Troubador Roy Zimmerman has solved the multicultural conundrum but good.  We gotta get this guy on the podcast…

Hey, the guys over at Bloggingheads.tv are featuring a dialogue between Will Wilkinson and Paul Bloom about if and why atheists are miserable, and whether or not religion makes you a nicer person. (Hey Will - next time tell Bloom to get his mic out of his nose!)

We take a look at the (alleged) War on Christmas and the various over-reactions to it.

But first…some Thanksgiving leftovers!  Columnist Jim Griffith of the Newnan (Georgia) Times-Herald paints a bleak picture for atheists on Turkey Day.

Lest you think it’s only small town news hounds who blame everything on the infidels, get a load of the recent essay by Daniel Henniger in The Wall Street Journal.  Who knew the economic implosion was triggered by the scrooges who don’t like to hear the words “Merry Christmas”.

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 Podcast #35 - War on Christmas: Download (1926)

American Atheists is suing the Commonwealth of Kentucky over a 2006 law that requires the state to recognize God as an indispensable cog in the Homeland Security system (and you thought the days of tribal gods was a thing of the past!).  There’s no doubt this will be overturned in court, but it’s a damned shame we have to keep playing whack-a-mole (whack-a-god?) on these things.

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Interview with Mel Lipman (approx. 42 minutes into the show), president of the American Humanist Association (and, incidentally, the father of Lori Lipman Brown, lobbyist for the Secular Coalition for American, whom we talked to in podcast #23).  We talk to Mel about the AHA’s holiday ad campaign, which puts the message “Why believe in a god?  Just be good for goodness’ sake!” on buses in Washington, DC.

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 Podcast #34 - Mel Lipman: Download (1839)

Nationwide rag USA Today reviews Playing Gods, the role-playing game created by Skeptical Inquirer managing editor Ben Radford.  The article is mostly accurate (although the reporter refers to Atlanta-based Dragon*Con, where Playing Gods debuted last fall, as “DragonCom”). 

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When it comes to weeknight news commentary, MSNBC’s Countdown with Keith Olbermann is my pick.  Olbermann is well-dressed, well-spoken, well-informed, smart, funny and passionate about his work.  Plus he’s up against Bill O’Reilly so he needs all the viewers he can get.  Anyway, check out his impassioned response to California voters who passed Proposition 8 (banning gay marriage via amendment to the state constitution):

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Gotta love those “thou shalt forgive seventy times seven” Christian types.  Armenian and Greek Orthodox monks brawled at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre.  That’s right, men of the cloth chose to bust knuckles at the very place they think Jesus was buried (nevermind it’s just a tourist trap with not a shred of proof that it had anything to do with Jesus).  Anyway, here’s a link to the news article (the bit about the ladder is the funniest part).

Congratulations to President-Elect Barack Obama!  The possible ramifications of an Obama presidency will be shaking out for weeks and months to come, but freethinkers are particularly interested in the effect it will have on separation of church and state, the integrity of government-funded science, gay rights, women’s rights, etc.  We’ll also take a look at various election results from across the country. 

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 Podcast #33 - Election 2008: Download (2030)

Check out this clip from yesterday’s CNN.  Some quick background:  North Carolina Senator Elizabeth Dole (R) has been making a lot of hay out of the fact that Democratic challenger Kay Hagan attended a fundraiser organized by the Godless Americans PAC.  (more…)