This week we'll report that FFRF's first billboard in Mississippi managed to stay up only 5 days before being censored, play Oliver Sacks' poignant last interview in honor of the upcoming anniversary of his birth, honor poet Sherry Matulis and listen to a little Stephen Foster to celebrate that freethinker's July 4 birthday. Then we'll hear from three FFRF insiders: Attorney Patrick Elliott will talk about how he's challenging the Madison, Wis. diocese seeking unfair tax privileges; Director of ...
Jul 11, 2016•42 min
This week we celebrate the Fourth of July, as well as the Supreme Court's decision on abortion rights. We announce FFRF billboard activism in Mississipi, Minnesota, and Cleveland, Ohio, where we welcome visitors to the RNC this month with the face of Ronald Reagan advocating for state/church separation. We report legal victories in Kansas, Oklahoma, Colorado and California. After hearing the music (!) of actor and atheist Kevin Bacon, we talk with author George H. Smith, whose classic 1974 book,...
Jul 04, 2016•42 min
FFRF protests the city of Hondo, Texas, sign saying "This is God's Country." After an FFRF complaint, Ex-Muslims of America finally get their cake that was denied by a local Wegman's food store. We hear the song "Salvation" by Elliott Ingersoll (great grandnephew of Robert Ingersoll), and then talk with FFRF's Legal Assistant and activist Calli Miller, who has been handling state/church entanglement intake and case management for FFRF's legal department, and who is now headed for Harvard Law Sch...
Jun 27, 2016•42 min
FFRF protested Rev. Franklin Graham's "Decision America" rally in Wisconsin this week. We hear FFRF staff members Alyssa Schaeffer and Calli Miller interviewed by the press during that event. After hearing Roy Zimmerman's poignant song, "To The Victims Of This Tragedy," bemoaning the ineffectiveness of prayer and moments of silence after tragedies like the shooting in Orlando, we talk with Jesse Castillo and Kevin Price, the two brave plaintiffs who helped FFRF successfully sue Brewster County, ...
Jun 20, 2016•42 min
This week we protest the Iowa Governor's proclamation to read the bible. We speak with FFRF attorney Sam Grover about our lawsuit successfully removing Christian crosses from Brewster County, Texas, police vehicles. After hearing the witty and brilliant Julia Sweeney on CNN talking about the Reason Rally, we interview Marie Schaub, the courageous plaintiff in an FFRF lawsuit challenging the Ten Commandments monument in her daughter's Pennsylvania high school.
Jun 13, 2016•42 min
Psychologist, author and songwriter Elliott Ingersoll, descendant of the family of the great 19-century agnostic orator Robert G. Ingersoll, tells us about his TED talk challenging the notion of "chemical imbalances" in the brain, which, he says, can be better treated with talk therapy than with drugs. After hearing his performance of his song "American Infidel," we introduce a drawing for free downloads of the audiobook of Dan's book GOD: The Most Unpleasant Character in All Fiction by listenin...
Jun 06, 2016•42 min
FFRF stopped an Ohio high school from singing "The Lord's Prayer" during graduation. Port Neches, Texas, divests itself of a Christian cross in their city park. FFRF bus signs and bike kiosk displays promoting secular values and atheist voters go up in Washington DC, with resultant controversy. Full-page ad about FFRF's House Chaplain lawsuit will be published in DC during the Reason Rally. After hearing "No Gods, No Masters," celebrating the life of Margaret Sanger, we talk with physicist Sean ...
May 30, 2016•42 min
FFRF challenges prayer at a Florida school district, encourages the "Do No Harm" bill, supports "One nation indivisible" and reports on our Pennsylvania lawsuit challenging the Ten Commandments at a public high school. After celebrating the birthday of feminist Margaret Fuller, giving away a free copy of Annie Laurie's book Women Without Superstition , and honoring the life of Dan's father Norman Barker (1925-2016), we talk with Bruce Wallbaum and Luca Clemente of Occupy Madison about the "Tiny ...
May 23, 2016•42 min
You won't believe what a Colorado legislator said about FFRF's lawsuit challenging high-school discrimination against our scholarship for freethinking students. Nonbelief Relief is helping seven Bangladeshi freethinkers on a fatwa hit-list. FFRF's "What Does the Bible Really Say About Abortion?" ads are up in Kansas and Oklahoma. After hearing the freethought anthem "Die Gedanken Sind Frei," we talk with molecular biologist and geneticist Sean B. Carroll about his new book, Serengeti Rules: The ...
May 16, 2016•42 min
We are suing the US House Chaplain! Dan Barker, with the help of FFRF attorneys Andrew Seidel and Sam Grover and litigation attorney Rich Bolton, filed a federal lawsuit May 5 challenging Chaplain Father Conroy's refusal to allow an atheist to offer a secular invocation before Congress. Andrew and Sam join us on the show to discuss the 2-year saga that led to this lawsuit. After hearing Irving Berlin's irreverent 1922 song "Pack Up Your Sins and Go To the Devil in Hades," we talk with sociologis...
