Matt DillahuntyI've spoken at a lot of conventions and conferences over the past decade and this is the first time I've felt a need to actually denounce a convention (though some of it was very good) and explain why the leadership and direction of that conference simply isn't in line with my goals.
Whether or not it's the right convention for you is your call.
One thing I didn't mention in the video is that they invited the writer/director of the film (which we argued about at AA) to their convention (as a special guest) and I was expressly told that it was about schmoozing someone 'in the industry' to promote their Batman and Jesus film...they care more about attention than truth, they care more about attention than being decent. That was a point I was building up to, before getting distracted. I'd add that note to the video, but it's already to long.
Mythcon and humanismMatt Dillahunty2017-10-05 | I've spoken at a lot of conventions and conferences over the past decade and this is the first time I've felt a need to actually denounce a convention (though some of it was very good) and explain why the leadership and direction of that conference simply isn't in line with my goals.
Whether or not it's the right convention for you is your call.
One thing I didn't mention in the video is that they invited the writer/director of the film (which we argued about at AA) to their convention (as a special guest) and I was expressly told that it was about schmoozing someone 'in the industry' to promote their Batman and Jesus film...they care more about attention than truth, they care more about attention than being decent. That was a point I was building up to, before getting distracted. I'd add that note to the video, but it's already to long.Atheist Debates - I can do all things...except...Matt Dillahunty2024-10-18 | The Bible says Christians can do all things through Christ - but can they?Atheist Debates - The MCU and Secular Religions?Matt Dillahunty2024-10-11 | This isn't about the Marvel Cinematic Universe.... there's a different MCU and it's kinda like a religion.Atheist Debates - The Root of All Evil .. really?Matt Dillahunty2024-10-04 | 1 Tim 6:10 - is the love of money really the root of all evil?Athest Debates - Debating: Is Jesus God?Matt Dillahunty2024-10-02 | Is Jesus...anything? Was he? How would we know?
A viewer asked about this specific debate topic and if/how I'd address it.Atheist Debates - Evolutionary Argument Against NaturalismMatt Dillahunty2024-09-30 | "Naturalistic evolution selects FOR traits that tend to lead to survival. SOME true beliefs about the natural world lead to survival SOME false beliefs can also lead to survival The probability of a given survival-promoting belief being true is LOW OR INSCRUTABLE Therefore: If naturalism is true, then our cognitive faculties are unreliable…which means we cannot know if naturalism is true.
In short: If naturalism is true, you can’t know that naturalism is true."
OK, and....?Atheist Debates - Logical Beginnings - FallaciesMatt Dillahunty2024-09-27 | Why does it matter if an argument is fallacious? Do I need to know them all by name?Atheist Debates - MAILBAG - August 2024Matt Dillahunty2024-09-24 | A handful of questions on: Spirits Booking discussions with me Taxation as theft?Conversation with EX-PASTOR Darante Lamar on His DeconstructionMatt Dillahunty2024-09-14 | Support me on Patreon! patreon.com/atheistdebates
Matt Dillahunty has a conversation with ex-pastor Darante Lamar, diving deep into their experiences with Christianity and their journeys out of faith. They discuss the performative nature of religious leadership, the struggle to maintain honesty in the pulpit, and the challenges faced by clergy members who no longer believe. Lamar shares his personal story of leaving the ministry after 20 years and the isolation he faced in the aftermath. The conversation explores the psychological impact of religious doubt, the difficulty of building new communities after leaving faith, and the importance of resources like the Clergy Project for supporting former religious leaders.Atheist Debates - Logical Beginnings - Validity and SoundnessMatt Dillahunty2024-09-12 | A graphic-free description of the most basic foundation of logic: syllogistic structures.Atheist Debates - Does God have Free Will?Matt Dillahunty2024-09-03 | Will (free or not) requires desires or goals, which seem to required uncertainty. If God has perfect knowledge of the future and himself and he's always had this knowledge then not only can he not have free will - it's dubious that he could have will, in any meaningful sense.Atheist Debates - Consciousness as EnergyMatt Dillahunty2024-08-30 | Is consciousness energy? If so, can it be destroyed?
