Ardent Atheist with Emery Emery
Studio: Ardent Atheist with Emery Emery
Category: Comedy
What It Is
Comedian and atheist Emery welcomes guests from the worlds of comedy, faith and atheism into an often pointed, but always funny, discussion of faith, reason and the divide between.
Technical Details
The full show is available to subscribers and runs an hour & a half; the first hour of the show is available free with a new episode every couple of weeks or so. iTunes has the full archive of the free shows, all the way back to 2011. For the full episodes, hit up the show’s website.
What About It
So, I really like this show. I’ve tried a few atheist podcasts and never really found one to my liking until I ran into this one. Emery is an irascible host, but his criticisms and even his occasional rants always feel honest and interested and never mean-spirited. The guests on the show have varying levels of belief in the spiritual realm and Emery is always as interested in hearing what they have to say as he is in arguing with them. As well, both host & guests are always witty people and the show is genuinely funny in a way that a lot of skeptic podcasts aren’t. The conversation is free-flowing and touches on interesting and often overlooked areas; one of my favorite episodes featured discussions of an ongoing scandal over sexual harassment at atheist conventions, something I had never even thought about. Anyway, it’s a show with plenty of offensive material, if you’re into being offended; harsh criticisms and insults are thrown around quite a bit and the show is often very profane and occasionally sexually graphic as well. But I do love the show. I may be a Christian, but a show this smart and funny will always have a place in my iTunes library.
Essential If
You’re an atheist fed up with how obnoxious atheists can be.
Avoid Like the Plague If
You read exclusively Jack Chick tracts.
Best Entry Point
There’s a series of episodes that were really fascinating. Emery had Ryan Bell on as a guest; he was a pastor who, after serious disagreements with is denomination, had decided to attempt atheism for a year. The first episode he’s on is Episode 140, Pastor Ryan Bell Lives a Year as an Atheist. He’s on the show several times through 2014 and into this year as well, but that’s the first one. Incredibly interesting discussions abound: what does it mean to “live” as an atheist? How does one balance personal faith with denominational allegiance? What’s the difference between deciding not to believe in God and simply not believing in Him? The episodes with him on them are just great, so download the first one he’s on and go from there.
3 stars. Conditionally recommended.
Next time, another science podcast I wish I had the time to listen to more often than I do.