Friendly Atheist Podcast

Dianna E. Anderson grew up in South Dakota, and after stints as an English teacher in Japan and a radio producer in Chicago, she's turned her focus to writing. Her first book, out now, is called Damaged Goods: New Perspectives on Christian Purity and it's all about the intersection of the church and sexuality. We spoke with Dianna about why sex is often seen as shameful in parts of Christianity, what conversations the broader evangelical church is having about sex, and whether the church can ever become sex-positive. Lots of sex. #Sex See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Muhammad Syed is the co-founder and director of operations for Ex-Muslims of North America. Heina Dadabhoy is an ex-Muslim atheist and feminist who writes at Heinous Dealings. At the American Atheists 2015 convention in Memphis, Tennessee, Jessica spoke with them about the various challenges of leaving Islam and why, if you're having religious doubts, it's better to act on them instead of staying in the faith. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Jessica Hagy is a cartoonist and writer best known for her insightful and hilarious webcomic Indexed, in which she draws charts and Venn diagrams connecting completely different ideas and getting us to think about them in different ways. Her latest book is The Art of War Visualized. It's the Sun Tzu classic reworked and with illustrations. During a recent stop in Chicago, we spoke about her career change from copywriter to professional author/illustrator, where she finds inspiration for her work, and how her cartoons made their way into my math classes. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Vyckie Garrison was named American Atheists' 2015 Atheist of the Year. She's also the founding editor of No Longer Qivering, a website based upon the "quiverfull" lifestyle that she left years ago. (Why that spelling? Because, she says, there's no "you" in quivering.) Jessica spoke with Vyckie about how she left the movement made famous by the Duggar family, whether her children are still religious, and why patriarchal thinking hurts men as well as women. (Image via Josiah Mannion on Facebook) See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Lloyd Evans is the founder of JWSurvey.org, a website that focuses on the problems with Jehovah's Witnesses. For most of his life, Lloyd was a Witness. But that changed not too long ago. Now he's trying to help others leave the faith. On a personal note, I've learned so much about the seedy underbelly of the religion by reading his work. We spoke with Lloyd about why JWs are suddenly getting more attention, the most painful aspect of leaving the faith, and the awful afterlife in store for those who didn't make the cut for the "chosen" 144,000. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Dr. Ryan T. Cragun is an Associate Professor of Sociology at the University of Tampa and the author of books including What You Don't Know About Religion (but Should). His latest is called How to Defeat Religion in 10 Easy Steps. We spoke with Dr. Cragun about whether religious fervor is cyclical or fading, why religious holidays should become secular, and the surprising thing churches can do to stop the shifting trend away from religion. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Jennifer Michael Hecht is a historian, philosopher, and author of several bestselling books including Doubt: A History. Her latest book is called Stay: A History of Suicide and the Philosophies Against It. At the American Atheists 2015 convention in Memphis, Tennessee, Jessica spoke with Jennifer about how thoughts of suicide differ between atheists and religious people, how more people in history have been atheists than believers, and whether it's possible to discern what certain historical figures thought about God. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Gerald Posner is an investigative journalist and author of several books, including ones about the assassinations of JFK and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. His latest book, God's Bankers, is all about the Vatican's finances, and how the Church got involved with the Mafia and money launderers. We spoke with Gerald about how he followed the trail of the Church's money, what the Vatican Bank is used for, and the advice he has for investigative journalists. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Trace Beaulieu and Frank Conniff are writers and actors best known for their work on Mystery Science Theater 3000. At the American Atheists 2015 convention in Memphis, Tennessee, Jessica spoke with Trace and Frank about the genesis of MST3K, what they think about podcasts, and whether it's tough to be known only for the show rather than their other projects. (Image via Tim Dorr on Flickr) See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Megan Fox is the apparent evolution-denier who "debunked" a science exhibit at Chicago's Field Museum of Natural History and posted the video on YouTube. In a long, far-ranging, and sometimes infuriating interview, we talked about the reactions to her "audit" videos, whether her gender plays a role in the backlash, and why she doesn't consider herself a Creationist. We also discussed why she believes not censoring the Internet in a local library's adult section sanctions "taxpayer funded access to child porn." (In response to her battle with the Orland Park Public Library, readers of Friendly Atheist raised nearly $7,000 for the library's general fund.) See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Dr. Susan Blackmore is a writer, researcher, and speaker best known for her book "The Meme Machine." At the American Atheists 2015 convention in Memphis, Tennessee, Jessica spoke with Susan about the mystery of consciousness, Blackmore's fascination with memes, and why she avoids most forms of social media. (Image via Wikipedia) See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Jason Heap is the Executive Director of the United Coalition of Reason, an organization that has placed billboards promoting local atheist groups all over the country. He is also trying to become the first Humanist chaplain in the United States Armed Forces. I spoke with Jason about the strategy behind putting up non-aggressive billboards, how he left the evangelical Christian faith he was raised in, and why politicians are working so hard to prevent Humanists from becoming officially-recognized chaplains. