Friendly Atheist Podcast

The new Left Behind movie, starring Nicolas Cage, is out -- and Jessica and Hemant decided to go see it... so you don't have to. After several days of keeping their thoughts to themselves, they finally discussed the movie with the microphones on. By the way, the picture you're seeing is Jessica in the theater. By herself. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Steve Wells is the author of the amazing Skeptics Annotated Bible, which documents all the contradictions and horrible things the Bible says. It's one of the most useful websites for atheists I have ever seen and you can check it out at skepticsannotatedbible.com. The print version of the book is a must-have. Wells is also the author of Drunk with Blood, which documents all of God's killings in the Bible. His newest book is called Strange Flesh, and it's about how the Bible is used to justify anti-gay bigotry or, depending on who you talk to, support LGBT rights. We spoke with Steve about his time in seminary, how one documents the number of deaths during an imaginary flood, and how Christian LGBT-rights advocate Matthew Vines gets it wrong. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Elizabeth Cavell graduated from Tulane University Law School in 2009 and worked for a while as a deputy public defender in southern Colorado. She currently works as a staff attorney with the Freedom From Religion Foundation. We spoke with Liz about which kind of complaints are the most numerous at FFRF, how persecution has become a way to protect privilege, and whether she ever speaks with her cultural counterparts. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Monica Snyder is a representative from the group Secular Pro-Life, a group that seeks to unite pro-lifers, regardless of their religious beliefs or lack thereof. She has worked with the group since its inception in 2009. We spoke with Monica about where she fits in among both the pro-life and secular worlds, how she was rejected from volunteering at a crisis pregnancy center because of her beliefs, and why merely focusing on contraception access may not be a viable strategy. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Juhem Navarro-Rivera is a research associate at the Public Religion Research Institute. PRRI publishes some of the most important and credible surveys when it comes to tracking religious demographics in the United States. Before joining PRRI, Juhem was a research fellow at the Institute for the Study of Secularism in Society and Culture at Trinity College, where he served as the lead analyst for many studies, including the landmark American Religious Identification Survey. He also taught political science and Latino Studies at the Puerto Rican and Latino Studies Institute at the University of Connecticut. We spoke with him about how PRRI collects its data, whether the results themselves can draw criticism, and how to grow the diversity within the atheist movement. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Jessica spoke with Vandy Beth Glenn, Beth Ann Erickson, and Rebecca Bradley from the Skeptic Ink network about blogging in the skeptic/atheist community and their favorite posts. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Conor Robinson graduated from Yale University, where he launched the Yale Humanist Society. He is a Teach for American alumnus. And last year, he began and took part in the Pathfinders Project, a year-long international service project for Humanists. Consider it a Mission Trip minus the religion. He visited Cambodia, Uganda, Ghana, and Haiti, among other places. (Full disclosure, I'm on the board of Foundation Beyond Belief, which helped sponsor this project.) We spoke with Conor about living with a group of strangers for a year, how he had to change his diet while living overseas, and how his life has changed since returning home. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Jessica spoke with Skeptics Guide to the Universe host and neuroscientist Steven Novella and magician Jon Armstrong about skepticism and the brain, our faulty memories, and how the placebo effect is not what you may think. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Dan Arel has written articles about religion, science, and politics for websites like Salon, AlterNet, and the Huffington Post. His first book, called Parenting Without God, was released in August. We spoke with Dan about how his religious teacher used to fast-forward through science videos, what it was like growing up in a Pentecostal Christian home, and why it's important to discuss parenting without religion. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Jessica sat down with TAM emcee George Hrab and Psychology Professor Sheldon Helms to talk about their reflections on the conference and the importance of communication in the science community. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.