Friendly Atheist Podcast

Please support the show at https://www.patreon.com/friendlyatheistpodcast. Donors now get access to a new BONUS episode.Jessica and I sat down to talk about several stories from the past week involving religion and politics.— Pat Robertson is still dead.— Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders defends Cross drawing at Governor's Mansion. (0:52)— Sen. Josh Hawley shared a fake Patrick Henry quotation to promote theocracy on Independence Day. (16:58)— Mormon parents sued a school district after their son had sex in the parking lot. (38:00)— What should Sweden be doing after a man burned the Qur'an outside a mosque? (47:55)— Are Secular Americans the new abortion voters? (1:07:20)— Insurers are avoiding Australia's Anglican schools due to child sex abuse risks. (1:18:38)— Faith "switching": Religions are leaking members and can't plug the holes fast enough. (1:23:05)— SPONSOR: Factor, America's #1 Ready-To-Eat Meal Kit. Head to factormeals.com/friendly50 and use code friendly50 to get 50% off. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Please support the show at https://www.patreon.com/friendlyatheistpodcast. Donors now get access to a new BONUS episode.Jessica and I sat down to talk about several stories from the past week involving religion and politics.— Pat Robertson is still dead. — What happened to that submersible? (0:20)— Josh Duggar's father-in-law delivered a racist sermon praising Christian slaveowners. (5:15)— Is the Supreme Court case involving a bigoted Christian web designer built on a lie? (32:40)— A GOP congressman is targeting a church/state separation group with his defense bill amendment. (46:10)— In Colorado, nearly 1 in 4 state lawmakers are non-religious. (1:01:20)— At 14, she was "betrothed" to her pastor. She's finally sharing her side of the story. (1:11:51)— A Catholic priest forgot how to count. Now the Church is celebrating a "Eucharistic miracle." (1:28:15) See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Please support the show at https://www.patreon.com/friendlyatheistpodcast. Donors now get access to a new BONUS episode.Jessica and I sat down to talk about several stories from the past week involving religion and politics.***CORRECTION***: The "He-Man Woman-Haters Club" is from the Little Rascals, not The Simpsons! Oops!— What we can learn from the disgraceful life of Pat Robertson. (0:22)— Stop overreacting about Jeopardy! players missing a clue about the Lord's Prayer. (10:47)— Most Christian pastors use armed church members to thwart a possible mass shooting. (18:25)— Utah Republicans are furious schools banned the Bible to comply with their book-banning law. (27:05)— The Catholic Church in Kansas City used the wrong wine... and broke the religion. (34:35)— A California restaurant chain had employees confess their work-related sins to a fake priest. (43:26)— U.S. bishops are about to block trans-affirming care at Catholic hospitals. (53:17)— After complaints from Christians, Poland's 666 bus to Hel will cease to exist. (1:05:45)— Survey: In the U.K., belief in God has finally dipped below 50%. (1:09:35) See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

You may have already encountered Gloria Beth Amodeo's writing in places like Publishers Weekly, The Literary Review, and American Atheist magazine. She received her MFA in Creative Writing from The New School, and currently works at an advertising agency in New York City. She recently wrote a book called God's Ex-Girlfriend: A Memoir about Loving and Leaving the Evangelical Jesus (affiliate link), so you know I had to talk to her.We spoke about how Campus Crusade for Christ (now Cru) hurts people, the advice she'd give potential Cru members, and how the group's bigotry made her rethink her faith.1:13 - Background5:45 - Why belonging to a larger group was so important to her in college.8:00 - How Cru entered her life.10:00 - How Christians avoid saying Christian.11:55 - How Cru connected with her.13:59 - The power of "relational evangelism."16:22 - What Cru did that convinced her they were worth joining.18:40 - When Gloria Beth realized this brand of Christianity espoused anti-LGBTQ and anti-abortion thinking.24:50 - How Cru is more about belonging than Jesus25:55 - The three steps to successfully convert someone.29:09 - Evangelical Christianity as a kind of diet.30:01 - The sexual history they wanted to know before she went on a summer mission trip.36:57 - The most cringe-worthy stuff Gloria Beth did as a Cru member.40:27 - When she realized she might be wrong.47:30 - What life after Christianity felt like at first.49:16 - How Cru failed her after she graduated.50:48 - The most harmful things that Cru teaches.54:07 - The politics of Cru.54:50 - What she would say to someone thinking about joining Cru or InterVarsity.57:20 - What religious label she uses now.58:10 - What happened with the people she met in Cru.59:20 - What she's heard from current Cru members and leaders. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Please support the show at https://www.patreon.com/friendlyatheistpodcast. Donors now get access to a new BONUS episode.Jessica and I sat down to talk about several stories from the past week involving religion and politics.— What we learned from watching "Shiny Happy People: Duggar Family Secrets." (1:57)— Christians are furious over a tiny Pride flag on the set of "The Chosen," a show about Jesus. (29:12)— Oklahoma just approved a taxpayer-funded Catholic charter school. (41:03)— The L.A. Dodgers never should've caved after honoring the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence. (51:38)— Richard Dawkins has a new analogy to describe people who are transgender. (1:03:17) — If Louisiana forces every classroom to display "In God We Trust" signs, atheist Chaz Stevens is preparing to send them Arabic ones. (1:10:00)— What does it mean that "non-churchgoers now rule the GOP"? (1:16:35)— To comply with Utah's book banning law, a school district removed the KJV Bible. (1:28:00)— Two Christian schools sue Minnesota for cutting them out of a taxpayer-funded program. (1:33:00)This episode is sponsored by BetterHelp. Learn more at BetterHelp.com/ATHEIST for 10% off your first month. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Please support the show at https://www.patreon.com/friendlyatheistpodcast. Donors now get access to a new BONUS episode.Jessica and I sat down to talk about several stories from the past week involving religion and politics.—SPONSOR: Visit BetterHelp.com/atheist today to get 10% off your first month. This episode is brought to you by BetterHelp.— The 3 lies that convinced two conservative Christians to stop home-schooling their kids. (2:20)— Catholics are flocking to Missouri to catch a glimpse of a dead nun's corpse. (32:42)— A pastor charged with four counts of child cruelty has announced his bid for the Louisiana House. (46:05)— A Church diocese dismissed sex abuse allegations against a priest. Now there are six more victims. (1:00:06)— A GOP bill would force Michigan schools to teach the "Christian foundations" of the U.S. (1:08:25) See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