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Jerry DeWitt was a Pentecostal preacher from Louisiana whose faith began cracking a few years ago. At first, he battled with his doubts internally, but he soon realized he no longer believed what he had been saying from the pulpit for nearly 25 years. When he finally declared -- publicly -- that he was an atheist, his life began to fall apart. He wrote about his deconversion in his book Hope After Faith. You may have also seen him in the recent CNN special "Atheists: Inside the World of Non-Believers." Hemant spoke with Jerry recently about what led him to initially doubt his religious beliefs, his journey through the Clergy Project, and how he can still get himself into "preacher mode" when speaking. (Jessica will return to the show in a couple of weeks!) See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Wendy Thomas Russell is a journalist who spent years covering criminal justice. In 2008, she began writing books for and about children, including three books for the Girl Scouts. In 2011, her focus shifted to secular parenting. Not only does she blog on Patheos at Natural Wonderers, she is about to release a new book called Relax, It's Just God: How and Why to Talk to Your Kids About Religion When You're Not Religious. We spoke with Wendy about whether or not it makes sense to raise your child as an atheist, why the "sex talk" is easier than the "God talk," and what she learned from the authors of other books about atheist parenting. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Nancy French is a four-time New York Times best-selling author who has written books with Sarah Palin, Bristol Palin, The Bachelor star Sean Lowe, and Olympic gold medalist Shawn Johnson. We spoke with her about whether liberals misunderstand Sarah Palin, how she came to support Mitt Romney (who doesn't share her faith), and why all of her collaborations have the same starting point. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

A few weeks ago, I was listening to Alex Blumberg's popular podcast StartUp which is all about his journey beginning his own podcasting company. In one episode, he aired a conversation with Trevor McKendrick, an atheist who was making quite a bit of money selling a Spanish-language Bible app for your phone. So you know we had to talk to him ourselves. We spoke with Trevor about the overwhelmingly positive reaction to the story, how it publicized his atheism more than he expected (especially as an ex-Mormon), and what Bible-buying trends look like online. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Daniel Genis (rhymes with "tennis") grew up in New York City, where he attended Stuyvesant High School and New York University, graduating with a degree in history and French. In 2003, however, he committed five armed robberies, which led to a decade behind bars. During that time, he wrote a novel called Narcotica. Now that he's out, he's been writing about the intersection of religion and incarceration for publications like Vice, Deadspin, the Washington Post. New York Daily News, and Newsweek. We spoke with Daniel about the soul exchange that got him in trouble, why we should feel any sympathy for him, and what he hopes to do now that he's a free man. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Ross Blocher is the co-host of the Oh No, Ross and Carrie! podcast, in which the hosts don't simply talk about the paranormal, but "dive right in by joining religions, attending spiritual events, undergoing "alternative" treatments, partaking in paranormal investigations, and more." Jessica caught up with him during a recent trip to Los Angeles and they spoke about how the podcast began, along with some of his favorite investigations. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Peter Boghossian is a philosophy professor at Portland State University and the author of A Manual for Creating Atheists, a book in which he talks about "street epistemology" -- essentially how to talk people out of their faith. He's currently working on a phone app that'll guide people through that process. We spoke with Peter about why his approach isn't just "atheist evangelism," why smart people can believe silly things, and whether his techniques work on his own children in other areas of life. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Linda LaScola is a research consultant perhaps best known for her work with philosopher Daniel Dennett in which they speak with pastors who may secretly be atheists. She co-founded the Clergy Project -- a site for religious leaders harboring serious doubts about their faith -- and she is about to re-release her book on the topic, "Caught in the Pulpit," with updates and additions. She also blogs on Patheos at Rational Doubt, a site that features several articles by doubting pastors. We spoke with LaScola about how the Clergy Project began, whether coming out as an atheist (when you're a pastor) is a good or bad idea, and the surprising book that finally turned one pastor into an atheist. