Ask an Atheist
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Suffer for Our God
Sam and Libbie talk with author and activist Valerie Tarico about acquisitions and mergers of hospitals into Franciscan and Providence Catholic health care systems in Washington State. There are show notes.
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Bad Arguments U
This week, Sam is joined by Becky and Nick as he talks about a recent argument from "Prager University", a project by talk show host Dennis Prager. Sam has bloggedabout him previously. We also go over some similarly bad arguments coming out of the media, as well as catch up on a few emails and updates. There are show notes.
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ATHYRIO 2: More Blasphemy!
The people who want their opinions codified into law never stop, so we have some new cases to discuss. Becky and Mike join Sam once again as we talk about blasphemy in the US and around the world, as well as updates from the worlds of UFOlogy, makeup application, and bomb detection.
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One Hundred Fifty
We've covered a lot of territory in 150 episodes of Ask an Atheist! This week, Mike, Becky, and Sam revisit some of our favorite stories from over the last three years and ask the inevitable question: What happened next? Also, we'll discuss the new discrimination coming out of Olympia.
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A Reprieve
Join Sam, Dan, and Becky as we discuss the news and answer some emails, take a break and have some fun after a trying couple of weeks.
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Shelley Segal at Last
We met Shelley Segal in central Washington last summer, and everyone was interested in having her appear on Ask an Atheist. In that time, she's made a pretty heavy tour of the US, and we've had some difficulties with a local establishment. Shelley talks with Sam and Becky about this and many other things. If Sam can get the gear working right, we may even have an in-studio performance.
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Shelley Segal, Now at Doyle’s Public House
Shelley Segal will be playing at Doyle's Public House this weekend, Sunday April 14th. We'll be meeting up at 5:00 PM, there's no cover now, and it's a 21+ show. Be there for good music and good times! Weren't we somewhere else? Yes. Guess why its not there anymore! (TL;DR: Go to this show.)
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Office of Religious Freedom
This week, Sam talks to returning hosts Rich and Deanna (from Living After Faith) about the American Atheists convention in Austin this past week. Additionally, we’ll be talking with Michael Payton of CFI Canada about the recent “Office of Religious Freedom” debacle, and CFI’s chance to set things right.
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The Pat Robertson Uncertainty Principle
This week, Libbie, Mike and Sam continue our conversation about the existential weirdness that is Pat Roberson, as well as other news, emails, and maybe some phone calls.
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Unholy Alliances
Sam, Mike, and Becky welcome John Figdor, Chaplain at the Humanist Community of Stanford, as he discusses his journey to become a Humanist Chaplain and establish a Palo Alto community allied with the the Humanist Community Project. Other unholy alliances emerge between Russia, the Vatican, and Egypt.
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Octopus Men From Space
This week, we'll talk about the new pope, and more people having sex with things they shouldn'ta oughta be having sex with. Libbie, Mike and Sam also talk about news, email, and have a conversation with the organizer of the AtheistHavens sub-reddit.
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The Delicious Interlude
In the moment between claims of infallibility, Becky, Dan and Sam talk about the "honest" atheists, catch up with Mandisa Thomas of Black Nonbelievers, and discuss the passing of and lack of skepticism regarding Hugo Chavez. Also, fungi are terrifying.
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Don’t be a Tithewad
This week, Sam, Becky and Bob explore the misconception that atheists don’t do charitable work. To help explore, they talk toDale McGowan, founder and executive director of Foundation Beyond Belief. We also talk to Alexa Blumenstock, the president of CTHULU: Critical Thinkers, Humanists, & Unbelievers at Lawrence University, which we mentioned in a previous [...]
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Card Sharks
MOO?!
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Card Sharks
In the light of the upcoming "Ender's Game" movie and his announced stint as the writer for Superman, the Ask an Atheist crew will talk about Orson Scott Card, his merits as an author, and his flaws as a compassionate human being. Should Card's position as a board member of the National Organization for Marriage, and untenable positions on scientific "dogma" matter?
