5 Questions We Had About the Atheist TV Network
The upper echelons of the cable box have gotten increasingly specialized. There is a channel just for golf, and several that run only religious programming. So perhaps it’s inevitable that there is now a channel, available through Roku streaming boxes and the Internet, devoted entirely to Atheism. What does that mean? Well, let us break it down for you.
1. What is it exactly? A group called American Atheists runs Atheist TV. Their goal is to provide a counter to the stream of religious-tinged programming through shows that focus on science and history.
2. Who’s behind it? They have teamed up with several producers, including Whale Wars’ Liz Bronstein and The Aristocrats’ Paul Provenza to work on shows exclusive to the channel, focusing on things that are of interest to the Atheist community. The goal, American Atheists president David Silverman told the New York Times, is to “provide a breadth of content, from science to politics to comedy, all centered around our common freedom from religion.”
3. What does it all mean? No psychics, no vampires, no shows about big foot. No shows about spirituality.
4. What kind of programming is on it? What you’ll actually see if you tune into The Atheist Channel: In the time that I watched the channel—intervals spaced out over a Friday afternoon—most of it was talk show-styled content of Atheists debunking ideas. (One such show was The Atheist Experience, a cable access TV show from Austin, Texas). There were also occasional spots by evolutionary biologist and Atheist spokesperson Richard Dawkins, as well as comedy set from Australian Atheist comedian Tim Minchin.
5. Is it worth watching? Maybe. In an age when closely-held religious beliefs are a sticking point for how we are allowed to treat people—specifically women and the LGBT community—it’s refreshing to have content that is relentlessly rational. But you might want to see it for yourself.
(Image via Vice.com)
