Matthew Wade Dillahunty (born March 31, 1969) is an American
atheist
Atheism, in the broadest sense, is an absence of belief in the existence of deities. Less broadly, atheism is a rejection of the belief that any deities exist. In an even narrower sense, atheism is specifically the position that there no ...
activist and former president of the Atheist Community of
Austin
Austin is the capital city of the U.S. state of Texas, as well as the seat and largest city of Travis County, with portions extending into Hays and Williamson counties. Incorporated on December 27, 1839, it is the 11th-most-populous city ...
, a position he held from 2006 to 2013. Between 2005 and late 2022, Dillahunty was host of the televised webcast ''
The Atheist Experience
"The Atheist Experience" is an American live, weekly televised webcast based in Austin, Texas. Listeners are encouraged to call in to discuss the existence of God and related topics. Calls from theists are usually given priority, as the aim of t ...
''.
It was announced on October 2, 2022, that he would quit hosting the show.
He formerly hosted the live Internet radio show ''Non-Prophets Radio'' and founded the
counter-apologetics project Iron Chariots.
Dillahunty is a regularly invited speaker, or debate participant, for local secular organizations and university groups as part of the
Secular Student Alliance
The Secular Student Alliance (SSA) is an American educational nonprofit organization whose purpose is to educate high school and college students about the value of scientific reason and the intellectual basis of secularism in its atheistic and ...
Speakers Bureau. In the summer of 2017, Dillahunty joined a speaking tour promoted by Pangburn Philosophy, where he shared the stage with fellow atheists
Sam Harris
Samuel Benjamin Harris (born April 9, 1967) is an American philosopher, neuroscientist, author, and podcast host. His work touches on a range of topics, including rationality, religion, ethics, free will, neuroscience, meditation, psychedelics ...
,
Richard Dawkins
Richard Dawkins (born 26 March 1941) is a British evolutionary biologist and author. He is an emeritus fellow of New College, Oxford and was Professor for Public Understanding of Science in the University of Oxford from 1995 to 2008. An ath ...
, and
Lawrence Krauss
Lawrence Maxwell Krauss (born May 27, 1954) is an American theoretical physicist and cosmologist who previously taught at Arizona State University, Yale University, and Case Western Reserve University. He founded ASU's Origins Project, now cal ...
.
Biography
Raised
Southern Baptist
The Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) is a Christian denomination based in the United States. It is the world's largest Baptist denomination, and the largest Protestant and second-largest Christian denomination in the United States. The word ...
, Dillahunty considered becoming a
minister.
His in-depth examination of his Christian beliefs, instead of bolstering his faith as he had intended, led him to no longer believe in the basic tenets of Christianity and, eventually, all religions.
[Atheist Experience: Matt Dillahunty]
/ref> Dillahunty spent eight years in the U.S. Navy[ before leaving to work in the field of computer software design. Dillahunty later became a founding member of the '']Counter-Strike
''Counter-Strike'' (''CS'') is a series of multiplayer tactical first-person shooter video games in which teams of terrorists battle to perpetrate an act of terror (bombing, hostage-taking, assassination) while counter-terrorists try to preven ...
'' team Clan Killers 3, and participated in early Cyberathlete Professional League
The Cyberathlete Professional League (CPL) was a professional sports tournament organization specializing in computer and console video game competitions. It was founded by Angel Munoz on June 27, 1997, in Dallas, Texas. The CPL is considered the ...
events and the QuakeCon
QuakeCon is a yearly convention held by ZeniMax Media to celebrate and promote the major franchises of id Software and other studios owned by ZeniMax. It includes a large, paid, bring-your-own-computer ( BYOC) LAN party event with a competitive ...
1997 event. He now streams a variety of video games regularly on Twitch
Twitch may refer to:
Biology
* Muscle contraction
** Convulsion, rapid and repeated muscle contraction and relaxation
** Fasciculation, a small, local, involuntary muscle contraction
** Myoclonic twitch, a jerk usually caused by sudden muscle con ...
.