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Deconverted
This week, Becky, Mike and Sam talks to Seth Andrews of the Thinking Atheist podcast. He is theauthor of “Deconverted: A Journey from Religion to Reason,” a personal story about the transition to atheism. We'll also talk with Donald Wright, engineer and author, about thethird annual Day of Solidarity with Black Nonbelievers, an event he first organized in 2011.
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National Atheist Party
Sam and Mike are joined by (a new) Casey to discuss listener questions and converse with Troy Boyle head of the National Atheist Party.
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Books and Bites
We talk with atheists involved in the book-distribution campaign in Florida schools, and discuss the efficacy of biting as a method of snake-demon removal. We spoke with David Williamson, the director of Central Florida Freethought Community. There are extensive show notes.
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Separation of Leprechauns and State
This week, the three amigos catch up with Rob Boston, President of Americans United for the Separation of Church and State. And we talk about the intersection of the Transformers Movie and leprechauns.
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Kids Without God
We talk with Chuck Wolber, director of Camp Quest Northwest, and Rebecca Hale, newly affirmed president of American Humanists Association, about kids without god.
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2013: Where’s Kevin Costner?
Sam, Mike, and Becky ring in the new year with news, emails, and a little bit of science with Dan. Among other things, the curious email we're talking about points to this link.
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Preventable Death in Washington
This week, Sam, Mike, Becky and Eileen talk with Dr. Hall, the Skepdoc, about immunization and the pertussis epidemic in areas of Washington State. Harriet A. Hall, MD, is a retired family physician and former Air Force flight surgeon. She writes about medicine, so-called complementary and alternative medicine, science, quackery, and critical thinking. She's an editor and one of the 5 MDfounders of the Science-Based Medicine blog, and is a contributor to Skeptic magazine, Skeptical Inquirer,...
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Still Alive
Has Mike been swallowed up by some Mayan-inspired quantum afterworld? Sam, Nick, and Dan explore this option as well as several other completely ridiculous end of the world notions.
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We Hear You, Onion Article.
Bob, Mike and Sam talk about what is necessary: the tragedy in Connecticut and the religious response to it. Then, we studiously avoid the topic and talk about other important things going on. As an additional palate cleanser, Dan returns with an apocalyptic Moment of Science. Also, this obviously explicit Onion article.
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Baptism for the Dead
Guest Libbie Hawker talks with the Mike and Sam about her new novel, "Baptism for the Dead", about atheist fiction, and current news items.
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The Unicorn and the Clergy Project
This week, Sam and Mike have a conversation with Tacoma-local and member of The Clergy Project, Robert Parham. Also, we talk about unicorns, and maybe some old guy on television.
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Blasphemy in Ireland
Sam and Becky speak with Michael Nugent of Atheist Ireland about Ireland's 2009 anti-blasphemy law, Catholic influence on Irish law, and Ireland's changing religious demographics. Then Mike, Sam, and Becky discuss news items and respond to listener emails. Big thanks to Living After Faith for the use of the studio for this week's interview!
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Not the Flightless Bees!!!
Join Dan, Sam, and Mike as we mull over some misconceptions of science and the scientific method by creationists, and how disproving evolution won't bring back your honey.
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Winning: The Elections and Islam
Sam and Becky chat with guest Heina Dadabhoy and her book A Skeptic's Guide to Islam. Heina is busy writing her manuscript after a very successful Kickstarter funding campaign. After that, Libbie joins us to talk about the R74 and the elections in general. We also discuss the lack of atheism representation in government and the obvious solution to it as enacted by James in Nebraska.
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Bullspotting and Birtherism
Sam, Mike and Becky look at the responses to our official candidate questionnaire, and then talk to author Loren Collins about his new book, Bullspotting:Finding Facts in the Age of Misinformation ask him why "Birther" conspiracy theories just won't go away.
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I’m a PC! I’m Satan!
Join Mike, Libbie, Sam, as we talk about current events, news, and the inherent evil of Steve Jobs. Here's a translation of an Interfax news report about the Apple logo and Russia's blasphemy laws. Here's a link from Greta Christina describing the success of her fundraising efforts. Feel better soon, Greta! Libbie's books are available here.
