Friendly Atheist Podcast

***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.

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 Kenyan cult is allegedly responsible for the starvation deaths of dozens of people. (2:25)— An Arizona lawmaker moved bibles out of a "members-only" lounge in the Capitol. She was right to do it. (17:31)— A Christian student was banned from prom for wearing a suit instead of a dress. (28:19)— A federal judge says Mississippi must allow religious exemptions for vaccines. (38:05)— Minneapolis will let Muslims amplify calls to prayer 24/7‚Ķ which is a mistake. (46:19)— Most Americans agree: You don't need God to be good. (59:00)— Christian missionaries will no longer be able to preach to kids in Oklahoma public schools. (1:07:28) — The beliefs of an exorcism-obsessed church caused a deadly accident in Australia. (1:12:25) 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.— These Christians used their baby to learn about sex. (1:11)— A Christian mailman wants special rights at work, and the Supreme Court may help him out. (26:37) — Ex-Cardinal Theodore McCarrick was charged with another sexual abuse crime. (54:06)— This is a horrible honeymoon tip, courtesy of Purity Culture. (1:04:05) — A judge ordered a California church to pay over $1.2 million in fines for ignoring COVID rules. (1:11:47)— The Arizona Supreme Court said Mormon leaders don't have to report confessions of abuse. (1:16:00)— SPONSOR: Visit BetterHelp.com/atheist today to get 10% off your first month. This episode is brought to you by BetterHelp. 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.— An anti-trans lawmaker from Missouri says it's okay for 12-year-olds to get married. (0:38)— The Dalai Lama asked a child to suck his tongue. (15:08)— U.S. Latinos are ditching Catholicism and becoming "Nones." (24:20)— A Christian public school teacher is demanding the right to include "John 3:16" in her emails. (37:06) — A NASA official swore her oath on Carl Sagan's "Pale Blue Dot." (45:36)— An anti-LGBTQ Christian mom sued Oregon for rejecting her request to adopt kids. (53:28)— Oklahoma officials rejected a taxpayer-funded Catholic charter school‚Ķ for now. (1:03:29) — SPONSOR: Visit BetterHelp.com/atheist today to get 10% off your first month. This episode is brought to you by BetterHelp.— SPONSOR: Use my link EXPRESSVPN.COM/FRIENDLYATHEIST today and get an extra three months free on a one-year package.— SPONSOR: If you're looking for a simpler and cost-effective supplement routine, Athletic Greens is giving you a FREE 1 year supply of Vitamin D AND 5 free travel packs with your first purchase. Go to athleticgreens.com/ATHEIST. 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.— Nearly half of Gen Z, born after 1996, has no religious affiliation whatsoever. (1:17)— Maryland’s attorney general released a report on Catholic clergy abuse in Baltimore Archdiocese. (16:09)— A priest was punished for saying clergy members should report sex abuse confessions to local authorities. (27:11)— The Covenant School tragedy shows how more prayer will never stop gun violence. (36:31)— Religious jurors punish defendants who don’t swear to God to tell the truth. (42:07)— Texas lawmakers also want to replace trained school counselors with untrained chaplains. (46:30)— Atheists are suing West Virginia prison officials for forcing some inmates to profess Christianity. (55:15)— A Maine church is very upset it can’t get taxpayer money for promoting bigotry. (59:51)— A megachurch allegedly forced employees to tithe 10% of each paycheck. (1:07:08)— A Nebraska school is revamping its security protocols after an uninvited preacher evangelized in the cafeteria. (1:21:29)— SPONSOR: If you’re looking for a simpler and cost-effective supplement routine, Athletic Greens is giving you a FREE 1 year supply of Vitamin D AND 5 free travel packs with your first purchase. Go to athleticgreens.com/ATHEIST.— SPONSOR: Go to HelloFresh.com/friendly50 and use code friendly50 for 50% off, plus your first box ships free!See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Dr. Suzanna Krivulskaya is an Assistant Professor of History at California State University San Marcos where she teaches courses in United States history. Her first book, Disgraced: How Sex Scandal Transformed American Protestantism, will be published in early 2024 by Oxford University Press.A specialist in the fields of U.S. religion and sexuality, Suzanna has published in both scholarly and popular outlets, like The Revealer and Religion and Politics. Her scholarly work was recognized by the 2019-2020 Virginia Ramey Mollenkott Award from the LGBTQ Religious Archives Network. In 2022, she was named a Public Research in Religion Institute Fellow in the area of Religion and LGBTQ Rights. Always interested in translating academic expertise to broader publics, she currently serves as a trainer in the Sacred Writes program, which connects students of religion with public-facing scholarship. We spoke about the Falwells, the Bakkers, the Haggards, why the wives often stand by their scandal-plagued pastor-husbands, and what these scandals reveal about evangelical Christianity.— Why do scandal-plagued pastors' wives stay by their husbands' side? (5:00)— Is the supposed shame of divorce too strong? (8:00)— Should we feel bad for these wives? (9:42)— What the heck is going on with the Falwells? (11:59)— Suzanna describes her journey from missionary to doubter (14:24)— Are younger evangelicals changing how we talk about this issue? (16:05)— How long have these scandals been going on? (18:06)— What do these scandals say about evangelical Christianity? (20:12)— How can these pastors still preach "purity"? (26:54)— Did anything in Suzanna's research surprise her? (31:30) 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.— A Florida principal was fired after students saw an image of Michelangelo’s “David.” (0:33)— A Christian woman claimed her three amputated toes were regrown during a prayer service. (19:09)— A Colorado bill would make Catholic hospitals say what services they don't provide. (34:05)— A Christian ministry trademarked the phrase "Worship Leader," creating mass chaos. (45:23)— Citing his faith, a Texas university leader canceled a drag show fundraiser. (54:36) — The Satanic Temple is not promoting adult content to kids, no matter what this Christian ministry says. (1:04:30)— A Texas bill would cut property taxes for couples with 10 kids. (1:19:36)—SPONSOR: If you’re looking for a simpler and cost-effective supplement routine, Athletic Greens is giving you a FREE 1 year supply of Vitamin D AND 5 free travel packs with your first purchase. Go to athleticgreens.com/ATHEIST.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.