"We're not saying it wasn't God, we are saying there's no reason to think it was God. That's different. " Matt Dillahunty
The first time I saw Matt Dillahunty on the Youtube screen, I didn't even know he was who he was. It wasn't until I revisited the same video just recently that I realized I had seen him years ago. Matt moderated the debate with Bart Ehrman and Robert Price on the subject "Did Jesus Exist?".
Matt came across my viewing screen in the last year when I found "The Atheist Experience" and "The Line" call in shows. (the same shows that introduced me to Forrest Valkai)
I'll be honest. I mostly prefer Forrest's interactions with theists on those shows more than I do Matt's. How do I say this without casting a shadow on what can be very enlightening conversations? Matt can be abrasive. Maybe it's just my personality that gets a little turned off at that approach. I watch sometimes just to toughen my skin, but his aggressive reactions are not my favourite Matt Dillahunty performances.
I much prefered Matt in his stage conversations with Jordan Peterson and Sam Harris and Richard Dawkins. He seems a lot more calm. I don't blame him for getting riled up at a good number of the callers into the shows. Some of the stupidity that comes across in those conversations would boil anyone's blood... and he gets some of the same responses over and over again. But he keeps doing it and I have to give him credit for his resilience to religious ignorance.
But I did catch an interview where Matt's compassion overrode his low tolerance for uninformed and uncooperative theists.
Every once in a while, I catch a conversation where Matt is genuinely compassionate for the caller. Those conversations I like to listen to. Maybe it is a better energy for me, but I am also drawn into the compassion for what is simple ignorance because the person wasn't exposed to another perspective.
Matt has been an atheist influencer for more than two decades. His insight and understanding is valuable for anyone wanting to learn more about life after theism.
Here are a couple of talks I enjoyed that Matt shares from his Atheist Debates project.