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Interview with Greg Epstein
This week, Mike, Sam and Becky have a conversation with Greg Epstein, the Humanist Chaplain at Harvard University. We also talk about weird misapprehensions of the atheism movement in the media recently. Also, Billy Graham.
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Sex With Ghosts
Sam and Mike are rejoined by the familiar Libbie Grant to discuss emails, a moment of science, and pop singer Ke$ha's other-wordly intimate relations.
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Candidate Without a Prayer
Join us as we chat with Herb Silverman, founder and president of the Secular Coalition for America, and Distinguished Professor Emeritus of Mathematics at the College of Charleston. He ran for governor of South Carolina in the 1990s as an atheist and entered into a multi-year battle to have the South Carolina Supreme Court strike down this religious requirement for holding public office. He joins us today to chat about his recently published memoir, Candidate Without A Prayer: An...
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Blasphemy Day
While the world is focused on Benghazi, Libya and the religiously-motivated murder of Ambassador Chris Stevens, the Ask an Atheist gang zooms out and discovers that blasphemy as a tool of statecraft is not limited to Arab Spring nations.
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Bigfoot and Blasphemy
This week, we talk with Bigfoot with local skeptical researcher Matt Crowley. Also, we get into the whole Libyan troll fiasco, and the role of God at the recent political conventions. To talk about that, we catch up with Richard Dawkins Foundation Director of Strategy & PolicySean Faircloth.
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Four Days at Camp Quest
This week, Ask an Atheist takes you to the inaugural year of Camp Quest Northwest, on Samish Island. Sam talks to counselors and campers about this unique experience.
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Interview with Nikki Stern
Nikki Stern’s first book,Because I Say So: the Dangerous Appeal of Moral Authority, explored a cultural standard of unequivocal moral certainty through the lens of her experience as a 9/11 widow. Her newest book,Hope in Small Doses, was released this spring and takes a natural next step in exploring how hope might be sustained, even [...]
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Good News
Two weeks ago kind of sucked, so we did an episode called Bad News. Then, things changed. Join Sam, Becky and Mike as they reconvene their earlier conversation with some positive results and good news.
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Podcast Extra: Washington United for Marriage
As of today, there are still folks asking WU4M about the past problem with their coalition page. We’ve done a quick podcast explaining what’s going on, and the happy situation we find ourselves in now.
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Bad News
There’s a lot of weird stuff going on, locally, within the atheism movement, and nationally. Becky, Mike and Sam get together and chat about it. What do we talk about this week? The new “Atheism+” movement, the Family Research Council shooting, and our own problems with Washington United for Marriage, the organization [...]
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Jessie Bering Interview
This week, Becky and Sam have a stimulating interview with Jesse Bering. Jessie Bering is the author of “The Belief Instinct,” a book exploring the psychological and developmental aspects of religious belief. Last month, his book “Why is the Penis Shaped Like That? And Other Reflections on Being Human,” hit the shelves– a collection of [...]
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Apathist to Activist
Join Mike, Sam and (somewhat confusingly) Sam’s brother Michael in the studio as we talk about overcoming the family tendency to apathy in becoming an atheist activist. Also, Mike will unveil the first ever Ask an Atheist Candidate Questionnaire, aimed at seeing how this year’s stable of candidates stack up against issues important to [...]
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Fire Emails from Outer Space
This week, join Jeremy, Mike, and Sam as we discuss what’s up in the news, and respond to your emails. There are show notes after the cut. News Stories: A Bob Jones University defense of the textbook Sam opened the show with. AHA’s Gore Vidal obit Crazy Christian Podcast wondering if Sesame Street is NAMBLA [...]
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Critical Thinking and Education
Becky and special contributor Hemant Mehta take a look at aspects of public education and the educative process, and their respective relevance to atheists. Mike and Sam talk about Scientology, Chick Fil-A. There are show notes after the break. Resources and Sources mentioned on this episode: PDF of TX Republican Party Platform The Party’s official [...]
