Find our Sentientist Conversation here on the Sentientism YouTube and here on the Sentientism podcast.

Objectively Dan is the host of Truth Wanted, a call-in talk show that’s part of the Atheist Community of Austin.Truth Wanted focuses on how and why people believe what they believe – and how we can talk about beliefs in more effective ways – whether it’s karma or Christ, Bigfoot or crystals.

In Sentientist Conversations we talk about the two most important questions: “what’s real?” & “what matters?”

Sentientism is “evidence, reason & compassion for all sentient beings.” The audio is on our Podcast here on Apple & here on all the other platforms.

We discuss:
00:00 Welcome

• Dan “coming out” as #vegan during Jamie’s co-hosting of Truth Wanted

03:08 Dan’s Intro

• Listen to Truth Wanted! Is space real? Are there bug creatures on Mars?
• “Americans in particular – not super great at the whole #epistemology stuff”

05:07 What’s Real?

• Growing up #Methodist , then switching to a #baptistchurch
• Community more than theology “your parents went to church so you went to church”
• “I did believe”
• doing evangelical ministry
• Being baptised twice!
• Talking to @Anthony Magnabosco of @Street Epistemology “It was a stepping stone on a journey… I was already deconstructing”
• “This faith thing doesn’t really make sense”
• Being an “igtheist” (basically an atheist) and a #Sentientist
• @Being Reasonable ‘s Mark Solomon
• The Bible “doesn’t really stack up.” Progressive Xtian & Xtian mystic phases
• Reading @Sam Harris
• “I was definitely homophobic… transphobic growing up”. “My Christian faith told me it wasn’t right, it wasn’t natural”
• “When you have a naturalist worldview it’s harder to be homophobic”
• Changing ethics & politics: abortion, immigration
• “Christianity was all I knew… I didn’t understand how to be a good person outside of Christianity”
• Struggles of leaving Xtianity. Lacking community (no @Secular Student Alliance in Waco) “that was tough”
• “There would be more athiests if it was more normal”
• Atheists within religious communities
• Selective dogmatism: #Qanon , #antivaxx , #goop products, #homeopathy
• “#cognitivedissonance is a bitch”
• “When you don’t have someone who is actively challenging what you think you can just think what you want”
• #miracles
• “Churches aren’t places for critical thinking”
• #epistemology #fideism #dogma
• Hebrews 11: “faith is the evidence of things not seen” enables any arbitrary belief
• Most Xtian apologists & QAnon people claim to believe based on evidence & reason
• “A #vegan sense of #ethics made sense”… talking to callers, reading books! “This was a blind spot for me”

34:09 What Matters?

• Is-ought
• Does #naturalism make it harder to have bad ethics?
• Xtianity: “humans are fundamentally broken & sinful”
• “Sometimes gods way is different… that is how you get people to do atrocious things”
• Cognitive overload blocks people from changing “so many questions”
• “Religion came after people… it’s completely a human construct”
• Morality as a human construct, but with pre-human roots?
• God commanding Abraham to kill his son
• “Hell definitely scared me.” The trauma of leaving religion
• Friends “who suddenly dropped me” for leaving Xtianity “they never talked to me again”
• If your whole community disagrees with you “You might just fold”
• Church fund-raising for gay #conversiontherapy : “I can’t even go here any more”
• The “hyper-rationalist” culture in some #atheist communities

47:07 Who Matters?

• Vegans calling in to Truth Wanted & adopting a cat
• Feeding live mice to a snake
• “Why do human beings prioritise the lives of some animals over others”
• Growing up around ranches & learning about #factoryfarming
• “It just started to not make sense… I’ve gotta do it”
• “I’m the only host at the ACA that is vegan… I’m frustrated… It’s a serious blind-spot [in Atheist movements]… the conversations aren’t even happening”
• #AtheismPlus
• Going vegan “felt like I was coming out as an atheist all over again”
• Atheists & vegans being annoying is irrelevant to the arguments
• “I was super nervous talking about veganism at first”
• Atheists with bad reasons for being atheists & vegans with weaker reasons for being vegan (nutrition, purity, environment, spiritual)
• Does confidence on one topic spill over into others?
• Dangers of righteously motivated reasoning in veganism & atheism
• Vegan emotional appeals often aren’t sufficient for many in the atheist world
• “Sentientism [& veganism) is ‘out there’ for most of the world” – it’s going to get scrutiny
• Considering edge cases in bad or good faith (being vegan on Twitter )
• “Veganism is a complicated topic… we pretend that it’s simple”
• “People are afraid… because of the radical implications”
• “I put #Sentientist in my twitter bio” #sentience
• #PeterSinger & equal consideration of interests
• “It’s easier to convince people [that animals have interests] than this idea of sentience” to avoid the confusion around consciousness
• #MelanieJoy & #Carnism
• Can insentient entities like thermostats have “interests”? (no)
• #Panpsychism, #freewill & #determinism

01:09:34 A Better Future?

• How can we get atheist/#secular /#humanist /#skeptic /#rationalist communities to get serious about non-human sentient animal ethics?
• #richarddawkins ‘ comments on Sentientism
• @CosmicSkeptic & @Genetically Modified Skeptic going vegan & getting push-back “that was a big disappointment”
• “I still hesitate talking about it [veganism]”
• Having broad interests “helps normalise it…” vs. “veganism is your whole identity”
• Sentientism drives compassionate, non-discriminatory intra-human ethics, not just our concern for non-human animals
• Wild animal suffering “veganism doesn’t say much about what goes on in the wild”
• “Socrates… was totally cool with people being owned as slaves” & sexism
• “It’s easy to feel like we’re losing… but there are battles that weren’t happening before”
• “Eastern philosophy has a more robust understanding of animal ethics… in the west ‘this is the new hot thing that matters'”
• American politics, #antisemitism & #kanyewest
• “Have hope… don’t give up the podcasts!”

Sentientism is “Evidence, reason & compassion for all sentient beings.” More at Sentientism.info.

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Thanks to Graham for the post-production and to Denise for funding this episode via our Sentientism Patreon.