Friendly Atheist Podcast

We're celebrating our 100th episode with the conversation we never get to have because we're always talking to other people. Our goals for the near future are having more in-person interviews, talking to big-name guests, and making sure we're always asking the questions you want answered. Thank you for sticking with us and we hope you continue listening! See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Anthony Magnabosco is best known as a Street Epistemologist. He's like a preacher you might run across on your college campus, except he's not trying to convert you. He just wants to ask you questions about religion and get you to think. He posts videos of these interactions on YouTube and they're fascinating to watch, in part because he deconstructs what went right and wrong each time. We spoke with Anthony about his surprising goals when it comes to chatting with people about religion, why people would ever talk to him at all, and whether debates about God are ever useful. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Phil Torres is a philosopher and author who writes extensively about the intersection of religion and technology. He's a regular contributor at the Institute for Ethics and Emerging Technologies. His latest book is called The End: What Science and Religion Tell Us About the Apocalypse. We spoke with him about why super-intelligence could come back to haunt us, how religious thinking mixed with weapons could bring us closer to doom, and whether we can reason with those who want to get closer to the afterlife. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Kate Shellnutt is an associate editor at Christianity Today magazine. She helps run their social media accounts and she also edits their popular site for women, cleverly called Her.meneutics. Before this, she worked as a web producer for the Houston Chronicle's religion site. She's a graduate of Northwestern University's Medill School of Journalism, where she earned her masters in reporting and online journalism. We spoke with Kate about how Christianity Today deals with hot-button issues, what a faith-based publication can bring to the table that secular outlets can't, and how comedy and religion go hand-in-hand. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Stephen Prothero is a professor in the department of religion at Boston University and the author of several books, including Religious Literacy: What Every American Needs to Know -- and Doesn't. You may have seen him on his appearances on The Daily Show or The Colbert Report. His latest book is called Why Liberals Win the Culture Wars (Even When They Lose Elections). We spoke with him about why conservatives pick losing issues, what issues will get liberals out to vote this November, and what surprised him during his research for the book. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Jeffrey Tayler is an author of several books all about different parts of the world, but you may know him best for his wonderful articles defending atheism and atheists, and criticizing the Religious Right on Salon.com. He's also the Russia correspondent for the Atlantic. His latest book is called "Topless Jihadis: Inside Femen, the World's Most Provocative Activist Group." I spoke with Jeffrey about Salon's reputation for publishing just about anything criticizing atheists, what the public doesn't understand about the New Atheists, and the impact religion will have on the 2016 elections. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Lyz Liddell is the Executive Director of the Reason Rally Coalition. Before that, she worked with the Secular Student Alliance and played a large role in the Openly Secular campaign, which got celebrities like Bill Maher, Arian Foster, and Barney Frank to talk about how they're not religious and encouraged others to join them. I spoke with Lyz about the newest slate of speakers at the Rally, how she balances the competing agendas of the various atheist groups participating in the event, what she's learned from a decade in the movement. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Robyn Blumner spent 16 years as a nationally syndicated columnist and editorial writer at the Tampa Bay Times newspaper, where she wrote a lot about civil liberties, church/state separation, and free speech issues. In 2012, she was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize along with the rest of her editorial team. Before she was writing professionally, she headed up ACLU affiliates in Florida and Utah. She entered the world of organized atheism, if you will, in 2014, when she was tapped to run the Richard Dawkins Foundation. Recently, RDF announced a merger with the Center For Inquiry, and Robyn will soon become CEO of the new merged organization. I spoke with Robyn about her experience coming out as an atheist publicly long before it became commonplace, how the CFI/RDF merger took shape, and -- yes -- Richard Dawkins' tweets. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

William Shunn is the author of The Accidental Terrorist, a book about his time as a Mormon missionary. He was supposed to preach in Alberta, but it wasn't long before he was convicted of felony mischief after making a false bomb threat. He's still not allowed to return to Canada. We spoke with Bill about what it's like to be a Mormon missionary when your heart's just not into it, how the Mormon Church catches escaped missionaries, and the extreme length he went to to prevent his mission partner from leaving the base. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Linda K. Wertheimer is a former education editor of the Boston Globe and a reporter at the Dallas Morning News and Orlando Sentinel. She recently published a book called Faith Ed: Teaching About Religion in an Age of Intolerance. We spoke with Linda about groups that oppose the teaching of basic Islamic beliefs in public schools; whether teachers are properly equipped to objectively discuss religion in the classroom; and why atheists, Mormons, and Jews tend to know more about religion than larger faith groups. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.