How do you know?

This is an excerpt from the Atheist Experience TV show, episode #790 (which aired last Sunday), with host Matt Dillahunty and guest Darrel Ray, author of The God Virus: How Religion Affects Our Lives and Culture and Sex and God: How Religion Distorts Sexuality.

How could an educated man - and this pastor, this eighth-grade teacher, must have some education - think that a book is evidence?

Furthermore, how could an educated man think that just... feeling that something "makes no sense" is a good argument for anything, and especially for something so far outside the ordinary realm of human experience?

Of course, he was probably taught by people just as ignorant and faith-based as he is, and he's teaching his own ignorance to his students. But it's hard to imagine that a man could get to a reasonable age while staying this ignorant. Apparently, his students are learning better, so why hasn't he?

I also thought it was interesting that this pastor views parasites as good design. An omniscient, omnipotent god can do anything he wants - by definition - and that's the best he could do? That was how he chose to keep overpopulation from occurring? Even I could have done better than that!

And, er, I hardly need to point out that it's not working, do I? There are seven billion people on this planet, straining our entire ecosystem, and human populations are still growing. So not only was it a cruel and disgusting way to limit population, given all the other ways a god could have done it, it's not even an effective way. It didn't even work!