Friendly Atheist Podcast

Galen Broaddus is a writer, web developer, and occasional secular activist currently living in the flatlands of central Illinois. He just won a lawsuit that will allow Secular Celebrants to solemnize weddings in the state. I spoke with Galen about why this lawsuit was necessary, what services he provides families as a Celebrant, and why some atheists wish he never took on this battle at all. See P...

We (Hemant and Jessica) sat down to answer several of the questions atheists told us they had trouble answering. They included: Should you be vocal about your atheism in the South? Is it okay to have your child baptized to please your parents? And could you ever date someone who was religious? See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privac...

This past week saw the launch of a website called MormonLeaks (formerly Mormon Wikileaks), a "safe, secure, and anonymous way to submit documents, videos, or any other information regarding the Church." The site was created by Ryan McKnight, a former Mormon. I spoke with Ryan about why he left the Mormon Church, why he hopes to achieve by exposing the Church's secrets, and what the ultimate secret...

Monica Long Ross and Amy Ellison are two of the producers at 137 Films, a non-profit production company based in Chicago that promotes science through storytelling. (The other producer, Clayton Brown, couldn't join us for the interview.) In 2008, they released the film The Atom Smashers, all about physicists at Fermilab working to find the Higgs boson. In 2013, they put out The Believers, all abou...

We (Hemant and Jessica) sat down to discuss all the big stories from 2016. By which we mean whatever stories we could cram into two hours. Those topics included atheism, our future traveling roadshow, and Donald Trump. Fair warning: There was a box of wine between us during the taping of this podcast. See if you can guess when the Merlot kicks in. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy an...

Barbara Mancini is an ER nurse from Pennsylvania. In 2013, she was arrested and prosecuted on charges of trying to help her terminally ill 93-year-old father take his own life. She is now an advocate for medical aid in dying. We spoke with Barbara about her heartbreaking personal story, the connection between assisted suicide and abortion rights, and her correspondence with Brittany Maynard. See P...

Ali A. Rizvi is a Pakistani-Canadian writer, physician, and musician who resides in Toronto. He's the author of a new book called The Atheist Muslim: A Journey from Religion to Reason. Ali lived in Libya, Saudi Arabia, and Pakistan, as part of a progressive Muslim family, before he moved permanently to Canada in his twenties. He is a trained physician and a vocal advocate for secularism, science,...

Dr. Steven Tomlins is a researcher and graduate of the University of Ottawa who has just co-edited a new academic book called The Atheist Bus Campaign: Global Manifestations and Responses. It looks at the various atheist advertising campaigns -- billboards, bus ads, and the like -- all over the world. We spoke about how this idea went viral, which kinds of ads are more successful, and whether the...

Sarah Levin is the Senior Legislative Representative for the Secular Coalition for America, a lobbying group in Washington, D.C. representing non-religious people on Capitol Hill. She graduated from American University with a degree in International Studies, focusing on the Middle East and Israeli domestic politics. Following Tuesday's elections, we spoke about what church/state separation advocat...

Brendon Marotta is an award-winning filmmaker based out of Austin, Texas. He graduated from the University of North Carolina School of the Arts Film School, to work as a professional film editor. His first feature-length documentary as director is called American Circumcision. (You'll never guess what it's about.) We spoke about why male circumcision is problematic, the dubious health benefits of...

If you've ever seen VeggieTales, you're familiar with Phil Vischer. He's the animator, puppeteer, writer, voice actor, and songwriter who co-created that series. His production company soon grew to over 200 workers by the year 2000 before a lawsuit sent the company into bankruptcy and forced Phil to basically start over again. He now runs Jellyfish Labs, where he produces faith-based content. He a...

Luke Fevin has fought against mandatory prayers in Alberta (Canada) secular schools. He sits on the Board of the Society of Edmonton Atheists and founded the advocacy group Albertan's for Equality Education. I spoke with Luke about some of the major church/state issues taking place in Canada, including within the public schools, local governments, and Catholic hospitals. See Privacy Policy at http...

