A Christian and an Atheist Walk into a Bar

Neil Newton and Phil Thompson have been talking about religion, philosophy, politics, music, sports, and pretty much anything they felt like talking about every since they became friends while working together at the University of Pittsburgh in the 20-teens. Though Neil is an Atheist and Phil is a Christian, they found that they agreed on more things than not, especially the evils of instant replay! ACAAAWIAB will explore topics like debt, heaven and hell, the Biblical Jubilee, philanthrocapitalism, and many others. Neil and Phil enjoy these conversations, so they figured there's a chance you will too. Original theme music written, performed, and produced by Neil Newton and Phil Thompson. christianathiest.pod@gmail.com

All Episodes

A Christian and an Atheist Walk into a Bar

Know Your Religions

September 07, 2021 • Neil Newton and Philip Thompson • Season 1 • Episode 3

In Episode 3 of ACAAAWIAB, Neil and Phil explore how there is often a difference between what we say we believe and what we really believe. Maybe we participate in institutional religion and maybe we don’t, but either way we may find that aspects of our experience such as economics, science, or technology (or all three) begin to function as unofficial belief systems. We’ll discuss ideas by Roy Clouser, Bob Goudzwaard, John Rapley, Kenneth, Arrow, and David Graber who makes an encore appearance. (Editor’s note: when Phil was talking about Roy Clouser’s theory of religious dependency structures, he mistakenly called him Neil Clouser. Probably because he was talking to Neil at the time.)

In “Should I Really Care About This?” We’ll discover the important truth that orange juice and eggs are not just breakfast foods.

Beers appearing in this episode:

Cinderlands Brewing Monaca S’mores Stout

Einstok Icelandic White Ale

Resources:

Kenneth Arrow's "Uncertainty and the Welfare Economics of Medical Care" (1963) can be found here.

John Rapley's "How Economics Became a Religion" (2017) in The Guardian