The Stack: Can Republicans and Atheists Share the Same Tent?
As Christmas approaches, Todd Huff welcomes Lauren Ell, President of Republican Atheists, for a wide-ranging and respectful conversation about faith, politics, and the future of the conservative movement. Joining us from Sweden, Lauren shares her personal journey from a Christian upbringing to atheism, her life as a dual citizen, and why she believes conservative values like limited government, border security, free markets, and individual responsibility are not exclusive to religious believers.
Todd and Lauren explore the idea of a “big tent” Republican Party, contrasting it with the Left’s coalition politics and discussing why conservatives sometimes struggle to welcome ideological diversity. Lauren also shares some misconceptions about atheists, hostility within secular activist circles, and the role Christian traditions still play in highly secular societies like Sweden. The discussion is candid, thoughtful, and timely—especially during a season centered on faith, reflection, and goodwill. Even where disagreements remain, the conversation models how civil dialogue can coexist with deep conviction.
🎧 Listen to Today’s Episode
đź“° Stack Links
Republican Atheists – Only Slightly Biased (about why it was launched)
Republican Atheists – Urban Conservative Interview Archive
YouTube – Republican Atheists Interview on Todd Huff Radio (2017)
Wikipedia – Atheism (definition, belief vs lack of belief)
Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy – Atheism and Agnosticism (explains distinction)
Wikipedia – Agnostic Atheism (explores the combined position)
Atheists.org – What is Atheism? (resource on definition and rights)
BBC/Equality Briefing – Atheism, Agnosticism & Theisms (explains terms)
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đź“ť Transcript: Can Republicans and Atheists Share the Same Tent
The Todd Huff Show – December 22, 2025
Host: Todd Huff
Todd Huff: All right, my friends, a very, very short week here. Christmas week. We'll be here a couple days this week off. The latter part of the week, of course. Next week is New Year's week as well. Just have some funny schedules here, but we'll still be behind the microphone many of those days. Hope you had a great weekend. Thank you for joining us. By the way, friends, ever notice how some families have a plan, seem to have a plan that lasts for generations that's not by accident. Full sweet wealth works with people who want their wealth to make a difference for years to come. Their team brings together high level investment strategies like private equity, private credit and option strategies with expert legal guidance. That's all about making sure your vision becomes a reality for the people you love today and tomorrow.
Todd Huff: If you're looking to do more than just manage your money, if you want to leave a mark and build something lasting, take a look at full suite wealth. Visit FullSweet.com that's4SweetWealth.com. Build your legacy, secure your future.You know, today we have a special guest and I'll set the background here a little bit. Her name is Lauren Ell, and she is the president of Republican Atheists. Now Lauren lives in Sweden. She's a dual citizen here. She's American and has a Swedish citizenship as well. She's now a mother of young children. She's been there in Sweden now for 10 years.
Todd Huff: We got introduced when I first started podcasting. I interviewed Lauren. I looked here, I think it was eight years ago. We had a conversation then, and I want to have it today as well. Now, for those of you who listen to this program, you have no there's no surprise that I am a Bible believing Christian.
Todd Huff: Lauren is an atheist, and we'll talk about these things civilly and all that, of course. But I'll say this, one of the things that I want to talk about here as we get started is this. Some of the important core beliefs of being a conservative or a Republican. I don't know exactly. We can ask Lauren how she would define these terms or where she falls on that spectrum.
Todd Huff: But I want to talk about that. And I also, you know, this concept of creating a big tent for the party. I think sometimes conservatives or Republicans, it's amazing to me, on the left you've got a wide variety, a hodgepodge of people that really don't have anything in common, but yet they agree on, say, one issue or two issues, and they've got a whole political movement.
Todd Huff: Our side of the aisle sometimes will kick people out for not having been able to pass the litmus test or whatever. Anyway, I don't want to do that. I think that it's very, very important that we welcome people who love freedom, individual responsibility, the American way, free markets and so forth, while at the same time fully acknowledging that we have a very fundamental difference of opinion on something that is argued.
Well, I don't think it's arguable. The most important thing, I think that that we could disagree on, which is, of course, whether or not there's a God. But we're going to talk. Bring Lauren on the program here and have a chat. Lauren, welcome to the program. It's been a while. How are you?
Lauren Ell: Hey, Todd. I'm doing well. Thank you so much for having me on the show again.
