Maggie Rowe grew up as an evangelical Christian in the suburbs of Chicago. And for reasons we’ll get into, when she was 19, she landed in a Christian mental health center where she spent three months. While parts of that experience were disturbing, some of it actually helped her eventually walk away from Christianity. She’s now a comedy writer who has worked on the show Arrested Development and currently works on Netflix’s Flaked.

Her book is called Sin Bravely: A Memoir of Spiritual Disobedience.

I spoke with her about the “spiritual terrorism” of teaching kids about Hell, what someone with a Christian upbringing notices in a comedy writers’ room, and how long it took to finally overcome her faith-based guilt.

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Jessica and I sat down to talk about several stories from the past week involving religion and politics.

They included:

— The resignation of the atheist State Rep. from New Hampshire who created Reddit’s “Red Pill” forum.

— The Virginia atheist who painted an “offensive” Bible verse on his truck.

— Why you should be skeptical anytime you hear about an African pastor who drowns while trying to walk on water.

— The Christian mother who treated her gay son as if he were dead.

— How a video of a baby crying out for Jesus isn’t “adorable.”

— The juror who was dismissed from a corruption trial after saying God told her the suspect wasn’t guilty.

— Why a photo doesn’t show that God was taking accident victims to Heaven.

(Image via Shutterstock)

If you support what we’re doing, please contribute to our new Patreon page!

Jessica and I sat down to talk about several stories from the past week involving religious and politics.

They included:

– Comedian Stephen Fry‘s blasphemy ordeal and what it says about blasphemy laws.

– The Missouri Republican who thinks there’s a difference between being gay and just being human.

– Whether circumcision should be banned?

– If banning a method for animal slaughter is religious discrimination.

– The absurd lawsuit claiming discrimination against a Creationist “researcher.”

– What religious people would like to learn from atheists.

(Image via Shutterstock)

If you support what we’re doing, please contribute to our new Patreon page!

Jessica and I sat down to talk about several stories from the past week involving religious and politics.

They included:

– What was the point of the Johnson Amendment executive order? (And why did Trump lie about the military ban on Bibles?)

– What was Trump’s reaction after the Access Hollywood tape?

– Why did Franklin Graham blame Kate Middleton for an invasion of her privacy?

– Is it okay to say an emotional congresswoman is in “hysterics“?

– Why aren’t Millennials religious?

– Do the Girl Scouts support abortions?

– Should a Christian school force faculty members to oppose gay marriage?

– Why did Alabama’s governor sign legislation allowing religious adoption agencies to discriminate against gay couples?

And an update on the Athena Salman invocation!

(Image via Shutterstock)