Friendly Atheist Podcast

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 don't see more women celebrated as atheists. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

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 treatments sold by alternative medicine practitioners. We spoke about how she went from studying naturopathic medicine to fighting against it, what caused her to change her mind, and what she would say to patients who reject western medicine. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

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 Experience podcast. We spoke about how he began Spectrum Experience, the most strategic ways for atheists to run for office, and why coming out as non-religious matters in politics. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

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

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 I spoke about whether Christians must accept a literal interpretation of Genesis, what he thinks will happen if atheists are elected to political office, and what might change his mind about Christianity. Also: Crocoducks. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

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

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 worth visiting just for the sake of curiosity. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

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 performing at colleges has become tougher for comedians, and why unique outreach to African American atheists is worthwhile. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

David Diskin is the President of Camp Quest West. Camp Quest is a summer camp for children that embraces science, natural wonder, and humanist values. David has worked with the group since 2010. He has been a long-time activist in California, co-founding the Stockton Area Atheists and Freethinkers and Sunday Assembly Sacramento. He also serves on the boards of California Freethought Day, the Secular Coalition for California, and the national Reason Rally Coalition. At the recent American Humanist Association conference in Chicago, we spoke with David about whether children of religious parents ever attend the camp, how the camp's curriculum has changed over the years, and what he hopes Camp Quest achieves in the next few years. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.