I interview German astrophysicist Dr. Heino Falcke, who led the international team of scientists and technicians that created the first image of a black hole. Heino's new book is Light in the Darkness: Black Holes, the Universe, and Us.

For more about Heino and his work visit HeinoFalcke.org.

To buy a copy of his book click here.

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I interview Princeton's Dr. Michael Gordin about his new book On the Fringe: Where Science Meets Pseudoscience, an exploration of the "demarcation problem"; i.e., how to separate science from non-science.

For more about Michael and his work visit MichaelGordin.com.

To buy a copy of his book click here.

(At the top of the show, a clip from Irish comedian Dara O'Briain's humorous takedown of pseudoscience and alternative medicine.)

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I interview journalist (and senior fellow at the Cato Institute's Center for Global Liberty and Prosperity) Mustafa Akyol, author of Reopening Muslim Minds, in which he outlines how the Islamic world lost its way, and how it can move toward progress and modernity by leveraging traditions from its own past.

For more about Mustafa and his work visit MustafaAkyol.org and Cato.org.

To buy a copy of the book click here.

Plus:

Mississippi's Senator Cindy Hyde-Smith is against Sunday voting because...the Bible?

Feedback: A listener takes me to task for daring to imply that older people might have trouble grappling with complex topics like math and statistics, especially if they lack the proper academic or professional background.

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I interview scientist and science advocate Dr. David Robert Grimes about his new book Good Thinking: Why Flawed Logic Puts Us All at Risk and How Critical Thinking Can Save the World.

For more about David and his work visit DavidRobertGrimes.com.

To buy a copy of the book for yourself click here.

Plus:

The 21-year-old man who murdered eight people at three massage parlors in metro Atlanta claims he was removing "temptation" for his sex addiction. Former high school classmates remember him as a "super-Christian" obsessed with sex who was an active member of a fundamentalist Baptist church.

Pope Francis has the prohibition against gay marriage in the Roman Catholic Church extends to priestly blessings of gay unions.

Pastor Stewart-Allen Clark of Missouri's Malden First General Baptist Church is on leave after preaching that wives need to lose weight in order to keep their husbands' interest, and praised "epic trophy wife of all time" Melania Trump.

The Supreme Court has ruled in Uzuegbunam v Preczewski that Georgia Gwinnett College in Lawrenceville, Georgia, was wrong in prohibiting a Christian student from proselytizing and passing out literature outside a strictly defined "free speech" zone. Both the ultra-conservative Alliance Defending Freedom and the liberal American Humanist Association filed briefs on the student's behalf.

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I interview Emily Joy Allison, author of #ChurchToo: How Purity Culture Upholds Abuse and How to Find Healing, in which she shares her deeply personal story and offers a way forward for survivors of church-based indoctrination and mistreatment.

To buy a copy of this book click here.

For more about Emily and her work visit EmilyJoyPoetry.com.

Plus:

A report reveals the late Christian apologist and preacher Ravi Zacharias used his massage parlors and international travel as cover for sexual abuse and possibly even rape.

The Southern Baptist Church can't do one thing right without doing another thing wrong. Lately, the SBC has "disfellowshipped" two churches for employing preachers convicted of sex crimes and two for "affirming homosexual behavior."

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Contact: [email protected]

Support the Podcast: PayPal funds to [email protected]

I interview Ian Rosenberg, media lawyer, legal counsel for ABC News, and author of The Fight for Free Speech: Ten Cases that Define Our First Amendment Freedoms.

For more about Ian and his book visit thefightforfreespeech.com.

Plus:

Donald Trump survived his second impeachment, and now the Republican Party continues the project of ejecting anyone who dared oppose him. The GOP is morphing from a political party into a religious cult centered around Trump.

I discuss the deaths of two pornographers, Larry Flynt and Rush Limbaugh, and compare their legacies.

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I interview Dr. Randall Balmer, historian and Episcopal priest, about his new book Solemn Reverence: The Separation of Church and State in American Life.

To buy this book click here.

Plus:

Kudos to the US House of Representatives for removing Georgia Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene from her committee assignments, as punishment for promulgating dangerous and false conspiracy beliefs and for concurring with calls to assassinate fellow members of Congress. The Republican Party failed to discipline her themselves, having become the party of Trumpism and QAnon conspiracy theorists.

Newly minted Secretary of State Antony Blinken took his oath of office with his hand resting on a copy of the Constitution, not the Bible, surprisingly with little controversy. This hasn't stopped some conservative pot-stirrers from complaining that VP Kamala Harris insincerely "hovered" her hand over her Bible, somehow invalidating her oath. And last year, Marjorie Taylor Greene implied that federal law required oaths be taken on a Bible, and unsuccessfully attempted to confront Congresswomen Ilhan Omar and Rashida Tlaib about their use of a Qur'an.

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Contact: [email protected]

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I interview Harvard economist Dr. Benjamin M. Friedman about his new book Religion and the Rise of Capitalism.

To buy this book click here.

Plus:

Donald Trump gets impeached. Again. For inciting the riot at the US Capitol. And his impeachment trial begins in the Senate on February 9th.

The Justice Department should show no mercy to the rioters who stormed the US Capitol on January 6th, to send a message to their fellow travelers that the United States will not tolerate such violence and intimidation.

President Biden's inauguration had more God talk (by far) than any presidential inauguration in modern times.

Congressman James Clyburn (D-SC) wants to adopt "Lift Ev'ry Voice and Sing" as the National Hymn. Just...no.

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Rioters overrun the US Capitol for four hours, disrupting the formal tally of electoral votes by a joint session of Congress. Trump and his surrogates (and a long line of conservative leaders) bear direct responsibility for inciting this violence and feeding dangerous misinformation to their followers. 

Plus:

Democrats will control both Congress and the White House for the first time in years. What should they do with that power?

A Pew Research study shows that the new Congress is far more religious (and far more Christian) than the US population at large.

Congressman Emanuel Cleaver (D-MO) causes a minor controversy with his multicultural, multi-gendered invocation.

Congress has a female chaplain for the first time in history.

I decline to interview a flat-earther.

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Contact: [email protected]

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I interview Michael Arthur, writer, director, and producer of the documentary I, Pastafari: A Flying Spaghetti Monster Story.

For more about the film visit ipastafaridoc.com.

Plus:

A COVID-19 patient in a California hospital uses an oxygen tank to murder a fellow patient--for praying.

The Pope okays COVID-19 vaccines even if they were developed using fetal tissue.

Theme music courtesy of Body Found.

Follow American Freethought on the intertubes:

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Contact: [email protected]

Support the Podcast: PayPal funds to [email protected]