Friendly Atheist Podcast

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Ep. 94 - Lyz Liddell, Executive Director of the Reason Rally Coalition Feb 12, 2016

Show notes

Lyz Liddell is the Executive Director of the Reason Rally Coalition. Before that, she worked with the Secular Student Alliance and played a large role in the Openly Secular campaign, which got celebrities like Bill Maher, Arian Foster, and Barney Frank to talk about how they're not religious and encouraged others to join them. I spoke with Lyz about the newest slate of speakers at the Rally, how she balances the competing agendas of the various atheist groups participating in the event, what she's learned from a decade in the movement.

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Ep. 93 - Robyn Blumner, CEO of the Center For Inquiry Feb 07, 2016

Show notes

Robyn Blumner spent 16 years as a nationally syndicated columnist and editorial writer at the Tampa Bay Times newspaper, where she wrote a lot about civil liberties, church/state separation, and free speech issues. In 2012, she was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize along with the rest of her editorial team. Before she was writing professionally, she headed up ACLU affiliates in Florida and Utah. She entered the world of organized atheism, if you will, in 2014, when she was tapped to run the Richard Dawkins Foundation. Recently, RDF announced a merger with the Center For Inquiry, and Robyn will soon become CEO of the new merged organization. I spoke with Robyn about her experience coming out as an atheist publicly long before it became commonplace, how the CFI/RDF merger took shape, and -- yes -- Richard Dawkins' tweets.

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Ep. 92 - William Shunn, Author of The Accidental Terrorist Jan 31, 2016

Show notes

William Shunn is the author of The Accidental Terrorist, a book about his time as a Mormon missionary. He was supposed to preach in Alberta, but it wasn't long before he was convicted of felony mischief after making a false bomb threat. He's still not allowed to return to Canada. We spoke with Bill about what it's like to be a Mormon missionary when your heart's just not into it, how the Mormon Church catches escaped missionaries, and the extreme length he went to to prevent his mission partner from leaving the base.

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Ep. 91 - Linda K. Wertheimer, Author of Faith Ed Jan 24, 2016

Show notes

Linda K. Wertheimer is a former education editor of the Boston Globe and a reporter at the Dallas Morning News and Orlando Sentinel. She recently published a book called Faith Ed: Teaching About Religion in an Age of Intolerance. We spoke with Linda about groups that oppose the teaching of basic Islamic beliefs in public schools; whether teachers are properly equipped to objectively discuss religion in the classroom; and why atheists, Mormons, and Jews tend to know more about religion than larger faith groups.

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Ep. 90 - Chris Shelton, Former Scientologist Jan 17, 2016

Show notes

Chris Shelton spent 27 years in the Church of Scientology, where he attained those high levels you only hear about in HBO documentaries. But he got out about three years ago and is now a vocal critic of the Church. He just published a book called Scientology: A to Xenu: An Insider's Guide to What Scientology is All About. We spoke with Chris about what tipped him off to the Church's deceptions, what he was taught about Xenu, and what he believes would be the single biggest blow to the Church's existence.

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Ep. 89 - Cristin Padgett, Openly Atheist Texas House Candidate Jan 10, 2016

Show notes

Cristin Padgett is a Democrat hoping to win a seat in the Texas State House. She's doing that in a heavily gerrymandered district in a very red part of the state. What makes her candidacy so unique, though, is that she has made public the fact that she's an atheist, making her one of the only openly non-theistic candidates this election cycle in any part of the country. Not exactly part of anyone's playbook in Texas politics. We spoke with Padgett about how she can convince Texans in her district to support her, what she could accomplish with a Republican majority in the House, and what she learned from the failed gubernatorial campaign of Wendy Davis.

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Ep. 88 - Susan Gerbic, Leader of Guerrilla Skepticism on Wikipedia Jan 03, 2016

Show notes

Susan Gerbic is a photographer and skeptical activist from California. She contributes to the Skepticality podcast and Skeptical Inquirer magazine. In addition to co-founding the Monterey County Skeptics, she leads a group called Guerrilla Skepticism on Wikipedia. Her goal in that last group is to improve the content of skeptic-related content on Wikipedia. We spoke about why editing Wikipedia is so important, how she avoids charges of bias in the articles, and how you can join her cause.

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Ep. 87 - Eric, a Former Member of the Worldwide Church of God Dec 27, 2015

Show notes

Eric is a writer currently living in Chicago. He was raised in California in the Worldwide Church of God, a Christian organization that is now known as Grace Communion International and has been considered by many to be a cult. Jessica spoke with him about his upbringing in the church, how it affected his childhood, and how he ultimately left it all behind. *We apologize for the sound quality in this episode! The audio equipment wasn't working properly so we had to resort to alternate means.

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Ep. 86 - Dr. Ken Miller, Expert Witness in Kitzmiller v. Dover Dec 20, 2015

Show notes

Dr. Ken Miller is a Professor of Biology at Brown University and the co-author of a Biology textbook used in schools across the country. He's also the author of "Finding Darwin's God" and "Only a Theory." I'm talking to him now because it's the tenth anniversary of the Kitzmiller v. Dover case which gutted the Intelligent Design movement. Miller was an expert witness for the science side. I spoke with him about whether evolution advocates can finally relax, how a Roman Catholic like himself reconciles science and faith, and the effect of Creationist propaganda on science literacy.

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Ep. 85 - Michael De Dora, CFI Public Policy Director and UN Representative Dec 13, 2015

Show notes

Michael De Dora is director of the Center for Inquiry's Office of Public Policy and he's also CFI's representative to the United Nations. He's currently the president of the UN's NGO Committee on Freedom of Religion or Belief. I spoke with him about what we can do about the bloggers currently under attack in Bangladesh, whether our government is doing anything to protect atheists overseas, and what his conversations are like with the Saudi Arabian representatives at the United Nations.

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