Welcome to Talk Heathen! Today we have ObjectivelyDan and MD Aware who will tackle the topic of abortion taking calls from people on both sides of the spectrum. First caller is Mark in MS who is believes in the resurrection, but is also in favor of pro-choice stemming from his experiences as an OBGYN. You have to put a value of person-hood on the fetus. MD asks him, “Where do you draw the line? How late a term of abortion would you be comfortable performing?” What deserves protection and rights? Viability outside the womb as a practical criteria has its limits. Charles, a Christian from OH, uses the “No True Scotsman” fallacy to attack the previous caller. He then proceeds to ask the hosts why they consider themselves atheists and what standard of evidence is needed for them to believe. We have not seen all the unique claims of Christianity to be true. You must be more specific than just saying the “Christian God”, and for every property you state, there must be justification as evidence. We have meaningful explanations for how our sun was formed, and there is no god required. How do you prove that something supernatural actually exists? Not only have we seen stars being formed, but we also understand how this happens. We want to know and use the best methodologies to get to the truth and this is a standard that no religion has met. Why do you believe what you believe? Is it due to observations or because a book made the claim?Andrew from ME, wants to talk about the recent SCOTUS abortion decision. His claim is that it leads to a more democratic process because it throws the decision back to the states. When slavery was legal, and states had the right to determine if slaves can be owned, was that a good thing or a bad thing? Do you think that democracy is the best way to make these sorts of decisions? Should everything be decided by democratic decisions and is this a fair way to run a society? What kinds of checks and balances should we have? Does the will of the people have anything to do with people’s rights? Laura from England discusses having a bi-polar condition and was pregnant at 17. She found out early and made the choice to have an abortion. She asks, “If people can’t look after themselves in this world, how can they have a child?” Our other rights could be on the chopping block and we need to continue to raise hell about this until we make that change. In Texas, there are no exceptions for rape, incest, and other things. Some people may not be capable of understanding the consequences of a pregnancy and the associated decisions to be made. These decisions need not be made by men! Teo from Croatia asks if the hosts consider Christianity a hoax, and why they do not say that it is just a different path that may work for some people. This path decides policies and what rights to have such as the right to have an abortion. How do you measure who is right? It is not about what you believe, but it is about why you believe. Thank you for tuning in, and huge gratitude to our essential workers! See you next week!