The Scathing Atheist

What is it? Vulgarity for Charity is an annual charity drive jointly produced by Puzzle in a Thunderstorm and Cognitive Dissonance podcasts. The collaborators on CItation Needed.

When is it? The charity drive runs from November 1st through Thanksgiving, November 25th, 2021.

What charity does it benefit? Modest Needs (https://www.modestneeds.org), a tax-exempt charity that gives emergency grants to low-income workers who are at risk of slipping into poverty and for whom no other source of immediate help is available. 

How does it work? During the drive, donors that give $50.00 or more to Modest Needs can send a copy of their donation receipt to vulgarityforcharity@gmail.com with a request for a hilarious and outrageous roast. The donor can request anyone or anything to be roasted and the podcast crew will select 200 roasts of all of the roasts submitted and over several podcast episodes, conduct these roasts. [Please keep in mind that if the person or thing is not famous then the donor should also send an image and a short description so they can get a proper roast.] 

What’s the goal? Last year we raised $272,948.34. This year we hope that this drive will generate $300,000.00 worth of donations for Modest Needs. An anonymous donor has pledged to match all funds up to $100,000.00 for the duration of the drive, so every dollar donated up to 200K is worth double.

What can you do to help? Make a donation to Modest Needs during Vulgarity for Charity. If you cannot donate, share the word within your social networks and communities.

Our 3rd installment of Vulgarity for Charity ended at midnight on Wednesday, and the final total was more than double our goal. Thanks to an extraordinarily generous match of the first $50,000 raised; and an amazing $72,416 coming in from our listeners in just a couple of weeks, we’ve made this one of the most successful months in Modest Needs’ history.

We’d like to offer a huge thanks to everybody who made this possible. First and foremost, of course, all the donors who gave so generously. Also all the guests who agreed to help us with all the roasts. You can find the first few installments of the roasts at the links below, but there are still plenty more to come.

Part One (starts at 34:17)

Part Two (starts at 43:17)

Part Three (start at 24:57)

Part Four (start at 48:42)

(check back for updates)

We’re proud to announce the return of Vulgarity for Charity! After raising over $25,000 last time around, we’re teaming back up with Tom and Cecil from the Cognitive Dissonance Podcast to raise money for one of our favorite charities in the world, Modest Needs.

What is Vulgarity for Charity?

When you’re a humanitarian at heart, but you’re talents are mostly in insults and profanity, it can be hard to turn that into lemonade. Which is why we started Vulgarity for Charity. The idea is that we’ll trade our insults for your donations.

Just donate $50 or more to Modest Needs before midnight (EST) on November 21st. They’ll email you a receipt. Forward that receipt, along with who you want us to insult., to Vulgarityforcharity@gmail.com (Please include a picture and any pertinent biographical material if it’s not a public figure). Then, listen to The Scathing Atheist and Cognitive Dissonance to hear your insult on the air in the coming weeks.

What is Modest Needs?

Modest Needs is a crowdfunding charity organization that takes the guesswork out of giving by responsibly providing short-term financial assistance to individuals and families in temporary crisis who are ineligible for most types of conventional social assistance but who (like many of us) are living one or two lost paychecks away from the kind of financial catastrophe that can eventually lead to homelessness.

You can find out more about them here.

How does it work?

Just browse Modest Needs’ website and find a cause that appeals to you. Donate to that cause, and forward the receipt to Vulgarityforcharity@gmail.com and be sure to do it quick, because we’ll be doling out the insults on a first come, first serve basis. If you donate $50 or more, we’ll read your insult live on the show. But if you can’t give that much, you can give any amount, and still be entered into a drawing to get your insult on the show.

We’re even inviting in some special guests from the atheist, secular, and skeptical world to help us out, so your insult might wind up in the hands of one of your secular heroes.

Who can you insult?

We can insult anybody. It can be a public figure that you hate, it can be a brother that you love. But remember, if it’s not a public figure, you’ll get the most out of it if we have details. Send us a photo, along with anything you think might help us craft the perfect insult for your target. Do they have terrible body odor? Do they have band with awful music? Let us know so that we can tailor the insult better.

And don’t limit yourself to people. We can make fun of music, places, institutions, phrases that you hate, TV commercials… anything that you want roasted.

Vulgarity for Charity: Doing good never felt so bad…

The US tour is over, but there’s still a chance to see us live in 2017.

