Atheistville: Conversations Beyond Belief

Texas just became the first state in the nation to mandate Bible reading in public K-12 public schools — affecting more than 5 million students. The Republican board member who led the charge is also a pastor who declared Texas a "Christian state" on the record. We walk through exactly what was passed, who drove it, and why the Supreme Court precedent going back to 1962 makes this a clea...

Recorded on Easter Sunday 2026, this episode of Breakfast with a Heathen leans into the holiday with characteristic irreverence and intellectual honesty. Mike opens by questioning why ham became the official meal of the resurrection and only gets more pointed from there. The conversation covers religious wars — specifically the religious undercurrents of the current U.S.-Iran conflict and what it...

Florida just handed its governor the power to remove elected local officials for welcoming their own constituents — and wrote the law so vaguely that St. Patrick's Day, Oktoberfest, and the Jewish Film Festival have no legal protection under it. Mike Smithgall breaks down SB 1134 — the Anti-Diversity in Local Government bill — section by section: what it actually says, what its sponsor admitt...

What happens when the theological rubber meets the existential road? In this episode of Breakfast with a Heathen, we dig into the questions real people are actually wrestling with — from the psychological profile of extreme believers, to the emotional wreckage of purity culture, to the cold logic of a salvation system that rewards a serial killer over a kindhearted atheist. These aren't abstr...

A Reddit post from a young person trapped in a joint bank account with tithing-obsessed parents sparked this deep dive into the true cost of religious giving. Using Bureau of Labor Statistics income data and conservative investment assumptions, I calculated the lifetime financial impact of tithing 10% of your income from age 25 to retirement at 65. The findings are devastating: $285,035 given to t...

This episode tackles a set of questions that sit at the intersection of money, family pressure, identity, and belief. We start with the ethics and power dynamics of tithing, especially when a young person has limited control over their own income and faces pressure from a prosperity-gospel megachurch. We also address what “love” looks like when religion treats LGBTQ people as a problem to be fixed...

In this episode, the conversation centers on one core question, is belief something you choose or something you become convinced of over time? The discussion explores doubt, deconstruction, and why some people seek belief yet struggle to force it. Topics include fear-based religion, the difference between atheism and agnosticism, and how personal experience shapes conviction. The episode also look...

In this episode of Breakfast with a Heathen , we break down a proposed Florida bill (SB 1006) that could force schools to pay out $25,000 if they fail a student for citing religious beliefs in academic work. Is this protecting speech, or rewarding students for ignoring assignments? I also tackle the "Historical Jesus" debate with a controversial modern analogy: looking at the deification...

Florida just put a price tag on ignorance. A new bill (SB 1006) would ban "academic penalties" for students who express religious or ideological beliefs in class—even if their answers are factually wrong. If a teacher fails a student for citing the Bible on a biology test, they don't just face a complaint. They face a mandatory $25,000 lawsuit. I’m Mike Smithgall, and in this episod...

Mike takes a drive through his hometown and counts the true cost of religious property tax exemptions. In just one ZIP code, he identifies 7 religious parcels representing $31 million in assessed value—all exempt from property tax. Drawing on data from the Lincoln Institute of Land Policy, the IRS and his local tax assessor, Mike explores how this "tax base erosion" shifts the financial...

Welcome to the first broadcast of 2026. In this episode of Breakfast with a Heathen , we kick off the year by tackling the outrage over a New York mayor swearing in on a Quran and why Christian Nationalists ignore the irony when it comes to their own Bible. I share a personal story from my teenage years working at a Shell station in Jacksonville that shattered the homophobic stereotypes I was rais...

The noise we heard in 2025 wasn't the sound of a giant conquering the land. It was the sound of a machine breaking down. In this episode of Mike Drop, we pull back the curtain on the Religious Right. 2025 felt like the walls were closing in—from the "Department of War" rebranding to mandatory Ten Commandments in schools. But when you look past the smoke, mirrors, and pyrotechnics, y...

