The charming and funny Dr. Darrel Ray returns to the show to discuss his exciting new book, Sex & God: How Religion Distorts Sexuality. This show was recorded on January 7, but I am a giant moron. I edited and uploaded the audio files as usual, but DID NOT update the actual feed. I am [...]

In this episode, David Silverman, president of American Atheists, joins us to talk about the upcoming Reason Rally and other things going on in the atheist community. Before that, Eli and Lamar read listener mail and announce future changes to the show. NOTE: This show was recorded on November 12, 2011. Yet another show released [...]

Lamar and Eli get together and discuss Occupy Wall Street, the Republican presidential candidates, a list of poorly thought out defenses to so called common objections to Christianity, and whatever else came to mind. NOTE: This show was recorded on October 15, 2011. We sincerely apologize for the lateness of this release.

The title is a bit tongue-in-cheek, but it does come up on the show and Humanism is the primary subject in Eli’s interview with Jennifer Hancock. Before that, Lamar and Eli spend a good hour and a half discussing current events and listener mail. NOTE: This show was recorded on October 1, 2011 and the [...]

Lamar and Eli are back after an unexpectedly long break with plenty of email and commentary on the state of American politics. This episode also contains two interviews; one with film maker, Roger Nygard and another with Nick Lee of Atheist Alliance America. Both interviews were conducted by Eli.

I want to take this moment to apologize to our listeners, I can’t give an exact date, but I can confirm that there will be new Chariots of Iron Episodes in September. I want to tank all of those who have emailed and left comments on the various internet locations Lamar and I frequent. As [...]

In this episode, Eli and I present the winners of the Nature of Existence Contest we announced in Episode 70. While reading the submissions, I butcher the word “garrote,” sorry Michael.

Eli is back just in time for our pre-rapture episode. As many of you may already know, today is the day that all of the True Christians™ are swept into the clouds to be with Jesus—at least, that is, according to Harold Camping.

In this episode, Dustin Williams once again teams up with Lamar as co-host while Eli is away. The Bible Geek, Dr. Robert M. Price joins the conversation in the second half of the show to share his views as an atheist practicing Christianity.

Eli is out this week, but our good friend Dustin sits in as co-host. Together we go through the mail bag before we yammer on about Idaho’s new abortion law and atheistic Christianity, among other things.

In this episode, we are once again joined by Roger Nygard. We discuss Roger’s latest project, The Nature of Existence, as well as his next project, The Nature of Marriage. We also announce our first contest ever, allowing our listeners a shot at winning The Nature of Existence on DVD by answering a few of [...]

The original idea for this show was to have Dr. Hector Avalos come on as a part of our series on the historicity of Jesus. While that topic was covered in this episode, the conversation shifted to a discussion about slavery in the Bible and Dr. Avalos’ latest project concerning that very topic. With that [...]

In this episode the Charioteers are joined by their first guest from the land down under, Jake Farr-Wharton, author of Letters to Christian Leaders – Hollow by thy Claims.

Lamar was absent for this episode and Dustin Williams, atheist blogger and former Seventh Day Adventist, stepped in to co-host the show with Eli. Dustin and Eli discuss current events, the turmoil in Egypt and listener mail before they’re joined by Rich and Deanna Joy, hosts of Living After Faith, the official podcast of Recovering [...]

Hey folks just a quick note since we have received so many emails on the topic. We are aware that the story concerning the Texas Governor was written as a piece of Satire. Our full correction will be in the next show (our usual MO when this occurs). Thanks to our attentive listeners for pointing this out. Should this occur again [...]

In this episode, Dustin Williams comes back to talk about closet atheists within the Seventh Day Adventist church. He also takes part in news and listener mail segments, being first guest in many months to be on for the full duration of the show.

Our old friend, Dr. Darrel Ray, joins the show this week to talk about his survey on sex and secularism, among other things. During the listener mail segment, Lamar pronounces ‘latrine’ with an ‘R’. Apparently his Japanese wife’s ‘Engrish’ is rubbing off on him.

This is the third Christmas for Chariots of Iron, and little seems to change. It is this time of year, during the most celebrated cultural event in the world, that Christians everywhere wail on about how persecuted they are. Well, screw ‘em! With plenty of listener mail and crazy news, Lamar and Eli top off [...]

You all may remember our friend, Roger Nygard, from Episode 51: Pondering Existence. Well, he’s back again to discuss his documentary, The Nature of Existence and gives us the skinny on his upcoming project, The Nature of Marriage. Also this week, the political discussion continues as Eli and Lamar answer listener mail.