We’re proud to be part of one of the world’s premier skeptical conferences this year, playing to what will almost certainly be our largest audience of all time. We’d be flattered if you came just for us, but as a bonus, you get a weekend packed with awesome speakers, including (but not limited to) Cara Santa Maria, Captain Dillusion, Dr. Karl, Sarah Haider, and our buddies Tom and Cecil of Cognitive Dissonance fame.

You can find out more about the conference here.

We’re happy to announce that the long-awaited follow up to Diatribes Volume 1 is now available as an e-book.  You can find it HERE.

The book contains detailed accounts of every major theological discovery made by the human race in the last four thousand years, and manages to do all of that before its first word. Because there are no ‘theological discoveries’. But it does contain 50 diatribes (featured on episodes 51-100), expanded and rewritten for the page. More than a quarter of the book is never before released material, and it could all be yours for the low, low price of $7.99

And if you’re looking for a paperback copy, check back with the site regularly. We’ll be posting links as soon as the paperbacks are available.

We’re proud to announce the return of Vulgarity for Charity, running between September 15th and 25th, 2016. This time, we’re teaming up with Tom and Cecil from the Cognitive Dissonance Podcast to help raise money and awareness for a phenomenal charity that helps combat poverty by helping people keep from falling into the poverty cycle in the first place.

Modest Needs has been combating poverty in the US and Canada for almost fifteen years, and their forward thinking take on crowdfunding makes it easier and more effective than ever to help people in need. Learn more about them here.

What is Vulgarity for Charity?

It’s a biannual fundraiser where we trade insults for donations. You donate to Modest Needs, then let us know that you did, and who you’d like insulted, and Eli, Heath, Tom, Cecil, and Noah will turn their powers of vulgarity to the forces of good.

How do I Play Along?

First, go to ModestNeeds.org and make a donation of $20 or more.  You can either donate to the charity itself, or you can click on the “Browse Requests for Help” and choose the family you’d like to donate your money to.

When you receive your receipt via email, forward proof of your donation to vulgarityforcharity@gmail.com and let us know who you’d like us to insult on your behalf.

And as an added bonus, if you donate $50 or more, we’ll put your name in a drawing for a special celebrity guest insult.

When do I get my Insult?

We’ll be broadcasting all the insults live in a special two part, cross-podcast event on The Scathing Atheist and Cognitive Dissonance.  The first round of insults will air on Cognitive Dissonance on Monday, September 26th; and the second round will take place on The Scathing Atheist on Thursday, September 29th.

If I send my email after the fundraiser is over, will you still insult somebody for me?

Sorry, but if you want an on-air insult, proof of your donation must be received by midnight eastern on Sunday, September 25th.

Special Thanks to The Foundation Beyond Belief for all their help coordinating this fundraiser.

Click Here to make a per episode donation at Patreon.com

Click Here to listen to the episode.

Click Here to buy our book.

Click Here to check out The Skepticrat.

Click Here to check out God Awful Movies.

If you’d like to review that Bible…

Here’s the link Selene sent us.

Calendar Links:

SkepKon 2016; Hamburg, Germany, May 5-7th: http://www.skepkon.org/

NECSS; New York, NY, May 12-15th: http://necss.org/

SkeptiCal; Oakland, CA, May 15th: http://www.skepticalcon.com/

Imagine No Religion 6; Vancouver, May 20-22nd: http://www.imaginenoreligion.ca/

American Humanist Association 75th Anniversary Conference; Chicago, IL, May 26-29th: http://conference.americanhumanist.org/

Guest and Appearance Links:

Click Here to check out Noah on IFS with Jake Farr-Wharton

Click Here to check out Noah on Secular Stories

Click Here to check out the Secular Yakking Podcast

Headline Links:

Report: About 2/3rds of British Muslims wouldn’t inform the authorities if they knew someone was a terrorist: http://www.patheos.com/blogs/friendlyatheist/2016/04/15/roughly-two-thirds-of-british-muslims-say-they-wouldnt-inform-authorities-of-terrorist-plot/

Nebraska judge denies prisoner religious protection because Pastafarianism isn’t a real religion: http://www.patheos.com/blogs/friendlyatheist/2016/04/13/pastafarianism-is-not-a-real-religion-judge-tells-prisoner-in-completely-serious-decision/

Pope to trans teens: “Quitcher bitchin.” http://www.patheos.com/blogs/progressivesecularhumanist/2016/04/pope-francis-trashes-transgender-teens/

