New interview at The Angry Atheist

I’ve recently done an interview with Reap Paden of The Angry Atheist. This has now been posted as a podcast on the Angry Atheist site. Reap and I talk about a wide range of subjects, including: my move here to the Skeptic Ink Network; why I advocate civil, charitable discussion, in which you try to find the strengths, rather than sniping at weaknesses, in the arguments of your intellectual opponents; my new book in partnership with Udo Schuklenk, 50 Great Myths About Atheism (on target for release in September from Wiley-Blackwell); why I, personally, am an atheist (which gets me into talking about the problem of evil, goodness without God, my own religious background, and other topics); the political influence of religion, with particular reference to the US and Australia; the merits of social pluralism; and the historical (and continuing) need for the feminist movement.

Like many people, I tend to squirm when listening to my own voice, so I haven’t yet braced myself to listen. However, it was an enjoyable conversation at the time, and I like to think that the discussion would be of interest to others. As I said in a remark on Twitter, if Reap didn’t get the best out of me it was entirely my fault, not his. I liked his style of interviewing, which guided the topics that he wanted to raise with me, but gave me plenty of time to say what I wanted about them.

While you’re over there on the site, check out some of the other interviews. Over the years, they have collected a large number of interviews with a wide variety of atheists – most of them prominent in one way or another. From what I’ve listened to so far, this is a fascinating collection that you could lose yourself in for many hours. I’m certainly going to find some time to listen to more.