What happens when faith and bigotry collide? A Texas preacher made headlines after telling white Christian parents they need to give their kids "the talk” about the supposed dangers of Black people.

This week on Thank God I’m Atheist:

• Trump’s “patriotic education” plan turns the nation’s 250th birthday into Christian nationalist indoctrination.
• Kash Patel sends Charlie Kirk to Valhalla (yes, really).
• The Taliban bans books by women and cuts more subjects from universities.
• A Colorado pastor’s crypto scam crashes and burns.
• A Texas pastor goes full racist with his so-called “talk.”
• U.S. military academies start accepting the Christian nationalist CLT exam.

And for the big topic: Frank and Dan debate the promise (and horror) of human immortality—would we even want to live forever?

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The Vatican has officially canonized Carlo Acutis (the first millennial saint) sparking headlines and debates worldwide. In this week’s episode of Thank God I’m Atheist, Frank and Dan unpack how the Catholic Church fast-tracked a “patron saint of the internet” and why it matters for modern Catholicism.

Along the way, they dive into the historic first female preacher at the National Baptist Convention USA, the LDS Church’s 101-year-old president Russell M. Nelson and his record-setting tenure, and the Department of Defense’s controversial Bible-verse-laden videos under Pete Hegseth. They also explore why your Zodiac sign may be 2,000 years out of date and answer a listener’s question about Christian-heavy choir music in an Utah public school. Finally, they close with their candid reaction to the shocking political assassination of Charlie Kirk in Utah and what it signals about America’s religious and political landscape.

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This week, Frank and Dan dig into the shocking story of a Florida pastor who ran a $50 million call center cult, complete with forced labor, starvation, and abuse in the name of God.

They also cover: Kristi Noem funneling Homeland Security funds to churches, the Taliban refusing to let men rescue women after an earthquake, a chaplain abusing detainees in ICE custody, and a Mormon columnist caught in a predator sting. Listener emails tackle everything from schizophrenia stigma to Dobson’s “strong-willed child” legacy.

And in the final segment: the Wall Street Journal’s profile of ex-Mormon TikTok influencers—and why Utah Senator Mike Lee is losing his mind over it.

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Epsiode 716

This week on Thank God I’m Atheist, Frank is joined by Rachel (with Dan off at Burning Man!) for a lively dive into religion’s latest absurdities. Trump’s bizarre new obsession with “getting to heaven” makes the headlines, Kentucky churches are stealing library books in the name of morality, Quebec wrestles with prayer bans in public spaces, and a nurse swaps her grandmother’s medication for “vitamins and prayers” with tragic results.

In the second half, Frank and Rachel tackle the empty ritual of “thoughts and prayers” in the wake of yet another school shooting. Why do politicians keep offering platitudes instead of solutions? And what does it say about a country that can't figure out how to protect children?

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This week Frank and Dan take a long, hard look at the legacy of James Dobson, founder of Focus on the Family and one of the most influential figures of the Religious Right. He spent decades pushing child abuse as “discipline,” spreading anti-LGBTQ hate, and shaping the culture wars that still drag us down today. With his passing, we’re not exactly breaking out the hymns…

We also dive into:

• Mormon women going wild over new, shoulder-baring garments
• An Episcopal priest who turned psychedelics into his new ministry
• A Catholic money man trying to steer investments away from LGBTQ rights and Planned Parenthood
• Bible verse sneakers making their way into the Museum of the Bible
• Mormon leaders panicking as church members turn to AI to write their sacrament talks

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Oklahoma’s Ryan Walters loses in court while doubling down on Christian victimhood, Pastor Doug Wilson’s growing extremist empire in Idaho gets national attention, and Lindsey Graham warns that “God will pull the plug on America” if we stop funding Israel.

Also in the mix:

• Marjorie Taylor Greene picks a fight with Lindsey Graham
• A Christian charity fires a pregnant gay woman and wins in court
• New York pushes back against political churches with a bold new bill
• A Pennsylvania priest rigs a Corvette raffle
• And in Arizona, a young candidate who says women shouldn’t hold office is… running for office

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This week, the Christians found us… and they came in swingin’ (well, typin’). The YouTube comment section lit up with righteous fury after last week’s episode, and we couldn’t resist talking about it.

We’ve also got the story of a megachurch pastor returning to the pulpit after prison, a psychedelic mushroom “church” that just beat the state of Utah in court, ICE raids inside places of worship, Missouri’s open push for “Christian conservative” gerrymandering, and the Mormon Church heading back to court over child sex abuse cover-ups.

And to top it off, we tear into the most tired, cliché lines believers love to throw at atheists—yes, including Pascal’s Wager.

What do a religious sex club, the Shroud of Turin, and a pedophile at a church fair have in common? They're all part of this week’s wild ride through religious absurdity.

Frank and Dan dig into:

• The airline controversy over booted Jewish teens—anti-Semitism or just unruly French kids?
• The Shroud of Turin gets debunked with 3D modeling.
• A Tennessee pastor uses food bank funds to pay for prostitution—and lands in prison.
• Guess who got kicked out of the state fair? Not the church with the pedophile.
• The Vatican quietly reinstates a convicted priest after child porn charges.

Plus: A Salt Lake City sex club registers as a religion to dodge the law. Is this the ultimate hack to freedom in a theocracy?

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