Matt Dillahunty
by Gene Johns
03-12-24
Matt Dillahunty is someone I have learned much from concerning God and religion. No, he hasn’t guided me in the direction of God or my salvation. In case you don’t know, Matt Dillahunty is not a preacher, an evangelist, or a Christian apologist. He is an atheist and an outspoken atheist advocate. He is the first one that I listened to and learned from in my journey from religious entrapment to living without eternal fear of hell. It is true, truth will set you free!
I first discovered Matt Dillahunty while browsing many YouTube videos. I wasn’t searching for anything, just browsing. YouTube is fun because you can start watching a video about tornados and end up watching a video about songs from the 1920s and everything in between. YouTube can take you on a ride more entertaining than the four-and-a-half-minute Harry Potter ride at Universal Theme Park in Orlando.
I don’t know exactly how I got to the YouTube videos of the “Atheist Experience”, but I did somehow. No, I don’t think it was divine intervention or the devil's work. This was sometime in 2007, and it hadn’t been long since Matt started cohosting the show. That was also about when my thoughts about God and the lack of credible verifiable evidence led me to conclude that God wasn’t real. Watching the Atheist Experience with Matt and other cohost favorites of mine, Tracie Harris, Jeff Dee, and Jen Peeples helped me realize I wasn’t alone in my disbelief and that my thoughts and doubts were rational and reasonable.
Watching Matt and the Atheist Experience led me to other atheist advocates like Sam Harris, Christopher Hitchens, Seth Andrews, Dan Barker, and Richard Dawkins. All those individuals educated me on religion and God. They opened my mind to various interesting rationalizations about God and religion. They all helped free me from the shackles of a mythical God and slavery to religion.
But this essay isn’t about my transformation from a lukewarm Christian to a confident, rational, and common-sense atheist. It’s about the extremely talented but slightly tarnished atheist advocate Matt Dillahunty. Why is Matt tarnished? It isn’t because he is a bleeding-heart liberal, although that is what keeps him off my Christmas card mailing list. Most atheists are liberal, and, as a conservative, that makes me a minority within a minority group. Heaven help me. Wait, never mind with that heaven-help-me thing. I can defend myself.
What tarnishes Matt Dillahunty and prevents him from being a four-star activist is his flagrant use of that infamous four-letter word that I won’t spell in this essay. Of course, we all know what that four-letter word is. In recent years, the “F” word has become increasingly acceptable in our normal everyday conversations. That still doesn’t take away how classless it is to use that word in public conversations or with someone you don’t know and debate.
In my opinion, Matt doesn’t achieve the level of respectability other atheists like Seth Andrews, Sam Harris, Christopher Hitchens, Dan Barker, and Richard Dawkins have achieved because of their measured and generally polite engagements with those opposed to atheism. Matt should be at their level because he is extremely knowledgeable, very articulate, and extremely capable of holding his own with any misguided Christian apologists. Yet, his flagrant use of profanity and name-calling reduces his star power.
I have heard Seth Andrews and Christopher Hitchens use the “F” word on occasion. Those rare times don’t make it any less insulting or disrespectful, but it was generally used when explaining their position or view and not directly responding to their opponent in an oral argument about God or religion. It was rare and without name-calling. Matt also has a tendency to name-call.
What troubles me about Matt and his flagrant use of the “F” word, name-calling, and quick temper is that, at one time, Matt was in the process of becoming a minister. One would think that someone interested in becoming a minister (preacher) would be more considerate and civil when engaging someone in a debate.
Matt did not become a preacher because he had an atheist roommate he cared about and wanted to save him from eternal hell. So, he delved into the Bible and other areas of research, looking for a way to convince his atheist roommate and friend that God and Christianity were real and true.
What Matt discovered was Christianity and the Bible were full of inconsistencies, misleading and untruthful. Matt read the Bible and became an atheist. The Bible, when read with an open mind and without the filter of religious indoctrination and belief without evidence, exposes itself to undeniable inaccuracies and contractions with unreliable and unbelievable stories. Matt realized the Bible was just a book of myths and legends.
I spent nearly 22 years in the military. Listening to Matt dropping the “F” bomb and name-calling isn’t something I can’t handle. I just think it is so unnecessary. Matt’s confidence in his view feeds into his arrogance and lack of civil discourse when debating believers. I understand his frustration when debating unprepared and inept amateur Christian apologists. Matt would be so much more effective if he refrained from using the “F” word and name-calling.
There have been many videos of Matt that I thoroughly enjoyed and learned from. I would have shared those videos with some of my friends and relatives of mine. However, I always opted out of doing so because I didn’t want to expose my family and friends to Matt’s profanity-filled, verbally abusive lectures to helpless, defenseless, and delusional but otherwise decent people.
I will say in recent years, Matt has restrained himself a little from bashing opponents with name calling and dropping the “F” bomb. I’m not sure if he is mellowing out with age or because, after all these years of engaging unprepared and inept amateur Christian apologists, it just takes more to ignite the “F” bomb fuse.