296 - Atheism at First Baptist Church of Decatur

I recount my experience as one of two guest atheists at an adult education class at First Baptist Church of Decatur, moderated by Paul Wallace (who I interviewed in Episode 290 of this podcast). The congregation could not have been nicer, and made both me and Allison feel right at home. When audio of the conversation is available on the church website, I'll post a link.

Plus:

While Pete Buttigieg *probably* won't win the Democratic nomination, that hasn't stopped religious conservatives from attacking him for his "ungodly" gay lifestyle, or Trump surrogates like Rush Limbaugh from matter-of-factly pointing out how much fun the president would have with an opponent who kisses his husband on stage. It's just a taste of the vitriol we could expect if the first openly gay candidate for president were to win the nomination.

Boy Scouts of America has declared bankruptcy as a result of over 300 lawsuits alleging sexual misconduct on the part of scout leaders and other adult volunteers. Over the last six years, BSA has started allowing gay scouts, gay leaders, trans boys and even regular ol' girls to participate. The fact that the lawsuits cover acts committed well before the recent, inclusive policies hasn't stopped bigots from purposefully conflating homosexuality with pedophilia and blaming the liberalization of Scouting for its own downfall.

Facebook continues to be a mysterious and confounding place, where outright lies are never reigned in but good-faith users find themselves in "Facebook jail" for no disclosed reasons. I've landed in Facebook jail before (and never knew why), and now it's happened to Republican Atheists. (I don't agree with RA on much, but I respect their right to exist and freely express their views without being harassed by the world's most powerful social media platform. Their page was restored after about 10 days, with no explanation.)

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