This week, Eli and Lamar are one their own. The topic is politics, and between the election results and politically charged listener mail, there was plenty to talk about.

This week, the boys are joined by Leo Behe, son of biochemist and intelligent design advocate, Michael Behe. Leo is a recent apostate from the Catholic faith and he tells us about his deconversion and how that’s affected his relationship with his family. But before that, as always, Lamar and Eli discuss current events and [...]

Once again, Dustin Williams joins the show to talk about the Seventh Day Adventist church, end time prophecy, and his continual growth as an atheist. Before that, Eli and Lamar discuss current events and listener mail.

Eli and Lamar are joined by Jennifer Hancock, author of The Humanist Approach To Happiness. She discusses her book, the philosophy behind it and the need it fills in secular society. Before that, Eli and Lamar riff on the news and listener mail.

In this episode, David McAfee joins Eli and Lamar for a discussion about his book, Disproving Christianity: Refuting the World’s Most Followed Religion. Before the interview, Lamar and Eli talk about freaky circumcision rituals, Sharron Angle craziness, Glenn Beck’s inner Mormon, Hindu human sacrifice, a new trend in childhood indoctrination, bible based MMO game and [...]

In this episode we discuss the upcoming Atheist Alliance International convention in Montreal and we revisit the topic of charismatic leaders and community involvement among atheists. Joining the conversation we have the president of AAI, Stuart Bechman. Before the interview: kids get a phone call from God, Sharon Angle is f*cking nuts, Gas pump exiles [...]

Eli and Lamar revisit the topic of Seventh Day Adventists, but this time we have someone that actually knows what their talking about joining us. Dustin Williams, a one time SDA ministry hopeful, discusses the church and his deconversion into apostasy. Before the interview, Lamar and Eli break down David Barton’s nationalistic nuttery, The New [...]

We continue our discussion on the historicity of Jesus with Rene Salm, author of The Myth Of Nazareth: The Invented Town Of Jesus. Rene talks about his extensive research into the first century town of Nazareth, and his conclusion that it didn’t exist. Before the interview, Eli and Lamar ramble about religious debates on immigration, [...]

Richard Haynes, Life Without Faith blogger and director of Atheist Nexus, joins us for a discussion about the future of Atheist Nexus and and the atheist community in general. But, before that, Eli and Lamar talk about Australia’s atheist prime minister, the secular billboard campaign in North Carolina, the crazy that is Sharron Angle, the [...]

Dr. Darrel Ray makes his second appearance on Chariots of Iron, almost a full year after our “Inoculating Against the God Virus” episode. This time around, Darrel discusses his work doing leadership conferences, his Recovering Religionists organization and everyone’s favorite fellating, tweaker evangelist Ted Haggard. Before the interview: Jew on Jew ethnic prejudice, a minor [...]

Frank Zindler, author of The Jesus the Jews Never Knew, joins the show for a discussion about the historicity of Jesus; specifically the evidence, or lack of evidence, from often cited Jewish sources. This is the first part of what will become a multi-part series on the historicity of Jesus. Before the interview, Lamar and [...]

Filmmaker, Roger Nygard, joins us to to talk about the big questions and discuss his new documentary, The Nature of Existence. Roger put a questionnaire on his site asking visitors to discuss what they believe, and encourages you all to check it out and give your own answers to life’s big questions. Before the interview, [...]

With our sincere apologies, we bring you our very late, latest episode. Please forgive our tardiness and our wretched sound quality. When I say wretched sound quality, I mean fucking awful. In this episode, we discuss the Tea Party, Hutaree and America’s angry political climate. We’re fortunate enough to be Joined by Brother Richard, who [...]

Hey folks, if you haven’t noticed by now, episode 50 is a little late in coming, so we’re proud to announce the first (and possibly only) half-episode. If you’ve listened to show 49 you’ll know that Eli attended the American Atheist Convention in Newark, New Jersey recently. While there he had a chance to sit [...]

This week we were very excited to have our buddy Kurt, the co-coordinator of our local CFI chapter in the studio with us to talk about building atheist communities and why he thinks it’s important. We learned a lot about what the CFI does and how one would go about setting up a CFI affiliate [...]

Larry Anderson, star of the 40 minute Scientology film Orientation, joins Joe and Eli for a rousing conversation about the auditing, e-meters, Battlefield Earth, Cult of Xenu and the money they owe him for services not rendered. But, before the interview, Lamar, Eli and Joe discuss current events; namely, they dish on Glenn Beck, the [...]

