Friendly Atheist Podcast

David 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 co-founder of AtheistAudiobooks.com. His Secular Media Group will soon release a children's book titled Tiny Thinkers: Charlie and the Tortoise. You may know him best, however, from his incredibly popular podcast Dogma Debate which has tens of thousands of weekly subscribers. We spoke with David about why it's so important not to be an angry atheist (if you can help it), what it takes to be a successful podcaster, and why he's so passionate about atheist activism. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Shawna Leneé is an openly atheist adult film star who has appeared on the cover of Penthouse and won an AVN award for “Unsung Starlet of the Year.” She left the adult industry temporarily, at which point she attended college began a couple of small businesses, but she’s back making movies now. (You should assume everything in this interview is NSFW.)We spoke with Shawna about why she believes her atheism is the most controversial thing about her, whether she meets a lot of religious people on set, and what she plans to tell her kids about her career.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

John W. Loftus should be a Christian. He attended and graduated from Great Lakes Christian College, Lincoln Christian University, and Trinity Evangelical Divinity School where he learned under apologist William Lane Craig. But he's spent the last several years debunking the faith. His books include Why I Rejected Christianity, Why I Became an Atheist, and The Outsider Test for Faith. His latest book is strangely called How to Defend the Christian Faith. I spoke with John about the worst argument Christian apologists use, how learning the Bible caused him to leave the faith, and whether rejecting Christianity is the same thing as becoming an atheist. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

David Williamson is the founder and President of the Central Florida Freethought Community. His group has been leading the way when it comes to getting atheists to give invocations at local government meetings. I spoke with David about why secular invocations are so valuable, step by step instructions on what local activists can do to get on these invocation lists, and what atheists should say if they get the opportunity to speak in front of government officials. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Cathy Lynn Grossman is a senior national correspondent for Religion News Service, a wire service for faith-based news. She often writes stories involving research and statistics. She also worked for more than two decades with USA Today. I spoke with Grossman about the toughest story she's ever written, what the Internet is doing to religion, and whether the amount of religion currently in politics is a new phenomenon. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Ep. 76 - Jocelyn Floyd, Attorney with the Thomas More Society by Hemant Mehta and Jessica Bluemke See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Lauren Lane is the Founder and Executive Director of Skepticon, a national conference located annually in Springfield, Missouri that promotes skepticism, science education, and community building. I spoke with Lauren about how her team runs a free conference for more than a thousand people, how they improve the event every year, and what goes on behind the scenes. (Disclosure: I've spoken at Skepticon multiple times, though I won't be able to attend this year. It's a wonderful event and you should all attend if you can!) See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

We're thrilled to speak with the team behind YouTube sensation Mrs. Betty Bowers. Andrew Bradley is the creator and writer for BettyBowers.com. If you haven't seen the videos, Betty is American's Best Christian, and she has a lot to say about traditional marriage, abortion, the upcoming elections, and so much more. She's a hilarious parody of right-wing extremists. Andrew was also one of the main writers for Landover Baptist Church, a parody of a fundamentalist Christian church that featured articles that people still believe are real. He's also the author of Welcome to JesusLand. Deven Green plays Mrs. Betty Bowers. She's a comedian, musician, and performer. She was also a comedy judge on RuPaul's Drag Race. We spoke with Andrew and Deven about how they collaborate, the kind of hate mail they receive, and the origins of Landover Baptist Church. By the way, this is our first time trying to host four people on the same phone call, so the audio's not always ideal, but hopefully it's all still audible! See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Dr. Keith Devlin is a mathematician who's also known as The Math Guy on NPR's Weekend Edition. He has written several books explaining math to the masses. And he's also the co-founder and Executive Director of Stanford University's Human-Sciences and Technologies Advanced Research Institute (H-Star). We spoke with Dr. Devlin about why math is difficult to understand and explain, how we tend to know more about mathematicians' lives than their work, and whether programs like Khan Academy help or hurt students. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Leah Vincent is a former Orthodox Jew and the author of Cut Me Loose: Sin and Salvation After My Ultra-Orthodox Girlhood. She's the first person in her family to attend college and she earned her Masters degree in public policy at the Harvard Kennedy School. We spoke with Leah about her life growing up in the culture, what fundamentalist faiths have in common, and what she plans to teach her daughter about her religious background. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.