[chuck]I’ve been trying to get in touch with Leighton to record this week’s podcast, but apparently he’s at a Wiccan winter solstice party living it up. That’s dedication for you!

We’ll get to it tomorrow. In other news, the E4F guys recently posted a “Debate Analysis,” which is apparently an hour-long analysis over what amounted to something like 15 minutes of debate. Interesting that they’d be “analyzing” a debate without the opposing side present to rebut their claims. I wonder what the point of that could be? Shouldn’t the debate stand or fall on its own merits?

I’m beginning to wonder if this kind of thing isn’t standard operating procedure for Christians: change the terms of the debate at the last minute, get beat anyway, then show up alone the next week and spin doctor like crazy.

22 Responses to “Leighton sucks”

  1. it seems that Dr Mike is one of those ‘special’ doctors who got their medical degree from an osteopathic medical college. He lists a BA and a BS for his other degrees, but why not MD for his medical degree? Could he be one of those special breed of doctors called DOs but isn’t proud enough to proclaim it. It also seems that he isn’t afraid to discuss his religious views with his patients…

    from their website:

    Dr. Michael Lurakis graduated from the Univ.of Pennsylvania in 1976 with a B.A. in Biology, and a B.S. in Medical Technology. He received his medical degree from the Phila. College of Osteopathic Medicine in 1980 and opened his practice in Mays Landing in 1985. He served for nearly 20 years as the Troop A physician for the N.J. State Police. In 1991 Dr. Lurakis was voted Atlantic Co. Physician of the Year by Home Health Agency Nurses in South Jersey. He is a fellow of the American College of Osteopathic Internists and is board certified in Internal Medicine. He enjoys camping with his wife and children, model railroading, and hunting with his dog, Brandy. He was excited to become a part of “Evidence for Faith” in Sept. of 2008, bringing medical and scientific insights into the arena of faith. Dr. Lurakis also enjoys sharing his faith, Biblical insights and prayer with his patients

  2. Lurakis really made me appreciate how Chuck doesn’t mention he’s a doctor before every single thing he says.

  3. I’m going to stick up for Leighton here.

    Wiccans and “Pagans” sure believe in kooky shit, no doubt about that, but they sure know how to throw a fucking party.

  4. They also know how to delay a podcast.

  5. duffman_ohyeah says:

    Thanks for the link PZ pwned

  6. Discord.agent says:

    I just figured you guys were respecting the celebrated week of Jesus’ birth.

  7. No defense of Dr. Lurakis here, but a word in defense of osteopaths. They are legitimate doctors (in the US), nothing to be ashamed of. They work in hospitals, clinics, etc. next to MDs. I’ve asked doctors about this and they say there is no stigma attached to being a DO.

    Not so much in Bratannia.

  8. Listening to their rebuttal (I’m suffering for you guys) – it seems they are global warming deniers as well, going on about the climate gate emails. So far they have made a point of Chuck’s tongue in cheek statement of their intention of ‘evangelising atheism’ and are going on about you guys providing no proof for atheism, and not being able to define good and evil without god (plus if you can distinguish the two, then that’s proof of god.)

    They also go on saying that god’s actions that kill kids is okay because he’s the one that gives you life and that gives him the right to take your life, or reward them for their suffering if it’s a horrible death, therefore God isn’t evil… Obvious, isn’t it?

    They also seem to think that if Chuck and Leighton were bought up ‘Proper Christians’ rather than Mormons taught so many lies then they’d still be going to church on Sundays.

    I don’t know if I can make it through the rest of this “response”.

  9. Uncle Chester Westerfield says:

    I’m hoping nobody listens to the E4F podcast like I did. Since I did, I can let everyone know that their arguments add nothing new to the debate. They sure love their 2nd Law of Thermodynamics (A Law trumps a Theory). Their anti-evolution turned into crappy “philosophy” and the Absurdity of Atheism podcast was better than Comedy Central. Take my word, All, and don’t be tempted to listen out of curiosity.

  10. “Lurakis really made me appreciate how Chuck doesn’t mention he’s a doctor before every single thing he says.”

    Yes. I noticed that little bit of framing right from the get-go. It was something like, “And I’m Dr. Mike Lurakis. We have Chuck and Leighton here…” It was the first of many times I wanted to punch him through the radio.

  11. I hate to say it, but you guys got owned in that debate. Not because of the retarded responses that those dimwits came back with, but because of the lack of offense you your behalf. All of their arguments are traditional, and should be very easy to refute. 2nd Law of Thermodynamics, you say? the Solar System is a closed system??? REALLY? I can’t see the glass separating it from the rest of the Universe?
    ~ Point is, you guys should have really been more aggressive; that way those guys would have a much harder time going on air the next week and spinning the shit out of your arguments. When put point blank, they’d either have to lie or just ignore it.
    ~If you need, next time take me as backup. I don’t mind being condescending to radio hosts on their own program, as long as it is Evidence 4 Faith.