Or will this argument demosntrate that we can live forever?!?!Atheist Debates - Hyperbole will destroy the worldMatt Dillahunty2024-07-31 | A follow up to a talk I gave about assuming and assertring intent, motivations and how exaggerations shift the burden of proof and get your issues dismissed based on your dishonesty as an interlocutor.Atheist Debates - Stupidest argument against atheism...ever?Matt Dillahunty2024-07-27 | A twitter warrior for God decided that b*stiality somehow poses a problem for an atheistic worldview.Are We Like the Foolish Man Who Built His House Upon Sand? | LINE CLIPSMatt Dillahunty2024-07-26 | This caller on The Line suggested we didn't build our house upon a proper foundation
SUPPORT MATT ON PATREON: patreon.com/atheistdebatesAtheist Debates - Whats wrong with Louisiana and Oklahoma?Matt Dillahunty2024-07-16 | Louisiana is requiring the 10 commandments to be posted in all classrooms that receive state funding - Oklahoma is requiring all teachers to have a Bible in their classroom and to teach from it.
Even the math teachers??Atheist Debates - Gods Surprise - No Free Will?!Matt Dillahunty2024-07-09 | A three-pronged approach to dealing with a creator god, who knows the future and who chooses which universe to create or when to intervene.Atheist Debates - Professional debater reviews Biden/Trump 2024 Debate 1Matt Dillahunty2024-07-01 | What went right and wrong, for each of them...what should have been said and what needs to happen at the next debate.Atheist Debates - What Men Want?Matt Dillahunty2024-06-29 | Dueling Christian memes about what sort of woman a proper, adult, Christian man should seek as a wife.
I kid you, not, this is clearly important stuff!Atheist Debates - God: Hide-and-go-seek champion?Matt Dillahunty2024-06-29 | Divine hiddenness from the standpoint of hide-and-go-seek. A possibly pointless exercise...but considering apologists claims, shouldn't the game already be over?Atheist Debates - God: Abortion Provider?Matt Dillahunty2024-06-21 | God seems to be the biggest provider of one particular area of the abortion 'industry' - sending fetuses to the wrong wombs.Atheist Debates - The OTHER Empty TombMatt Dillahunty2024-06-11 | The Miracle of Calanda - an empty tomb for a restored leg, that simply makes no sense.Atheist Debates - Miracle Healing? The Marlene Klepees story...Matt Dillahunty2024-05-28 | Born in 1962, Marlen Klepees had a rough life and claims to have had a vision from Christ that predicted and led to her being healed from Cerebral Palsy in March of 1981 after 3 months in St. Mary's.
I've investigated the documentation and various reports on this "miracle" and present my findings, here.Atheist Debates - Debate Review: The Resurrection Part 1Matt Dillahunty2024-05-24 | A review of a debate with Than Christopoulos on whether the purported resurrection of Jesus was a historical event.
If you think it'd be worthwhile to have Than and Matt work together to review the details of this debate - add your comment below!Atheist Debates - Can God Communicate Clearly?Matt Dillahunty2024-05-14 | If god can communicate clearly with the authors of holy texts in the past, why doesn't he do that today...why not communicate clearly with each of us?Atheist Debates - End Boss Debate Format reviewMatt Dillahunty2024-04-03 | On The Line, we've added a new debate "show" with an unusual format. I'll be posting that first debate on Patreon, as well, to get your thoughts - but here is the after-action report on what went right, what went wrong and how we're going to change the format in the future.
Debate here: youtube.com/watch?v=xKsueSoUDTYAtheist Debates - Biblical ResurrectionsMatt Dillahunty2024-03-29 | In addition to Jesus, the Bible mentions several other individuals and groups that were raised from the dead - though it's no completely clear on a couple of them.