He first co-hosted ''The Atheist Experience'' in March 2005 and would go on to become a regular host of the program. In October 2011, he married ''The Atheist Experience'' colleague and co-host of the ''Godless Bitches'' podcast Beth Presswood; the couple divorced in 2018. On the October 2, 2022, broadcast of ''The Atheist Experience'', Dillahunty announced that this episode would be his last as host after 17 years of participation.
Dillahunty describes himself as a feminist
Feminism is a range of socio-political movements and ideologies that aim to define and establish the political, economic, personal, and social equality of the sexes. Feminism incorporates the position that society prioritizes the male po ...
. He is one of the subjects of the documentary film
A documentary film or documentary is a non-fictional film, motion-picture intended to "document reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction, education or maintaining a Recorded history, historical record". Bill Nichols (film critic), Bil ...
s ''My Week in Atheism'' (2014) by director John Christy, and '' Mission Control Texas'' (2015). He is also a magician
Magician or The Magician may refer to:
Performers
* A practitioner of magic (supernatural)
* A practitioner of magic (illusion)
* Magician (fantasy), a character in a fictional fantasy context
Entertainment
Books
* ''The Magician'', an 18th-ce ...
. Dillahunty has no formal degrees or higher education, and did not attend seminary
A seminary, school of theology, theological seminary, or divinity school is an educational institution for educating students (sometimes called ''seminarians'') in scripture, theology, generally to prepare them for ordination to serve as clergy, ...
.
Speaking and debates
"I am absolutely convinced from my experience and the evidence that I've gathered over the years of doing this that they are incredibly valuable." He has spoken at atheist and freethought
Freethought (sometimes spelled free thought) is an epistemological viewpoint which holds that beliefs should not be formed on the basis of authority, tradition, revelation, or dogma, and that beliefs should instead be reached by other methods ...
conferences around the country and debated numerous Christian apologists
Christian apologetics ( grc, ἀπολογία, "verbal defense, speech in defense") is a branch of Christian theology that defends Christianity.
Christian apologetics has taken many forms over the centuries, starting with Paul the Apostle in ...
, including Ray Comfort
Ray Comfort (born 5 December 1949) is a New Zealand-born Christian minister and Evangelism, evangelist who lives in the United States. Comfort started Living Waters Publications, as well as the ministry ''The Way of the Master'', in Bellflower, ...
(on ''The Atheist Experience''), and David Robertson on Premier Christian Radio
Premier Christian Radio is a British Christian radio station, part of Premier (a Christian communications organisation), owned by the charity Premier Christian Media Trust.
Premier Christian Radio broadcasts Christian programming, including ne ...
's ''Unbelievable''. At the 2014 American Atheists
American Atheists is a non-profit organization in the United States dedicated to defending the civil liberties of atheists and advocating complete separation of church and state. It provides speakers for colleges, universities, clubs, and the ...
convention in Salt Lake City, he gave a workshop that outlined some key ideas in effective debating: "Take the opponent seriously: 'The audience has to sense that I can perfectly understand their views, and have rejected them.' Use logic: 'I tell them that I can write a better book than the Bible. Simple: I copy it word for word, except the parts about slavery.' And don't forget emotion: 'It is theater. That is my advantage with a Baptist background over someone like Richard Dawkins, although he knows more about science.'" He has also stated that he is willing to say "I don't know" in a debate, a "scary concept" to some of his audience. Alongside fellow activists Seth Andrews
Seth Andrews (born April 12, 1968) is an American activist, author, and speaker on the subject of atheism. He is the creator and host of ''The Thinking Atheist'' online community, podcast, and YouTube channel, as well as the author of four self-p ...
and Aron Ra
Aron Ra (formerly L. Aron Nelson, born October 15, 1962) is an atheist activist. Ra is the host of the ''Ra-Men Podcast'' and a member of the American Atheists board of directors. He had previously served as president of the Atheist Alliance o ...
, he traveled to Australia in March 2015 as a member of the Unholy Trinity Tour. In April 2015 he was an invited speaker at the Merseyside Skeptics Society
The Merseyside Skeptics Society (MSS) is a nonprofit organisation that promotes scientific scepticism in Merseyside and the United Kingdom. Founded in 2009, the society has campaigned against the use of homeopathy, challenged the claims of psy ...