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Alien Abductions
This week the Ask an Atheist crew take on one of the classics of skepticism- UFOs! Specifically, what’s the deal with crop circles, alien abduction, government coverups and more!
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Where’s the Harm: Scientology
Sam and Mike explore the strange beliefs of Scientology and speak with journalist Mark Bunker on his experiences with the sci-fi cult. Mark Bunker, Emmy-award winning journalist, proprietor of XenuTV, and known to Anonymous everywhere as Wise Beard Man, has a website a http://xenu.tv. Mark joined us this week via Skype. Here’s the news article [...]
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Ask an Atheist Stream-a-thon This Weekend!
This weekend is going to be a big weekend for Ask an Atheist– we’ll finally be talking about Scientology! But first, we’re going to work on civil rights here in Washington. To help put things into perspective, I’ll provide some history from online sources: Washington passed it’s own version of the Defense of Marriage Act [...]
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Superman is Greater than Jesus
Sam and Wes join Mike as he explores how his love of superhero comic books has influenced his views on power, bullies and morality. Also, how the Bible and its characters fail on all fronts. Additionally, we touch on the subject of Scientology for the first time, speaking specifically about the recent death of Alexander [...]
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Kathleen Kilroy Likes This Episode
In homage to a great Facebook fan, we honor our listener feedback and discuss some funny and interesting news stories. Show notes after the break. Jonee emailed us shortly after the show with links to support the deconversion efforts we described today: Thank you for your time today on Ask an Atheist! My Husband [...]
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10 Points for a Secular America
Join us this afternoon as Ask an Atheist talks with with Sean Faircloth, Director of Strategy and Policy for the Richard Dawkins Foundation, and author of the book “Attack of the Theocrats! How the Religious Right Harms Us All- —and What We Can Do About It“. This week, we’ll discuss his 10 Point Vision for [...]
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The Other “A” Word
In this long-awaited episode, the cast of Ask an Atheist discusses our position on abortion and responds to feedback about this topic. Speaking on this episode: Becky, Deanna, Nick, Mike, Libbie, Scott, Sam, Eileen, and Bob. Additionally, Bob posted this blog post back in February about this subject: 5 Recommendations to the Pro-Life Movement
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“Dogmatic Feminism” Pt. 2, and Some Other Things
There are things in this post that I will apologize for, and then there are other things I will not apologize for. Here’s part 2 of our discussion from Tuesday morning, and if I had my druthers, I’d ditch or re-record it for technical quality reasons. It’s blaming tools, I know, but my headphones started [...]
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“Dogmatic Feminism” Discussion Podcast (part 1)
Becky and Sam have an extended discussion about this week’s episode, covering material unused on the show and some of the responses we’ve recieved.
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The Problem of Dogmatic Feminism
Join Becky, Eileen, and Samdiscuss the firestorm of discussion surrounding sexism, harassment, and safety in the freethought community. There will be more show notes as this goes on, please check back in for updates.
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Cross Examined
Becky and Mike interview local freethought activist, blogger, and author Bob Seidensticker about his debut novel “Cross Examined” and his blog “Galileo Unchained.”
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YOU??!
Join Deanna, Mike, and Sam as we continue to talk about the great news and emails we’ve been getting recently. It’s like there’s something in the water.
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News Zero Two
Join Mike, Nick, and Sam as we discuss the incredible amount of news going on in atheism this month, as well as an update on our discussion of the Secular Coalition for America.
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100
Ask an Atheist hosts reflect on producing 100 episodes, with feedback from listeners and some news recaps and updates.
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Crash of the News
Mike, Rich and Sam talk about the skads and skads of atheism related news this week! We’ll also be taking calls and responding to emails!
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Sylvia Browne didn’t See this Coming
Join Case, Mike and Sam as we discuss Sylvia Browne (who is coming to towne) and cold reading.
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One Nation Indivisible
Join Becky, Eileen and (potentially) Sam as we talk with David Nioseof the American Humanist Association about their pending litigation about the Pledge of Allegiance and other goings on at the AHA. Additionally, we will also be answering calls, emails, and talking about current events.
