Friendly Atheist News Roundup 8/6/2026: Anti-LGBTQ Food Bank Leader Rejects Gay Food (VIDEO Podcast Ep. 647)

0:00 Intro
0:55 Annoying "Sky Evangelist" kicked off airline after scaring everyone with her preaching.
13:03 West Virginia pastor rejects food over LGBTQ support. Now his food bank is empty.
24:46 Missouri Republicans threaten to defund library over books about a rainbow dinosaur and a wig.
34:48 Florida AG threatens to defund Catholic schools unless they loosen vaccination rules.
46:20 Three Texas moms cite "religious freedom" to strike down state's Ten Commandments law.

Interview: 

• Without Jessica: https://www.youtube.com/live/jHndS3begSU?si=fpOLaZtWfmtQkhyx

• With Jessica: https://youtu.be/OhU8Gyz2fdE?si=6BWuqDsivi-OLYS8

Fighting anti-science nonsense and scams: Dave Farina: The Scumbags I've Debunked (The Thinking Atheist podcast)

Science communicator Dave Farina is back to talk about the charlatans and idiots. Buckle up.

Interview: 

https://youtu.be/h4j-REoGZmE?si=-P1PEIlcZ_HjrHUM

Kennedy's Bloodbath (Conspirituality podcast)

The implications of awarding Robert F Kennedy, Jr with a position he’s completely unqualified for are becoming clearer by the day. While he’s made numerous egregious and dangerous moves as Secretary of HHS, canceling nearly $500 million of mRNA research grants is one of the most startling and shortsighted to date. Today we look at both the microcosm and macrocosm of such a move.

Interview: 

https://www.conspirituality.net/episodes/270-kennedys-bloodbath

Guru Rehab (Conspirituality podcast, episode #265)

We return to the ongoing saga of Aubrey Marcus. As a wealthy, anti-vax New Ager who campaigned for RFK Jr (before going MAGA), he’s a pole star for the conspirituality moment and its political manias. He’s also a ceaseless innovator of guru narrative tech, with his latest trick being the attempt to turn his own implosion into top-tier content by enlisting an ex-fiance to prove his spiritual bona fides. ,

As we look at his rehab schtick in the context of the great guru death-spirals of the past, we’ll learn that he has a lot of the old 1970s vibe going on, but the digital age brings new humiliations and opportunities. At the end, we'll update you on another guru rehab in motion: the Liver King.
Interview: 

https://www.conspirituality.net/episodes/265-guru-rehab

A Child Died of Measles. Then Her Parents Appeared in an Anti-Vax Video. – Mother Jones

The mother did not hesitate. "Absolutely not take the MMR [vaccine]," she said. "The measles wasn't that bad. [The other children] got over it pretty quickly. And Dr. Edwards was there for us."…

https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2025/03/rfk-jr-vaccine-measles-childrens-health-defense/

Christian School Brags About Low Vaccination Rates (Hemant Mehta and Jessica Bluemke, The Friendly Atheist podast #574)

— Amid measles outbreak, Christian school brags about having the worst vaccination rates in Texas. (0:42)

— How Aaron Renn’s “Negative World” myth fuels Christian victimhood. (15:57)

— Lee Greenwood joins Ryan Walters’ desperate Bible stunt after GOP budget snub. (40:25)

— Christian Nationalism is “hardly an existential threat,” argues deluded professor. (51:07)

— Right-wing Christian worship leader now faces life in prison for child sex crimes. (1:08:41)
Interview: 

https://friendlyatheistpodcast.com/2025/03/12/christian-school-brags-about-low-vaccination-rates/

RFK and the Fight to Repeal the 20th Century (Bradley Onishi and Daniel Miller; Straight White American Jesus podcast)

Brad critiques the notion of finding common ground with RFK Jr. regarding public health and vaccines. 

He discusses RFK Jr.’s controversial views and their potential negative impact on American public health. 

Onishi examines past and present complexities surrounding U.S. public health policies and explores the Trump administration’s influence, drawing connections to historical regulatory frameworks established by FDR. 

The episode also critiques modern figures promoting a return to pre-20th-century governance, linking their ideas to burgeoning autocratic tendencies.