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Noelle George is a secular activist interested in making a tangible difference in the world, rather than simply arguing about religion behind a keyboard. She founded the SECULAR Center in Houston and is the Director of Special Projects for Foundation Beyond Belief (a group I work with). But her latest endeavor is aimed at helping those people who most need it. It's called Secular Avenue. The website is SecularAvenue.org. And the group will assist those who are unsafe at home because they are no longer religious, living under religious extremism, victims of domestic abuse, or coming out as LGBTQ. Secular Avenue will offer those people financial help, counseling, and legal assistance, among other things. We spoke with Noelle about how people in need can get help, what we can do to pitch in, and why it's so important for atheists to find a way to volunteer. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Katherine Stewart is an investigative journalist who has written for Rolling Stone, The Nation, The New York Times, and the Guardian. She may be best known as the author of The Good News Club, about an organization bringing religious fundamentalism to elementary schools across the country. We spoke with her about the evil genius behind the "4/14 Window," whether a "Better News Club" for children of atheist parents is a good idea, and how writing about religious fundamentalism is like going back to a bad boyfriend. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

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 the fantastic book Nonbeliever Nation. His latest book is called Fighting Back the Right: Reclaiming America from the Attack on Reason. We spoke with David about how we can convince unreasonable people to embrace reason, why the election of George W. Bush was a turning point for organized secularism in America, and which atheist ad campaigns are the most effective. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Parisa Tabriz is Google's self-described "Security Princess," a euphemism she created in part because "hired hacker" sounds kind of evil. Her job is to figure out the problems with Google Chrome and fix them before the bad guys do. That's a pretty amazing job for anyone, much less a 31-year-old woman, which isn't exactly the norm in the tech world. Last July, Elle magazine ran a long profile on her. (Full disclosure: I knew Parisa in high school and we had classes together, though we haven't talked much since graduating.) We spoke with Parisa about how she gets into the mind of a hacker, how we can get more women into this field, and how ignorance really isn't bliss in her world. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Marshall Brain is best known as the founder of the website HowStuffWorks.com. In 2007, Discovery Communications bought the site for a whopping $250 million. He has appeared on Oprah, National Geographic Channel, and CNN, and written several books. His latest one may be the most controversial one yet. It's called "How 'God' Works: A Logical Inquiry on Faith." We spoke with Marshall about how his book is different from those by the New Atheists, why he's risking his reputation by deconstructing God, and how he'll know if the book is successful. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Max Temkin is one of the creators of Cards Against Humanity, the "party game for horrible people." What began as a game Max played with his friends soon became a successful Kickstarter campaign in 2011, and it has turned into one of the most popular, entertaining, and sometimes controversial card games today. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Rabia Chaudry is an attorney who specializes in immigration law, a National Security Fellow at the New America Foundation, and President of the Safe Nation Collaborative, an organization that, among other things, consults with federal agencies about how to counter violent extremism. She writes at SplitTheMoon.com. But you may know her best because she's the person who brought the story of Adnan Syed to reporter Sarah Koenig, resulting in the Serial podcast phenomenon. Rabia's little brother was Adnan's best friend and their families were also close. (I should point out that we taped this episode the day before the final episode aired.) We spoke with Rabia about what she learned from Serial that she didn't know before, her relationship with Sarah Koenig, and whether she was compelled to respond to the misinformation about Adnan online. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Fred Clark is a progressive evangelical Christian blogger better known as Slacktivist. He's one of those Christians who defies all the stereotypes atheists tend to have of Christians. He's for gay marriage, critical of church leaders, and constantly frustrated with what his "tribe" does in the name of Jesus. We spoke with Fred about why he's still working on the longest-running book review ever, what will happen to the Christian church after gay marriage becomes legal everywhere, and how Christians can change church culture from the inside. Full disclosure: Fred writes for Patheos, the same network on which you can find the Friendly Atheist blog. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Horus Gilgamesh is a pen name for the author of The Awkward Moments Children's Bible. Which is really not for children. It features beautiful illustrations of the most disturbing biblical passages you're ever read. Volume 2 came out recently and I suspect we'll be seeing more volumes in the future because, well, there's so much source material. