What This Nativity Says About America
Thank God I'm Atheist
TGIA Media
4.7 • 2K Ratings
🗓️ 12 December 2025
⏱️ 78 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
It's that time of year again: the War on Christmas is back—and wilder than ever. This week, Dan and Kate dive into the bizarre conservative outrage over a nativity scene depicting the Holy Family as migrants detained by ICE. Right-wing commentators are furious, churches are divided, and somehow this one small display has become a national symbol of everything they think is wrong with America. We unpack the theology, the politics, and the truly unhinged reactions.
Then we get into a whole slate of religious weirdness from around the country:
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A Florida attorney general tries to shut down a Drag Queen Christmas performance
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Christian rock band Skillet is accused of releasing "demonic" holiday music
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West Virginia courts weaken vaccine mandates in the name of religious liberty
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BYU football players quietly scale back their missionary service
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A Tennessee woman stages a fake kidnapping "lesson" for kids that backfires spectacularly
And for our final segment, Dan dives into research on how former members of insular religious communities talk about forgiveness—and how that differs from what their traditions demand.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hey everybody. |
| 0:18.0 | Hi friends, well from beautiful Salt Lake City, Utah. |
| 0:21.7 | It's thank God I'm atheist. |
| 0:23.4 | Where are we, a couple of wacky atheists just try to make sense out of religion, politics, and current events here in the lovely states that are so united. |
| 0:35.1 | Ever so united. |
| 0:37.4 | I'm Dan Beecher. And filling in for Frank, I'm Kate. Ah, hi, Kate. that are so united. Ever so united. |
| 0:38.4 | I'm Dan Beecher. |
| 0:40.4 | And filling in for Frank, I'm Kate. |
| 0:41.6 | Hi, Kate. |
| 0:41.9 | Hi. |
| 0:43.7 | Thanks for filling in. |
| 0:44.2 | You're welcome. |
| 0:45.8 | Sure do appreciate that. |
| 0:49.9 | And coming up on today's show, at the end of the show, |
| 0:53.4 | you and I are going to have a discussion about forgiveness. |
| 0:57.0 | There's a new study out that is about... Specifically for religion. |
| 0:58.5 | About forgiving. |
| 0:59.8 | It's about leaving high demand religion and religious... |
| 1:04.0 | Trauma. |
| 1:06.0 | Well, I was going to say religious communities. |
| 1:08.4 | Oh, yes. |
| 1:08.9 | And whether forgiveness specifically is a marker of, I don't know, being happier and healthier |
... |
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