May 09, 2016•42 min
We observe our 10th anniversary by celebrating how much has changed since Freethought Radio began in 2006. We announce victories and complaints in public schools and at a Tennessee city council. We listen to the song "Adrift On a Star" by Yip Harburg and Dan Barker. Then we talk with Declan Mulkerin, Margaux Sorenson, and Peter Opitz, students at Middleton (Wisconsin) High School, about why they are protesting the proselytizing "Jesus Lunch" held during school hours at their campus.
May 02, 2016•42 min
Hear coverage of the “Jesus Lunch” protest at Middleton (WI) High School, which is being challenged by students and FFRF staff. Rebecca Markert updates us on FFRF’s new lawsuit against a Christian cross in a city park in Santa Clara, California. After hearing the Chad Mitchell Trio perform Yip Harburg’s “Rhymes for the Irreverent,” we talk with physicist, cosmologist, and author Lawrence M. Krauss about the “Origins Project” at Arizona State, and about his book A Universe From Nothing: Why There...
Apr 25, 2016•42 min
FFRF stops an Ohio high-school teacher from preaching in class, removes a bible verse from a Texas school district webpage, files a Minnesota friend-of-the-court brief supporting "death with dignity," and files a new lawsuit challenging censorship of FFRF's freethought high-school essay scholarships by a California school district. After hearing Josh White singing freethinking songwriter Yip Harburg's song "Free And Equal Blues," we talk with biologist Jerry Coyne about "Faith Versus Fact."...
Apr 18, 2016•42 min
This week we announce a new IRS lawsuit challenging the Housing Allowance that gives special tax benefits to clergy, and we complain about a bill to make the Bible the “state book” of Tennessee. FFRF attorney Andrew Seidel tells us about the censorship of FFRF’s literature in a Colorado school district. Then we talk with Lyz Liddell, Executive Director of The Reason Rally Coalition, about the music, speakers and other events at the exciting Reason Rally to be held June 2-4 at the Lincoln Memoria...
Apr 11, 2016•42 min
After we announce our “I’m an Atheist and I Vote” billboard campaign, welcoming candidates to Madison, Wisconsin during the week of the Wisconsin primary election, FFRF legal fellow Maddy Ziegler describes how she got a Las Vegas, Nevada, school graduation removed from a church. We celebrate the 120th birthday of composer Yip Harburg (“Over the Rainbow”). Then we hear excerpts of the “Lifetime Achievement” award acceptance speech given at FFRF’s 2015 convention by Rita Swan, founder and director...
Apr 04, 2016•42 min
Lisa Miller (Treu) joins us this “Easter” weekend (on Black Sabbath) to talk about the movie The Life of Brian and to introduce the irreverent song “Always Look on the Bright Side of Life.” We celebrate spring and bemoan war/terrorism by listening to Yip Harburg’s evocative peace song “One Sweet Morning.” Then we talk, on his birthday, with evolutionary biologist and prolific author Richard Dawkins ( The Selfish Gene, The Blind Watchmaker, The God Delusion ) about his autobiographical book, Brie...
Mar 28, 2016•42 min
We welcome the spring with some light music by freethinking songwriter Yip Harburg (who wrote “Over The Rainbow”) and country singer-songwriter Robbie Fulks (“God Isn’t Real”). After FFRF staff attorney Sam Grover updates us on some state/church victories in southern states, we announce a new drawing for the Yip Harburg book Rhymes For The Irreverent . Then we talk with author, historian, and cultural critic Susan Jacoby about her new book, Strange Gods: A Secular History of Conversion....
Mar 21, 2016•42 min
FFRF’s JFK ad is airing on Colbert’s Late Show this month. After talking with law student Seth Wrinkle about the amicus brief he drafted for FFRF about a 40-foot Maryland cross, we listen to Univision’s Jorge Ramos explain why he rejected his Mexican Catholic faith and is now an agnostic. Then we interview agnostic bible scholar Bart Ehrman about his new book, Jesus Before The Gospels: How the earliest Christians remembered, changed, and invented their stories of the savior.
Mar 14, 2016•42 min
Sticker shock! We announce a new federal lawsuit challenging a Brewster County (Texas) sheriff affixing Christian cross stickers on police vehicles. After hearing John Oliver’s hilarious take on the Supreme Court abortion case in Whole Woman’s Health Care , we talk with Pulitzer-Prize-winning journalist Linda Greenhouse, who covered the Supreme Court for 40 years for the New York Times, discussing that case and the implications of a Scalia-less court.
