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National Public Radio has declared that it is nixing the comments sections on its website.  This decision has resulted in a lot of discussion about the merits of comments sections, the nature of online discourse, and NPR's responsibility to the public.  We discuss.


We also speak with Sarah Haider of Ex-Mulims of North America regarding France's (now suspended) Burkini ban, and we finish the show with a reading from Chris Matheson's humor book, "The Story of God."

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NPR article on its comments section decision:  http://www.npr.org/sections/ombudsman/2016/08/17/489516952/npr-website-to-get-rid-of-comments

Sarah Haider's Heat Street article "Repressive Burkini Bans Will Do More Harm Than Good:"  https://heatst.com/culture-wars/repressive-burkini-bans-will-do-more-harm-than-good

David Smalley "What's Killing the Atheist Movement:"  http://www.patheos.com/blogs/dogmadebate/2016/08/whats-killing-the-atheist-movement

Chris Matheson's "The Story of God:"  https://www.amazon.com/Story-God-Biblical-Comedy-about/dp/1634310241/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1472478175&sr=8-2&keywords=the+story+of+god