Have you ever noticed when an Atheist is interviewed on TV

[edhopper]

they automatically have a member of the clergy for "balance".
Yet clergy and other religious oriented people are interviewed all the time and they never have an atheist on for balance.
Funny, huh?

[Curmudgeoness]

1. Belly laugh funny. Funny like a heart attack funny.

But then again, I suppose that it really is funny that the religious people are so afraid of atheists that they feel the need to defend themselves.

[no_hypocrisy]

2. Depends on the atheist.

Dan Barker, co-president of Freedom From Religion is an former child evangelist. He knows the Bible backwards and forwards and is a formidable challenger to any co-panelist who is also a member of the clergy. He is more scholarly and successfully uses the Bible to trump them in debate.

[RaleighNCDUer]

3. It is my experience that most atheists know the bible better than most

religionists.

Not only that, but they will also have at least a passing knowledge of other religions, more so than Christians.

[RKP5637]

5. +1, n/t

[cleanhippie]

4. Well sure, because having a non-believer speak out is PERSECUTING them!

Anything short of total silence is persecution, intolerance and bigotry.

[Jim__]

6. A couple of counter-examples that took less than a minute to find.

Hitchens on 60 minutes, Hitchens on Anderson Cooper. Hitchens is the only one I looked for and I just grabbed 2 - I don't know how many others are out there. I realize that when people want to believe something, facts will not interfere with a strongly held opinion. I just thought I'd point out that your statement is clearly wrong.

[Deep13]

7. We-e-ell, Hitchens shills for a lot of things, not just atheism.

I saw him on a show just after he found out he had cancer--may have been Stewart-- and he mentioned his atheism, but it wasn't the central topic of the discussion, IIRC. Anyway, I'd have to watch the interviews to know that there is no bone to the religious thrown in.

[rug]

8. Notably, the war in Iraq.

[Deep13]

10. Afraid so. nt

[Jim__]

9. Hitchens (no clergy) TV interview on "God is not Great".

The Daily Show

[Deep13]

11. Thanks, I'll try to watch it when I get a chance. nt

[trotsky]

12. Your two examples are interviews of Hitchens specifically about him and his battle with cancer.

I could be wrong, but I believe the OP was referring to news programs where an atheist is brought on as a commentator - this is generally only done when the atheist is "balanced" by at least one clergy member or a nutcase like Bill Donohue.

Your zest to correct people would be useful when one of R/T's frequent posters launches yet another tirade against atheism as being the cause of all the deaths that happened in Stalin's Soviet Union and Mao's China. Care to help out with that sometime?

[Jim__]

13. They also talk about his atheism. But, see post #9. - n/t

[trotsky]

14. Yes, please re-read my post.

Thanks.

[dmallind]

15. Great - you think you can find as many as I can of religious believers alone? 1/10th? 1/50th? nt

[Jim__]

17. I'll tell you what, I'll let you go first.

:smoke:

[dmallind]

18. No problem - on one condition

It would be worth it if you admitted that there is indeed an anti-atheist bias in the media, and carried that new knowledge through in further discussions. Deal?


:smoke: :smoke: :smoke: :smoke: :smoke: :smoke: :smoke: :smoke: :smoke: :smoke: :smoke: :smoke: :smoke: :smoke: :smoke: :smoke: :smoke: :smoke: :smoke: :smoke:

[Jim__]

21. That's what you were going to demonstrate. - n/t

[dmallind]

23. Stillnot an indication you will accept it if I show solo religious interviews at factor X. Yes?

[Jim__]

24. If you want to prove an anti-atheist bias in the media, first you have to come up with a methodology

Your suggested methodology is not valid. Even coming up with a statistical analysis that makes a strong first cut is extremely difficult. For instance, how do we handle religious networks? Are they evidence of media bias, or selected network bias? Do you know how many studies there are that show liberal bias in the media? Conservative bias? How many of those studies do you consider convincing?

In short, what you're suggesting is an expensive, time-consuming project. If you don't believe that, you haven't really thought about it - which would go a long way towards explaining why you're so sure of what such a study would show. But again, first, define a methodology.

[dmallind]

25. Then your refutation to which I responded is not valid either.

I know damn well what it would show - and coming up with a few hundred links proving it while listening to music say is hardly a burden. Don't presume to speak for what I know.

[Jim__]

26. My refutation is a counter-example to a categorical statement. So, yes it is valid. - n/t

[humblebum]

16. Bill Mahre has been interviewed many times alone. nt

[dmallind]

19. about atheism? As many times as Rick Warren has been about religion?

[humblebum]

20. No, Bill is always very private when it comes to expressing his

thoughts about atheism and religion. SARCASM

[dmallind]

22. Doesn't mean interviewers care about them - but they sure care about godbothering.