Mar 07, 2016•42 min
FFRF attorney Andrew Seidel tells us about our exciting new federal court victory stopping school-board prayer in California. We announce FFRF’s newest lawsuit challenging Texas Governor Gregg Abbot’s censorship of our “Bill of Rights” nativity display. After hearing Lena Horne sing the irreverent Yip Harburg song, “Ain’t It The Truth?”, we talk with Australian author Meg Wallace about hew new book, Freedom From Religion: Rethinking Article 18 , suggesting how the U.N. “Universal Declaration of ...
Feb 29, 2016•42 min
After reporting an FFRF victory removing the Ten Commandments from a Mississippi county courthouse, we announce FFRF’s new “I’m Secular and I Vote!” campaign to impress candidates with the concerns of the fast-growing demographic of nonbelieving voters. We honor the life of freethinking civil-rights activist W. E. B. Du Bois, founder of the NAACP. Then we talk with Armin Navabi, a former Muslim from Iran, founder of Atheist Republic and author of the book Why There Is No God: Simple Responses to...
Feb 22, 2016•42 min
FFRF staff attorney Sam Grover updates us on our amended complaint adding more plaintiffs to our lawsuit (filed along with the ACLU) challenging the live nativity scene performed by Concord High School in Elkhart, Indiana, and the accompanying harassment and death threats. Then Abigail Cantor, an award-winning national water management expert (as well as musician) tells us about the science behind what needs to be done in Flint, Michigan (and other cities) to improve water quality.
Feb 15, 2016•42 min
This week we celebrate the birthday of Charles Darwin and the 90th birthday poet Philip Appleman (a Darwin scholar). Annie Laurie interviews Dan about his best-selling new book, GOD: The Most Unpleasant Character in All Fiction (Foreword by Richard Dawkins). Then Dr. Abby Hafer champions Darwin’s ideas by discussing her delightful new book, The Not-So-Intelligent Designer: Why Evolution Explains the Human Body and Intelligent Design Does Not.
Feb 08, 2016•42 min
Iowa atheist Justin Scott tells us about his experience interviewing political candidates in the Iowa caucuses about their views on the separation of state and church. After hearing Marco Rubio, Ted Cruz, Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders respond to Justin, we talk with Jane Donnelly by phone from Dublin, who just testified before the U.N. on behalf of Atheist Ireland and 'teachdontpreach.ie' about the problem of Catholic control of public schools in the Republic of Ireland.
Feb 01, 2016•42 min
Aleta Ledendecker tells us about the secular invocation she delivered before the City Council of Oak Ridge, Tennessee, that was rudely cut off by the mayor and boycotted by city council members. Then we talk with California attorney Michael Newdow about his new federal lawsuit challenging “In God We Trust” on U.S. currency.
Jan 25, 2016•42 min
Legal fellow Ryan Jayne updates us on FFRF’s New Jersey lawsuit challenging millions of “historic preservation” dollars handed to churches, many for the purpose of worship. We discuss a cross on a Kentucky city water tower, a cross on an Illinois war memorial, and government censorship of freethought speech. Then we interview feminist atheist author Sikivu Hutchinson about her new book, White Nights, Black Paradise , about Jim Jones's People’s Temple and the 1978 massacre at Jonestown....
Jan 18, 2016•42 min
FFRF wins Liberty Institute’s “Scrooge Award.” Another FFRF banner is vandalized. Political candidate panders to piety. NYC mayor de Blasio hands $20 million to religious schools. Alabama chief justice Moore defies same-sex marriage law. After listening to Holly Near’s song “I Ain’t Afraid” and Dan Barker’s version of Ruth Green’s poem “FFRF,” we hear Ruth Hurmence Green interviewed in 1979 about her book The Born Again Skeptic’s Guide To The Bible.
Jan 11, 2016•42 min
Texas Governor Abbot censors FFRF’s “Bill of Rights Nativity” from the state capitol; Wisconsin lawmaker Scott Allen uses government resources to convert non-Christians. Idaho post office removes Christmas greeting from window. After hearing Paul Robeson sing “The Bill of Rights,” we talk with Thomas Sheedy who won the Richard and Beverly Hermsen Student Activist award for successfully fighting to establish a secular student club at his high school.
Jan 04, 2016•42 min
In the News: FFRF banners and signs have been stolen or defaced, so we announce a "Resurrection Pledge Campaign" to help replace them. New banners go up in Olympia, Washington and Illinois courthouse. After hearing Richard Dawkins reading the Foreword he wrote for the audiobook of Dan Barker's book Godless, we end the year with some relaxing freethought and seasonal music from FFRF's "Adrift on a Star" CD.
Dec 28, 2015•42 min
In the News: Saudi Arabia is scheduled to behead a nonbeliever; Indiana school thumbs its nose at the Constitution by staging a “mannequin” nativity scene after a judge enjoined them from doing a “live nativity scene.” We hear some Winter Solstice songs and a reading about how Christians coopted the season. Then we talk with Holly Baer, the first winner of the Yip Harburg Youth Activist award, who challenged a Christian display in the city of Collins, Mississippi.
Dec 21, 2015•42 min
