Digital Social Hour
Bryan Calcott vs Demon Erasers : Do You Need Religion to Be a Good Person? | DSH #1596
30 Oct 2025
Chapter 1: What moral insights do atheists and Christians share in this debate?
Some of the worst people I've ever met in my life have been Christians. Some of the most moral people have all been atheists. And part of the reason why I say that is because an atheist doesn't believe that they're going to be judged for their actions.
I am a Christian and I follow Christ. What that means is to follow Christ. and operate in love. And one of the biggest things that I think, unfortunately, a lot of Christians don't do is operate in love. I know what's right.
I know what's wrong. And I don't have to believe in the fear of hell and the reward of heaven in order to be motivated to do right towards my fellow man.
Religion doesn't really matter. And he came to show us that basically it is your heart that matters and the way you treat people and the way you love people. Like God is love.
Okay, guys, another debate for you guys today. We have a Christian versus a non-theist today, both with the same name and both have been guests on the show. So, gentlemen, thanks for coming on. With a Y, too. Yeah.
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Chapter 2: How does love factor into Christian teachings according to the speakers?
We're both Ys.
We're both Brian with a Y. Bro, we got it the right way, dude. I know, man. We got it the right way.
We agree on something. We agree. That's the Brian bondage right there. But yeah, Brian, you shared your story with religion, I think, on our first episode, right? Could you briefly go through that again so Brian can understand what you went through?
So my father was a pastor, so I definitely come from a Christian background. I describe myself now, though, as a non-theist. And what I mean by that is that I believe the human condition is one of uncertainty. And I do not believe that you can conclude there is a God with certainty. However, I also believe that you cannot conclude that there is not a God with certainty. So I have...
found the most peace in life with admitting that the human condition is one of uncertainty and will always be one of uncertainty. And with that, I have found that I direct my energy towards living in the moment and really trying to capitalize on every second, because to me, it's a very real possibility that this life is all we have. And
that rather than taking away from the enjoyment of life i would say actually adds to it and it makes me even more appreciative to be alive and the other thing too when it comes to meaning and purpose i can you know understand the appeal of wanting to believe that there is this loving and all-powerful god and that you are this special creature and he's created you for a purpose and you have a plan i i do understand you know why people are emotionally drawn to that
However, I also think about, well, you know, if we are primordial ooze and I just so happen to be here and I really am the product of a one in like 400 trillion chance that's even possible. It also makes me unbelievably appreciative to be alive.
So that's ultimately what it comes down to is that I think intuitively I know what's right and I know what's wrong and I don't have to believe in the fear of hell and the reward of heaven in order to be motivated to do right towards my fellow man.
um i enjoy helping people i enjoy acting out of love rather than hate and i enjoy just knowing that maybe i am here just by chance and to me that is enough i wake up every day with meaning and purpose and like i said it's to me it's really just admitting the you know the reality of the uncertainty of the human condition that has given me the most peace okay so the um
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Chapter 3: What personal experiences shape the beliefs of the speakers?
You know, are we talking about something deeper? So when I'm talking about good, when I'm talking about the benefit, if you want to get down to the Jordan Peterson semantics here, I'm not talking about a dopamine rush. Oh, I just had a sip of coffee and woo, I feel good. I'm talking about the deeper, meaningful kinds of things.
Like if you hold a baby in your arm, if you see an amazing sunset, you know what I mean? Things of that nature. When I say good, that's ultimately what I'm talking about. And I don't think that there's anything wrong with doing something that makes you feel good. So as long as it comes at the benefit of someone else.
What I would say is wrong is when it's a zero sum game and my benefit is coming at your expense. And what you ultimately see in those situations is that when I'm living at the expense of others, I think I'm being benefited, but ultimately I'm not. And when you go to like ecological systems, I'm obsessed with regenerative agriculture.
And you look at what happens in the soil and how nothing exists in a vacuum. And there's this whole symbiotic relationship where if something is being taken, it's being given back at the same time. So to sit there and say that I'm motivated by good because it makes me feel good. And like I said, I'm not talking about a whim, I'm talking about that deeper meaning.