Reports resurfacing of Ted Cruz arguing in court that Americans have no right to masturbate: http://www.patheos.com/blogs/progressivesecularhumanist/2016/04/ted-cruz-americans-have-no-right-to-masturbate/

Update: Ark Park hiring practices are starting to come into focus: http://www.patheos.com/blogs/friendlyatheist/2016/04/15/ken-hams-ark-encounter-theme-park-will-only-hire-young-earth-creationists/

Utah Mormons battle porn out of concern for “public health” http://www.patheos.com/blogs/friendlyatheist/2016/04/15/inspired-by-feminist-professor-utah-mormons-combat-porn-out-of-concern-for-public-health/

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation-now/2016/04/19/utah-governor-pornography-resolution-public-health-crisis/83221468/

Guest on Jim Bakker’s show says Stonehenge was built by satanic giants: http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/did-satanic-giants-build-stonehenge

Pastor Manning curses gay people to have flames shoot out of their asses (there’s more, of course): http://www.patheos.com/blogs/progressivesecularhumanist/2016/04/watch-harlem-hate-pastor-declares-im-the-sodomite-slayer/

This Week in Misogyny:

Afghanistan don’t want no lady-music: https://widerimage.reuters.com/story/womens-orchestra-in-kabul

Female MP in Iran may lose her job over cross-gender handshake: http://www.patheos.com/blogs/friendlyatheist/2016/04/16/female-mp-in-iran-could-lose-her-job-over-alleged-cross-gender-handshake/

John Kasich’s advice to women worried about rape: avoid parties with a lot of alcohol: http://www.rawstory.com/2016/04/john-kasich-tells-woman-asking-about-protection-from-rape-avoid-parties-with-a-lot-of-alcohol/

Click Here to make a per episode donation at Patreon.com

Click Here to listen to the episode.

Click Here to buy our book.

Click Here to check out The Skepticrat.

Click Here to check out God Awful Movies.

Song Related Stuff:
If you’d like to pick up your copy of the God’s Not Dead song parody from last week (remember, 100% of proceeds go to charity!), you can get it on CD Baby here.

If you’d like to donate to the same charity directly, you’ll find it here.

To learn more about the fundraiser, check out The Herd Mentality podcast.

Click Here to make a per episode donation at Patreon.com

Click Here to listen to the episode.

Click Here to buy our book.

Click Here to check out The Skepticrat.

Click Here to check out God Awful Movies.

Guest Links:

Click Here to check out episode 98 of The Herd Mentality Podcast

Click Here to check out No Religion Required with Bobby C. and that lady

Headline Links:

MS gov signs anti-LGBT bill: http://www.religionnews.com/2016/04/05/mississippi-lgbt-gay-rights-religious-freecom/

Retired lawyer sues Israel airline for making her change seats: http://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/apr/01/renee-rabinowitz-sue-israeli-airline-el-al-orthodox-gender-discrimination

New Lifeway study: American Christians feel more persecuted than ever; Americans in general feel they’re more whiny than ever: http://www.religionnews.com/2016/03/31/us-christians-see-religious-liberty-sliding-while-intolerance-and-whining-rise/

Rabbi announces Sabbath ban on Amazon Echo: http://www.patheos.com/blogs/friendlyatheist/2016/04/06/orthodox-jewish-rabbi-dont-use-amazon-echo-while-observing-shabbat-or-youll-upset-god/

Ken Ham: “Ancient non-stick frying pans evidence for Noah’s ark” http://www.patheos.com/blogs/friendlyatheist/2016/04/01/ken-ham-if-non-stick-frying-pans-existed-in-ancient-times-noahs-ark-totally-makes-sense/

TN bill would allow therapists not to treat atheists and other sinners: http://www.patheos.com/blogs/friendlyatheist/2016/03/30/tennessee-house-bill-would-let-therapists-refuse-to-treat-atheists-gay-people-and-other-sinners/

Crazy person: “Sex ed is a plot to make money off of HIV treatments” http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/sharon-slater-sex-ed-planned-parenthood-plot-make-money-hiv-treatments-condoms

Bill to make bible TN state book passes both houses of congress: http://www.religionnews.com/2016/04/05/bill-make-bible-official-state-book-goes-tenn-governor/

LA Legislator: “We know creationism is true because we found Noah’s ark” http://www.patheos.com/blogs/friendlyatheist/2016/04/02/louisiana-legislator-on-education-subcommittee-says-creationism-is-true-because-we-found-noahs-ark/