Should we believe these claims? How significant should a resurrection claim be, if it's literally only 2 sentences?
The debate will be live, Friday, the 29th here: youtube.com/watch?v=7Z_16ISkhhQAtheist Debates - The God Bless The USA BibleMatt Dillahunty2024-03-28 | Trump is now shilling the Lee Greenwood "God Bless the USA" Bible, which failed just 3 years ago... because the MAGA crowd will fall for almost anything.Atheist Debates - What should/shouldnt change your mind about GodMatt Dillahunty2024-03-22 | I generally avoid the sort of glib, writing in the sky, claims - but what sort of claim SHOULD convince us that a god exists.Atheist Debates - Nonresistant NonbeliefMatt Dillahunty2024-03-19 | Schellenberg's Divine Hiddenness argument for the nonexistence of a God who desires a relationship is one of the strongest arguments against such a being.
But is nonresistant nonbelief, or rational nonbelief, possible? If the Bible suggests it's not possible, is the Bible wrong? How can we tell? If we can't read minds, how can we confirm that nonresistant nonbelief is possible?
If I think I'm a nonresistant nonbeliever, am I correct, deceived or attempting to decieve?Atheist Debates - Hell is a two-edged swordMatt Dillahunty2024-02-29 | A friend explains to me why they started to doubt the teachings of their church.
You can certainly motivate people to join, obey, behave and fall in line with threats - but when those threats extend to outright denials of who we fundamentally are, the threat can vanish and backfire.Atheist Debates - Currys Paradox: Is Logic unreliable?Matt Dillahunty2024-02-09 | For a bettery understanding of Curry's Paradox, I'd recommend: https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/curry-paradox/ And: youtube.com/watch?v=TZynFX2O_YA
Developing a basic understanding of logic, logical fallacies and paradoxes is critical to being better at spotting problems in formal logic, which can improve your ability to spot problems in informal logic.
Logic isn't wholly unreliable, and our ability to identify how reliable it is - is a strength.Atheist Debates - Two headed animals? Whats that about?Matt Dillahunty2024-02-08 | Polycephaly and coinjoined twinning in animal and humans are essentially the same, but often viewed and described differently.
And yes, it's wild that I'd link to baptistnews - but that's where this very LGBTQIA-friendly survey got posted.
If people are leaving church communities because of how those faith communities treat their gay friends - what does that mean? Is religion just a club of conveniently agreeing people and NOT a statement of confidence about the truth of a god?Atheist Debates - ALL atheist arguments answered ANSWEREDMatt Dillahunty2024-02-02 | For the first time, I'm responding to an online video at the request of a friend. If you like this and want to see more (especially in the hope that the algorithm will help promote others doing similar content), let me know in the comments.
While these "arguments" may have come from atheists, at some point, precious few would count as arguments "for atheism". Some of these 'atheist arguments' are bad...and ones I wouldn't ever recommend making. Others are legitimate objections to some theistic claims (though this video is heavily tilted toward Christian theism).Atheist Debates - 2023 Final video with Q&AMatt Dillahunty2024-01-05 | Is Christmas Pagan? Does the Bible require you to make amends with those you've wronged in order to be saved?
Are you an atheist in West Virginia? Comment below!Atheist Debates - Black Ravens and GodsMatt Dillahunty2024-01-04 | An interesting diversion to some of the longer content - Hempel's pardox (the Raven paradox) is an interesting potential issue with evidence in epistemology. But can it also be used to argue against the existence of gods?Atheist Debates - Debate Review vs Haqiqatjou Part 3Matt Dillahunty2024-01-03 | Part 3 of the 4-part debate review. This covers the second hour of the debate, in detail.
The full debate can be viewed here: youtube.com/watch?v=rpZBlm8zELAAtheist Debates - Debate Review vs Haqiqatjou Part 2Matt Dillahunty2024-01-01 | Part 2 of the 4-part debate review. This covers the full first hour of the debate, in detail.