I don't think there's anything immoral or wrong with that. So as long as my good is also associated with your good. I'm not gonna feel good about taking $100,000 from you, but I would feel good about making $100,000. Like you're a marketer, I market too. I would feel great about making $100,000 off of you because I just helped you launch a product and you just did $10 million in sales.
we both benefited. So my whole concept of morality is symbiotic. And I think that when you look at life, the only reason life exists is because of that symbiotic relationship where if something is taken, it is given back. If it's only a one way street,
things don't sustain themselves and ecosystems that have actors to where they're just taking from the system and they're not giving back, they ultimately collapse. And you see that in the human body with cancer cells. What about chickens? What about them?
What do chickens give you other than eggs? Like, what do you give the chicken?
Well, I mean, you're giving them life.
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Chapter 4: How do the speakers define the relationship between morality and belief in God?
You know what I mean?
Like, see, and that's my thing is that I just can't like you can say that. But then it goes back to I would the assertion would be that I think that you're arguing from what you already want to believe that. and then you're willing to go back and bend things and twist them to fit that belief versus being an objective person and saying, okay, am I really okay with that?
Does that really make sense? And one of the examples I'll bring up, because I know you said you want to talk about this, is the original creation stories. So my understanding of the archaeological record is that the Jewish religion was completely and totally different before 587 B.C.,
The Jewish religion was very different. In fact, the Jewish religion today is more akin to witchcraft than it was prior. Wow.
But what I'm saying is there was no mention of Adam and Eve. There was no mention of the Garden of Eden before 587 B.C. They came in contact with these stories. That's when King Nebuchadnezzar subjected the Israeli people into captivity and brought them into Babylon. And the Jewish scholars believed that it was Enlil Jehovah that gave power to King Nebuchadnezzar.
to conquer them and subject them so they came in contact with the original stories where inky the wise the snake wrapped around the tree was the true benefactor of mankind and that and he wanted mankind to be elevated to the status of a god and so this is why he truthfully in the original story told eve partake of the tree of knowledge of good and evil and ye shall be as gods and so they changed the story so that they made um
what you believe to be the devil, to be the liar. And they made Enlil Jehovah, who was actually the liar in the original story, they made him to be the benefactor of mankind. So when these documents were discovered in 1855, it sent a lot of turmoil through the Christian community. And there was a pastor, and his response was, the devil put these tablets in the desert to test your faith.
And that's the kind of mental gymnastics where it's just to me, if you are being objective and you're not emotionally attached to this religion for whatever reasons, you just can't accept that. And it's I can see some of the arguments that people make. And I can say, okay, well, I can kind of agree with that conclusion. But then there's other things that I also know to be true.
And in order to make all of these things true, the mental gymnastics that you have to jump through, I'm just not okay with that.
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Chapter 5: What insights about the archaeological record are shared?
that came and ultimately wiped away the Atlantis civilization, and that you look at Gobekli Tepe in Turkey, and that's ultimately where our civilization that we're connected to started, and it was with the information that came pre-flood. And that's once again, like you go back and you look at the archaeological record.
Our archaeological record is not valid, bro. Like it's so broken in so many parts. Geological then.
The geological record showing that the Younger Dryas Comet did smash into the North American ice sheets did create this massive.
There's multiple. I mean, let me ask you a question. Why is there no Zeus worshippers today? Where are all the Zeus worshippers at? I mean, I think you could say... Where's the Zoroastrianism worshipers? Where's the Babylonian worshipers? Where'd they all go? Why are we digging up their temples, bro? Why are we still digging them up?
Okay, but by your own logic then, they're still Jews and they're still Muslims. So does that give their religion credibility too?
No, no, Jews and Muslims came after the Judaism that today came after Jesus Christ. Just so you know, like it's a totally different form of Judaism.
Well, I know there's a Judaism, the mysticism that was, you know, 1000 AD that came about. But I, for me, the archaeological... So my belief from the archaeological record is that the Jewish religion that you're referring to did not come after Jesus and that there's clear archaeological evidence that shows that it came after 587 BC.
So telling me about the specific interpretation of it and whatnot, et cetera, et cetera, that is not going to convince me until you can point to actual archaeological evidence that shows that that Jewish religion didn't come about after 587 B.C. and before Jesus. And I'm not trying to be an ass here, but it's like you're making these claims.
I'm saying the archaeological record does not support that in any It seems like you say, well, no, it does, and let me tell you why. Here's the interpretation, and you start going into the interpretation without actually relying on archaeological evidence.
