[chuck]For the 3 of you who are wondering what’s going on here at Irreligiosophy, here’s a quick breakdown: we’re currently in “crunch time” for our back yard haunt, which means that we’re building and decorating nearly non-stop. In order to get the last 2 weeks off for Halloween at work, I needed to push the entire month’s worth of shifts into the first 2 weeks, which means I work 13 out of the first 16 days in October (and a good portion of those are 12 hour shifts). On top of everything else, I got a GI bug that took me out of commission all last week. Leighton, of course, still has school.

So what does this all mean for the One True Podcast? We’ve actually finished research on Prop 8, enough to squeeze 2 episodes out. We’d like to do a takedown of “Haunting in Connecticut” as well, and maybe a podcast on Satan or something before the month is out. But October is always a rough month, and this month is worse than most. All I can say is that we’ll keep trying, but if it’s too rushed, I’d always rather wait a week or three (or four, or five) to make sure that the quality is up to par.

Sorry, folks!

[irrelig]Apparently I was wrong, there will indeed be a podcast this week — provided to us by long-time listener and prior guest interviewee Emma. In honor of “Fuck You Fans Month,” she hosts an interview with Leighton and I for “Fuck You Hosts Day.”

Give it a listen, but I’d like to remind all you listeners out there of one thing: every day is Fuck You Hosts Day.

[chuck]As you probably already know, we’re late on the podcast this week — it’s just been too damn busy around here. We’ll have one up next Tuesday, and it may or may not be the Proposition 8 podcast we’ve been threatening for weeks. That all really depends on getting Leighton off his lazy ass to do some actual research.

See you Tuesday … maybe.

[leighton] After we interviewed Nathan, we thought it might make for an interesting show to have his sister, the figurehead of the Westboro Baptist Church, come onto the sow. Unfortunately, in our opinion, we believe we were woefully wrong. Between attempts at maintaining calm there is little more than a long litany of quoted scripture and anger/screaming from both sides. We do not believe this is of the quality that we like to maintain, but before we delete and forget the experience we have decided to allow all of you to decide whether you want to be exposed to something blatantly bad.

If you all chime in with a desire to listen to this, we post it immediately without any editing and leave you all to torture yourselves. Whether you want it or not, we will post a new episode next week. This one is little more than that bit of extra liver on the side of our plate neither of us want to touch or even look at again.

EDIT: You asked for it. Shirley Phelps-Roper of the singin’ Westboro Baptists.

[irrelig]In this podcast, we discuss Fred Phelps and the infamous Westboro Baptist Church with estranged son Nathan Phelps. We discuss details of Westboro Baptist theology and practices, how Nathan managed to get the hell out of Dodge, and how he dealt with the aftermath of his upbringing. It’s a rare, fascinating, and deeply personal glimpse into one of the most notorious cults of our time.

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[irrelig]For this episode, we cover the strange LDS practice of baptizing corpses just in case they change their mind and want to become Mormons in the afterlife. We cover the roots of the practice, why it’s done and what scriptural justification Mormons give for it, and the various controversies surrounding it. Also, we actually brought on a listener named Jessica to share her creepy experiences as a young Mormon dragged into the Temple to be baptized for two or three dead people by proxy.

Plus, more Skunk Dicks than you can shake a skunk at in episode 79.

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[irrelig]The second part of the interview strikes a more personal note. Find out more about the culture shock missionaries experience, how the LDS Church treats those who gave up two years of their life to serve it, and the exit interview experience. Once again, Mike comes to the rescue by editing our massive conversation down into a slightly less massive podcast. Thanks, Mike!

No Skunk Dicks this week but we did stick in something very special for the fans, right around the middle of the podcast.

[irrelig]Take a trip down missionary lane with everyone’s favorite ex-LDS brothers, Mike and Chris. Learn all about LDS indoctrination, patriarchal blessings, priesthood ordination, the Missionary Training Center, and early field experiences of a typical LDS missionary. And that’s just part one.

Huge kudos to Mike, who’s slaved away for the past week or so paring down the audio from some 5 or 6 hours of discussion into two 90 minute episodes because I was far too lazy to do it myself.

Check it out, along with an extended Skunk Dick segment, since, hey, we were running long anyway. Might as well bloat the thing out more.

[irrelig]Yeah, I know we promised an episode on the Mormon involvement in Proposition 8, but we lied. In this episode, Leighton finds some religious podcasts and takes them apart while I sit back in a state of thorough confusion.

Also, some Skunk Dicks and a really bizarre episode in the ongoing Allred saga. It’s all in episode 76.

[irrelig]In this special episode we courageously venture into the dark heart of iTunes’ Top Ten Religious Podcasts, tackling the ever-charming, ever-gleeful Joyce Meyer as well as everyone’s favorite evangelical idiot, Mark Driscoll of Mars Hill. We also have a very special installment of “As the Allred Family Turns,” and a surprising announcement about the fate of the Mims H. Carter Skunk Dick Award.

It can all be found in episode 75, released on time even!