The Friendly Atheist Podcast

Patreon supporters who give $5 a month will get an ad-free version of the show!

Join our private Facebook group here!

Please join our new Discord server!

Jessica and I spoke about several stories from the past week involving religion and politics.

— Conservatives are furious over a Twix ad that isn’t by Twix and isn’t an ad. (7:20)

— A hate-preacher insisted that boys who grow up in a church like his will “100%” grow up to be straight. (18:47)

— There was a $1.8 million essay contest for anyone with evidence of the afterlife. The money will be handed out, but the evidence? Still doesn’t exist. (25:07)

— Should Republicans pander to gay voters? (36:24)

— A Virginia school board wants to get rid of all “sexually explicit” books… and burn them. (46:49)

— A Christian “segregation academy” held an anti-LGBTQ seminar for parents. (53:39)

— A North Carolina restaurant turned a one-star “Satanic” review into a keepsake T-shirt. (59:41)

— Pastor Greg Locke really wants to get subpoenaed. (1:01:40)

— An anti-LGBTQ pastor was nominated to the Anchorage Equal Rights Commission… until public pressure caused him to step away. (1:07:32)

— The Biden administration is undoing a rule allowing taxpayer-funded groups to discriminate on the basis of religion. (1:11:12)

Patreon supporters who give $5 a month will get an ad-free version of the show!

Join our private Facebook group here!

Please join our new Discord server!

Jessica and I spoke about several stories from the past week involving religion and politics.

— In New Jersey, an openly atheist state representative won his bid for state senate. (2:11)

— Aaron Rodgers thought he could get away with a homeopathic COVID vax substitute. (10:30)

— If being the father to a known molester is your biggest claim to fame right now, maybe don’t run for office on a platform of promoting family values, Jim Bob Duggar. (24:14)

— A pastor arrested for soliciting sex from a minor was preaching just days later. (30:01)

— SPONSOR: Check out Paint Your Life and get 20% off by texting FRIENDLY to 64-000. (34:22)

— Richard Dawkins says the scientific definition of women excludes trans women, so does that make him anti-trans? (36:10)

— A hate-preacher is using Dave Chappelle‘s latest special to trash trans people. (49:00)

— A coalition of atheist groups are urging the Supreme Court to uphold a ban on Maine taxpayers funding religious schools. (54:59)

— Most white evangelicals wish America was a Christian-only bubble. (1:03:34)

— We lost Bobbie Kirkhart, a longtime atheist activist and tireless defender of church/state separation. (1:12:58)

— The HPV vaccine is working wonders. (1:08:04)

(Screenshot via YouTube)

Patreon supporters who give $5 a month will get an ad-free version of the show!

Join our private Facebook group here!

Please join our new Discord server!

Jessica and I spoke about several stories from the past week involving religion and politics.

— A school district will no longer ban “Satanic” clothing after a Satanist complained. (1:32)

— Liberty University’s “think tank” was just a cover to elect Republicans. (6:05)

— A GOP official said society’s problems are all a result of not following God’s laws. (12:44)

— Liberty U. still isn’t taking sexual assault seriously. (15:15)

— Being an evangelical basically means worshiping Trump now. (23:12)

— A U.S. Senate candidate (guess which party) says church/state separation doesn’t exist. (35:30)

— Christian pseudo-historian Tim Barton says dads only need a “couple days” off after mom gives birth. (38:53)

— Most Americans want church/state separation… but don’t know what it means. (49:44)

— What is going on with the Chicago Blackhawks? (53:11)

— These Sikh men took off their turbans to save two hikers, putting decency over dogma. (1:08:36)

Patreon supporters who give $5 a month will get an ad-free version of the show!

Join our private Facebook group here!

Please join our new Discord server!

In this solo show, Hemant interviewed Dr. Randall Balmer, the author of Bad Faith: Race and the Rise of the Religious Right.

Dr. Balmer holds the John Phillips Chair in Religion at Dartmouth College, Dartmouth’s oldest endowed professorship. He previously taught as professor of American religious history at Columbia University for twenty-seven years. In his scholarship, Dr. Balmer focuses on Christianity’s interrelationships with American politics.

We spoke about the real origins of the Religious Right, whether white evangelicals accept their own history, and if Democrats should use churches to their political advantage.