Podcast Archives
19 July 2013
Marriage
The institution of marriage is in a hell hole, according to some fundamental Christians at any rate. In this episode we look at gay marriage, humanist marriage and what is even the point of marriage from an atheist perspective?
12 July 2013
Does religion make you happier?
Is ignorance bliss? In this episode we look at whether being religious could actually make you happier, even if it isn't true.
5 July 2013
PRISM
It turns out that the US government is spying on everyone - should we be surprised? In this episode we discuss PRISM, Edward Snowdon the information analyst who leaked the information to the press and is now on the run, and the recent connections to Wikileaks and Julian Assange, as well as looking at balancing privacy with state security.
8 June 2012
Discrimination
Discrimination is a big issue at the moment - especially when it comes to men and women being discriminated against in the workplace and at university. What about so called "positive" discrimination? Is all discrimination just discrimination?
1 June 2012
Freedom of Expression
Yes, we're talking about freedom of expression once again because it's always a hot topic. Should you be allowed to joke about blowing up airports on Twitter? Of course you should!
25 May 2012
Profiling Terrorists
Sam Harris recently suggested that we should only target people who look like they might be terrorists (young men, including himself), as every minute spent searching a child or an infirm senior citizen is a minute wasted by airport security. But would this approach work? No. But it's not quite as simple as no; the answer will take 26 minutes to fully explain.
15 October 2010
Evolution of Religion
Are religions currently experiencing a rapid rate of change or have they been changing at this pace throughout history?
8 October 2010
Pope's Visit
With the Pope recently having visited the UK, Chris is joined by Norman and George to discuss it (though most of the discussion focuses on their recent trip to Europe given they were out of the country when the Pope actually visited).
5 March 2010
Star Trek
Come on, it was bound to happen eventually. Which was the greatest series? Who was the best captain? (You don't even need to listen to find out who that is, because it's obviously Picard of course). All these questions and more will be answered.
26 February 2010
Fitna
With the recent controversy over Leeds University Union banning the Atheist Society's screening of Fitna, the guests discuss the film and the wider implications for freedom of speech.
19 February 2010
Travel
One of the great things about the podcast is that it covers wide ranging topics that everyone can relate to - such as travel. It's not like it was just us sat round discussing holiday plans. Now in double the bit rate too!
11 December 2009
Healthcare
Healthcare is a major voting issue in elections and has produced some interesting results in recent times and people standing up for the NHS.
4 December 2009
The Right Wing
The right wing have made significant ground in recent times with the BNP gaining two seats in the European Parliament. Is this a fleeting trend or something bigger? Are the left wing any better?
27 November 2009
The Past 9 Months
We discuss what we have been up to during the shows nine month hiatus.
20 February 2009
Be Nice to Muslims Day
In an effort to improve interfaith relations, Chris invents a new holiday.
13 February 2009
The AHS
With the press launch of the National Federation of Atheist, Humanist and Secular Student Societies arriving next Thursday, we sit down to talk a bit about what the organisation is and what it does.
6 February 2009
Charles Darwin
With Darwin Day being next Thursday the guest discuss Charles Darwin's contribution to the world, namely having such an awesome beard.
30 January 2009
Recession
With the British economy now officially in a recession, major banks and businesses failing around the world and millions out of work, the show asks the all important question. But we're not going to tell you what the question is ;).
23 January 2009
Political correctness
Having banned Christmas the evil atheists plot what else can be outlawed as not being politically correct.
16 January 2009
Rationalist Week 2009
Chris and guest discuss Rationalist Week 2009, the biggest free thinking student event of it's kind in the UK, possibly the world. The 2009 event is set to be better than ever and in between the inane banter there are occasionally bits of information about it.
9 January 2009
2008 in Review
Chris and guests look bad at the good times and the bad times, the big events and the little events of 2008.
2 January 2009
New Year's Resolutions
The guests discuss what a load of crap the idea of new year's resolutions are - and then make some.
26 December 2008
Christmas special
This was going to be an episode dedicated to discussing the origins and current state of Christmas and how it really isn't a Christian holiday. However because of certain events the show was instead dedicated to the recent Leeds University Union proposed motion to stop stocking Halal and Kosher meat because of the ethical considerations of religious slaughter.
19 December 2008
Jazz Cafe
When Dr. Moz notes that the Christian Union run an event named Jazz Cafe, the guests begin considering what alternative events Leeds Atheist Society could host.
12 December 2008
Is Humanism a religion?
A strongly contested issue, some consider Humanism just to be another religion others say it contains none of the BS of a religion. The discussion also covers whether we would want Humanism to be a religion or not.
5 December 2008
Live from London
Sorry about the awful, awful sound levels. We tried to fix it in post production but it's very hard to record a live show when you don't have a mixing deck or a decent microphone. Anyway, this show was recorded live at Weekend Away 2008 in London and features many contributors from Leeds Atheist Society.
28 November 2008
Religious Slaughter
With the recent LUU referendum motion to remove Halal and Kosher meat for ethical reasons, the show discusses both religious and secular slaughter of animals for food.
21 November 2008
Live from the AHS Conference
This episode was specially recorded at the November 2008 conference of the National Union of Atheist, Humanist and Secular Student Societies which is why there are a lot of random people in it. And why the audio levels suck. But it's entertaining none the less.
14 November 2008
The Economy
The world economy seems to be disappearing down the toilet, banks are going bust, prices are going up and everyone is panicing. But has the slide towards recession really altered our lifestyles?
7 November 2008
Vegetarianism
Vegetarianism is a big issue in the free thinking community. With Chris and Gijsbert both being vegetarians it made for some interesting debate with Nicola the kebab fiend.
31 October 2008
Halloween special
With today being Halloween we decided to talk about ghosts, hauntings, evil spirits and other such things.
24 October 2008
Upcoming elections
With the upcoming US presidential election and the UK general election only a year or two away, upcoming elections is tonight's topic of discussion. Also we have our first correction. During the recording of the show I suggested Rudy Giuliani ran of Democratic nomination which soon after I realised was incorrect, he ran for Republican nomination. I don't care, it's not my country, but you have been warned ;).
17 October 2008
Abortion
This week we decided to get a debate going - the topic was abortion. Liz argues for the pro choice side while Nicola argues the case against abortion.
10 October 2008
Sex
Sex. It's everywhere and it's perfectly natural. Yet it tends to be a dirty world in many world religions. Given Norm's recent revelation that he has had sex with a another man we decided that sex should be the topic of the show.
3 October 2008
Secularism part II
Given we didn't manage to stay on topic at all in the first show about secularism, it became a two parter. Will we have any more luck this week?
26 September 2008
Secularism part I
Why is it important to have a separation of church and state? Find out in this two part discussion. And by find out, we mean listen to amusing but off topic banter for half an hour.
19 September 2008
Atheist Morality
Why are atheists good? Why is anyone good? If there is no god, why don't we go around eating babies?
12 September 2008
Paedophilia
Having just watched a documentary that claims one of our guests is a paodophile, we ask some hard questions.
29 August 2008
Religion
In the first episode of the podcast we start off with a rough topic of religion and just kind of go all over.