. I'll fucking tell this guy. I seriously would just fucking tell this guy whatever he wanted to hear.

Like, whatever you want to hear, man, that's it. Like, if he's like, hey, do you know you're a sinner? It's like, you got a gun on your hip and I don't, sure. Is it a sin to go 67 in a 55? Where is that in the Bible? Like, what is that, like, fucking book of Department of Transportation? Or where does that come in? And what is that like fucking book of department of transportation or what where does that come in and verily when the vehicle is invented thou shalt not yeah okay

that's not in there i'm not i'm pretty sure let's turn to the book of the rules of the road thou must hold your hands at ten and two this this comes from the book of DMV Remember to have a good space cushion In between you and the car in front of you And yea, shall thee pass on the left But never on the right No, the right is Satan's lane Thou shalt not pass in Satan's lane The right is unclean

And an abomination to the Lord. So we're back with Bill and Susie from Barroom Atheist. Guys, if people have never heard of you, could you tell our listeners a little bit about yourself? Well, you know, we're a husband and wife duo. We do the show Barroom Atheist because we thought that atheism and alcohol don't have enough of a congruence. And we wanted to... No, actually, it has absolutely nothing to do with that. But it sounds good, doesn't it? We do this show.

What started it was our first atheist convention a couple of years ago. We were sitting in the bar. My wife was a brand new atheist, like a month out of the closet, and I hauled her to a convention. And she didn't understand a lot of things people were talking about and she felt a little uncomfortable asking in that group and

she feels a little felt a little uncomfortable when theists would come back at her with things so I we decided to start a show and that was the genesis of the show was to answer those questions that maybe newer atheists would be afraid to ask. Right. You know, so when they're in the bar room, they can interact either with other atheists or with the obnoxious theist, whatever. Right. It's like you're sitting on a bar stool and somebody comes up and sits next to you and says, hey, you know, how you doing? And then you get into a conversation about religion.

They find out you're an atheist and eventually you're an enemy of the state. So they start asking you a million questions. And I was scared because I didn't know, I didn't know anything. So I didn't know any comebacks. I didn't know there were words, there were apologetics that I had no idea what they were. And I had never read the Bible. that I had no idea what they were. And I had never read the Bible. And I didn't know how to respond to believers. So I said, you know, it'd be cool if we could, like, you could teach me on the show. Because I'm so young in atheism and I'm so new. And so I just made Bill my teacher and we just put it on a podcast.

That's a cool concept, yeah. So I would point out, though, that don't feel, you know, at a disadvantage. That's a cool concept. Yeah. So I would point out though, that don't feel at a disadvantage for not having read the Bible. I would say that most believers have not read the Bible either. Yeah. I can say that now too, because we actually do read the Bible and we're going from beginning to end. We just finished the middle of Job. We're going to finish Job next week. Job, yeah. I can't stand the word Job because it needs an E. If you're going to call it Job, you need an E.

Right, and if you're fucking omnipotent in writing a book, you should foresee the fact that it needs a fucking E. Exactly. Yeah, so it's Job. Or an umlaut or something. So we're reading the Bibles and now there have actually been a couple times

when people have come to me like we had a Jehovah's Witness come to the door and she was trying to teach Bill about, she was trying to witness to Bill and tell him about the Bible and stuff and I said, oh, so you're a Bible literalist.

I said, you read the Bible. And she said, yes, but no. Because I was just thinking, I don't remember if I said it or not, but I was thinking about that she couldn't teach my husband anything because she was a woman. You know, I don't like... It's like Second Timothy or something. I mean, that's in the Bible. Yeah, right.

I think it's in the book of James. No, it's in... It's like Second Timothy or something. I mean, that's in the Bible. Yeah, right. I think it's in the book of James. No, it's in... It's somewhere in there. Romans. Romans. I think. So I was telling her that she can't teach me anything because she's a woman, and she can't teach Bill because she's a woman.

And see, I couldn't do that before. I didn't even know that was in there. I couldn't do that before. I didn't even know that was in there. Oh, and by the way, David from David and Goliath, he was my hero until I actually read the Bible and read how bad he was. And now what do you think of him? He's a dick. What about the claymation Davey?