Todd Huff: Well, it's a pleasure. I enjoyed our conversation all those many, all those many years ago. Lauren, so you live in Sweden now. Tell folks a little bit about that. Because the first thing, I live in Indiana, and it's warmed up here, but it gets cold and dark here. Tell us what life is like in Sweden right now. Of course, yesterday was the winter solstice. How dark, how cold. What's that like?
Lauren Ell: Well, it's very dark where I'm located in Sweden. I'm located up in the far north of Sweden, so I'm actually in the Arctic Circle. I'm near Kiruna, Sweden, which is one of the most famous cities in Sweden. The ice hotel, the first official ice hotel, is actually located outside of Kiruna, so a lot of tourists come up here primarily for that location.Now, it being in the wintertime, it's dark almost all day. We don't get any direct sunlight right now. It's more of the dusk or dog, you know, you see. You get a little bit of light for a few hours and then it goes dark again. But in the summer, it's the complete opposite. It is light almost all day. So it is really interesting up here. I think I'm coming from Southern California, so I'm the exact opposite climate.
Todd Huff: Yeah, that's no joke. So you're a dual citizen now, United States and Sweden. Maybe talk to us a little bit about what that process was like. Has it become a dual citizen?
Lauren Ell: Because I've lived here longer than I expected. I moved up here because I met a guy online and I was friends with him for many years and we ended up hooking up. And he was living here in Sweden and he had his whole life set up here. He had a job and his home. He was a bit more set up than I was in Southern California.So I moved here saying, okay, well, I'll just live there for a little while, see if we get along. And if we get along, we're just going to move back to the United States. I never had this idea to be here this long. But then we worked together for a couple years here, and I became pregnant. We had children, and I stayed here just for the security, really.
Lauren Ell: Because, you know, he had a secure job, we had a home, we just had everything set up for a family. And I couldn't just think of getting up and leaving while having small children. And so I stayed here now again for 10 years, and I decided to get the citizenship in Sweden because I thought, well, if anything were to happen to my visa, because I was living here on a long term visa, they call it a permanent visa.
Lauren Ell: But I said, you know, who knows what's going to happen. I also didn't really want to deal with having to renew the visa because it involves traveling and fees and all of that. So I just said, I'll just apply for citizenship and then not have to worry about it. Because my children are here now. They're Swedish citizens. If something were to happen, I can just easily stay here in the country, and I don't have to worry about my visa.
Lauren Ell:And so it was actually pretty easy for me to obtain Swedish citizenship because I have lived here for so long. I don't think beyond that, because I've talked to other foreigners living in Sweden who are living more south, and they said that it's taken them longer to get their Swedish citizenship. For me, it was just a couple months waiting time.
Todd Huff: You’re president of the Republican Atheists. Maybe just start by telling me a little bit about your mission, about your organization, what you’re doing, and I guess what your beliefs are.
Lauren Ell: I started Republican Atheists in 2017, and it was because I felt that there should just be some more awareness about atheist Republicans. Because up until that point, I would hear a lot of talk saying, oh, there’s no atheist Republicans. And then this idea that the Republican is strictly this religious political party. And I said, you know that’s not really the case. I know there’s atheist Republicans out there.
Lauren Ell: wanted to start an organization to make it a bit more official that there is a platform for atheist Republicans. There’s a place for atheist Republicans to connect and relate to one another. So I launched in 2017. I never envisioned it to become a big organization or anything, because atheist Republicans are still rare.But yeah, it’s mainly online oriented. We have people who are joining our Facebook group. That’s our primary place of communication. And to this day, I have people joining the group who are saying, oh, I never met, I’m an atheist Republican. I didn’t know any other atheist Republicans exist.And so we have over 600 members in that group now. It’s a small organization, but we’re still around now, ten years later.
Todd Huff: So you said something there. You started the group because, well, you know, it is, there are certainly Republican atheists, but it’s not a huge percentage. I don’t know what that would be, but I guess help our listeners because a lot of people would probably be maybe, I don’t know, shocked, maybe not shocked, but a little bit surprised at least that it has a movement or some momentum at all.Help the listener here connect the idea of Republican ideals or ideas with atheism and how that plugs in from your vantage point.
Lauren Ell: There are atheists that are not left leaning. I know a lot of people, and then this is the majority of atheists in the United States, that yes, a lot of them lean left. They focus on increasing taxes and increasing the welfare state and government programs and issues like that.But there are also atheists that are not in that category, and they are more interested in issues that fall more in line with the Republican Party. That would be immigration, border control, limiting government programs.