The full debate can be viewed here: youtube.com/watch?v=rpZBlm8zELAAtheist Debates - November 2023 questions - Debates, Claims and ThankfulnessMatt Dillahunty2023-12-07 | Patron questions for this quarter (approximate timeframe): Where are the debate reviews for X? Would you debate this person or this topic? When you say claims aren't evidence do you just mean they're insufficient? Why not be thankful to God for surviving heart attacks and surgery?Atheist Debates - Implied arguments, Memes and FallaciesMatt Dillahunty2023-12-07 | A twitter discussion about a meme and a response to it, which I found fallacious, lead to quite a bit of discussion and thought about informal logic, memes without clear syllogistic structure, what the plain-reading of things should be...and how strict should the definitions of fallacies be.
Tu quoque, whataboutism and parody - was almost the title for this video. :)Atheist Debates - I walked out of another debate....Matt Dillahunty2023-12-05 | At DebateCon 4, by Modern Day Debates, I was paired up with Andrew Wilson, an individual that I didn't know at all. He had agreed to defend a Biblical Christian worldview as superior to Secular Humanism for society.
He lied.
He was there to get some schock-jock sensationalized footage of him going after me on gender and trans issues. He conceded my world view, didn't present anything about the Bible or Christianity, didn't address the secular humanism presented and specifically spewed a parade of "Matt thinks this, let's see if he can defend it", interspersed with mockery and name-calling of trans folks.
The debate was the final straw of folks showing up to get attention from my name instead of defending the beliefs they agreed to defend.Atheist Debates - Im Dishonest in Debates?Matt Dillahunty2023-11-03 | A caller recently suggested I was dishonest in debates because I don't show up and defend "No, there is no god"... this video covers that call, falsifiability, in general, and whether theism or deism is falsifiable, specifcally.Atheist Debates - Debate Review - Evidence for God w/ Howard StirrupMatt Dillahunty2023-11-01 | The only debate I've ever walked out of. I would have titled this "I ran away from a debate!!" if I cared about Clickbait - but I don't. This debate shouldn't have happened...and should not happen again.Atheist Debates - Debate Review - Secular Humanism vs Islam w/IssaMatt Dillahunty2023-10-01 | This debate was full of agreement and agreeable discussions - making it unique within the set of "Matt debates Muslim". Primarily, this is because Issa is already a fan of secular humanism, but he values Islam as well and wants to see Muslims better treated and better represented.Atheist Debates - Debate Review vs Muslim Apologist Daniel Haqiqatjou Part 1Matt Dillahunty2023-09-29 | This debate review covers the pre- and post-debate planning and events, along with coverage of one incident from within the debate.
The three 1-hour segments will be reviewed next month, in 2 or 3 additional videos as there's a lot to be said about each hour of the debate.Atheist Debates - What if the universe is young AND old?Matt Dillahunty2023-09-03 | Whoaaaa! What if God created the universe 6-10k years ago, but made it look billions of years old? Bong-hit apologetics at its most amusing.Atheist Debates - That should be ILLEGAL!?Matt Dillahunty2023-09-02 | Should Mormon Proxy Baptism be illegal? What about free speech? What about someone praying for you? What about adding your name to the member list of an organization that you're opposed to?Atheist Debates - HopeMatt Dillahunty2023-09-01 | Hope - what is it? Are humanists hopeless? Does Christianity offer realistic hope for an afterlife?Atheist Debates - BAHACON presentationMatt Dillahunty2023-08-31 | I was unable to attend BAHACON due to health issues so I recorded the talk I had planned to give and wanted to share it with Patrons and the rest of the world.
The atheist, freethinker, secular humanist movement must continue - and must do so while addressing more issues than merely religion.Atheist Debates - The Highlander argument against ChristianityMatt Dillahunty2023-08-01 | TW: Highlander 2
A quick, mostly for-fun, deconstruction of swords and angels in the Bible and in the stories tied to the Bible and how absurd they are.