The Catholic League’s Bizarre Epstein Defense (Hemant Mehta and Jessica Bluemke, The Friendly Atheist podast #610)

— Supreme Court declines case involving loudspeaker prayers at high school football games. (1:45)

— The Catholic League’s Epstein defense is even worse than you think. (21:45)

— New Hampshire town pulls plug on open forum after Satanists hoist flag. (40:26)

— How the Assemblies of God became a safe haven for sexual predators. (49:15)

— Colorado’s “first public Christian school” isn’t a mistake. It’s a test case. (1:05:15)

— Florida’s proposed loyalty oath for educators would ban atheists from becoming teachers. (1:13:40)

— U.S. Catholic bishops double down on anti-trans policies in new hospital rules. (1:18:00)
Interview: 

https://friendlyatheistpodcast.com/2025/11/20/the-catholic-leagues-bizarre-epstein-defense/

South Carolina poll worker lawsuit

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/ibd7M-QH-xk

Paul Ryan faces GOP blowback after saying he won’t vote for Trump (MSNBC)

Ryan replied, “That’s a part of it. I think it really is just character at the end of the day, and the fact that if you’re willing to put yourself above the Constitution ― an oath you swear when you take federal office, whether as president or a member of Congress, you swear an oath to the Constitution ― and you’re willing to suborn it to yourself, I think that makes you unfit for office.”

https://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/maddowblog/paul-ryan-faces-gop-blowback-saying-wont-vote-trump-rcna156709

Senator-jurors who may not be impartial? Remove them for cause | TheHill

As President Donald Trump's impeachment trial opened, Chief Justice John Roberts swore in all the members of the U.S. Senate who made an oath to "do impartial justice according to the Constitution and laws, so help me God.” The oath is not an empty ritual; it's a Constitutional requirement whose integrity must be enforced.
https://thehill.com/opinion/judiciary/479095-senator-jurors-who-may-not-be-impartial-remove-them-for-cause

Democratic House Chair Purposely Omits “So Help Me God” When Administering Oath | Hemant Mehta | Friendly Atheist | Patheos

When the House Judiciary Committee held a hearing on gun violence Wednesday morning, Democratic Rep. Jerrold Nadler, the chair of the group, administered the oath to witnesses who were about the testify. When he did that, he left out the phrase “So help me God.” A Republican questioned him about that immediately afterward. Nadler chalked it up to a simple mistake, re-administered the oath with the phrase in it, and everyone moved on...

https://friendlyatheist.patheos.com/2019/02/08/democratic-house-chair-purposely-omits-so-help-me-god-when-administering-oath/

House Republican Files Bill Requiring Witnesses to Say “So Help Me God” in Oath | Hemant Mehta | Friendly Atheist | Patheos

After a number of high-profile incidents in which Democrats left the words “So help me God” off of the oaths they administered to witnesses in front of their House committees — accidentally, theoretically, and purposely — Republicans are filing legislation that would force them to use the religious phrase in the oaths.

https://friendlyatheist.patheos.com/2019/02/12/house-republican-files-bill-requiring-witnesses-to-say-so-help-me-god-in-oath/

Key House panel proposes to have 'so help you God' removed from oath - The Hill

The House Committee on Natural Resources is reportedly seeking to have the words "so help you God" removed from the oath recited by witnesses who testify before the panel, according to a proposal ....
https://thehill.com/homenews/house/427513-key-house-committee-proposes-to-have-so-help-me-god-removed-from-oath

Cartoon: Kavanaugh's oath - Daily Kos

We know Kavanaugh has lied multiple times under oath. Meanwhile, his accuser has passed an FBI polygraph test, can point to evidence in her therapist's notes from 2012, and contacted the Washington Post before Kavanaugh was even nominated by Trump (so this is not an "eleventh-hour" accusation). Why should anyone believe him when he accuses her of lying? He's lost any claim to credibility. ....
https://www.dailykos.com/stories/1796571

Gayle Myrick Gay Marriage Case Shows Why Oaths Matter - Bloomberg

A magistrate who resigned rather than perform gay weddings shouldn't be getting a payoff....

https://www.bloomberg.com/view/articles/2018-02-15/gayle-myrick-gay-marriage-case-shows-why-oaths-matter

You Don’t Need to Take an Oath on a Bible, or Any Religious Text - The New York Times

It was an odd footnote to the Alabama Senate race Tuesday night. In an interview on CNN, hours before the Republican candidate Roy S. Moore would go on to lose the election, his spokesman asserted that elected officials in the United States were required to take the oath of office on a Christian Bible.....
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/12/13/us/politics/roy-moore-bible-ted-crockett.html