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Too long has this world been at the feet of the priest. Man is never in that position for his own benefit, but for the benefit of the priest.
[Lemuel K. Washburn, Is The Bible Worth Reading And Other Essays]
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Category: Godlessness
Posted on: June 27, 2009 7:11 PM, by PZ Myers
Sad (in some ways) to say, Atheists Talk radio will make its last broadcast Sunday at 9am Central time. They will continue, but they'll be moving to a podcast format rather than continuing to be sandwiched in between woo-woo altie nonsense programs, which is a good thing.
The show tomorrow will feature Greg Laden discussing missionaries. He doesn't like 'em. Neither do I. It should be a very good last hurrah.
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Comments
Posted by: intepid | June 27, 2009 7:23 PM
The thing I liked least about the podcast was that it sounded like talk radio, with badly compressed audio and overly noisy intro music... I hope they take this opportunity to allow a bit more range in tone and volume without having to worry about dial-surfing.
Posted by: Evil Eye | June 27, 2009 7:56 PM
Don't be sad PZ. It has a much wider audience through Pods than a Public station already. I'm in FL and will still be here.
Posted by: Kate | June 27, 2009 7:58 PM
I found the perfect present for PZ!
http://www.newlaunches.com/archives/bandai_micro_toys_will_float_in_your_bottle_to_gross_you_out.php
Posted by: Evil Eye | June 27, 2009 8:00 PM
Don't be sad PZ. It has a much wider audience through Pods than a Public station already. I'm in FL and will still be here.
Posted by: Felix | June 27, 2009 8:02 PM
I hope he thinks of the most odious and pernicious missionaries that come to my mind:
The evangelical missionaries who exploited (to be) converted and superstitiously confused Africans that their old beliefs in witchcraft and possessions were based in reality, that God had sent his message to Christianity and that it was now their obligation to find and kill the witches.
Of course new converts are often the most zealous, and some traditional shamans probably adapted right quick by picking up the new Christianity label and self-appointed themselves bishops. When the evangelical missionaries saw that their work was done and that it was right bloody and good, they left.
Hundreds or thousands of children and adults wrapped in barbwire, set aflame in gasoline-filled tires, nailed to trees and abandoned in the wilderness later...
A certain German-born man come to high clerical office visits Africa and tells the poor confused and still uneducated masses that their witchhunts aren't such a good idea but that they should trust him and his brand of Christianity to tell them in time if a real witch or demon shows up...
Just as long as they keep the 'love offerings' coming and feed and house the employees he so graciously sends them.
Posted by: another | June 27, 2009 8:16 PM
Bravo, I say. Now, where do I send money?
Posted by: Mike Haubrich, FCD
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June 27, 2009 8:26 PM
Exactly right, Felix. Children are being mistreated, maimed and murdered because of the bastardized Christian confirmation of their beliefs in a new skin.
Posted by: Felix | June 27, 2009 8:31 PM
From Greg Laden:
...
What they said: The civilized lifestyle of cleanliness was specified in the scriptures as appropriate. These missionaries had to set an example. The fact that the only way they could manage this was to have a LOT of servant's at every level making this middle class lifestyle work, and that those servants lived in either dormitories or grubby huts, was ... well, things were said to be in transition. And besides, the Africans were accustom to this lifestyle. And besides, this was better than life in the traditional villages. And so on.
What was true: These people were mostly up from trailer trash, or in some cases middle class, and they weren't going to give up this improved lifestyle for nothing. Never. Good thing they had religion to justify the indentured servitude of the African workers.
Out of fairness, though this is still not fair to the servant's, I'll mention by way of comparison that the Catholic missionaries were there as adults with no children, and the Evangelicals were reproducing all over the place. So the missionaries with kids wanted more luxuries. And of course, there were plenty of servants to take care of the kids. And blenders. For baby food and stuff."
Posted by: J-Ball | June 27, 2009 8:33 PM
"Don't be sad PZ. It has a much wider audience through Pods than a Public station already. I'm in FL and will still be here."