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Untamed Emails
This week, we are live again! Join Mike, Becky, and Kyle as we respond to your calls, emails and talk about current events!
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The Clergy Project (with Living After Faith)
Join Rich and Sam as we interview Jerry DeWitt and Teresa MacBain of The Clergy Project. In a first for both shows, this episode is a joint effort between Ask an Atheist and Living After Faith. This episode will appear on both feeds. This episode is pre-recorded, so unfortunately we will not be able [...]
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Nearly Live at the NFA Conference 2012
Join Becky, Mike and Sam as we sit down in front of an audience at the 2012 Northwest Freethought Alliance Conference in Renton, WA. We’ll be talking about the news, the Reason Rally, and answering questions from the audience! The episode this week will be recorded on Saturday for airing on Sunday, so if [...]
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Washington State Freethought / de Botton Comments
Join Sam, Mike, and returning guest Eileen as we comment and respond to commentary regarding our recent interview with Alain de Botton. In the second half of the show, we will discuss the history of atheism and free-thought in Washington State, culminating in an exciting announcement.
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“Religion for Atheists” for Atheists
This week, Sam, Mike and Becky catch up with Alain de Bottonabout his book “Religion for Atheists: A Non-believer’s Guide to the Uses of Religion,” including the “boring” question about the existence of god and the necessity of verbal skill. Note: This week’s episode is not live, so no live streaming. Addtionally, this represents about [...]
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Let’s Slander Kirk Cameron!
Join Mike, Nick and Sam as we answer some emails, revisit an old friend, and discuss Kirk Cameron’s sordid past as a black market organ salesman on the planet Arcturus VII. Hey guess what! Our DNS provider is undergoing a DDoS attack, so our domains are only intermittently available. To access our MP3 live stream [...]
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Interview with Valerie Tarico
Join Becky and Deanna in the studio as they speak with Valerie Tarico about universal morality, and continuing the conversation about reproductive rights. Valerie Taricois a psychologist and former director of the Children’s Behavior and Learning Clinic in Bellevue,Washington. Her articles can be found regularly in the Green and Religion sections of the Huffington Post.She [...]
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Debate: P.Z. Myers and Greg M. Epstein
This week’s episode of Ask an Atheist is going to be a bit different. We are joined via phone byP.Z. MyersandGreg M. Epsteinin a debate around the question:“How Should the Atheist Movement Talk about Religion?” Instead of taking your phone calls or emails, our own Sam Mulvey is going to moderate a debate on a [...]
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Churchspotting
For the last several months, Darren, our usual call screener has visited a church before answering calls for Ask an Atheist. A different church, every week. Today, Darren tells Mike and Sam about what interesting things he’s discovered.
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Darwin is Not A Prophet, Really!
Happy Darwin Day! Today, Sam, Becky and Nick go over the material we were supposedto go over this time last year, when Sam proposed to Becky. We will discuss why comparisons with Charles Darwin with religious prophets don’t wash.
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Coming Out, Again
This week, join Sam, Mike and Eileen as we take calls, answer emails, and discuss emails about the use of the phrase “coming out” by atheists.
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Rocket Attack Emails!
This week, Mike, Sam, after a long hiatus Jeremy answer emails and take a call or two.
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“Dr.” Homeopathy (feat. James Randi)
Deanna, Mike and Sam talk to to James Randi, the man at the front of a foundation with a million dollar prize for scientifically valid proof of the paranormal and a legend among skeptics.
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Church, State and the 2012 Elections
Politics is getting awfully religious lately. Where do candidates stand on the separation of church and state? What is a church allowed — and not allowed — to do in an election season if it wants to keep its tax exemption? At what point is a candidate making promises that violate the First Amendment’s establishment [...]
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Romance within Reason
Join Joe, Becky and Sam as we talk about being an atheist in the world of dating and romance.
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Happy Nerdy New Year
This week, Mike, Becky and Sam get into the nerd bent we have at Ask an Atheist.
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Dogma Under the Tree
Emergency show! Sam, Mike and (eventually) Becky talk about North Korean, answer emails, and take calls
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