Are you still down on claymation Davey or is he still? Do you remember him? No. No? Okay. Alright. No, we're keeping it in. God damn it. What fucking awkward silence for keeping that shit in there. It was really, you should have seen the smoke coming out of my ears because I was really thinking about that. Oh shit, is this some apologetic thing

I don't know about? Yeah, Clay, they had Claymation back in the day. They did the claymation, but they just had no way to film it, so it just took a long time to scribe it on the stone. They had, like, the heaviest flip books ever. Clack, clack, clack, clack. So walk me through an episode of your show. Standard episode, well, we do a lot like you guys. We highlight some news.

Then in the middle, we sometimes have a guest or an interview or do it like a counter-apologetic. I'll pick something, and we'll do it. You know, like I'll pull. A week ago, we pulled one of Matt Slick's videos, and we just went through the damn thing and said, this is why this is bullshit. That's what I'm doing.

I'm teaching people how to call bullshit on stuff yeah so we do that and then we finish up with the bible and then we do you know non-standard shows like our last show was um ladies night was ladies night i had four ladies uh just take over my show and I turn my microphone off and let them talk about women and atheism. Girl stuff, yeah. It was a good show. I got to speak with Shannon Nebo and Amanda Brown and Ashley Townsend from No Religion Required, and we sat and talked about feminism in atheism

because I'm not really schooled on that either, so I learned a lot. Yeah, it was wicked cool. It had very different opinions from four different women. So it was really cool. You know, I like the idea that you come at the show from a, you know, hey, I'm going to do this show and we're going to learn on air rather than I'm going to be the expert. You know, because most shows, most atheist shows come on as I'm the

expert. I've got all the things to say. I've got all the answers. And I like the approach that, that you guys are taking where it's like, Hey, you know, I've, I'm like everybody else. I've got plenty to learn. We're just going to sort of broadcast this learning process. We're going to broadcast our learning curve as we go. It's a very honest approach. I appreciate that. Thanks. I think, i think that is exactly what i'm trying to do too because the whole idea of the show was bill's bill wanted to do a podcast because he said i have something to say and i just got to get it off my chest and maybe we'll put it out there and then he said you know suzy you want to sit in with me and i was like sure you can teach

me something and then it just it just grew from there and people have emailed us and and told us like they appreciate like Bill explaining things to me because it explains things to them because I need stuff sometimes not to insult myself but I like I need stuff really dumbed down sometimes you have to speak in small Susie speak so I can understand things yeah whatever half of that speak is is kind of the level I'm operating at. So I feel you. Well, and somebody new is not going to pick up hitchhands and go, oh, okay, I get all this. You know, somebody who's maybe religion

has set off their bullshit detector is not going to jump right to the four horsemen usually. So we're kind of a gateway drug. Yeah, nice. is not going to jump right to the four horsemen usually. So we're kind of a gateway drug. Yeah. That's us. Nice. So you said that Susie was a brand new atheist. Were you religious before or were you just not anything

and then kind of realized you were an atheist? No, I was. I grew up in a Nazarene church with my parents who were extremely religious. church with my parents who were extremely religious and I was what I considered myself I think it's the weak link when you say that you're spiritual and not religious anymore because I considered myself spiritual because after I moved out of my parents house I stopped going to church but I had my own personal relationship with God and he was – it was my concept of God and I did everything that I could that I thought was right by the Bible that I'd never read and by the teachings of Jesus, which I'd never really paid attention to. But I was extremely religious. Like I went to basic training and I took God with me because I couldn't have got through basic

training in the Air Force if it wasn't having God to talk to every day, things like that. So that's where it started. And then when Bill and I married, Bill was a very closeted atheist and I was very religious and we kind of lived like that for a while and then when bill started coming out as as an atheist a little more he started getting he started listening to podcasts he started doing things then he went to this he went to this thing called the reason rally and i was like what are you doing i'm like fine i'll drop you off and you just go to your silly meeting or whatever and um i don And have fun. Do your own little thing.

I don't even care. Just leave me alone with it. And then when he came back from the Reason Rally, he was more outspoken. And he was more open with being an atheist. And I didn't even know what it was. No, you can say it. I was an asshole. Yeah.

