The Friendly Atheist Podcast

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.

Notes:

We also spoke recently with Shulem Deen, who comes from the same general culture.

Sarah Morehead is the President of the Reason Rally Coalition. She is also Executive Director of Recovering From Religion, the group that runs the Hotline Project and Secular Therapist Project. She was named American Atheists’ 2014 “Atheist of the Year.”

We spoke about what’s in store for the 2016 Reason Rally and how it’ll be different from the 2012 event, as well as her work behind the scenes putting together Apostacon.

You can see the Reason Rally launch video right here.

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 Nonbeliever Nation and Fighting Back the Right: Reclaiming America from the Attack on Reason.

We spoke with David about the legal issues affecting young atheists and how they should respond. Topics addressed include: Saying the Pledge of Allegiance, “See You at the Pole” events, religious choir music, science education, Gideons Bible giveaways, faith-based assemblies, and prayers at football games.

Notes:

If you need advice on handling Pledge of Allegiance issues, be sure to check out the AHA’s Don’t Say the Pledge website.

Also, if you see any potential church/state separation problems at your school, be sure to contact the AHA’s Appignani Humanist Legal Center, Americans United, Freedom From Religion Foundation, or American Atheists.

Dan Barker was a teenage evangelist and longtime preacher before he stepped away from God for good. He is now the co-President of the Freedom From Religion Foundation (along with his wife Annie Laurie Gaylor), a group dedicated to the principle of separation of state and church.

Barker is also the author of Godless (2008) and Life Driven Purpose (2015).

I spoke with Barker about why he goes on The Daily Show even when the segments aren’t very kind to him, his next project encouraging people to read the Bible, and how all Christian ministers are “slaves traders.” (Yep.)

Notes:

Here are links (one and two) to Barker’s segments on The Daily Show.

Here’s more about Nebraska State Senator Ernie Chambers and his 2007 lawsuit against God.

(Image via Tim Hughes, 2010)