Friendly Atheist Podcast

John de Lancie is an actor best known for his portrayal of Q on Star Trek: The Next Generation, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, and Star Trek: Voyager. He's also appeared on Breaking Bad and The West Wing. In September, he filmed a video for the Openly Secular campaign. So what happens when two people who have never watched Star Trek get a chance to interview him on extremely short notice? We talk about the current golden age of television, what defines a great actor, and whether we need to use labels like "Humanist" at all. We spoke at the recent American Humanist Association conference in Chicago, where he was receiving the Humanist Arts Award. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Dr. Elizabeth Loftus is a cognitive psychologist who specializes in the malleability of human memory. She has done groundbreaking research into why our memories are not always reliable and how we might create false memories that we fully accept as real. Since earning her Ph.D. in Psychology from Stanford University, Dr. Loftus has published 23 books, more than 500 scientific articles, and is currently a Distinguished Professor at the University of California, Irvine. At the recent American Humanist Association conference in Chicago, where she was receiving the Isaac Asimov Award, we spoke with her about how faulty memories can form in our minds, whether research into this subject is ethical, and if "believing the victim" is always the way to go. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Dr. Jerry Coyne is a now-retired Professor in the Department of Ecology and Evolution at the University of Chicago. He has written over 115 refereed scientific papers; 130 additional articles, book reviews, and columns; and a scholarly book about his field (Speciation, co-authored with H. Allen Orr). He may be most familiar to listeners for his books Why Evolution is True (which spawned his blog of the same name) and Faith Versus Fact: Why Science and Religion Are Incompatible. At the recent American Humanist Association conference in Chicago, we spoke with Dr. Coyne about why science and religion are incompatible, the problems with the "Regressive Left" on college campuses, and what he discusses with his atheist/scientist friends. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Katherine Ozment is the author of "Grace Without God: The Search for Meaning, Purpose, and Belonging in a Secular Age." She has worked for National Geographic and Boston magazine and been published in the New York Times. She lives in Chicago with her husband and three children. For years now, she has been exploring how the ever-growing segment of non-religious parents raise their children. They're not all atheists, but they have to grapple with the Big Questions about life and death and belonging, all without supernatural faith. She wrote a magazine article about it a few years ago, and she has now written a full-length examination into the topic. I spoke with her about what secular "grace" looks like, why atheists may want rituals traditionally reserved for the religious, and how the landscape for atheist parents is rapidly changing. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Julia Sweeney may be best known for her years on Saturday Night Live, where she famously played the androgynous character Pat. But she has since written multiple one-woman shows and books which speak to her experiences as a cancer survivor (God Said, Ha!), atheist (Letting Go of God), and mother (If It's Not One Thing, It's Your Mother). Speaking of which, if you haven't heard Letting Go of God yet, stop what you're doing and go listen to it. It's an incredible, funny story of how Julia shed her Catholicism. (A condensed version of the show was featured on a 2005 episode of This American Life.) At the recent American Humanist Association conference in Chicago, we spoke with Julia and her daughter Mulan about how the character Pat would go over today, the movie Mulan finally watched for the very first time, and what Julia thinks about the new all-female Ghostbusters reboot. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Dr. Elizabeth Drescher is a professor of Religious Studies at Santa Clara University and the author, most recently, of Choosing Our Religion: The Spiritual Lives of America's Nones. We spoke with her about what atheist "spirituality" really means, the problem with the language we use to talk about faith, and how religion is no longer being passed down generation after generation. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

At the American Humanist Association conference in Chicago recently, we had a chance to speak with a number of incredible people and we'll be posting those interviews over the next few weeks. Today, we're posting our conversation with Margaret Downey, a life-long atheist activist and a member of the Reason Rally Coalition Board of Directors. She is also founder and President of the Freethought Society and a former President of Atheist Alliance International. We spoke with her about what to expect at this weekend's Rally, how she plans to gauge its success, and what she wants people to take away from the event. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Chrystine Trooien is an eco-conscious, secular, vegan mother based out of Hawaii. About a year ago, she launched a Kickstarter campaign for a book called Christian Mythology for Kids. It's essentially a book that explains the stories of the Bible as just that: Stories. They don't disparage religion, and they don't pretend any of it is real, either. They read just like Greek mythology -- with beautiful illustrations by artist Christopher Zakrzewski to boot. It's a wonderful way to introduce your children to these characters without indoctrinating them in the faith. We spoke with Chrystine about why it's important to teach kids these stories objectively, how she handled stories with no redeeming message, and whether she'll continue the series with other religions. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Dr. Wynne LeGrow spent two years as a physician in the Army, where he was promoted to major, and then nearly three decades in private practice. For most of his career, he practiced internal medicine. In 2010, after he retired, he decided to run for Congress from Virginia's 4th District, which was represented then (and now) by Republican Randy Forbes. Forbes is so conservative, he founded the Congressional Prayer Caucus. LeGrow, on the other hand, ran as an open atheist. He lost the race, but wrote about the experience in his new book Last Leper in the Colony: An Atheist Runs for Congress in the Bible Belt. We spoke to him about what it was like being an atheist in the 1960s/1970s, the surprising politician who inspired him to run for office, and the advice he would give atheists running for office in the future. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

David Smalley, host of the show Dogma Debate, was in my area a few days ago and took some time to chat with me about his new series of children's books, the most effective ways to talk with people who disagree with us, and all things politics (Bernie Sanders, Hillary Clinton, and atheist candidates for office). Smalley is a former Christian musician who became an atheist after studying psychology, sociology, world religions, and his own faith. He soon turned into a secular activist. He was the editor-in-chief of Secular World and American Atheist magazines, the author of Baptized Atheist, and now runs the Secular Media Group. His company will soon release a children's book titled Tiny Thinkers: Charlie and the Tortoise. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.