SkepSun #175 (01_31_2016)

On Freethought Radio, Iowa atheist Justin Scott tells Annie Laurie and Dan about his experience interviewing political candidates in the Iowa caucuses about their views on the separation of state and church. After hearing Marco Rubio, Ted Cruz, Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders respond to Justin, they talk with Jane Donnelly by phone from Dublin, who just testified before the U.N. on behalf of Atheist Ireland and ‘teachdontpreach.ie’ about the problem of Catholic control of public schools in the Republic of Ireland.

We’ve all heard new agey talk about our body’s so-called “energy fields”: chakras, auras, luminosity, chi. Does the human body indeed have any characteristic that can be correctly be described as an energy field? Brian Dunning looks into it on Skeptoid.

Gordon Bonnet has a look at some in the state of Tennessee who’d rather see no one get a marriage license than see same-sex couples get any and asks why do such people feel the need to get up into other people’s business?

In hour two, Julia Galef on the Rationally Speaking podcast interviews Maria Konnikova, science journalist and author of “The Confidence Game: Why we fall for it… Every time,” who explains why con artists are so effective why even the best of us are vulnerable.

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SkepSun #141 (06_07_2015)

This week not one, but two Freethought Radios (since we reran the May 17th show last week). On this week’s Freethought Radio, Dan Barker is flying solo and after announcing FFRF’s financial help to persecuted Bengali atheist and feminist Taslima Nasrin, Dan interviews activist Carole Beaton about her efforts to keep religion and government separate in Eureka, California. After Freethought Radio, we’ll hear from self-described anti-theist Brian Keith Dalton, aka Mr. Deity, who says that what differentiates him from religious fundamentalists is that it’s all about evidence and says  is that “if I am wrong, I want to know.” Then, starting off hour 2, Gordon Bonnet of Skeptophilia asks “what do you do know about diptheria?”  You answer is probably “not much” because it’s one of those diseases no one sees anymore thanks to vaccines. Unless, that is, you’re one unfortunate child in Spain whose parents are anti-vaxxers. Then Hemant Mehta will give us 12 reasons we know astrology doesn’t work. And finally on last week’s Freethought Radio. Annie Laurie and Dan talk about their visit to Paris and to the International Atheist conference in Gologne, Germany.  They celebrate Ireland’s historic vote for marriage equality by talking with Michael Nugent, head of Atheist Ireland, who joins them on the phone from Dublin.

[audio http://dl.dropbox.com/s/d7tanwdd92rskmm/SkepSun_06_07_2015.mp3]

Erin go secular?: the logo of Atheist Ireland.