Lauren Ell: And then a lot of the social issues we’re hearing about, there’s atheists that are not really on board with the LGBT agenda that we’re seeing pushed all over the place. There’s atheists that are not really on board with the transgender discussion that has just taken so much precedence in conversations.And there’s actually been increasing atheists entering the conservative realm. I know you mentioned that earlier, the difference between discussing the difference between conservatism and the Republican Party, and I do see a big difference there.
Lauren Ell: Obviously, there’s the Republican Party, which is being a part of a political party, and then there’s general conservative ideology. And there are a lot more atheists that generally identify as conservatives.And this is kind of evident on Facebook. There’s a Facebook group specifically conservative atheists. That group has a lot more members than the Republican atheist group, and that’s understandable because conservatives, they don’t have to subscribe to a political party.
Lauren Ell: And some people who view themselves as conservative, they don’t want to be a part of the Republican Party. So yeah, there’s atheists that are just becoming even more and more disenfranchised with atheist groups as time goes on.
Todd Huff: So do you consider yourself a conservative too, or would you just say Republican? Where would you, I guess, place yourself on that continuum?
Lauren Ell: I think of myself as a conservative, but I am a Republican. I am a part of the Republican Party. And if I vote, I tend to vote Republican. So in regards to the political parties, I am a Republican. I’m a registered Republican.
Todd Huff: I'm on the phone here with Lauren Ell. She is the president of Republican Atheists. Can you help me define some terms? Just, you know, when I was in college, I studied philosophy and political science, and I certainly had a wide variety of professors. I had atheist professors. I would say all of them, to your point, were left leaning. They were, heck, some of them were outright communists, I would say.So let's define atheists because I would say atheism is without God. Atheism, without God. I've had some people disagree with me who would define atheism more along the lines of agnosticism, which is a without knowledge, saying they don't know if there's a God, and all these sorts of things.How do you define atheism, Lauren Ell?
Lauren Ell: I think atheism is just simply not believing in a God. It's pretty simple.
Lauren Ell: Is it a hard stance? There are hard atheist stances. But then there's people who can get more, I've heard atheists, agnostic, and I think this is kind of an interesting discussion. Because then people on that term will say they lean towards atheist, but they still think there can be possibly the existence of a higher spirit.
Lauren Ell: Because I think some people, when they hear someone say they're agnostic, the theist will assume, oh, that gives legitimacy to my God, you might believe in my God. But I think that when people say atheist, agnostic, it gets a little confusing.
Lauren Ell: Well, to me, people who lean towards the idea that they think ultimately there is no God, and I think that's kind of where I sit. That is where I lean. I do think there is a possibility there could be, there is, I can't really put my foot down, but I do lean towards ultimately towards the concept that there is no God.
Lauren Ell: And I honestly give it very little thought. Ever. That's kind of how I view it.
Todd Huff: Okay. So help me understand. So understand too, this is as much for me to understand as our listeners. So I would say you don't give it, you said you don't think about it very often. I don't know specifically what you meant there, but it is in the name of your organization, so it's something central or very important to, again, don't let me put words in your mouth.I'm just trying to understand that your identity or what at least what you want other people who share these beliefs to coalesce around. It sounds to me, and again, if we're strictly following the words, would you say you're more agnostic? Then you said atheist, but then you said you're not one hundred percent certain.Am I just wrong in the way I'm thinking about that, Lauren Ell?
Lauren Ell: I think I lean in the atheist direction, but at the same time, I cannot strictly say there absolutely is nothing. Because that doesn't make sense to me either. But I lean towards the idea ultimately that I really think there is none. Okay?
Lauren Ell: And that's, I think a lot of people in my group relate to that as well. Well, I think I'm not a firebrand, but I'm not a firebrand atheist. That's another term that some people might hear, a firebrand atheist, which is a person who strictly puts their foot down.
Lauren Ell: And I'm not that kind of person. I never have since. But I do lean towards the idea that there is none. And so I'm not a very strict person. I know some people have this idea with atheists, and there are atheists like that who are very strict and they want absolutely nothing to do with the religious community.
Lauren Ell: But then there's some atheists that are just, I feel, are very easygoing. They have respect for people, and they understand that religion also has some values.
Lauren Ell: I think now, since I've been in the atheist community for ten years now, it's really interesting to meet this diversity of atheists, I think.