Join Mike Smithgall , the unelected mayor of Atheistville, for a post-holiday edition of Breakfast with a Heathen . After a 27-day journey through Thailand, Hong Kong, and Tokyo, Mike returns to the mic to tackle listener questions on the friction between secular and religious life. From a heartbreaking discussion on evangelical families shunning siblings over same-sex marriage to a deep dive into...

Headlines claim a religious revival is happening, but the data tells a different story. Today on the Mike Drop, we’re looking at the "Zombie Store" of global faith. Using new research from Nature Communications and the latest 2025 Pew Global Sweep, I break down the 3-stage P-I-B model (Participation, Importance, Belonging) that proves religion isn't bouncing back—it's just rott...

Mike Smithgall explores the uncomfortable reality facing moderate Christians in America. As Christian Nationalism rises, many believers try to stay "above the fray," claiming the extremists don't represent them. Mike argues that this "Glass Bottom Boat" mentality is failing. Using the logic often applied to police misconduct ("just a few bad apples"), Mike challe...

In this episode, we tackle the dark theological implications of an all-knowing God: If the outcome is already known, did God create humanity just to send most of us to hell? We also dive into the heated debate over whether churches should lose their tax-exempt status if they fail to contribute tangibly to their communities. Later, we analyze the "Telephone Game" of history regarding the...

Gallup reports a 17% point drop in Americans who say religion is important in daily life . This is one of the largest declines recorded globally in the last decade, and it signals a massive cultural shift in America . In this episode of the Mike Drop, Mike Smithgall analyzes the #Gallup data, breaking down why this 17% drop is happening now, what it means for American politics, and how younger gen...

This week, we dive into the deep and often hypocritical intersections of faith, social welfare, and personal ethics. The discussion opens with the shocking findings from the viral TikTok experiment where churches denied basic aid like baby formula to the needy, contrasting this with the impending government shutdown and asking: Where is the promised Christian charity when the most vulnerable are s...

shared a meme of the Twin Towers asking, “Has New York forgotten?” Mike Smithgall digs into what that reaction says about us.  He opens with a story that sounds like 9/11—but isn’t—and exposes the double standard in how we label religious violence. From the Oklahoma City bombing to modern Islamophobia, this Mike Drop looks at how fear and familiarity shape our bias.  Mike explains why, as an athei...

In this episode of Breakfast with a Heathen, Mike answers real questions from listeners about debating religion, losing friendships, and navigating those awkward “bless your heart” moments. From being told you’re “taking scripture out of context” to realizing you never truly believed, this discussion explores how atheists and agnostics experience conversations with the faithful. He also unpacks th...

The Republican Party once led the fight against slavery. Today, it’s home to America’s Christian nationalist movement. What happened? In this episode, Mike breaks down how religion shaped every stage of the political party realignment, from Lincoln’s abolitionist Republicans to the rise of the evangelical right. Religion didn’t cause the switch, but it provided the moral vocabulary for both oppres...

 Pour a cup and hang out with Mike Smithgall for a Sunday morning Q&A. You’ll hear my take on “I’m praying for you,” why Christian apologetics fascinates and embarrasses, and a story about a friendly young-earth creationist who pushed me to think harder. We get into belief in a god without religion, the rise of the “nones,” and why a secular state isn’t my goal. We talk through fear during dec...

 In this episode, Mike Smithgall examines the growing push to hang the Ten Commandments in public classrooms and the larger campaign to rewrite history under the banner of “heritage.” He explains how Christian nationalism turns nostalgia into propaganda,  and why real heritage requires facing uncomfortable truths. Question: How should schools teach history without whitewashing or politicizing it?...

 This Breakfast with a Heathen episode covers a range of questions from faith and politics to parenting and personal belief. We start with how religion was never out of U.S. politics—Trump only made it obvious—and look at what happens when faith becomes a tool for control rather than reflection. We talk about the idea that atheists “believe in nothing,” the emotional damage of teaching children ab...

 In this episode, Mike Smithgall dissects Pete Hegseth’s viral Lord’s Prayer video and its disturbing fusion of religion and state power. Using biblical analysis and historical parallels from Sinclair Lewis and Eugene Debs, he explains how Christian nationalism repackages faith as propaganda and patriotism as obedience. This episode asks a hard question: when government officials use prayer to san...