Top News Stories for the Week of March 10, 2024

Latest news, notable cultural moments, and media commentary for the atheist community: a weekly update from the editors at AFL.

Everywhere I look this week—particularly in the world of podcasts—New Atheism is part of the conversation. Here are a few notable instances. If you happen to be looking for podcast recommendations, this week’s atheism news roundup is just for you.

Daniel Dennett on the David Pakman Show

David Pakman mostly talks progressive politics, but when he ventures into cultural or religious commentary, it’s clear he’s largely a friend of the New Atheist movement. Recently, he’s spoken with Richard Dawkins and Sam Harris. This week, he hosted a fantastic interview with Daniel Dennett. The full interview covers several tropics related to AI and other emerging technologies, but there’s a large section focused on New Atheism. Here’s Dennett’s initial comment defending the New Atheist movement:

“First of all, I think the New Atheists do get some credit for getting people who were atheists to come out of the closet. People now realize there are many more of us than they thought, and we vote.”

Philosophize This! on New Atheism and Ideology

This week, Philosophize This!, a podcast by Stephen West, posted an episode: “New Atheists and cosmic purpose without God.” Applying Slavoj Žižek’s framework, the episode examines how all of us—even materialists and atheists—have an ideology, and how every ideology smuggles in some assumptions about reality.

Sam Harris Speaking with Yasmine Mohammed

Sam Harris appeared on Yasmine Mohammed’s podcast to discuss Israel, Islam, and the end of wokeness. As always with these two, it’s a fascinating and often enlightening conversation.

 

James Lindsay on the Joe Rogan Experience

James Lindsay, like Yasmine Mohammed, is on the board of advisors for Atheists for Liberty. James has spoken with AFL president Thomas Sheedy several times recently, including a discussion about communism and atheism.

This week, James popped up on my podcast feed as a guest on the JRE. Frankly I haven’t had a chance to view the whole thing yet, but I’m sure there’s some atheism is there.

 

Lucien Greaves on Team Futurism

On my own podcast, Team Futurism, I had the honor of speaking with Lucien Greaves, the co-founder of the Satanic Temple. We discussed free speech, tech optimism, cancel culture, and, yes, the New Atheism movement.