  12. I didn’t think you guys got owned at all – It wasn’t even a debate, it was just that other lot saying some dumb shit and you guys laughing and taking the piss, with occasional pockets of chuck gently but firmly letting them know what time it is. Funny as fuck.

  13. Herb (12th Apostle) says:

    Congratulations, fuckers. Instead of voting for you two prophets, your apostles blew their loads on Internet porn for a second year in a row. Atheist News is the winner of 2010 Poscast Award for Religion and Inspiration. I believe another Fuck-you, Fans! Month is in order.

  14. Atheist News? I quit listening to that since they would talk about stuff they had no idea about. Worse than these guys by a mile.

  15. Fifth_Horsemen says:

    Atheist News won? That sucks. Ah well, it could have been waaay worse. There are some pretty boring skeptic podcasts out there, this not one of them. Anyway, Christians normally do have to play spin doctor, even in a large group setting like, say a sunday school. I have made countless good points displaying logical fallacies at my cousin’s church, where they tell college students evolution is “devil trickery” and the Earth is 6,000 years old. Some of the people see the ridiculous of their claims (even church leaders!) and still wish to cling to their original position anyway. Its like talking to a goddamned wall, lol.

  16. articulett says:

    How long are these solstice parties anyway? Or did Leighton just suck again?

    I want to hear you guys talk about the E4F “analysis” (damage control)!

  17. Don’t you guys see???? If you don’t do a podcast the week they celebrate that ancient Palestinian’s birthday, the Christian terrorists win!!!!!!

  18. BlueIndependent says:

    Oops, posted this in the wrong thread. I just listened to it. Here is the complete rundown:

    They spend the second half of the hour (not the whole 53 minutes) addressing the debate. And I must recant my praise for their behavior during the “debate”. They apparently masked their true degree of honesty (which seems to be rather low) during the debate, because they were highly dishonest and disingenuous during the “debate analysis”, which was nothing more than 27 minutes rebutting everything C&L said with every Christian fallacy, half-truth, misunderstanding, lie, and logic-free claim every atheist has ever heard. Go on down the line: Atheist regimes have killed the most people. CHECK! AGW is an international hoax. CHECK! Evolution is just another belief system without evidence. CHECK! Dissenters in the scientific community are immediately eschewed from their jobs. CHECK! Einstein was probably a theist (this seems to be the implication the way they talked about him). CHECK! Theists, especially Christian ones, are responsible for all the advances in Western civilization. CHECK! University professors are socialists. CHECK! Universities are indoctrinating our youth by “spoon-feeding” evolution to them. CHECK! The ClimateGate emails are proof of the AGW conspiracy. CHECK! The scientific community has a predetermined bias against research on religious grounds and accepting god as a basis to start from. CHECK!

    Seriously. Every single one of the claims I cite them as having said occurs in 53 minutes, along with probably a few I missed. I’m almost surprised that Pascal’s Wager didn;t get any air time, because that was about all that was left to spew. And this is before they basically recite, dishonestly, every point they brought up in the debate, regardless of how thoroughly it was countered by C&L. They basically say that C&L were spouting atheist lies (that *is* the implication, no matter how softly they put it) either intentionally or unintentionally. And they basically say that C&L use faulty logic in starting from atheism rather than theism simply because their first theist indoctrination was discovered to be false, ergo all religion is not to be trusted. They admit openly they were unprepared for Chuck and Leighton’s arguments, and that they let the course of the debate wander a bit. Why is it Christians are never prepared when the debate is occurring, and only afterward when their foils are not invited into the inner sanctum?

    E4F continues the tradition of Christian apologists behaving very dishonestly when confronted rationally. Every time I come across a Christian apologetic source that claims to take a more reasoned, logical, sensible tack for defending itself, I’m left with the same solid conservative political background that denies any form of scientific evidence whatsoever, denies contrary philosophy and factual record, recites its vapid claims over and over with increasing emphasis, and that lacks any real study to uphold it.

    While I disagree with some commenters here that say not to bother listening, they are at least correct in assessing what the outcome was likely to be. This hour is another chalkboard-scraping, head-bludgeoning, wrist-slitting vomitfest of nearly every non-reasoned propagandistic red herring claim ever made by Christian theists in at least the last century. And they say all of this with the even keel voices of soft rock radio hosts. If their claims weren’t so disgustingly awful, this hour would sound like that SNL sketch from years back where Alec Baldwin and the other comedienne spoofed soft rock radio and said outrageous things on air. The only thing that was missing from this E4F hour was the laugh track.

  19. articulett says:

    Damn, when will Leighton stop sucking and make a podcast?!

  20. I cannot fault Leighton for partying it up with the pagans, but I am pissed off he was stingy with the invites. It’s because I’m married, right? Right??? Damn! I lose more *beep!* that way…
    ; ) Really, though, I hope to hear he had a great time.

  21. skepticviewer says:

    When they say you need life to use energy to increase order, the correct response is “so my car battery is alive?”