038 – Discussing Islam and Faith with Ex-Christian Lilith
I am going live with Lilith Liberated to discuss Islam and her story
YouTube version for this podcast: https://youtu.be/JCKjAubdOUE
Here are the timestamps for the podcast:
0:00 Introductions
0:35 Lilith’s religious background and how she became an atheist.
9:00 How would the concept of God be false given how common the stories are?
13:20 The history of God ( Karen Armstrong). Scanty evidence for Abraham, Adam, and other biblical figures (Finkelstein).
19:18 No consistent definition of God. The anthropomorphic images of God in the earlier portion of the bible – are they proof the bible was corrupted as claimed by Muslims?
23:00 How religions utilize storytelling as a powerful tool for their survival. People like Muhammad used storytelling to unite a lot of pagans and created a very large empire.
28:45 Arguments from semantics – Are miracles magic? Demons and holy ghosts. Revelations VS hearsay. How can we even test the veracity of the claims in those revelations?
35:00 The problem of Contradictions in the Quran. Can the Quran abrogate itself?
37:35 The branding problem in Islam – “Islam the religion of peace”. The differences between nominal Muslims and Islamists. Parallels between Islam movements and Christian movements in response to calls for reform.
45:00 The cognitive dissonance in Christians who are not able to mirror their criticisms of Islam onto their own religion. Judeo-Christian values? Do people have faith in Science? Differences between science and faith.
55:20 Quran miracle claim on the preservation of the body of Pharaoh. Science and skepticism debunking miracle claims.
59:06 The lack of original Christian texts from the early days (1st and 2nd century). Burning of Competing copies/ variant readings of the Quran just after the death of Muhammad by Uthman.
1:04:42 Paul’s letter claiming that 500 men witnessed Jesus’s resurrection – Is it even true and accurate? Bart Ehrman’s explanation of high and low Christology.
1:09:49 Lilith’s social handles and projects.
1:10:30 What Lilith learned from reading a thousand nights in one night.
1:12:00 Lilith’s response to the claim that she wants to demonize Muslims. Is it hard for Lilith as a white woman to criticize Islam given the political climate?
1:14:20 Why Lilith continues to criticize religions?
1:15:09 Do people struggle with finding meaning in life after they leave religion? Accepting the harsh realities of life. The different framing of God and Satan in Islam and Christianity.
1:22:08 Abdullah article defending Muslims. The accusations of anti-Muslim Bigotry against Abdullah.
1:24:16 What is true Islam? Ahmadiyyas’ cherry-picking of the Quran and their mental gymnastics explaining miracles in the Quran.
1:26:55 Saving one person equivalent to saving mankind? Plagiarism in the Quran
1:32:36 Final remarks.
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