Todd Huff: Well, that's obvious. By the way, talking with you, I've certainly done what I do. I've encountered what I would call, you said firebrand atheists. I would say, like a militant atheist to where they just can't get through a sentence or a conversation. It's the only thing that matters before they want to engage. Do you believe in God? And they, like, lose their mind.That's unfortunate, because it might give you a bad reputation when that's not how you approach it at all. Let me flip it and say, how do Christians usually receive you? Are there people who are graceful and kind? Is that the majority? I hope it is, but maybe it isn't. Are they judgmental, on fire and brimstone and screaming at you? And just like where, where does when you deal with Christian Republicans, what's their typical reaction to you and your group?
Lauren Ell: Well, the vast majority of the time Christians are very understanding. I haven't really bumped heads with any Christians really, or most of them will say, oh, well, God bless you, and that's it. But they are very understanding. And that's the same for my family.My family is Christian. I actually come from a Christian background with my family, and there's really no hostility. There might be a little disappointment, but for my grandma, for example. But no, I haven't. I have not encountered hostility from Christians.
Lauren Ell: And I get asked about this, and I will say that I actually meet more hostility from atheists as being a Republican. And the atheist community, the existing atheist organizations, I don't follow them so much anymore because I just think they've gone so far left.But yeah, I encounter more hostilities from atheists that are left leaning, to the point that they have cut me out from their Facebook groups, the American Atheist and other organizations. They've cut out atheist Republicans. They've cut out atheist conservatives from their organization.
Lauren Ell: And so if they look really far left, that's because essentially they've cut out the atheist conservatives. They just are very temperamental with them. And it's really important because, yeah, it paints a bad light on atheists, these organizations that have pretty much been taken over by the left and they just have no tolerance for the atheist conservative and they kick them out of their organization.
Todd Huff: So can I add again if there's, I don't, I'm not prying or if there's something too personal. Please don't think that I'm trying to get to that. I want you to talk about this as much as you're comfortable or whatever.
But you mentioned you were raised as, we raised in a Christian home. Where did you go to church? Maybe talk a little bit about your upbringing? Because that's, that caught my ear when you said that.
Lauren Ell: Yes, I come from a Christian family. And my family, it was mainly my mom. She came from a Christian background. But I do say, I actually say I kind of come from a secular Christian background.Because my mom, she was the one who would take me and my siblings to church. But we wouldn't go every single Sunday, and we didn't go to the same church. She bounced from, we would bounce from church to church.
Lauren Ell: So I never stuck with a church. We went to small hole in the wall churches. We went to a mega church for a few weeks. It was kind of a drive to that church. But I have been to a mega church.And then my dad, though my dad never went to church at all with us. He would always stay home on Sunday. And for the longest time, I thought he wasn't a believer.
Lauren Ell: And then it was a few years ago, I brought it up and he said, oh, no, I believe in something, some kind of higher spirit. But he's never been able to commit to a church. He never went to church.And then my family, we never prayed regularly. We didn't read the Bible regularly. So I never had that strict upbringing, but still, it did lay this foundation of, you know, there is a God. And we go to church sometimes.
Lauren Ell: And then when I got into high school, I think what a lot of young people do, I went to youth group because my friends invited me. And I thought that was kind of a fun thing to do when I was in high school.So I actually, that was actually, I would say, the most religious time of my life, was when I was in high school and I went to youth group regularly.
Lauren Ell: I went on a mission trip to Mexico. We would go to Christian music festivals like in San Diego. But it was once I left high school and I guess I went on a foreign exchange year to Sweden out of all countries.And that was just when I decided I didn't want to continue on. And it's not because of Sweden. I think what really played a role, I did.
Todd Huff: Cut. Can you hold that thought? I hated to do this, but I'm at the end of a hard break. I'm up against a brick, so let's continue this on the other side of the break, if that's okay.
Lauren Ell: Okay.
Todd Huff: All right. Talking with Lauren Ell, president of Republican Atheists. Quick time out, my friends. Back in just a minute.
Todd Huff: Welcome back, my friends. On the phone with Lauren Ell. She is the president of Republican Atheists talking here about her beliefs and just seeking to understand here and have a dialogue. I got to say, we were talking about what I would call militant atheists. Lauren calls them firebrand atheists, and it's nice to not have to. That's my typical experience, is that they're quite militant people who are atheists, and that's clearly not the case.
