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Welcome to American Freethought, an atheist podcast hosted by John C. Snider. If you'd like to support the podcast, you can send funds via PayPal to sniderishere@gmail.com.

Nov 29, 2018

Original release October 3, 2015.

Encore release November 29, 2018.

Encore release August 22, 2017.

We interview Chris Matheson, author of the new satirical novel The Story of God: A Biblical Comedy about Love (and Hate). While Chris isn't exactly a household name,  you're guaranteed to know his work: he's also a screenwriter and director, most notably the co-writer of the 1989 comedy film Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure (starring Keanu Reeves and Alex Winter) and its 1991 sequel Bill and Ted's Bogus Journey.

Plus:

Rowan County (Kentucky) County Clerk Kim Davis has surfaced again, this time to receive the "Cost of Discipleship Award" at the Values Voter Summit in Washington, DC. (And after this episode was recorded, Davis's lawyers revealed she had a brief, secret meeting with Pope Francis while he was in town. The Vatican has not denied the meeting, but all the details are coming from Davis.)

survey at Harvard University shows that an unprecedented number of incoming freshmen (37.9%!) identify as atheist or agnostic. Since Harvard alumni are disproportionately represented in American halls of power (e.g. CEOs of Fortune 500 companies, inhabitants of the Oval Office), there is some reason to be optimistic for future leadership with a rationalist outlook.

Tennessee Judge Jeffrey M. Atherton wins our inaugural "F*ck That Guy" award for his petty and facetious ruling denying a couple's divorce because: "With the U.S. Supreme Court having defined what must be recognized as a marriage, it would appear that Tennessee’ s judiciary must now await the decision of the U.S. Supreme Court as to what is not a marriage, or better stated, when a marriage is no longer a marriage.” Atherton should be disciplined for abusing the powers of his office.