Friendly Atheist Podcast

Jack Moline is President of Interfaith Alliance. In his long career, he's become a powerful voice fighting for religious freedom for all Americans, regardless of their faith or belief system. As a rabbi, he has worked to create common ground between people of diverse religious and secular backgrounds. He's advocated for a number of issues, including services for this disabled, affordable housing, marriage equality, pay equity and civil rights. Rabbi Moline has authored two books and offered commentary on a number of news programs. I spoke with him about whether Donald Trump's Supreme Court nominee Neil Gorsuch could be a surprise on church/state issues, why Trump's proposed repeal of the Johnson Amendment would be a disaster in more ways than you might think, and what role atheists play in the interfaith movement. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In our latest podcast, Jessica and I discussed the first week of the Donald Trump presidency. We spoke about the Women's March (and whether they were right to push aside anti-abortion groups), whether religious pandering still matters in politics, and what Trump did in his first week in office. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Maggie Garrett is the Legislative Director for Americans United for Separation of Church and State. She leads the National Coalition for Public Education (NCPE), which opposes school voucher legislation, and is the chair of the Coalition Against Religious Discrimination (CARD), the national coalition fighting to repeal the Bush Faith-Based Initiative. On the day of Donald Trump's inauguration, we spoke about the church/state issues affecting his Cabinet nominees, what a future Supreme Court might look like, and whether a right-wing government is good for groups like Americans United. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Rebecca Hensler is the founder of Grief Beyond Belief, a Facebook group devoted to faith-free grief support for those who have just lost a loved one. We spoke about how honesty about death can be comforting for atheists, what she would say to religious people who want to help atheists grieve but say the wrong things, and her go-to resources for secular people coping with loss. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

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 Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

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/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

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 would be. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

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 about the two scientists who wrongly claimed to have discovered "cold fusion" in 1989. Their next project, currently in post-production, is called We Believe in Dinosaurs, all about Noah's Ark, Creationism, and America's troubled relationship with science. I spoke with them about Ken Ham's reaction to their project, whether Ark Encounter has led to an economic boom in the community it's in, and why the word "Believe" is in the title of the film. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

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 and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

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 Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.