Todd Huff: It's just like anything, I mean, there are reasonable people with different beliefs. And so we'll get back to Lauren here in just a second, my friend. There's a lot of confusion out there about Kratom, though. Probably read the headlines. And most of those headlines are based on synthetic junk that is not real kratom at all.
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Todd Huff: We've got Lauren Ell here on the phone with us. Lauren, I'm sorry to jump in there and cut you off. That was ever so rude of me. I'm just up against time constraints here. So you were talking about your background and being raised in, well, at least going to church and that sort of thing. So I interrupted you. You can continue with your thoughts, or I can ask another question here.
Lauren Ell: Well, I was just saying that when I left my hometown, I went on a youth exchange trip to Sweden. And that was when I kind of said I'm not really on board so much with church anymore and continuing on with this.And I was saying that it wasn't because of Sweden, because I know people are going to probably try to connect it to Sweden, because Sweden is a very secular country. But it wasn't because of Sweden. I think it had a lot to do with just myself realizations.And I think it does play a role too when young people leave their hometown and they kind of break the connection with that church that they were with. And then it's like, okay, well, what do I do now.
Lauren Ell: And it was my first time really being off on my own. Yeah, that was around the time that I just decided I was atheist. I was about eighteen years old. And it wasn't a huge moment in my life in regards to saying, I'm against the church and I'm against Christianity.It was kind of just a smooth transition. I say, because, like I said, I kind of was raised in what I call a secular Christian household, so religion was never really a big part of my life in the beginning.
Todd Huff: You mentioned, I think you said your grandma was, I think you used the word disappointed. Is that how you would describe it, or is the family accepting?
Lauren Ell: My grandma, my grandparents were the, I would say, the most religious. And even in my opinion now when I look back on it, and I think at the time I thought, oh, they were really religious because I think that's the message that's sent to young people all the time.Even back when I was in high school, twenty years ago, it's like, oh, well, Christians, they're super strict and they're super religious. But my grandparents, when I look back on it now, yes, they did go to church regularly.
Lauren Ell: But at the same time, when me and my siblings went and visited them, they let us watch PBS. They took us to local museums. They bought regular food. It wasn't like they were super strict. They let us have fun. They let us see what we wanted.And for the most part, when we visited them, and so I don't view my grandma as really strict. At the time, I thought, oh, she's strict. But I actually think my family altogether, even my grandparents, at least from my experience, were pretty easy going as Christians.
Todd Huff: So here we are, a couple days out from Christmas, which I'm under no illusion here, Christmas has become celebrated as a commercial or secular holiday. But at the core, for a Christian like myself, this is obviously not on the calendar when Jesus would have come to the world, but it's commemorating, celebrating that event from the Christian perspective and worldview. My question would be to you. Do you celebrate Christmas? If so, what does that look like? Just walk me through that a little bit.
Lauren Ell: I think I celebrate Christmas just like any other, like most other families. We put up a tree here in Sweden. Actually, what's really different compared to Christmas in California is they actually celebrate opening gifts and meeting with family on Christmas Eve. And so everyone meets the day before Christmas, and that's when everyone opens gifts. And there's, like, here in Sweden, there's like a tomte. They call it a tomte, it's like a Santa, and Santa is supposed to go into the house. It's usually someone who dresses up like him and he goes in and gives the gifts to everybody.So it's a little different here in Sweden compared to when I was in California and we celebrated on Christmas morning. That was the biggest thing. But here, I explained this the day before. And then Christmas Day here is kind of a calming day.
Lauren Ell: I think it's when people really kick back. They're not so much focused on rushing to get to their family's house or anything like that. That's what Christmas Day is here. But I think how I celebrate, I celebrate it the same as when I was a kid, and it's just a lot of fun. I really like it. I like that people get together, family gets together. And something interesting here in Sweden is, in some ways, there's actually more traditions for Christmas that I haven't even seen in California.So, for example, Advent, which I can't really explain what it is, but there's four candles. I had never seen this in California. But they'll put up four candles in this candle holder. And every Sunday, because it's the first Advent, which is at the beginning of December, and it's every Sunday after that, there's second Advent, third Advent, and then fourth Advent, and they'll light a candle for each time.
Todd Huff: I had never seen that either growing up.
