The Mississippi flag swaps one exclusion (Confederate symbol) for another ("In God We Trust"). FFRF Senior Counsel Patrick Elliott explains our amicus brief supporting California's social-distancing requirement for churches and tells us what was wrong with the Supreme Court's Espinoza pro-voucher decision. Then FFRF's "Anne Nicol Gaylor Reproductive Rights Intern" Barbara Alvarez tells us what was right about the Supreme Court's June Medical decision about abortion.
Jul 02, 2020•49 min
For our first broadcast of the summer, we hear actor John de Lancie (who played Q on "Star Trek: The Next Generation") deliver a very moving virtual commencement address to graduating seniors in the Secular Student Alliance. Then we speak with award-winning NYC stand-up comedian and author Leighann Lord, who comments on the bird-watching incident in Central Park, and about her thoughts on Father's Day in her "People With Parents" podcast.
Jun 25, 2020•49 min
We celebrate this week's Supreme Court Bostock decision affirming civil-rights protections to the LGBTQ community. FFRF attorney Patrick Elliott explains how that case relates to religious liberty. After hearing the song "Freedom From Religion," we talk with Jon Steingard, the former lead singer of the Christian rock band Hawk Nelson, who just announced on Instagram that he no longer believes in God.
Jun 18, 2020•49 min
The Texas lieutenant governor and a Texas mayor are improperly mixing religion and government. We ask the Pennsylvania governor not to hand state money to churches. After hearing the freethinker Nina Simone's 1964 civil-rights protest song "Mississippi Goddam," we talk with eminent Chicago Law School professor Geoffrey R. Stone about the Supreme Court's upcoming decisions about abortion and state/church separation.
Jun 11, 2020•49 min
The President of the United States terrorizes fellow Americans in order to stage a Christian Nationalist photo-op. After hearing the protest song "No More" by Broadway composer Charles Strouse, we talk with author and filmmaker Jeremiah Camara about his movie Holy Hierarchy: The Religious Roots of Racism in America and about how we can address oppression and inequality in our country.
Jun 04, 2020•49 min
President Trump and public officials continue to pander to the Religious Right during the pandemic. FFRF legal fellow Dante Harootunian announces a state/church victory removing a Christian cross from a city mural in Illinois. After hearing the freethinking song "Let The Mystery Be" by Iris Dement, we talk with The Nation columnist Katha Pollitt about her recent column "Why Did the ERA Die? FX's 'Mrs. America' Has Some Answers."
May 28, 2020•49 min
Churches or churchgoers in at least 19 states are hypocritically suing the government for shutting down public worship services. After hearing the Stephen Foster "comfort music" song "Hard Times Come Again No More," performed remotely by Rufus Wainwright and friends, we talk with Michael Shermer, editor of Skeptic magazine and author of the new book Giving the Devil His Due , about "COVID-19 Conspiracists and Their Discontents."
May 21, 2020•49 min
The virus of religion is worsening the pandemic. We talk about religious favoritism at the national and local levels, from the U.S. Supreme Court to states and counties that put ideology over science. Then we speak with Bonya Ahmed and Imtiaz Shams, founders of the new THINK project that is producing quality videos about science, reason and humanism in many languages for countries (including Bangladesh) with little access to such information.
May 14, 2020•49 min
Guess what well-known person is a humanist? Today we talk about U.S. representatives calling for a National Day of Reason (not Prayer), FFRF's full-page ad in the New York Times, Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg's remarks on access to contraception, and a U.S. mosque broadcasting calls to prayer. Then we speak with atheist rapper Baba Brinkman and hear his songs "Stay Home!" and "Neighborhood Atheism."
May 07, 2020•49 min
Are clergy "essential" workers? FFRF is complaining about favoritism to religion during the coronavirus pandemic. Our comfort music this week is "Smile," written by the freethinking Charlie Chaplin. FFRF Director of Communications Amit Pal joins us as we talk by phone from locked-down India with Avinash Patil, the courageous executive president of the Organization to Eradicate Superstition in Maharashtra, India, whose founding president Narendra Dabholkar was murdered by religious fanatics....