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Lucien Greaves is the spokesperson for The Satanic Temple. You know his organization because they've been very active recently regarding church/state separation issues. In Oklahoma, where there was a Ten Commandments monument near the Capitol building, Greaves' group requested putting up a statue of Baphomet… leading to all sorts of chaos. They've also tried to put up a Satanic display in the Florida Capitol building. And, my favorite, after a Florida school district allowed an outside group to do a Bible giveaway for students, they requested to distribute a Satanic coloring book… which may lead to an end to outside book distributions for good in that district. We spoke with Lucien about how he doesn't actually believe in Satan, what his group's relationship is like with other Satanic groups, and why they conducted a Pink Mass over the grave of Fred Phelps' mother. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Phil Zuckerman is a professor of sociology and secular studies – yes, secular studies – at Pitzer College in Claremont, California, where he lives with his wife and three children. He is the author of several books about atheism, including Society Without God and Faith No More: Why People Reject Religion. Next week, he'll be releasing a book called Living the Secular Life. We spoke with Phil about whether the rise of the "Unaffiliated" has hit its peak, why more atheists have come out of the closet over the past decade, and why that demographic shift is good for America. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Jeff Lewis is a board member of the Illinois Christian Home Educators (ICHE). ICHE is a group that promotes faith-based home-schooling and provides a variety of resources to Christian parents who want to do that. He's an attorney who specializes in topics including estate planning and guardianship issues. He and his wife have five children, all of whom have been home-schooled. We asked him to join us to give us an insight into a world we know little about, not to debate him on aspects of homeschooling. Still, the conversation will likely infuriate some listeners (you've been warned). We spoke with Jeff about whether homeschooling should be regulated by the state, why public schools are a problem for some Christians, and what to do about kids who fall through the cracks. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Our guest is a college football player from one of the top Division 1 programs in the country. He's not just a guy on the bench; he himself is one of the top players in the country for his position. At his request, we're maintaining his anonymity because he deserves to be recognized for his talent and not his atheism, and we don't want to ruin that for him. Rest assured, though, we know his real name. We've verified that he is who he says he is. We wanted to talk to him about faith, football, and his future. For the sake of this interview, we're going to call him "Patrick." We spoke with Patrick about how he became an atheist, what it's like being an atheist on a mostly religious team, and what those of us on the outside don't know about college football. (Image via Shutterstock) See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

The new Left Behind movie, starring Nicolas Cage, is out -- and Jessica and Hemant decided to go see it... so you don't have to. After several days of keeping their thoughts to themselves, they finally discussed the movie with the microphones on. By the way, the picture you're seeing is Jessica in the theater. By herself. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Steve Wells is the author of the amazing Skeptics Annotated Bible, which documents all the contradictions and horrible things the Bible says. It's one of the most useful websites for atheists I have ever seen and you can check it out at skepticsannotatedbible.com. The print version of the book is a must-have. Wells is also the author of Drunk with Blood, which documents all of God's killings in the Bible. His newest book is called Strange Flesh, and it's about how the Bible is used to justify anti-gay bigotry or, depending on who you talk to, support LGBT rights. We spoke with Steve about his time in seminary, how one documents the number of deaths during an imaginary flood, and how Christian LGBT-rights advocate Matthew Vines gets it wrong. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Elizabeth Cavell graduated from Tulane University Law School in 2009 and worked for a while as a deputy public defender in southern Colorado. She currently works as a staff attorney with the Freedom From Religion Foundation. We spoke with Liz about which kind of complaints are the most numerous at FFRF, how persecution has become a way to protect privilege, and whether she ever speaks with her cultural counterparts. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Monica Snyder is a representative from the group Secular Pro-Life, a group that seeks to unite pro-lifers, regardless of their religious beliefs or lack thereof. She has worked with the group since its inception in 2009. We spoke with Monica about where she fits in among both the pro-life and secular worlds, how she was rejected from volunteering at a crisis pregnancy center because of her beliefs, and why merely focusing on contraception access may not be a viable strategy. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Juhem Navarro-Rivera is a research associate at the Public Religion Research Institute. PRRI publishes some of the most important and credible surveys when it comes to tracking religious demographics in the United States. Before joining PRRI, Juhem was a research fellow at the Institute for the Study of Secularism in Society and Culture at Trinity College, where he served as the lead analyst for many studies, including the landmark American Religious Identification Survey. He also taught political science and Latino Studies at the Puerto Rican and Latino Studies Institute at the University of Connecticut. We spoke with him about how PRRI collects its data, whether the results themselves can draw criticism, and how to grow the diversity within the atheist movement. