Boston Atheists
Nora, Jackie, Zach, and Calvin

The Boston Atheists Report

Due to life circumstances and schedules, The Report is on indefinite hiatus. Thank you to all our listeners for your support. Keep the RSS feed on your aggregator to find out when we resume!

In this bimonthly revolutionary roundtable, secular podcasters Jackie Lavache, Calvin Fisher, and Zachary Bos talk with BA members and other guests about news of the world, nation, and local community.

You can subscribe to the Report via our Feedburner feed below, or through iTunes. Please e-mail any podcast-related questions/comments or news item reports to podcast@bostonatheists.org and we will do our best to take your feedback into account or mention it on the air.

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Due to space limitations, episodes older than six months are not currently available for download on our server, but you may still browse through descriptions and links for all of our shows in the podcast archives. If you wish to listen to an older episode that has no download link, please e-mail us and let us know which episode you would like.

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The Boston Atheists Report is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 United States License.

Latest Episode

2010 Report #4 (Recorded 2/28/2010)

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Topics: Helen Kagin, co-founder of Camp Quest, dies at 76; fundamentalists beat daughter to death with rubber hose; atheism and intelligence; mixed demographics on Gen Y and superstition; change in and drama about the RichardDawkins.net forums. Roundtable: what can the atheist movement learn from the gay movement?

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Past Episodes

2010 Report #3 (Recorded 2/14/2010)

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Topics: T-pain targeted for conversion; Massachusetts teabagged in election; religion professor calls for more "gentle" female atheist voices. Guest commentary roundtable: the effects of ignorance-based sex education.

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  • "Mission Trip" to "Hip-Hop Nation" to convert T-Pain

    Dear Fellow Believer,

    I recently embarked on a mission trip. It's not a geographical destination but a virtual location where I am attempting to bring the light of gospel of the Lord Jesus. Let me tell you straight up I am not trying to raise financial support and I am not going to ask you for any money. I am however going to ask you to invest 5 minutes of your valuable time and become a co-laborer with me in this mission.

    Please read on.

    This mission field is a global community that is a forgotten people group. I'll call this mission field Hip-Hop nation.

    My means of travelling to this nation was very economical and costs nothing in the way of monetary outlay. It does however cost me time,labor and talent of which I am more than happy and blessed to invest in the mission. Now let me give you the details of this unorthodox mission and how I arrived here in Hip Hop nation.

    I recently entered a remix contest to sharpen my musical engineering, mixing and production skills and to challenge myself to go beyond my musical comfort zone. But moreso I saw this as an opportunity to bring the light of the gospel through developing friendships within this community of individuals. In the short time here the Lord has already used me to establish rapport with several of the citizens of Hip Hop nation. My ultimate goal is to establish a connection with the recording artist whose song is being remixed. He is a a multi-Grammy Award winning Hip-Hop sensation named T-Pain. I don't suspect that many of you have heard of him but that doesn't really matter. If you know anybody between the ages of 12-30 who listen to popular music they can tell you who T-Pain is. You may discern from his real name Faheem Rasheed Najm that he is a Muslim. Again my burden is to bring the love of Christ to not only T-Pain but to as many citizens of Hip Hop nation as possible.

    The way for me to accomplish that is to meet them on their terms and on their turf because I can tell you they most likely will not be showing up at our church meetings anytime soon. I have already created something of a buzz within the community with my remix, being that iti s a very unorthodox treatment of the original. Hmmm. Maybe I should change my middle name to unorthodox! LOL!

    It would be very beneficial for me to place high in the popular vote to create even more credibilty. In Hip Hop nation we call it "Street Cred". I am currently in 21st place out of about 1,000 entries. With about 4 days remaining and with your help I think I can make it to #1 so would you join me in this mission and spend the next 5 minutes doing the following:

    1-Go here http://www.indabamusic.com/submissions/show/11534
    2-You will see my beautiful mug(shot) and a link beneath it that says "Vote For Me"
    3-Click on that link. You will be prompted to enter a valid email address (don't worry you will not be spammed or bothered by Indaba Music the sponsor of the competition AND I will never hit you up for support money either :>)
    4-Next check your email and you will see an email from Indaba Music. There will be a link contained in the email that you must click on to confirm your vote. MAKE SURE YOU PERFORM THIS STEP OTHERWISE THE VOTE WON'T COUNT.
    5-If you have other members of your household that have a valid email address they may also vote. Please forward this email to any believer that comes to mind who has a heart for the Lord and for the Lost ( is it possible to have one without the other?)

    Thank you my friend for your time and support! And don't hesitate to call on me if you ever need a favor!

    And may the Lord Jesus be glorified!

  • Teen pregnancy and abortion rates rise for first time in a decade with abstinance-only education (NY Times)
  • Following Decade-Long Decline, U.S. Teen Pregnancy Rate Increases As Both Births And Abortions Rise (Guttmacher Institute)
  • California school district bans dictionary (Winnipeg Free Press)
  • Girls reaching puberty at earlier and earlier ages (HowStuffWorks.com)
  • It's the Stupid Sex, Stupid (Daily Kos)
  • Boston Atheists see Creation (Examiner.com)
  • Stephen Prothero: Atheists need a different voice (USA Today)
2010 Report #2 (Recorded 1/17/2010)

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Topics: Hatian earthquake; Danish cartoonist attacked by would-be axe murderer; "No God? Big Problem!" ads popping up; Creationist Claims iPhone app; Northfield, MA prep school becomes religious indoctrination facility; Dennett writes about privilege of religion. Roundtable: Atheism 3.0.

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2010 Report #1: 2009 End-of-Year Review (Recorded 1/1/2010)

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Topics: Joe Kelly and Calvin donate new audio equipment!; Newton high school student refuses Bible in English class; ultra-orthodox and secular jews struggle in Israel. Events from 2009: "New Atheist" books; resurgence of Randian objectivism; resolutions for 2010.

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Mid-November Report: Recorded 11/15/2009

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Topics: faith healing amendment removed from health care bill; Boston Coalition of Reason signs vandalized; Indiana Public Schools. Roundtable: The place and time for god- (or godless-) talk.

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End-of-October Report: Recorded 11/1/2009

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Topics: Atheists celebrate Halloween in Boston; Religious zealotry still in Salem; spirituality threatens health care reform. Roundtable: Being good without gods.

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End-of-September Report: Recorded 10/1/2009

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Topics: Priest claims that astrophysics disproves atheism; Science: reliion just another belief, but probably not a rational one; Blasphemy Day. Roundtable: Is atheism a religion?

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Mid-September Report: Recorded 9/16/2009

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Topics: Boston on Fire!; Jaycee Dugard Found; atheism mentioned more often in emails on OKCupid; gay rights activist Dan Choi speaks at Harvard; atheists triumph in kickball over... other atheists. Roundtable: the semantics of atheism vs. skepticism vs. humanism.

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End-of-August Report: Recorded 8/30/2009

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Topics: Ted Kennedy dies; Catholic Pope blames atheists for global warming; Richard Dawkins interview with kooky Wendy Wright. Roundtable: healthcare in America.

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Mid-August Report: Recorded 8/16/2009

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Topics: Internet conversion video; Texas law requires students to study Christian holy book this fall; Idaho also plans to teach Christian Bible. Roundtable: evolution and creationism and science, oh my!

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End-of-July Report: Recorded 7/28/2009

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Topics: Tim Minchin; premature reports of the death of "new" atheism; homeless atheist millionaire gives away fortune in will; Ava Worthington's parents slapped on wrist for letting her die. Roundtable: black atheists. (Extra long!)

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