The nonreligious population of the U.S. has grown significantly in the last couple of decades. We're relatively young. We're only a minority non-believer. But who are we? What issues are important to us? What do we want from the secular organizations that represent us.

Today we're talking with Alison Gill, American Atheists' Vice President of Legal and Policy, about the U.S. Secular Survey. This is an ambitious survey with a goal of getting a better picture of American nonbelievers and other nonreligious populations, now and for the future.

Links:

• U.S. Secular Survey
• Blitz Watch
• American Atheists

Sunday September 29th, 2019

This episode we are happy to be joined by Caitlin Doughty, mortician, author, and founder of The Order of a Good Death.  Caitlin's newest book is "Will My Cat Eat My Eyeballs?  Big Questions from Tiny Mortals About Death."

 Will My Cat Eat My Eyeballs?: Big Questions from Tiny Mortals About Death https://www.amazon.com/dp/039365270X/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_WzGKDbK7TV3A0

We talk a fair amount in the secular movement about the non-religious as a growing political force. We should. We are. But the problem is that we don’t have a lot of data about how we behave as voters. Truth be told, we don’t even always have a good picture of who we are. We just know there are more of us than there used to be.

Juhem Navarro-Rivera is a political scientist working to shed light on the topic. His latest project is the Secular Voices Panel, which will survey secular voters during the 2020 campaigns. Juhem joins us this Sunday to talk about why this work is important and what he’s already learned.

Links:

• Juhem’s blog, Beyond Church and State
• “Secular Identity, Belief in God, and 2020 Preferences“
• Secular Voices Panel on Indiegogo

This show promises to be just a little bit geeky. Or maybe a lot geeky. Scott Lohman is joining us to talk with James Croft about the ethics of Star Trek. James presented a workshop on the topic at the Secular Student Alliance conference this summer, and when we heard about it, we knew we had to put the two of them together to talk about it.

Related Links:

• James’s blog, Temple of the Future
• “Why We Need Star Trek“

We are happy to be joined by Professor Dr. Chester O'Gorman author of Demythologizing Revelation.

Links:

Demythologizing Revelation

August 25th, 2019

Hertzey chats with Nancy and Matthew former TEC-ites

Cory Johnston of the Brainstorm Podcast joins Stephanie Zvan to talk about skeptics failing to be skeptical in their public work and what he does to fight that on his podcasts.

Links:

• Brainstorm Podcast

We were going to have Charone Frankel of Habeas Humor back just to talk about separation of church and state, but then we looked at the news.

Links:

• Habeas Humor

All too often, we view art and science as opposed to each other. Science artist Lynn Fellman joins us to talk about how they complement each other.

Links:

• Fellman Studio

There's a lot of concern about birth rates in industrialized nations. Racist and anti-immigrant tropes are making a lot press right now. In Birth Strike: The Hidden Fight Over Women's Work, Jenny Brown examines the concerns of capital over declining birth rates and attempts to legislatively coerce more children instead of supporting parents.

Links:

• Birth Strike: The Hidden Fight Over Women's Work