Bingo. I like talk radio, but the schedules never work out for me. Ever since I got an iPod about a year ago, I've subscribed to about a dozen podcasts (two or three I listen to every day, others weekly, and some I keep on hand to fill the time when I'm stuck in airports and airplanes and long roadtrips. I listen to them on *my* schedule. Podcasting is it. And I'm convinced it's the future of broadcast radio and television as well.
I just subscribed to Atheist Talk. I hope it's good.
Posted by: Felix | June 27, 2009 8:37 PM
Greg Laden:
Posted by: «bønez_brigade»
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June 27, 2009 8:37 PM
On the downside, this will mean less exposure to a general audience (since it's on radio). On the upside, maybe this means no more cuts to commercial break without a warning (or very much of one). I've really enjoyed the shows to which I've listened -- and I applaud MN Atheists for doing it every week -- but the no-warning commercial cutoffs annoy the fuck out of me (and probably the interviewees, as well). Regardless, I hope the new format works out for them.
Posted by: Mike Haubrich, FCD
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June 27, 2009 8:42 PM
It's kind of tough sometimes, bonez-brigade, but guests have a bad habit of ignoring our frantic signals to complete their thoughts at a specific time (we give them warning.)
Posted by: Spyderkl
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June 27, 2009 8:48 PM
I panicked for a minute when I saw this on Twitter, but I feel a bit better now. Like everybody else said, maybe this will do away with the "Oopsie! Let's cut off that thought and head to our commercial break" thing. I'm already a subscriber to the podcast through iTunes, so I'm hoping that'll continue.
Posted by: «bønez_brigade»
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June 27, 2009 9:04 PM
@Mike,
Yeah, I can agree with that about rambling guests. And maybe there's more going on behind the scenes than we're aware (especially when the interviewee is in-house); but I've been spoiled by the audible "10/30/60 seconds before commercial" warnings typically given out during radio interviews where the person doesn't just appear to get cut off mid-thought. Nothing that makes me storm off in a fit and smash things -- just something that makes me write a couple of paragraphs to complain about. ;]
Posted by: Timebender13
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June 27, 2009 9:56 PM
I'm fine with this development. I only listen to it as a podcast anyway!
Posted by: Tim | June 27, 2009 10:38 PM
I hope they still have the Cucumber restaurant ads. Even though I live several states away, I still dream about going to their heavenly Sunday brunch buffet.
Posted by: The Science Pundit
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June 27, 2009 11:16 PM
I really hated that woo-woo stuff surrounding the show.
Still, it's one less voice in the main stream.
Posted by: The Science Pundit
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June 27, 2009 11:20 PM
I really like the new error message. I think it will lead to less "redundant comments". We'll see if that plays out, but I think it will.
Posted by: Darren Garrison | June 27, 2009 11:22 PM
I'd watch this!:
http://www.examiner.com/x-2044-Atheism-Examiner~y2009m6d27-Holy-people-to-compete-to-convert-atheists-on-Turkish-TV-show
Posted by: Triggertom | June 28, 2009 12:17 AM
I too, have been annoyed by the unprofessional abrupt cuts to commercials. These shows usually feature great interviews but the formats (with commercials) really take away from an otherwise good podcast. Since I found podcasts three years ago, I have all but ignored conventional radio. I have no use for commercials and I'm sure any guest who is promoting a book, etc, would prefer to be interviewed without derailing a well-formed train of thought. I hope this show will continue in the commercial free podcast format for many years to come.
Posted by: Southern Comfort | June 28, 2009 12:25 AM
Funny, cause I just heard about Atheist Talk radio for the first time today from a humanist group at a city festival.
Oh well I look forward to listening to the podcast since I never turn on my radio anyway.
Posted by: Kel | June 28, 2009 12:29 AM
Already grab the podcast, radio is so 1990s
Posted by: Jeremy | June 28, 2009 12:40 AM
This sounds especially interesting to me, as I'm a missionary kid. Although I didn't grow up in Africa (instead, the Philippines), I'm sure a lot of what is said will be relevant...
