In Louis Theroux‘s new film, My Scientology Movie, the Church of Scientology doesn’t give him access to the key leaders or buildings themselves… That sounds like quite the obstacle for a documentarian, so Theroux does the next best thing: He hires actors to recreate well-documented scenes in Scientology’s history. All the while, the actual Church seems to be keeping tabs on him.

Theroux has worked with Michael Moore, and his projects have often focused on interesting subcultures — everything from the KKK to Westboro Baptist Church.

I spoke with him about Scientology’s version of “turn the other cheek,” the harassment that one key defector of the Church still has to put up with, and what one thing could hurt the Church the most.

Richard Hatch is the winner of the first season of Survivor, where he basically created the whole concept of an alliance. He also competed on the 8th season of the show (Survivor: All-Stars) in 2004. In 2011, he was on Celebrity Apprentice, and last year, he appeared on The Biggest Loser: Temptation Nation. Along the way, he spent time in jail over unpaid taxes, though he maintains his innocence in the matter.

With the new season of Survivor set to premiere this week, we spoke about whether he’ll be returning to the show he helped popularize, his journey out of religion, and whether there’s anything redeeming about Donald Trump.

Jessica and I sat down to talk about some of the biggest stories from the week involving religious and politics.

They included:

– A Danish man charged with blasphemy.

– Death threats to a mother who fought to take down a Ten Commandments monument outside her daughter’s public school.

– The Broken Windows Theory of Church/State Separation

– How Christians still feel persecuted despite having all the power.

– The Pope’s backhanded compliment to atheists

– What happens when a fake psychic pretends to be a real psychic (who’s not really psychic).

– Communion: Is it really haunted bread?

Notes:

Here’s the clip of a former congressman not recalling the Ten Commandments during a Colbert Report segment.

Buy some of Jessica’s cross stitches!

(Image via Shutterstock)

Alex J. O’Connor is a YouTuber who makes videos on the Cosmic Skeptic channel. He also runs a blog of the same name. I’ve really enjoyed his work in the few months since he began posting content and this was my first opportunity to talk to him.

We spoke about advice he would offer aspiring YouTubers, why anyone interested in becoming the next Richard Dawkins should start now, and whether there’s a difference between atheists who were influenced by the New Atheism books versus those influenced by YouTube (and if one is better than the other).