Friendly Atheist Podcast

Linda LaScola is a research consultant perhaps best known for her work with philosopher Daniel Dennett in which they speak with pastors who may secretly be atheists. She co-founded the Clergy Project -- a site for religious leaders harboring serious doubts about their faith -- and she is about to re-release her book on the topic, "Caught in the Pulpit," with updates and additions. She also blogs on Patheos at Rational Doubt, a site that features several articles by doubting pastors. We spoke with LaScola about how the Clergy Project began, whether coming out as an atheist (when you're a pastor) is a good or bad idea, and the surprising book that finally turned one pastor into an atheist. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Noelle George is a secular activist interested in making a tangible difference in the world, rather than simply arguing about religion behind a keyboard. She founded the SECULAR Center in Houston and is the Director of Special Projects for Foundation Beyond Belief (a group I work with). But her latest endeavor is aimed at helping those people who most need it. It's called Secular Avenue. The website is SecularAvenue.org. And the group will assist those who are unsafe at home because they are no longer religious, living under religious extremism, victims of domestic abuse, or coming out as LGBTQ. Secular Avenue will offer those people financial help, counseling, and legal assistance, among other things. We spoke with Noelle about how people in need can get help, what we can do to pitch in, and why it's so important for atheists to find a way to volunteer. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Katherine Stewart is an investigative journalist who has written for Rolling Stone, The Nation, The New York Times, and the Guardian. She may be best known as the author of The Good News Club, about an organization bringing religious fundamentalism to elementary schools across the country. We spoke with her about the evil genius behind the "4/14 Window," whether a "Better News Club" for children of atheist parents is a good idea, and how writing about religious fundamentalism is like going back to a bad boyfriend. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

David Niose has been the president of two major organizations, the American Humanist Association and the Secular Coalition for America. He currently serves as the AHA's legal director. He's also a lawyer who has argued in front of the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court about why the Pledge of Allegiance shouldn't be recited in public school classrooms. And he's the author of the fantastic book Nonbeliever Nation. His latest book is called Fighting Back the Right: Reclaiming America from the Attack on Reason. We spoke with David about how we can convince unreasonable people to embrace reason, why the election of George W. Bush was a turning point for organized secularism in America, and which atheist ad campaigns are the most effective. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Parisa Tabriz is Google's self-described "Security Princess," a euphemism she created in part because "hired hacker" sounds kind of evil. Her job is to figure out the problems with Google Chrome and fix them before the bad guys do. That's a pretty amazing job for anyone, much less a 31-year-old woman, which isn't exactly the norm in the tech world. Last July, Elle magazine ran a long profile on her. (Full disclosure: I knew Parisa in high school and we had classes together, though we haven't talked much since graduating.) We spoke with Parisa about how she gets into the mind of a hacker, how we can get more women into this field, and how ignorance really isn't bliss in her world. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Marshall Brain is best known as the founder of the website HowStuffWorks.com. In 2007, Discovery Communications bought the site for a whopping $250 million. He has appeared on Oprah, National Geographic Channel, and CNN, and written several books. His latest one may be the most controversial one yet. It's called "How 'God' Works: A Logical Inquiry on Faith." We spoke with Marshall about how his book is different from those by the New Atheists, why he's risking his reputation by deconstructing God, and how he'll know if the book is successful. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Max Temkin is one of the creators of Cards Against Humanity, the "party game for horrible people." What began as a game Max played with his friends soon became a successful Kickstarter campaign in 2011, and it has turned into one of the most popular, entertaining, and sometimes controversial card games today. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Rabia Chaudry is an attorney who specializes in immigration law, a National Security Fellow at the New America Foundation, and President of the Safe Nation Collaborative, an organization that, among other things, consults with federal agencies about how to counter violent extremism. She writes at SplitTheMoon.com. But you may know her best because she's the person who brought the story of Adnan Syed to reporter Sarah Koenig, resulting in the Serial podcast phenomenon. Rabia's little brother was Adnan's best friend and their families were also close. (I should point out that we taped this episode the day before the final episode aired.) We spoke with Rabia about what she learned from Serial that she didn't know before, her relationship with Sarah Koenig, and whether she was compelled to respond to the misinformation about Adnan online. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Fred Clark is a progressive evangelical Christian blogger better known as Slacktivist. He's one of those Christians who defies all the stereotypes atheists tend to have of Christians. He's for gay marriage, critical of church leaders, and constantly frustrated with what his "tribe" does in the name of Jesus. We spoke with Fred about why he's still working on the longest-running book review ever, what will happen to the Christian church after gay marriage becomes legal everywhere, and how Christians can change church culture from the inside. Full disclosure: Fred writes for Patheos, the same network on which you can find the Friendly Atheist blog. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Horus Gilgamesh is a pen name for the author of The Awkward Moments Children's Bible. Which is really not for children. It features beautiful illustrations of the most disturbing biblical passages you're ever read. Volume 2 came out recently and I suspect we'll be seeing more volumes in the future because, well, there's so much source material. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.