Lauren Ell: Yeah, I had never seen this in California, but here in Sweden, it is something that people do even if they are not, you hear all the time, Sweden is a secular country, but they actually follow a lot of Christian traditions. It's just that I think they like it because, I think they do like that kind of spiritual, calming atmosphere. It's kind of hard to say, but here in Sweden, they do adhere to some of the Christian traditions still. It's just not, in a way, directing people how to live and what to do. It's kind of a calming thing that they have here. So Advent is acknowledged here. Lighting these candles every Sunday. There's still church services that go on here. And the church is actually really active here.
Lauren Ell: And the church comes out to my community. I speak positively about the church, honestly, because the church is one of the few organizations where I live that has social events. And I think this is something that's really needed in Sweden, is more socializing. If you hear about Sweden, it's Sweden is one of the most difficult countries in the world to make a friend in. So the church here, they come out to my village. I call it a village. I live in the middle of nowhere. I'm out in the countryside.
Lauren Ell: There's really nothing here for children. There's very few kids where I live. But the church will come out and they'll host the children's playtime once a week. Not many children show up. They don't really discuss the Bible at all. But it's kind of still a way for the church to come out to represent and to gather, and I think that's something really nice. So I think that's also interesting, from my perspective, to come from this country where, yes, it's very secular, but at the same time, the Christian traditions are in some ways more acknowledged here than in the United States, in California anyway, I would say.
Todd Huff: It's definitely highly commercialized. I'll tell you too, Lauren, I was not raised in a Christian home myself. But I would say maybe kind of in a similar way what you're saying, which is we adhered to, I would say, most of the biblical values. You said to my parents, the Bible says this, that would matter to them. I'm right, I was raised just outside of the Bible Belt and so forth. I remember going to weekday religious education as a kid and VBS. But I can understand what you're saying there.
Todd Huff: I'm at the end of this segment though. We got one more segment here in a moment, and I'll continue talking with Lauren Ell, the president of Republican Atheists. Time out for me though, my friends. You're listening here to Conservative, Not Bitter Talk. I'm your host, the one and only Todd Huff. Back in just a minute.
Todd Huff: Welcome back, my friends. On the phone with Lauren Ell. She is the president of Republican Atheists talking here about her beliefs and just seeking to understand here and have a dialogue. I got to say, we were talking about what I would call militant atheists. Lauren calls them firebrand atheists, and it's nice to not have to. That's my typical experience, is that they're quite militant people who are atheists, and that's clearly not the case.
Todd Huff: It's just like anything, I mean, there are reasonable people with different beliefs. And so we'll get back to Lauren here in just a second, my friend. There's a lot of confusion out there about Kratom, though. Probably read the headlines. And most of those headlines are based on synthetic junk that is not real kratom at all. Real kratom is natural. It's tested. It's handled with care. And that's exactly what you get from Christopher's Organic Botanicals. They're a family run company. They partner directly with farmers in Indonesia. Every batch is lab tested for purity. No chemicals, no fillers, no shortcuts.
Todd Huff: This is a trusted herbal option that's been used for generations, and it's a real alternative for people looking for something that does not come with a warning label that is a mile long. So you can go to ChristophersOrganicBotanicals.com. You can research there, research elsewhere. And if you decide this is something you want to try, you can start with their Kratom starter pack. Coupon code Todd Huff will get you ten percent off your first order. Again, ChristophersOrganicBotanicals.com. Truth. Tradition. Transparency.
Todd Huff: We've got Lauren Ell here on the phone with us. Lauren, I'm sorry to jump in there and cut you off. That was ever so rude of me. I'm just up against time constraints here. So you were talking about your background and being raised in, well, at least going to church and that sort of thing. So I interrupted you. You can continue with your thoughts, or I can ask another question here.
Lauren Ell: Well, I was just saying that when I left my hometown, I went on a youth exchange trip to Sweden. And that was when I kind of said I'm not really on board so much with church anymore and continuing on with this. And I was saying that it wasn't because of Sweden, because I know people are going to probably try to connect it to Sweden, because Sweden is a very secular country. But it wasn't because of Sweden. I think it had a lot to do with just myself realizations. And I think it does play a role too when young people leave their hometown and they kind of break the connection with that church that they were with. And then it's like, okay, well, what do I do now.
Lauren Ell: And it was my first time really being off on my own. Yeah, that was around the time that I just decided I was atheist. I was about eighteen years old. And it wasn't a huge moment in my life in regards to saying, I'm against the church and I'm against Christianity. It was kind of just a smooth transition. I say, because, like I said, I kind of was raised in what I call a secular Christian household, so religion was never really a big part of my life in the beginning.