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Jessica spoke with Vandy Beth Glenn, Beth Ann Erickson, and Rebecca Bradley from the Skeptic Ink network about blogging in the skeptic/atheist community and their favorite posts. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Conor Robinson graduated from Yale University, where he launched the Yale Humanist Society. He is a Teach for American alumnus. And last year, he began and took part in the Pathfinders Project, a year-long international service project for Humanists. Consider it a Mission Trip minus the religion. He visited Cambodia, Uganda, Ghana, and Haiti, among other places. (Full disclosure, I'm on the board of Foundation Beyond Belief, which helped sponsor this project.) We spoke with Conor about living with a group of strangers for a year, how he had to change his diet while living overseas, and how his life has changed since returning home. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Jessica spoke with Skeptics Guide to the Universe host and neuroscientist Steven Novella and magician Jon Armstrong about skepticism and the brain, our faulty memories, and how the placebo effect is not what you may think. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Dan Arel has written articles about religion, science, and politics for websites like Salon, AlterNet, and the Huffington Post. His first book, called Parenting Without God, was released in August. We spoke with Dan about how his religious teacher used to fast-forward through science videos, what it was like growing up in a Pentecostal Christian home, and why it's important to discuss parenting without religion. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Jessica sat down with TAM emcee George Hrab and Psychology Professor Sheldon Helms to talk about their reflections on the conference and the importance of communication in the science community. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Pam Mueller may be best known as a frequent contestant on Jeopardy! where she has won more than $180,000 during her many, many episodes, including her run to become champion of the 2000 College Tournament. She also worked on Howard Dean's 2004 presidential campaign, graduated from Harvard Law School, and is now a grad student in Psychology at Princeton University. We spoke with Pam about her research into notetaking, the end of Howard Dean's campaign, and the oddest place she's been recognized. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Dave Silverman is the President of American Atheists, a frequent guest on Fox News Channel, and the inspiration for a popular meme. Paul Provenza is a stand-up comedian, director of The Aristocrats, and author of Satiristas! Kira Soltanovich is a stand-up comedian who has appeared on the Oxygen Network's "Girls Behaving Badly." Mike McShane is an actor and comedian who appeared on the British version of "Whose Line Is It Anyway?" Jessica spoke with them about attending Catholic schools and what it means to be an atheist. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Myq Kaplan is a comedian who has appeared on Last Comic Standing and every late night talk show you can think of. He's known for his brilliant wordplay as well as his self-deprecating humor. His albums "Vegan Mind Meld" and "Meat Robot" are absolutely hilarious, but his latest show "Small, Dork and Handsome" is, in my opinion, his best one yet. It's on Netflix right now and you're gonna want to watch it… after we're done with this interview. We spoke with Myq about why most comedians seem to be non-religious, whether his jokes are ever truly finished, and what he learned from Louis C.K. (Myq's photo taken by Mindy Tucker) See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Daniel Dennett is a philosopher/professor at Tufts University and the author of Breaking the Spell. Jessica spoke with him about the term "atheist" and its alternatives, his project "Caught in the Pulpit" about preachers who no longer believe what they preach, and the culture of Americans who prefer to stay put instead of travel abroad. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Tyler Measom and Justin Weinstein are the producers and directors of An Honest Liar, a documentary about James "The Amazing" Randi. Jessica spoke with them about the movie, the archival footage they found, and Randi "victims" psychic Uri Geller and televangelist Peter Popoff. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

James Randi is the legendary investigator of paranormal and pseudoscientific claims and the namesake of the James Randi Educational Foundation. Banachek is the mentalist who created the "bullet catch" trick made famous by Penn & Teller and the director of JREF's One Million Dollar Paranormal Challenge. Jessica spoke with them about the difficulties of testing so-called supernatural powers, performing mentalism and fooling people, and what they still love about watching magic shows. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Billy Hallowell is the faith editor for TheBlaze.com, perhaps better known as Glenn Beck's website. He has also written pieces for The Washington Post, The Daily Caller, The Huffington Post, and several other websites, and he is a frequent guest on Fox News Channel. His interest in politics and social issues goes far back, though. He used to be the CEO of VoterWatch, a non-partisan nonprofit focusing on government transparency, and even began a website in high school encouraging students to make a difference in their communities. We spoke with Billy about what he's learned from working under Glenn Beck, what conservatives do poorly, and how we share a surprising bond involving actor Nicolas Cage. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.