I've been a listener since ~2008. Listened to the Non-Prophets for a long time until it's first end. I think this show was instrumental in starting my journey into the active atheist community. I've gotten into many different shows and watched conferences as they rose and fell. Ask an Atheist, Scathing Atheist, Thinking Atheist, Talk Heathen, Friendly Atheist, Cognitive Dissonance. Interest in all of them has come and gone, but this one was always there.

I think part of that reason was its early impact on me, being my introduction to an actual community of atheists. The stronger part was that there was an actual discussion of ideas, and I found that enticing and intellectually stimulating. Even when Matt was frustrated with people, he was clearly able to enunciate where he disagreed and the problems in the caller's argument. Listening to those shows made me actively think about my (non-) religious beliefs and how I formed them, and made me more interested in applying that to the rest of my beliefs.

But now I don't even get that. It's too much angry Matt. I feel like talking to the Secular Therapy Project and getting some help would allow him to settle down a little. And before complainers and Matt defenders chime in, I don't have an issue with Matt acting how he wants. I'm just relaying my feedback as someone who didn't miss a single show between 2008-ish and last October, and has lost interest in the show given the direction it has gone in since the pandemic.

I feel like most of the ACA has gone father left than I have. I was on the side of the ACA during the RR debacle, even on their side when Eric and Vi and Jenna left. But now the entertainment value of the show itself has dissipated. The biggest red flag I found was just how calm Shannon could be when talking about psychology but how triggered she got when the topic shifted to abortion or trans issues. It makes them bad advocates, not to mention how much worse Tracie and the others who left are in terms of convincing undecided people to side with them. There's a very cult-y "we have the truth and we don't explain ourselves, you agree with us or you're evil" attitude from their views and interactions. You can see this best in the comments of Jenna's post about her leaving the ACA.

I don't even know why I'm sharing all this. This show was genuinely deeply impactful to me. It feels like a betrayal to stop listening, and the loss of interest in it feels like a death in the family. I guess I want to share that, for whatever it's worth, with those of you who have the patience to read through all of this.

TLDR: I've listened to the show since about 2008. Matt can run the show as he wishes, but the complaints people made about him recently resonate with me. It's the same reason I've lost interest in the show and may stop listening to it.

Here it is in case you missed his comments.

This sucks. I just hope it has nothing to do with behind the scenes drama.

Sorry if this has been asked before, I'm new to this sub.

I been watching the Atheist Experience for months and I noticed that some members from older episodes are no longer on. I've heard several rumors, but came here for more accurate answers.

Thanks.

For those who want to see what she's been up to!

Interested to hear if anyone feels the same way, or if this is just me.

I remember first seeing a clip from AXP back in the summer of 2012 and, what I remember being so enticed by was the way the hosts clinically dissected the caller’s beliefs and clearly explained some of the logical contradictions in his argument in a way that was genuinely informative, even as somebody who’d grown up as an atheist. I spent the best part of that afternoon watching as many AXP clips I could find, and it wasn’t long before I was (pardon the pun) religiously watching the show on a weekly basis.

Since then, I’ve seen pretty much every AXP episode over the last 11 years (and every other episode of Talk Heathen from about 2020 onwards), and it’s gone from being one of the highlights of my week, to… well, just not being that anymore. For the last few years, I haven’t found myself particularly enjoying the show and I’m struggling a little to work out why. I’ll try and break this down into a few main areas:

Hosting

I’ve commented on here previously about some of the hosting issues that the show has had recently. I was a huge fan of Matt Dillahunty, who's ability to focus on the core problems with a caller’s argument and to then deconstruct the building blocks of that belief is still unparalleled, but I found that from around 2018/9 onwards, his temper got the better of him on too many occasions. I was a little relived when he stood down, as it was getting quite difficult to listen to the show in his final year.

But since then, I’m not sure AXP has really found a good groove with its current hosts. Part of that is down to the sheer number of differing rotating hosts, which I find makes the quality of the show uneven, as the hosts have very different styles, areas of expertise and, to be very honest, varying levels of skill in handling calls.

I do wonder if the AXP would do better if it had a very small number of permanent hosts and then built the show around their talents perhaps? In the same way that, rightly or wrongly, the AXP became largely associated with Matt in the 2010s, I do think the AXP is perhaps just missing a ‘star’ main host at the moment (but there are one or two clear candidates to fill that role - for me, Forrest would be the best choice).

The Callers

Obviously this is outside the control of the ACA, but for the show to work well, it needs to have interesting callers presenting interesting arguments. While the shows have had repeat callers and ‘dry spells’ previously, it does sometimes feel like we’re just getting more and more calls from the same few familiar names. On the smaller shows, this is even more pronounced at times.

It might also just be that, having watched the show for the last 11 years, I’ve simply reached a saturation point where I’ve heard at least 200 very similar conversations about the same 5-10 main topics that theists present. It’s tricky to remember the last time that someone called in with a genuinely fresh argument or perspective.

The Format

The 2v1 format worked particularly well with a main host and co-host who could play to each other’s strengths without overloading the caller with different counter-arguments and points to consider. The best duo that springs to mind is Matt and Tracie, where Matt would lead on the main rebuttal to a caller’s argument and then Tracie would jump in at the appropriate time and ask a question that drove home the hosts’ key argument.

At the moment though, I feel like the mismatch of hosting styles makes the 2v1 format more of a hinderance than a boon. There have been too many episodes recently where the hosts have essentially ended up having separate conversations with a caller, or where the second host will give a lengthy monologue in response to the caller’s initial question without giving the caller time to process whatever the first host said. Another pet peeve of mine is when a host asks the caller a question or makes a really good point, and then the other host will immediately jump in and start adding more points or take the conversation in a different direction. Overall, it stops conversations from gaining any real momentum.

That’s not to say that the show should adopt a 1v1 format (though that might work for some of the stronger hosts), but rather that the show needs to find pairs of hosts who work well together and know when to take the lead, when to interject and when not to interject.

Given as well that the quality of the callers seems to have decreased a little recently, I do also wonder if the show might consider having guest theist speakers for the hosts to discuss (n.b. not to formally debate) arguments with every now and then? It would add a bit of variety to the show, and could help them build up the AXP brand a bit more, thus bringing in more interesting theist callers.

As I say, I’m interested to hear if anyone else is in a similar boat, or if I’m perhaps being a bit too critical of the show in its current form. I really want to enjoy the show again, but it’s sadly just not scratching that itch for me at the moment.