QEDCon in Manchester
Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The t ...
, United Kingdom. In 2018, Dillahunty participated in a discussion with Canadian psychology professor Jordan Peterson
Jordan Bernt Peterson (born 12 June 1962) is a Canadian media personality, clinical psychologist, author, and professor emeritus at the University of Toronto. He began to receive widespread attention as a public intellectual in the late 2010s ...
for Pangburn Philosophy in which they encountered areas of disagreement about religion, specifically its relationship with values and culture. The debate was uploaded to Pangburn Philosophy's YouTube channel.
Views on morality
One of Dillahunty's recurring themes has been the superiority of secular morality
Secular morality is the aspect of philosophy that deals with morality outside of religious traditions. Modern examples include humanism, freethinking, and most versions of consequentialism. Additional philosophies with ancient roots include those s ...
over religious morality
The intersections of morality and religion involve the relationship between religious views and morals. It is common for religions to have value frameworks regarding personal behavior meant to guide adherents in determining between right and ...
. His key contentions on the issue are that secular moral systems are inclusive, dynamic, encourage change, and serve the interests of the participants, whereas religious moral systems are merely unjustified pronouncements. He touched on the subject again at a lecture at the 2013 American Atheists Convention in Austin: "They say we're immoral, when we're the only ones who understand that morality is derived from empathy
Empathy is the capacity to understand or feel what another person is experiencing from within their frame of reference, that is, the capacity to place oneself in another's position. Definitions of empathy encompass a broad range of social, co ...
, fairness, cooperation, and the physical facts about interacting in this universe. They've broken their moral compass and sacrificed their humanity on the altar of religion. They say we're lost and broken and in need of salvation, when we're the ones who are free." Dillahunty holds the view that advocating infinite reward or punishment for finite deeds is "morally inferior".
Advocacy of abortion rights
Dillahunty has advocated for abortion rights
Abortion-rights movements, also referred to as pro-choice movements, advocate for the right to have legal access to induced abortion services including elective abortion. They seek to represent and support women who wish to terminate their pre ...
. After hearing that Secular Pro-Life
Secular Pro-Life (SPL) is an American secular anti-abortion organization. SPL argues against abortion and conducts advocacy, including on university campuses.
History
Secular Pro-Life was founded in 2009 by Kelsey Hazzard, who serves as th ...
set up a table at the 2012 American Atheists
American Atheists is a non-profit organization in the United States dedicated to defending the civil liberties of atheists and advocating complete separation of church and state. It provides speakers for colleges, universities, clubs, and the ...
convention, Dillahunty challenged a representative of the organization to a public debate on the issue. The debate took place at the 2012 Texas Freethought Convention, with Dillahunty debating Kristine Kruszelnicki. Dillahunty used bodily autonomy
Bodily integrity is the inviolability of the physical body and emphasizes the importance of personal autonomy, self-ownership, and self-determination of human beings over their own bodies. In the field of human rights, violation of the bodily int ...
as his primary argument for abortion rights. In March 2014, Dillahunty debated Clinton Wilcox, who is not a member of Secular Pro-Life, though the debate was advertised on their blog. The aftermath led to a falling out with the organization, and Dillahunty announced in a Facebook post that he would not debate them in public again. He and Beth Presswood later appeared on Amanda Marcotte
Amanda Marie Marcotte (born September 2, 1977) is an American blogger and journalist who writes on feminism and politics from a liberal perspective. Marcotte has written for several online publications, including ''Slate'', ''The Guardian'', an ...
's podcast ''RH Reality Check'' to explain the events of the preceding years, and said that "the optics of a cis male without a womb" debating women's rights is not what he wanted to advocate, and would let others take the lead in public on the issue.