I mean, I've always been an asshole. Yeah, but it kind of came out because he started doing things like he would play podcasts in the car No, you can say it. I was an asshole. Yeah. I mean, I've always been an asshole. But yeah. Yeah, but it kind of came out because he started doing things like he would play podcasts in the car when I was in there. And I had absolutely no interest in listening to any of them. I don't want to hear them, you know. And so we had to have a talk. I took him to dinner and sat him down one day. And we had to have a talk because um he was going down a path

i couldn't follow and and i um there's another star wars for you guys and i told him that it i the only way we were going to get through this the only way we're going to stay married and happy is if he um i called it didn't kick my puppy because I believe this way and I'm fine believing this way. But if you start telling me stuff that insults the way I believe, then we're going to have trouble. And I don't really know. I guess he made me start thinking because he had said, OK, fine. But he didn't really hold anything back so I started getting interested in things that he was hearing and and seeing and I one day I pulled out um

his copy of the reason rally he had the dvd and I was watching it and I was watching all the people on there and I was really starting to open up and listen to some things they had to say. And I just, I decided that I'm just too smart to listen to all this crap anymore and believe that this is actually true. And I really don't think I believe that this is true anymore. So it was kind of, it was like a switch because I was sitting there and I, I wrote this little blog post and I told Bill, I said, I really don't want to push send right here because if I push send right here, that's going to make it all true. And like I pushed the enter key and like declared my atheism, you know. And that was, wait, the 12th of July in 2012.

Wow. That's recent. Yeah. That's what when you said the reason rally, I was like, wow, this is very recent then. Yeah, I was still way a believer when he went to the Reason Rally, and he just wouldn't shut up about it when he came home, and I was... Yeah, and you know, for your listeners, just important thing not to do ever. When your wife sits you down to have a serious talk and tells you you're going down a

path i don't follow i can't follow don't bring up hey that's the line from the third star wars movie yeah because some reason they get angry when you do that man yeah that's that's a really hard place to be. I know that I had a lot of the same thoughts when I first sort of realized that I didn't believe. I had a very similar experience where I kind of wished that I did. I had these moments that I wished that I did because it was so easy. It was real simple and it was so easy. It was real simple and it, it was a very comforting. And then, uh, you know, you do, you eventually just say, well, there's not, I mean, there's no way you can go back. Like once you step forward and you say, okay, I really don't believe this stuff. You

can't convince yourself anymore. Exactly. You're just done. So that I, I understand that, that metaphor, that sending it out blog posts, cause you're really just declaring, you're like, okay, I know I really don't believe. And then that's that's that's the diving board that's the step off and there's no way getting back up there yep so when you did hit that when you did hit enter when you declared um did you get a lot of pushback or are you because you're from a religious family right well um that was another thing too i think that my declaring my atheism kind of coincided with my last parent not being around anymore because my dad died in 2006 my mom died in 2009 and my stepdad died in June of 2012 so I thought I think that was I don't know I I didn't want to disappoint my mother because I

keep telling myself even like a couple days ago I was saying you know if my mom was alive right now she'd be so mad at me I don't even know what I do you don't think she'd listen to the show no I don't think she'd listen to the show I have a picture that I that I showed Bill the other day and my mother when I was like eight, baked a cake that said, Happy Birthday Jesus on it. She made a Jesus birthday cake. Wow. Was it like on a cross? Is it like a cross cake with Jesus on it?

No, it was actually a wreath. She made a wreath with Happy Birthday Jesus. She crucified him on a wreath? How does that work? It had like a crown of thorns and there was like blood coming out of it. It was really gross. You know, I grew up Catholic and it even grossed me out. So there you go.

So Bill, what was it that made you want to go to the Reason Rally if you were kind of like closeted? I wasn't really, well, I wouldn't say I was closeted as much as I was apathetic. I see. When I was in the military, I just didn't talk about it. Gotcha. Most people in the military really don't talk about religion. That was my experience. It just isn't something that comes up every day.

You know, you go to work, you work, and that's it. So I got out, I retired, and then, you know, I was sitting here, and I'm reading about Jessica Alquist. You remember when her thing was big? Oh yeah, absolutely. Okay, and I'm sitting here going, here's this kid, right, standing up for the Constitution, standing up for what's right

and pushing back, and I'm being quiet. So I decided, you know what, I'm not going to be quiet anymore. I'm going to at least show up one time and say, you know, I'm one of them. I need to be counted here. And that's why I went to the Reason Rally. Like, just got on a bus and went.

