In today’s episode of Talk Heathen we have Johnny P. Angel joined by the one and only Katy Montgomerie who will ask callers questions to make them think in addition to giving us some fun facts about the animal kingdom.

Our first caller is Kyle in IL who argues that if there is no religion, we can end up having bad ideas, and productivity goes down. This is because his son made up a religion and has abandoned Christianity, and can’t make money doing that. What is the difference between a 15 year old making up a religion and anyone else doing so? How do you determine which religion is the right one? We are not convinced that religion has anything to do with productivity. Is it necessary for a society to have a supernatural goal in order to succeed?

Next is Ulrich in Mexico that wants to know how evolution results in being transgender.. Katy fires away with some examples in nature including an amazing crab fact. Often in meerkats, in order for the best survival of the genes, they need to work together. There are examples within the animal kingdom where the genes are not necessary to be passed on for survival. Gender identity is something that lots of animals have where the males and females act differently around each other. Some species often change sex such as clown fish. When this happens, the behavior changes happen first. 90% of all the sex that bonobos have is lesbian sex and this builds social bonds making them less likely to fight.

Patrick in Fl asks why pantheism is laughable. He is exploring the possibility that the universe could be considered conscious and that it comes down to faith. He claims that atheists state that god does not exist. Just because we agree that the universe may have come from something, it does not mean that we believe in your god. Is there another reason we should believe other than faith? If a god exists, that god would know what it takes to convince us of that god’s existence. If your god is a natural god, then you should be able to use science to prove it. Why do you believe that the universe is god if we do not have evidence for it?

Joe from PA claims that the earth did not just come out of nowhere and there has to be a god. We could have three possible world views, one is god created the earth, another is that a spell was cast a day before you were born by a wizard named Gary, and a third is that planets collided. Of these possibilities, how do you go about determining the right one? Why does a child being born make you think that god exists? Why did god create humans where we need air to breathe?

Last caller is Alok from CA that wants to know if being LGBTQ is a choice. All human behavior is a mixture of nature and nurture. In this case it is largely nature. There is evidence in every culture and all throughout history. We have evidence that conversion therapy does not work. If it was a choice, then they should be allowed to choose that.

That is all for today heathens, thank you for tuning in and always stay safe!