***An audio glitch in an earlier upload of this episode has been corrected. Apologies for the error!***Please support the show at https://www.patreon.com/friendlyatheistpodcast. Donors now get access to a new BONUS episode.Jessica and I sat down to talk about several stories from the past week involving religion and politics.— A new damning report examined sexual abuse in the Catholic Church in Illinois. (0:55)— Even the most dedicated Catholics are walking away from Church services. (21:23)— A new Florida law allows four minutes of loudspeaker prayers at high school playoff games. (32:13)— The Jehovah's Witnesses are trying to pretend they didn't create two videos promoting disfellowshipping/shunning. (41:32)— A Christian school fired two staffers for including their pronouns in emails. (1:00:08)— A Satanist is suing Chicago for ignoring his "Hail Satan" invocation request. (1:14:50)— Why did a Florida county honor conspiracy theorist and preacher Rodney Howard-Browne? (1:22:00)— Why did the Texas Ten Commandments bill fail? Not because Republicans opposed it... (1:29:45) See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Please support the show at https://www.patreon.com/friendlyatheistpodcast. Donors now get access to a new BONUS episode.Jessica and I sat down to talk about several stories from the past week involving religion and politics.— A 60 Minutes segment on the Mormon Church allegedly hoarding cash only made the religion look worse. (0:45) — Southern Baptists had the biggest drop in membership in over 100 years... AGAIN! (26:26)— A Christian "prophet" says climate change is God's way of pointing us to Bible verses. (38:56)— A church in Norwich, Ontario pressured businesses to close on Sundays... or else. (44:19)— An atheist heard his kids' bus driver was proselytizing on the way to school‚Ķ so he had them capture it on video. (50:10) — Christian Nationalists are now adopting and embracing the label. (57:30) See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Please support the show at https://www.patreon.com/friendlyatheistpodcast. Donors now get access to a new BONUS episode.Jessica and I sat down to talk about several stories from the past week involving religion and politics.— Texas State Rep. Bryan Slaton confirmed the hypocrisy of Christian Nationalists. (0:59) — Three Texas churches gave $800 to a city council candidate. (35:05)— Mississippi's new license plates get rid of "In God We Trust." (43:33)— Why are Utah public schools taking part in a pseudo-patriotic and overtly Christian event? (53:53)— Conservative Christians took over a school board in Colorado. Now they're destroying it. (1:03:50)— A Portland (Oregon) school board candidate vowed to drop out of the race after his Christian Nationalist ties were exposed. (1:18:46) See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Please support the show at https://www.patreon.com/friendlyatheistpodcast. Donors now get access to a new BONUS episode.Jessica and I sat down to talk about several stories from the past week involving religion and politics.— A Kansas lawmaker told non-Christian constituents that he'd "try and convert" them rather than taking their concerns seriously. (0:52)— A Texas Democrat dismantled the case for putting the Ten Commandments in every classroom‚Ķ but Republicans don't care. (20:08)— A Baptist missionary was convicted of sexually abusing a four-year-old girl. The proof? He gave her gonorrhea. (41:04)— What horrible ideas does a former atheist leader have now? Let's check in. (52:00)— If you're attempting to test the Equal Access Act and counter a Christian program in a public school, don't do it the way this atheist did. (59:15)— A judge ordered a Pennsylvania school district to allow meetings of the After School Satan Club. (1:19:43)— A Christian congressman said gun violence was the result of a lack of "revival," but more Jesus would only make things worse. (1:25:35)— A Christian minister told Ohio legislators that trans rights supporters were "possessed by demons." (1:31:55)— SPONSOR: Go to ExpressVPN.com/friendlyatheist to get three extra months free. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.