One of the things I've been interested in for a while, but unable to find, is some forum or website for deconverted missionary kids. Anyone know of such a thing?
Posted by: MadScientist | June 28, 2009 2:54 AM
As a podcast people like me have a chance to listen. :) Then again, it could also mean that the primary target audience will be missed. :(
@Jeremy: You can see if Atheist Nexus has a special group for deconverted missionary kids. Got any missionary stories to share here?
A few years ago I was in Papua New Guinea and noticed some rather peculiar attitudes in the locals. Another foreigner who's lived there a long time said "you don't know the half of it" and he called over one of the natives and chatted with him for half an hour to reveal to me the extent of the problems. Basically a lot of the people have very low self-esteem and an attitude that "only the white man can do that". I also encountered some sociologists in the area and they absolutely loathed the missionaries, essentially saying that the missionaries inculcated such unhelpful attitudes for their own edification. White man can do magic, little black fella betta listen or he'll rot in hell. I also encountered a missionary and she certainly knew how to abuse the natives.
Posted by: Lyvvie | June 28, 2009 3:58 AM
If anything needs sandwiched between Woo-woo radio shows, it's a show of Reason.
Posted by: Agi Hammerthief
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June 28, 2009 4:13 AM
meh, as podcast they'll be easy to ignore by the woo-ists
Posted by: naturalist | June 28, 2009 5:30 AM
Not exactly on subject but here is a news item about the NRA/Fundies having a gun love in at a church in Louisville Kentucky
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090604/ap_on_re_us/us_guns_in_church
Posted by: naturalist | June 28, 2009 5:32 AM
Not exactly on subject but here is a news item about the NRA/Fundies having a gun love in at a church in Louisville Kentucky
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090604/ap_on_re_us/us_guns_in_church
Posted by: XD | June 28, 2009 5:37 AM
Off topic:
Doctors: 'Let us pray for patients'
Evangelicals just love preying on the vulnerable.
Posted by: Michael Fonda | June 28, 2009 6:07 AM
That Laden guy's a hell of a writer.
Posted by: Xenithrys | June 28, 2009 11:49 AM
I'd love to hear Greg's views on missionaries that pretend to be aid agencies.
When the local kids come calling for sponsorship for the 40 hour famine, I say "Yes, I'll sponsor you, but the money goes to UNICEF, not World Vision".
Well, to be honest, sometimes I just lose it and give them a grumpy earful :-)
Posted by: robotaholic
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June 28, 2009 1:53 PM
get real ppl, there is no bright side to this- the show was always available as a podcast or mp3, i listened to it on my blackberry - but now it just wont also be on the radio- that's not good
Posted by: Stephanie Z | June 28, 2009 4:55 PM
The podcast is now available.
Actually, robotoholic, there are some upsides, mostly having to do with flexibility of format and location. With a contract to do a live show, we haven't had a lot of flexibility to accommodate the schedule of some of the guests we'd like to have. We can do that now.
Posted by: reason
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June 29, 2009 6:38 AM
Didn't quite know where to post this. But this might be of interest to the folks here:
http://stumblingandmumbling.typepad.com/stumbling_and_mumbling/2009/06/the-atheists-songbook.html
Posted by: Ralph Nelson | June 29, 2009 2:46 PM
I was disappointed in Greg Laden's account. It doesn't sound the slightest bit objective, full of sarcasm and unsubstantiated claims. The worst example of this was the accusation of one missionary being a pedophile, although no where in the text is there any evidence of that claim, just name-calling: "the Great White Boy Lover". In the comments Laden admits that he has no hard evidence, he just "knows" it. I expect such sloppiness with the truth from believers, not from someone with a high regard for it, which is what I hope most atheists have.
I am interested in substantiated claims of missionary abuse, however. Can anyone give some links to objective data and information on this?
Thanks,
Ralph
Posted by: liliabillman
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February 11, 2011 11:09 AM
I'm sad to have come across this after the last broadcast happened. I've never heard an Atheist radio show, but I'm interested. I spend a lot of time listening to a Texas Evangelist, and, though I'll never give up my Christianity, I like to know what's out there.