Todd Huff: You mentioned, I think you said your grandma was, I think you used the word disappointed. Is that how you would describe it, or is the family accepting?
Lauren Ell: My grandma, my grandparents were the, I would say, the most religious. And even in my opinion now when I look back on it, and I think at the time I thought, oh, they were really religious because I think that's the message that's sent to young people all the time.
Even back when I was in high school, twenty years ago, it's like, oh, well, Christians, they're super strict and they're super religious. But my grandparents, when I look back on it now, yes, they did go to church regularly.
Lauren Ell: But at the same time, when me and my siblings went and visited them, they let us watch PBS. They took us to local museums. They bought regular food. It wasn't like they were super strict. They let us have fun. They let us see what we wanted.
And for the most part, when we visited them, and so I don't view my grandma as really strict. At the time, I thought, oh, she's strict. But I actually think my family altogether, even my grandparents, at least from my experience, were pretty easy going as Christians.
Todd Huff: So here we are, a couple days out from Christmas, which I'm under no illusion here, Christmas has become celebrated as a commercial or secular holiday. But at the core, for a Christian like myself, this is obviously not on the calendar when Jesus would have come to the world, but it's commemorating, celebrating that event from the Christian perspective and worldview.
My question would be to you. Do you celebrate Christmas? If so, what does that look like? Just walk me through that a little bit.
Lauren Ell: I think I celebrate Christmas just like any other, like most other families. We put up a tree here in Sweden. Actually, what's really different compared to Christmas in California is they actually celebrate opening gifts and meeting with family on Christmas Eve. And so everyone meets the day before Christmas, and that's when everyone opens gifts.
Lauren Ell: And there's, like, here in Sweden, there's like a tomte. They call it a tomte, it's like a Santa, and Santa is supposed to go into the house. It's usually someone who dresses up like him and he goes in and gives the gifts to everybody.So it's a little different here in Sweden compared to when I was in California and we celebrated on Christmas morning. That was the biggest thing. But here, I explained this the day before. And then Christmas Day here is kind of a calming day.
Lauren Ell: I think it's when people really kick back. They're not so much focused on rushing to get to their family's house or anything like that. That's what Christmas Day is here. But I think how I celebrate, I celebrate it the same as when I was a kid, and it's just a lot of fun. I really like it. I like that people get together, family gets together. And something interesting here in Sweden is, in some ways, there's actually more traditions for Christmas that I haven't even seen in California.
Lauren Ell: So, for example, Advent, which I can't really explain what it is, but there's four candles. I had never seen this in California. But they'll put up four candles in this candle holder. And every Sunday, because it's the first Advent, which is at the beginning of December, and it's every Sunday after that, there's second Advent, third Advent, and then fourth Advent, and they'll light a candle for each time.
Todd Huff: I had never seen that either growing up.
Lauren Ell: Yeah, I had never seen this in California, but here in Sweden, it is something that people do even if they are not, you hear all the time, Sweden is a secular country, but they actually follow a lot of Christian traditions. It's just that I think they like it because, I think they do like that kind of spiritual, calming atmosphere. It's kind of hard to say, but here in Sweden, they do adhere to some of the Christian traditions still. It's just not, in a way, directing people how to live and what to do.
Lauren Ell: It's kind of a calming thing that they have here. So Advent is acknowledged here. Lighting these candles every Sunday. There's still church services that go on here. And the church is actually really active here.
Lauren Ell: And the church comes out to my community. I speak positively about the church, honestly, because the church is one of the few organizations where I live that has social events. And I think this is something that's really needed in Sweden, is more socializing. If you hear about Sweden, it's Sweden is one of the most difficult countries in the world to make a friend in. So the church here, they come out to my village. I call it a village. I live in the middle of nowhere. I'm out in the countryside.
Lauren Ell: There's really nothing here for children. There's very few kids where I live. But the church will come out and they'll host the children's playtime once a week. Not many children show up. They don't really discuss the Bible at all.But it's kind of still a way for the church to come out to represent and to gather, and I think that's something really nice. So I think that's also interesting, from my perspective, to come from this country where, yes, it's very secular, but at the same time, the Christian traditions are in some ways more acknowledged here than in the United States, in California anyway, I would say.
