In today’s episode of Talk Heathen, Student Doctor Ben is joined by Johnny P. Angel who together will unravel caller’s opinions about trans people in sports, leaving religion, and propaganda.

First up is Bill from PA has a question about what advantages cis males who transition into woman might have with sports. How do you arrive at the conclusions you have about this topic? How honest is your representation of the data when your intuition tells you trans women have advantages? What factors make someone good at sports? What is the difference between a trans woman who has physiological advantages as a result of going through male puberty, and a cis female who happens to already have those same advantages?

Kay in London was a Jehova Witness for years and now sees holes in the religion. He finds it more difficult to see purpose in life not being in a cosmic battle. The purpose now is to make every second count and truly be human. Stepping away from a fantasy can free up time to make the world a better place. Time changes what one is passionate about. In the end we all die, but in the meantime we can play as hard as we can and make it count. How can you use your life to improve the lives of others and alleviate some of the suffering? What types of things make you want to engage with this reality?

Joseph in CA has an idea about creating memes to help with the transition from fossil fuels. Is it ethical to spread propaganda that you know is false in order to do something good for the environment? Humor has been used recently to poke holes into the absurdities of religion, but it is not going to cure our fossil fuel problems. Creating alternative myths for people who we think can’t be convinced of climate change is not the answer. Correct representation of true facts is how we get out of this sinkhole. What percentage of evangelicals are climate change deniers?

Thank you for tuning in this week! Thank you to all the veterans for your service! See you next week!