And you know he's famous for that too now, right? Yeah, I'm actually in the unbelievers. He actually has a part in the unbelievers. Do you really? Really? Yes, at one hour and 25 seconds. You have to be quick because by one hour and 27 seconds, I'm gone. But if you look into the crowd, you'll see the big Jesus.

I'm the guy to the left. With the long hair and the red hat on. And I wrote to Richard Dawkins and Lawrence Krauss and asked them, you know, could they amend the credits to put me in? No, Bill Robbins, guy to the credits to put me in? No. Bill Robbins, guy to the left of Jesus. Yeah. No. As of yet, I haven't got a response.

I don't know what's going on with that yet. Their secretaries are slow. I would expect one soon. Don't worry about it. Yeah. Absolutely. I actually think they're going to recall all of the prior like DVDs and everything so they can make the amendment. So on your show, we're talking about your podcast again, who's been some of your favorite guests

that you've had? Because you guys have guest bartenders all the time. Yeah, well, the guest bartender thing is something we started. Susie was out. She was not healthy for a while. So rather than have me carry the show on myself, we kind of brought in a third voice,

just a guest person every time. Best guest bartender. I don't want to say best, but one of the ones I... Memorable. Memorable. Don't say best, but then the one you like the most in favor of all others. They've all been fantastic, but I would say the most memorable was Shelly. Well, that's because Bill is really fanboy over Shelly Siegel.

I am really fanboy over Shelly Siegel. And she was fantastic. She's absolutely a friend of the show now. Oh, that's awesome. She taught me what an Asherah pole is, and I didn't know. What a what is? See, nobody knows this, but Shelly knows. Asherah was apparently Yahweh's woman.

Yeah. She was his bitch. Because they talk about Asherah polesweh's woman. Yeah. She was his bitch. Because they talk about Ashira poles in the Bible. Yeah. And they talk about taking down the Ashira poles. And I just thought it was some kind of wood. But apparently they were poles to Yahweh's girlfriend. Who knew?

Who knew? Huh. But yeah, Shelley Siegel was amazing. I'm having her on. But we've interviewed Jerry DeWitt. We had a conference here in Philadelphia. Yeah, that was awesome.

Seth Andrews was here. And Seth Andrews, Jerry DeWitt, and Shelly Siegel all sat down for interviews with us. That was, I think that was my most entertaining bit. So if people were going to find your show, where would they look?

They could look at www.barroomatheist.com. They could find us on Podbean, iTunes, Stitcher, the usual. Well, cool, man. Well, thanks. Thanks so much for joining us tonight. And hopefully people will come and check out your show. We look forward to being on it soon, too. Yeah. Thanks so much, guys. It was a real pleasure. Thanks. Thanks, guys. So we want to thank Bill and Susie from the Barroom Atheist. You can find their show, barroomatheist.com. They have a podcast.

We're going to be on their podcast soon. We'll let you know when that comes out. We had a great time talking to them tonight, both on our show and we also visited them and hung out on their show. So if you get a chance, check them out, barroomatheist.com. It really does feel like a conversation if you're sitting somewhere in a bar. It's really, I think it has that, it certainly has that feel to it. So if you like that sort of thing, you'll certainly enjoy their show. And it was such a pleasure to be on their show and to have them on to just really genuine, nice people. So that wraps

it up for this time. We're going to come out again next Monday. So we're going to leave you as always until then with the Skeptic's Creed. Credulity is not a virtue. It's fortune cookie cutter, mommy issue, hypno Babylon bullshit. Couched in scientician, double bubble, toil and trouble, pseudo-quasi-alternative, acupunctuating, pressurized, stereogram, pyramidal, free energy, healing, water, downward spiral, brain dead, pan, sales pitch, late night info-docutainment. Leo Pisces, cancer cures, detox, reflex, foot massage, death in towers, tarot cards, psychic healing, crystal balls, Bigfoot, Yeti, aliens, churches, mosques and synagogues, temples, dragons, giant worms, Atlantis, dolphins, truthers, birthers, witches, wizards, vaccine

nuts, shaman healers, evangelists, conspiracy, doublespeak, stigmata, nonsense. healers, evangelists, conspiracy, double-speak stigmata, nonsense. Expose your sides. Thrust your hands. Bloody, evidential, conclusive. Doubt even this. The opinions and views expressed in this show are that of the hosts only. Our poorly formed and expressed notions do not represent those of our wives, employers, friends, families, or of the local Dairy Council. Thank you.