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Chapter 6: How do personal experiences shape beliefs about morality?
Oh, the Jewish religion in the Dead Sea Scrolls is very valid in a lot of ways, and it's very interesting.
But it's literally the first five books of the Torah. It's the second book of prophets.
Bro, it's got the book of Enoch in there. It talks about the other entities. It talks about the other gods that you're questioning about. Like when you read the second, there's so many crazy stuff.
I'm not questioning those gods.
Yeah.
I'm saying that those interpretations of those gods that we know of came 3,500 years before the first Jewish interpretation. My claim is that the first Jewish interpretation was after 587 BC and that we have these original stories, everything that you're admitting, I would say the truth of the existence of, that those original stories came 3,500 years before there was this interpretation.
I don't think we can say that. that it came that timeframe. Like the thing is like our datings is not determinably accurate. And so here's what I would say is like in regards to, I get where your perspective is. I get that your view is like, well, this came first, so this must be truth.
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Chapter 7: What are the implications of suffering in relation to God?
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The old gods came before the biblical text. Okay, they were before the flood. So everything about the old gods was pre-Bible, was pre-Judaism, essentially. So do you believe that the flood that flowed through Adam and Eve came from Enki? Do you believe that? No, I don't believe. I believe it was God. But Yahweh put breath of life into him. But that's a different perspective.
And that's what I don't understand.
Okay, well, I'll explain why.
I'm saying that that story came 3,500 years after that story.
Totally get that it's older. And I totally acknowledge that some of these texts are older. The correction comes in with this understanding because the narrative, the biblical narrative, is the only narrative where everything strings together as unified. I don't think it does. Well, I'll tell you right now.
And it goes back to what I told you about the Sunday school example, about here we have Adam and Eve. They had kids. Their kids went out and married. And it's just from a very logical perspective.
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Chapter 8: How does free will relate to the existence of evil?
They believe in not cutting their hair, which is a Nazarite vow. In fact, in Sikhism, the word Nazarene means the speaker. It means the one that speaks. And the Nazar, in fact, they call Christians Nazarenes, I believe, is their term. Why Nazarene? Why is that a word in their language? Well, it's because of Jesus of Nazareth.
And so all of their religion in Sikhism is actually a perversion of Christianity completely. And when you realize all of this stuff, and then go into Hinduism, they believe in Brahma. Brahma married... Saraswati, okay? Saraswati is Brahma's daughter, okay? Well, in the Bible, Abraham marries Sarah. Sarah is his father's daughter. So when you see this, you're like, wait a second.
that's like, is Judaism ripping off of Hinduism, but then somehow Christianity is from here. And then this is from that. And so like, bro, when you get into it, like, I mean, even the Japanese culture, I don't know if you've seen Japanese in relation to Hebrew text. Have you seen it? It's, it's like parallel, like type in Japanese and Hebrew and like, just look at the way that font looks.
It'll blow your mind. You're like, wait, wait a second. I mean, you know, the little shrine, they call them a Koshi shrine that they carry. That's gold in Japan, bro. That's the arc of the covenant. But they don't know that. Those people don't know that. People misconstrue and think there's multiple religions. There is not multiple religions.
There is one religion that the whole world understands and is connected to. And when you come to this realization that all the religions, Muslims, their belief system stems from Christianity. It's a perversion of Christianity. Like Jehovah's Witness, same thing, perversion of Christianity. Like the Mormonistic view, same thing. It's a perversion.
All the religions of the world, even the pagan religions, they're all perversions of Christianity today. But the ones in the Old Testament were perversions of something else. OK, so there's there was a there was some kind of cataclysmic event and the younger Darius and all this stuff that that what his name talks about. But like there was some kind of cataclysmic event.
And that's why all the temples are all being discovered. We're digging up the temples, bro. What do you think all the pyramids are? Do you know what the pyramids all over the world? What do you think that is? Those are towers of Babel, bro. Why do you think there's an unfinished one on your dollar bill? The unfinished tower of Babel. That's what the pyramid is.
What do you think the little eye coming down? Like all of the pyramids are what it was.
My question then, and this is like, it goes back to like the problem with evil too and whatnot. So you would agree that religion is important. It's going to lead you to God, which is going to lead you to heaven.
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