Vyckie Garrison was once a prominent member of the "Quiverfull" community, a rapidly growing Christian fundamentalist movement that bans birth control and encourages huge, "Biblical families" (much like the Duggars of TLCs 19 Kids and Counting fame). Garrison edited and published a Christian "pro-life, pro-family" newspaper for 16+ years in northeast Nebraska while home-churching, home birthing, a...

Janet Heimlich is the founder of the Child-Friendly Faith Project, and author of Breaking Their Will: Shedding Light on Religious Child Maltreatment, both of which examine child abuse and neglect that is enabled by religious belief in the United States. Janet is also a reporter who has worked for NPR and written for a variety of publications. (Full disclosure, I'm on the advisory board for the Chi...

Dr. Leigh Eric Schmidt is the Edward C. Mallinckrodt Distinguished University Professor in the Humanities at Washington University in St. Louis. He joined the John C. Danforth Center on Religion and Politics in 2011. He previously taught at Harvard and Princeton. He has appeared in and on all kinds of media to talk about his work and he's the author of several books. His latest is Village Atheists...

In another life, Frank Schaeffer would probably be an evangelical leader and someone with a powerful position in conservative politics. His father was the influential Christian theologian Francis Schaeffer and Frank himself, along with his father, helped create the modern Religious Right. Frank is the author of "Crazy for God: How I Grew Up As One Of The Elect, Helped Found The Religious Right, An...

Dr. Karen Garst is the former executive director of the Oregon Community College Association and Oregon State Bar. She writes at the website Faithless Feminist, and she's the editor of a new book called Women Beyond Belief: Discovering Life Without Religion. We spoke about how women are uniquely affected in a negative way by religion, what's stopping more women from leaving their faith, and why we...

Britt Marie Hermes is a former naturopathic doctor who now speaks out about the pseudoscientific ideology. Hermes is currently obtaining her Master of Science degree at the University of Kiel. Since her departure from her previous career, she has been working to understand her former biases within naturopathic medicine. She hopes her stories will protect patients from the false beliefs and bogus t...

Evan Clark is the founder and creative director of Spectrum Experience, the nation's first private Humanist consulting firm that has also been behind the campaigns of several atheists running for local, state, and federal office. His candidates just had a wildly successful primary day in Arizona this past week. Evan is also chair of the Secular Student Alliance and co-host of the Humanist Experien...

Brad Levin is the director of FreeBYU, a group whose mission is to "promote freedom of thought and freedom of religion at Brigham Young University." We spoke about how BYU punishes students who become ex-Mormons, why BYU's law school nearly lost its accreditation, and the progress his group has made in changing the Honor Code at the school. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and Calif...

Rob McWilliams is the founder of South East Texas Atheists Helping the Homeless. (The name is fairly self-explanatory.) We spoke with him about how his group is different from churches, how listeners can help his cause, and the most amazing love story ever. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info .

Ray Comfort is the founder and CEO of Living Waters. He's written dozens of books, co-hosted "The Way of the Master" with Kirk Cameron, and produced several movies including Audacity and Evolution vs. God. He recently released Fat Chance (subtitle: Why Pigs Will Fly Before America has an Atheist President) and the movie The Atheist Delusion. Rather than have a debate about God's existence, Ray and...

Emma Green is a senior associate editor at The Atlantic, where she covers politics, policy, and religion. We spoke with her about how Democrats appeared to be the Party of God during their recent convention, what stood out while reporting and editing The Atlantic's recent series on young people choosing their religions, and what she would report on with unlimited time and an unlimited budget. See...

Tracey Moody, a frequent contributor to FriendlyAtheist.com and co-moderator of the Friendly Atheist Facebook page, went to Ark Encounter (the Noah's Ark theme park) in Kentucky on opening day to find out what a $100 million attraction looks like. We spoke about the atheist protest outside the Ark, the exhibits inside of it (including one about how they removed all the excrement), and whether it's...

Leighann Lord is a comedian and co-host of the StarTalk podcast with Neil deGrasse Tyson. She has performed stand-up on Comedy Central and HBO, has won several awards for her work, and written books including Dict Jokes and Real Women Do It Standing Up. At the recent American Humanist Association conference in Chicago, I spoke with her about how she went from a corporate job to a comedy stage, why...