Todd Huff: It's definitely highly commercialized. I'll tell you too, Lauren, I was not raised in a Christian home myself. But I would say maybe kind of in a similar way what you're saying, which is we adhered to, I would say, most of the biblical values. You said to my parents, the Bible says this, that would matter to them. I'm right, I was raised just outside of the Bible Belt and so forth. I remember going to weekday religious education as a kid and VBS. But I can understand what you're saying there.
Todd Huff: I'm at the end of this segment though. We got one more segment here in a moment, and I'll continue talking with Lauren Ell, the president of Republican Atheists. Time out for me though, my friends. You're listening here to Conservative, Not Bitter Talk. I'm your host, the one and only Todd Huff. Back in just a minute.
Todd Huff: Welcome back, my friends. On the phone with Lauren Ell, Republican Atheists president. Having a conversation here about politics and faith, or the lack of belief in God, however you want to frame this. Here we are just a couple days out from Christmas.And friends, let's talk about something really quickly that's important to you. That's your money. You've worked hard for it, but is it working hard for you? What you believe in at 48 Financial, they specialize in what they call biblically responsible investing.
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Todd Huff: Okay. Just a few more minutes here with Lauren. Lauren, I have a question. And you may have heard, I'm sure you've heard this, you follow this stuff. But I'm genuinely interested. Is there, when it comes to the existence of God, is that something that you hope is true?Or is that something, do you have a preference? What are your, how would you answer that? Do you hope that there is a God?
Lauren Ell: It's something that I honestly just give very little thought to. And it doesn't matter to me if there is or no God. I feel like there's really nothing to worry about in terms of someone granting permission or anything like that.But I don't give it much thought. Honestly, it doesn't really matter to me. I kind of feel the world is how it is, and I can't play a role in that, so I don't give it much thought.
Lauren Ell: But I'll just say to your listeners, though, that, you know, I understand the atheists that you come across can be very left leaning and they can come off as crazy a lot of the time, at least belligerent. You know, just know that there are atheist Republicans.There's like a Facebook group for it that has quite a number, a good number of members. And if you don't hear about them from atheist organizations, the existing ones, but I really feel our shifting.American Atheists and Atheists United and there's Secular Coalition for America. You know, there's all these organizations that have been around for a while, but they go out of their way to not share atheist conservatives or atheist Republicans.
Lauren Ell: And so if you see this kind of one kind of atheist portrayed by these organizations, then that's why. They go out of their way to ignore atheist Republicans and atheist conservatives. But we're here. We still have a little community.
So this one is your listener to know that. Yeah.
Todd Huff: No, you're definitely not of that group. Lauren, it's been a while, but we've talked a couple of times, but no, this has been a good conversation to have. What about this whole story? I mean, here we are at Christmas.I mean, Jesus, even atheists almost universally accept that Jesus was a historical figure. Do you fall into that camp, or do you think that it's all made up? Where are you on that?
Lauren Ell: I don't study it so much. I think its place, I think it's very special history. And it obviously plays a very important role in the West and all over the world.I don't study it. It's not like it's a big part of my life. But I do think it's really interesting, and I think it is important to have a degree of sympathy, I guess, a degree of understanding that it has its place, in my opinion.
Todd Huff: So after kind of listening to you talk about this, it seems to me, and you can correct me, we just have a minute and a half or so here. You're very, it sounds like you're of the opinion, to each his own.
Todd Huff: But this is just the idea, the concept of God is of no interest to you, even if he did exist. I don't want to put words in your mouth, but it almost sounds like to me you don't have an interest in having a relationship with him, if that was even a thing.Is that fair, what I'm saying? Am I understanding correctly, or how would you describe it?
Lauren Ell: It's really not my interest. I just feel there's so many things going on in my life, and I've been to different churches, as I said previously. I've listened to different pastors. I've listened to different takes on the Bible, and it just becomes really overwhelming to me.And so that's kind of where my stance is. And I hope people understand. I'm trying to live my life and I have so many things happening and it's just easier for me. I do not give it much thought.
Todd Huff: I'm guessing you have a thought on this. When we die, what happens?
Lauren Ell: I can't say. I just find that it's a calming idea. Not necessarily to die, but when I think of the afterlife, I just find it, I imagine a calming atmosphere.
Todd Huff: Okay. Well, Lauren, I appreciate you coming on here. We don't agree on those things, but that's okay. I hope I gave you as much platform and runway to explain and answer my questions as possible.
But I'm out of time. So that's Lauren Ell, president of Republican Atheists. Folks, thank you so much for listening. Have a great day. SDG.