Set Free conference aims to cure America of porn: http://www.religionnews.com/2016/04/04/christians-pornography-josh-mcdowell/

This Week in Misogyny:

B-Fish: Those poor abortion women don’t know any better: http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/bryan-fischer-woman-who-have-abortions-should-not-be-punished-because-they-dont-know-any-bet

Shoebat: Women who have abortions are sluts that deserve the death penalty: http://www.patheos.com/blogs/friendlyatheist/2016/03/31/christian-extremist-women-who-have-abortions-are-sluts-who-deserve-the-death-penalty/

TX law forces woman to carry stillborn fetus to term: http://www.patheos.com/blogs/friendlyatheist/2016/04/01/due-to-texas-abortion-ban-woman-forced-to-carry-stillborn-20-week-old-fetus-to-term/

Click Here to make a per episode donation at Patreon.com

Click Here to listen to the episode.

Click Here to buy our book.

Click Here to check out The Skepticrat.

Guest Links:

Click Here to watch us on the Zachrilege YouTube Channel

Click Here to hear us on the Zachrilege Podcast

Click Here to hear Eli on No Religion Required

Calendar Links:

Connecticut Assembly for Reason and Ethics, Hartford, CT; April 2nd: https://conference.ctcor.org/

Freethought Festival in Madison, WI; April 8-9: http://freethoughtfestival.org/

Rationalist International Conference, Tallinn, Estonia; April 23-24: http://www.rationalistconference.com/

Orange County Freethought Alliance Conference in Orange County, CA; April 30: http://freethoughtalliance.org/fta/annual-conference/admission/

The Shift to Reason Conference, Regina, Canada; April 30: http://www.shifttoreason.com/

Headline Links:

Chocolatiers in the crosshairs of “war on Easter” fantasy: http://www.patheos.com/blogs/friendlyatheist/2016/03/24/the-war-on-easter-has-finally-begun-and-chocolate-companies-are-caught-in-the-crossfire/

Humanist Easter display in Wisconsin honors Obi-Wan Kenobi: http://www.patheos.com/blogs/friendlyatheist/2016/03/26/for-easter-theres-a-display-honoring-obi-wan-kenobi-in-the-wisconsin-state-capitol/

Glenn Beck: The constitution comes along, and all of a sudden we have microwave ovens: http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/glenn-beck-constitution-comes-and-all-sudden-we-have-microwave-ovens

TX lawmaker charged the state to travel of OK for “pain relieving Jesus shot” http://www.rawstory.com/2016/03/texas-lawmaker-billed-taxpayers-for-trip-to-oklahoma-to-get-pain-relieving-jesus-shot/

Priest gambles away $500,000 raised for Iraqi refugees: http://www.patheos.com/blogs/friendlyatheist/2016/03/29/canadian-priest-gambled-away-half-a-million-dollars-his-church-raised-for-refugees/

The world’s first Jewish tartan is a real thing: http://www.electricscotland.com/tartans/story13.htm

Irish Priests will bless roads to improve safety: http://www.patheos.com/blogs/friendlyatheist/2016/03/26/who-needs-drivers-ed-irish-priests-will-bless-the-roads-to-improve-safety/

Mississippi Bill allows churches to kill people: http://www.rawstory.com/2016/03/miss-lawmakers-pass-bill-letting-churches-appoint-unaccountable-soldiers-of-god-as-armed-security/

Dinkoism offers atheists in India their own Flying Spaghetti Monster, and it’s a super mouse: http://www.patheos.com/blogs/friendlyatheist/2016/03/24/dinkoism-a-parody-religion-centered-around-a-mouse-god-is-gaining-a-following-in-india/

Idaho Republican: Bibles in Public schools are okay according to the “little supreme court in my head” http://www.rawstory.com/2016/03/idaho-republican-bibles-in-public-schools-ruled-constitutional-by-little-supreme-court-in-my-head/

Sarah Palin’s version of “Judge Judy” in the works: http://www.patheos.com/blogs/friendlyatheist/2016/03/23/judge-sarah-palin-dont-mind-if-i-do/

This Week in Misogyny:

Scotus ruling on contraception case: http://www.patheos.com/blogs/friendlyatheist/2016/03/29/the-supreme-courts-suggested-solution-in-a-contraception-case-wont-satisfy-the-right/ and http://thinkprogress.org/justice/2016/03/29/3764508/how-to-make-sense-of-the-baffling-order-the-supreme-court-just-handed-down-on-birth-control/