Show Notes
Two Fish walk into a podcast... One is the Executive Director of the American Humanist Association. The other is the President of American Atheists. They have been getting each other's mail, confusing each other's colleagues, and creating increasingly dorkier inside jokes with one another. Yet somehow, in the middle of all that chaos, they managed to become one of the most effective partnerships in the secular movement. If you have ever tried to explain the difference between humanism and atheism and ended up more confused than when you started, Fish and Fish -- or "The Fish Tank" -- are here to help. They talk about where the movements overlap, where they diverge, why the endless God debate might finally be losing its grip on the community, and what it actually looks like when two organizations decide to just be good neighbors.
ABOUT NICK FISH Since 2018, Nick Fish has served as the president of American Atheists. Nick first joined American Atheists in 2012 and has spent his career defending the separation of religion and government, advocating for equality under the law, and protecting civil rights for all Americans. Nick was born and raised in Michigan but now calls Philadelphia home.
American Atheists Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/atheists.org American Atheists Instagram: https://instagram.com/AmericanAtheists American Atheists Action Alerts and Emails: https://atheists.org/sign-up Nick Fish Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/nickfish.me
LEARN MORE AHA Conference 2026: https://conference.americanhumanist.org For more on humanism: https://linktr.ee/americanhumanist
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If you're new to humanism, then you're probably also new to the American Humanist Association, a nonprofit that's been around for nearly 100 years. And we've been BUSY! In this episode you'll be inspired by the mentions of some important revolutionaries in our world's history, and then you'll learn about the ambitious and passionate work being done by the AHA with the help of supporters like you. There's way more to come! ABOUT FISH STARK: Fish Stark is an organizer, educator, social entrepreneur, and lifelong humanist. Prior to joining the AHA as Executive Director, Fish was the Head of Program + Curriculum at Legends, an educational technology startup helping children. Fish lives in Annapolis, Maryland, where he is President of the Speaker Mike Busch District 30 Democratic Club, is a member of the Unitarian Universalist Church of Annapolis, and serves on several nonprofit boards. He moonlights as an award-winning stand-up comedian and has performed in 13 states.
Today we return to the foundations, the brick laying of humanism, if you will. In this episode, Greg Epstein — Harvard and MIT's Humanist Chaplain and author of the NY Times bestseller Good Without God — joins us to break down what humanism actually is, where it came from, and why some of our biggest existential questions have been getting wrestled with for millennia, by regular people who just wanted to live a good life without being strong-armed into it. Welcome to humanism... we're glad to have you. ABOUT GREG EPSTEIN Greg M. Epstein serves as Humanist Chaplain at Harvard & MIT, where he advises students, faculty, and staff members on ethical and existential concerns from a humanist perspective. TechCrunch's first “ethicist in residence,” he has been called “a symbol of the transition in how Americans relate to organized religion” (The Conversation). He is author of the New York Times-bestseller Good Without God, and the multi-award-winning Tech Agnostic, and has written for TIME, CNN, and The Boston Globe. Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gregmepstein Good Without God: https://bit.ly/goodwithoutgodbook Tech Agnostic: https://bit.ly/techagnosticbook LEARN MORE For more on humanism: https://linktr.ee/americanhumanist
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Why wait? We're still on a kick from celebrating AHA's 85th annual conference this past weekend which included honorees Jordan Klepper, Anthea Butler, and Hank Green. And although we sold out of tickets for it (not once, but) twice, we know that not everyone got a chance to attend all the wonderful sessions. So we figured, let's give the people what they want -- and what everyone wants -- is more Klepper. ABOUT JORDAN KLEPPER
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