Interview: 

https://www.straightwhiteamericanjesus.com/episodes/rfk-and-the-fight-to-repeal-the-20th-century/

US Military Tells RFK Jr-Style Lies (Conspirituality podcast episode #212)

On June 14, Reuters published an article about the US Military’s clandestine program to discredit China’s Sinovac vaccine during the early days of Covid-19. Turns out the Pentagon hired an outside agency to purposefully spread FUD (fear, uncertainty, and doubt) about the Chinese inoculation program by flooding social media with anti-vax propaganda. It was a smack in the face for anyone—including us—who’s been calling for sound public health measures over the last four years. And it very likely killed people in Southeast Asia.

This week, we look at the harrowing reporting that revealed a shameful, interventionary program that began under the Trump administration and persisted at least a few months into the Biden presidency. We’ll also review the very few conspiritualists that have even covered the story—somewhat surprising, given that a good ol’ government conspiracy is their bread and butter. But what happens when anti-vaxxers are confronted with a government-led anti-vax program, enacted by the same military that some of them, like RFK Jr, want to drastically reduce? Let’s find out.
Interview: 

https://www.conspirituality.net/episodes/212-us-military-tells-rfk-jr-style-lies

The Two Faces of Robert Francis Kennedy Jr. (Conspirituality podcast)

We’ve been tracking Bobby’s misinformation, contradictions, and cursed networks for three years. And now he’s having his moment, and it’s anyone’s guess how far he’ll run. But why is he so appealing on the presidential stage? Why is he polling at 20%, with his favorability in double digits against Biden?

It’s not just that his endless rhetoric appeals to libertarians on the right and paranoiacs on the left. It’s that he casts a charismatic spell that echoes, exacerbates, and amplifies some of the deepest conflicts in the American psyche—between tradition and rebellion, nostalgia and grievance, idealism and paranoia.

Bobby, you see, is never quite who he seems to be. In one moment he’s the prodigal prince of Camelot, seen through a sepia lens. In the next he’s a tortured and braying conspiracy theorist, lit by the blue light of countless screens.
Interview: 

https://www.podbean.com/ew/dir-b9uqi-19d95408

Kelly Weill on Flat-Earthers and Why People Will Believe Anything (Jim Underdown; Point of Inquiry podcast)

In this week’s episode, we are diving into the flat-earth conspiracy theory and why people could believe such a thing with guest Kelly Weill and her new book, Off the Edge.

In 2019 Jim Underdown and the CFI Investigations Group produced a video where they designed a series of experiments to show that the earth is indeed not flat. CFIIG’s conducted their experiment in front of over a dozen flat-earthers. Even in the face of conflicting evidence to their own beliefs, the flat-earthers held firm in their claims.

Underdown and Weill speak about her new book, the history of the flat-earth conspiracy dating back to the 1830s, and the desire to belong to a community, which Weill saw as a reason some flat-earthers join the movement. Also, the role media and emerging technologies play in helping conspiracists spread their messages.

You can also read Weill’s piece in the Atlantic on the book and flat-earthers.

Kelly Weill is a journalist at the Daily Beast, where she covers extremism, disinformation, and the internet. As a leading media voice on the role of online conspiracy theories in current affairs, she has discussed Flat Earth and other digital fringes on ABC’s Nightline, CNN, Al Jazeera, and other national and international news outlets. You can find Kelly on Twitter @kellyweill
Interview: 

https://pointofinquiry.org/2022/02/kelly-weill-on-flat-earthers-and-why-people-will-believe-anything/

Anti-Vax Christians Are Finally Facing Consequences (Hemant Mehta and Jessica Bluemke, The Friendly Atheist podast #403)

— The Supreme Court’s abortion case. (1:30)

— Marcus Lamb, the head of a major Christian TV network that spread COVID lies, died of COVID. (13:45)

— Eric Metaxas, another anti-vax Christian, has COVID too. (20:25)

— Baptisms are getting cooler. As if that was the thing that churches needed to fix. (33:55)

— You don’t have to defend Josh Duggar even if you’re a conservative Christian. (38:11)

— The American Humanist Association’s new leader represents a shift in how atheism appears to the public. (45:26)

— Richard Dawkins is once again promoting anti-trans bigotry. (50:58)

— A Christian hate group is whining to the Supreme Court about being called a “hate group.” (1:02:15)
Interview:

https://audioboom.com/posts/7990364-ep-403-anti-vax-christians-are-finally-facing-consequences