Skepticism
Advocacy of the primacy of skepticism
Skepticism, also spelled scepticism, is a questioning attitude or doubt toward knowledge claims that are seen as mere belief or dogma. For example, if a person is skeptical about claims made by their government about an ongoing war then the pe ...
is another of Dillahunty's recurring themes. He said at the American Atheists convention in Austin in 2013 that the closest thing he has to a motto is "to believe as many true things and as few false things as possible," taking his inspiration from David Hume
David Hume (; born David Home; 7 May 1711 NS (26 April 1711 OS) – 25 August 1776) Cranston, Maurice, and Thomas Edmund Jessop. 2020 999br>David Hume" ''Encyclopædia Britannica''. Retrieved 18 May 2020. was a Scottish Enlightenment philo ...
. In the same lecture, he said that being a skeptic is the most important identifier of who he is. In addition, Dillahunty said that skepticism has something to say about untested religious claims, and that philosophical skepticism will lead to atheism. He sees atheism as a subset of skepticism, and he does not see why skepticism should not address religious claims, something that has become a point of controversy in the skeptic community. Dillahunty rhetorically asked, "how popular would psychics be, how popular would ghosts be, if there wasn't this monolithic idea that 70-80% of the population believe, that within each of us is an eternal soul that leaves the body when we're dead and either goes on to some afterlife or lingers around here on the earth?...If you teach people about what we know, about what most likely happens when we die, they will strive to treat people better while they're alive, and their grief will be lessened because they understand reality." He admonished "don't just do skepticism with the goal of getting it right, do it with the goal of not being able to get it wrong." In an interview published by the Norwegian Humanist Association
The Norwegian Humanist Association ( no, Human-Etisk Forbund; HEF) is one of the largest secular humanist associations in the world, with over 130,000 members. Those members constitute 2.3% of the national population of 5.47 million, making HEF b ...
, he said he does not see why religious claims about reality should be treated any differently by skeptics than conspiracy theories
A conspiracy theory is an explanation for an event or situation that invokes a conspiracy by sinister and powerful groups, often political in motivation, when other explanations are more probable.Additional sources:
*
*
*
* The term has a nega ...
and allegations about alien visitation.
Gumball analogy
Dillahunty's explanation of the philosophical burden of proof
The burden of proof (Latin: ''onus probandi'', shortened from ''Onus probandi incumbit ei qui dicit, non ei qui negat'') is the obligation on a party in a dispute to provide sufficient warrant for its position.
Holder of the burden
When two par ...
is often illustrated through the 'gumball' analogy, conceived by then co-host Tracie Harris: if a hypothetical jar is filled with an unknown quantity of gumballs, any positive claim regarding there being an odd, or even, number of gumballs has to be logically regarded as highly suspect in the absence of supporting evidence. Following this, if one does not believe the unsubstantiated claim that "the number of gumballs is even", it does not automatically mean (or even imply) that one 'must' believe that the number is odd. Similarly, unbelief in the unsupported claim "There is a god" does not automatically mean that one 'must' believe that there is no god. This line of reasoning is intended to demonstrate that there is a neutral position. The common retort, "What is your proof that there is no god?" therefore is a strawman fallacy when applied to those who have the neutral position (as well as potentially being a fallacious shifting of the burden of proof).
Awards
In 2011, Dillahunty was awarded the Atheist of the Year award, nicknamed the "Hitchie" for Christopher Hitchens
Christopher Eric Hitchens (13 April 1949 – 15 December 2011) was a British-American author and journalist who wrote or edited over 30 books (including five essay collections) on culture, politics, and literature. Born and educated in England, ...
, by Staks Rosch writing for Examiner.com
Examiner.com was an American news website based in Denver, Colorado, that operated using a network of " pro-am contributors"' for content. It had various local editions with contributors posting city-based items tailored to 238 markets throughou ...
. The award process involved Rosch's readers voting for nominees he selected.
He received the 2012 Catherine Fahringer Freethinker of the Year Award from the Freethinkers Association of Central Texas.
References
External links
*
*
''The Atheist Experience''
*
''Iron Chariots''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Dillahunty, Matt
Living people
American skeptics
American atheism activists
American software engineers
Atheist feminists
Male feminists
American feminists
American former Protestants
American magicians
Atheist Community of Austin people
American abortion-rights activists
Secular humanists
1969 births
United States Navy sailors
Former Baptists
People from Austin, Texas
Activists from Texas
20th-century atheists
21st-century atheists
Articles containing video clips