Brian Dalton, writer, directer, producer and star of the hit webshow Mr. Deity joins us for a fantastic conversation that spans everything from Battered Species Syndrome to cosmic cheesecake and everything in between (whatever that might be.) We talk a lot about the Mr. Deity show and its cast, some other projects they have done [...]

Lamar has assembled a toolkit for objectively analyzing the tenability of prophecy. When confronted with a situation in which a prophecy is being used as evidence promoting the validity of a given religion, these guidelines will help you cut through the woo and examine it under the light of reason. Basically, you’ll be able to [...]

We missed you, too! After a long and mostly unintentional sabbatical, we are back on track with another episode. We had quite a back log of listener mail this week, so we tried to cover as much of it as possible. We also have an awesome guest this week, consequently: the news is short and [...]

It’s that very special time of year where we gather ’round the hearth with our friends and loved ones and–after chasing a hearty meal of C-rations with spiked egg-nog–we affectionately oil our rifles and adjust the straps on our helmets. Again this year, members of the media and various religious groups have shared with the [...]

Back by popular demand: it’s an all-Charioteers, no-guest show where we can let our hair down and cuss like accountants on tax day. This week Eli has put together a little discussion about the Creation Worldview Ministries: “A Primer on the Scientific Reasons that Evolution is Wrong!” AKA “30 Things You Can Say To Make [...]

Our guest this week is James “Jesus Glasses” Corbett, a California high school teacher who gained quite a bit of notoriety recently when he was taken to court for making “anti-christian statements” in the classroom. We had a chance to talk to James and get a better picture of why he was sued and what [...]

This week we are joined by Noelle George, Ambassador Director for AAI and founder of the Secular Center. She talks to us about her charity and shares her tactics for helping to get atheists involved in the community to effect positive change. In our listener mail this week we talk about what you guys thought [...]

We’re joined by Brian Parra, Communications Director for Atheists United and founder of the Ventura Atheists group, to discuss perhaps the biggest question posed to the “atheist movement”: what do we do now? It’s a question that stumps most of us, but Brian has a few ideas you’ll want to hear. It’s a hefty show–weighing [...]

This week Brother Richard joins us as we do the post AAI 2009 convention wrap up. We talk about what we liked about the show as well as what we think could use some improvement and we even toss in some nightmare travel stories to keep things interesting. After three days of booths, talks and [...]

s many of our listeners are aware (and will definitely be aware of after the next show) I spent last weekend at the AAI Convention in Burbank California. The folks at AAI were nice enough to provide both myself and Joe with press passes for the event, and I'm hoping we make good use of that privilege in the coming weeks. At this point I have heaps of audio to sift through, clean up and edit for use in upcoming shows where we'll cover who the speakers were, what they talked about and what we think about it. Currently Lamar (who was unable to attend) has all the raw audio so he can get himself up to speed. I also took the time to talk to many of the notable attendees about appearing on upcoming shows and was generally met with a positive response.

In this episode, we talk to Blair Scott, the Alabama State Director for American Atheists. Blair tells us how the American Atheists choose their legal battles and why that’s important to the overall cause. He also explains what the American Atheists are all about and how you, or your local secular group, can get involved. [...]

We get a chance to talk with Jeff Sharlet, author of The Family: The Secret Fundamentalism at the Heart of American Power. We talk about the book, but man, we really ran the gamut of topical conversations this week. Religion, politics, sex, Def Leppard–you know, the basics. Jeff is so knowledgeable about the in’s and [...]

It’s our first birthday! We’ve finally reached season 2 and to help us celebrate, we have cephalopod nut, Biologist, educator and outspoken atheist blogger Professor PZ Myers on the show with us to talk about his “vacation,” the book he’s writing, his trip to the Creation Museum, turtle hunting, how he met Richard Dawkins and [...]

The Atheist Alliance International’s convention director and Rochester Atheism Examiner Viktor Nagornyy joins us this week to tell us a little bit about their convention in Burbank California beginning on October second. We talk about the cavalcade of speakers that will be in attendance and Viktor even hooks us up with our own SUPER SECRET [...]

This week we have Sarah Trachtenberg with us to discuss the personal stories of atheists. She talks about the book she is writing entitled “Not My God – Personal Stories of Atheists in America,” based upon interviews that she’s conducting with atheists of various backgrounds from all over the United States. We share a bit [...]