In this episode we’re joined by Matt Baker from Useful Charts and discuss his YouTube channel, past in the Worldwide Church of God, transition to atheism, conversion to Judaism, and his doctoral dissertation studying the personality of atheists.
- The feedback form is at htotw.com/contact
- Leave us voice message at +1 (208) 996-8667 or htotw.com/speakpipe
- Support the show on a monthly basis with Patreon or just once with PayPal, credit or debit card, Apple Pay, or Google Pay links are at htotw.com/donate
- Subscribe at htotw.com/subscribe
- Join our Discord server at htotw.com/discord
This episode is brought to you by:
- JS
- Danielle
- Henry K
- Darryl G
- Erica B
- Sally R
- Chuck R
- Pat Acks from the Humanists of Idaho
- Arthur K
- Big Easy Blasphemy
- Nathan P
- Sam E
- Samuel C
- Steven
- Balázs
And by our other patrons and those who want no reward.
Contact information, show notes, and links to Social Media and the like can be found at https://htotw.com
The music in this episode is:
Welcome to the Show by Kevin MacLeod
Link: https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/4614-welcome-to-the-show
License: https://filmmusic.io/standard-license
NewsSting by Kevin MacLeod
Link: https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/4124-newssting
License: https://filmmusic.io/standard-license
Ditty Pong by Kevin MacLeod
Link: https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/4676-ditty-pong
License: https://filmmusic.io/standard-license
Disco Sting by Kevin MacLeod
Link: https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/3653-disco-sting
License: https://filmmusic.io/standard-license
Sweeter Vermouth by Kevin MacLeod
Link: https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/4450-sweeter-vermouth
License: https://filmmusic.io/standard-license
Full shownotes can always be found at https://htotw.com/33
Download episode
2 comments
I left Mormonism over 4 years ago, in my late 50s. Your podcast really resonates with me. You don’t realize that you grew up in a cult until you leave.
I’m definitely TP in Meyers Briggs spectrum, and on the Enneagram scale I’m a 5 with a strong 7, or Investigator/ Sceptic.
I consider myself a Sectarian Humanist. Philosophically I find Nihilism Existentialism and Absurdism comforting after deconstructing religion.
This is very interesting — Matt’s description of Judaism reinforces my conviction that there is something fandom-like about American liberal Judaism in the best possible way. Just like most fandoms, they take many life lessons from a canon of stories, they have rituals and holidays, they discuss their stories and how they fit into the time they were written and modern times, they even have Daf-Yomi-like watch cycles, they even choose their friends from their fandom. The ONLY thing they do that a typical religion doesn’t is acknowledge their canon of stories as FICTION. It’s an excellent example of how people can get everything they normally get from religion without having to “believe” in anything. You can get a great deal of comfort and community from something while also knowing it’s fictional. And religiously, you can get a lot from a founding body of myth while knowing it’s mythical.