Apr 30, 2020•49 min
Happy Earth Day To You! We report an FFRF state/church victory dealing with HUD and Freedom of Information. FFRF Director of Strategic Response Andrew Seidel describes his groundbreaking article in the Northeastern University Law Review called "Bad History, Bad Opinions." After hearing the "comfort music" song "Promise of Dawn" by Dan Barker and Juanice Charmaine, we talk with poet, essayist and author Katha Pollitt, from her NYC "epicenter" apartment, about how anti-abortionists are exploiting ...
Apr 23, 2020•49 min
God, government, and the coronavirus. Public officials are favoring religion during the COVID-19 crisis. Despite prayer, churches were damaged by Easter storms. After hearing "America's Best Christian" Betty Bowers urge churchgoers to "stay the hell at home," we talk with professor Ryan Burge about his research showing that atheists and agnostics are the most politically active "religious group" in the United States.
Apr 16, 2020•49 min
We are preserving social distancing between state and church. FFRF attorney Sam Grover describes our recent free-speech victory against Texas Gov. Greg Abbott who removed our winter-solstice display from the state capitol. After hearing more comfort music — including Tom Lehrer's "Vatican Rag" — we talk with eminent British philosopher and author A.C. Grayling about his new books, The History of Philosophy and The Good State.
Apr 09, 2020•48 min
For our first show produced remotely, we cover abuses of state/church separation during the pandemic. After celebrating the birthday of irreverent lyricist ("Over the Rainbow") Yip Harburg by hearing "The Begats" and "Ain't It The Truth?", we talk with freethinking actress, playwright and former SNL comic Julia Sweeney, who is "sheltering at home" in Hollywood, about her co-starring roles in "Shrill" (Hulu), "Work in Progress" (Showtime), and the upcoming season of "American Gods" (Starz, Fall 2...
Apr 02, 2020•48 min
This week on Freethought Radio: President Trump wants to "pack the pews" of churches by Easter. Vice President Pence encourages believers to continue tithing. Governors, mayors and lawmakers promote prayer as a response to the pandemic. After hearing the Philip Appleman song "In A Dark Time," we talk by phone with journalist and author Susan Jacoby, from her New York City apartment where she is sheltering in place in the coronavirus epicenter, about battling the virus of faith.
Mar 26, 2020•49 min
FFRF attorney Ryan Jayne tells us what is wrong with President Trump and local officials using prayer to fight the coronavirus. Then we hear journalist and author Jeff Sharlet talk about his powerful exposé, a book which is now a Netflix series, The Family: The Secret Fundamentalism at the Heart of American Power. Taking the cue of cellist Yo-Yo Ma, we end the show with some "comfort music" for these troubling times: "Love Walked In," by George and Ira Gershwin.
Mar 19, 2020•49 min
There is more to beware of this week than the Ides of March. Can the Corona Virus be cured by prayer? FFRF's Andrew Seidel tells us about how Vice President Pence is (unsuccessfully) trying just that. After reporting state/church news and listening to the optimistic Yip Harburg/Earl Robinson song "One Sweet Morning," we talk with journalist and author Katherine Stewart about her cautionary new book, The Power Worshippers: Inside the Dangerous Rise of Religious Nationalism.
Mar 12, 2020•49 min
We filed our first lawsuit in Puerto Rico, with the Humanistas Seculares as plaintiffs. FFRF attorney Sam Grover explains that the public schools in Puerto Rico have been forcing Christian prayer on all students. Then we talk with investigative journalist Nandini Archer about her Open Democracy expose, "Trump-linked religious 'extremists' target women with disinformation worldwide," proving that American anti-abortion evangelicals are funding dishonest Crisis Pregnancy Centers all over the world...
Mar 05, 2020•49 min
Missouri school board sides with FFRF (and not the state attorney general) in disallowing coach-led prayer. FFRF Director of Communication Amit Pal tells us about Trump's "religious nationalism" visit to India this week. Then we talk with Erin Louis about her freethought "behind the scenes" book Expose Yourself: How to Take Risks, Question Everything and Find Yourself — Humor and Insights From My Life As A Stripper.
Feb 27, 2020•49 min
This week we discuss state/church victories and defeats in Florida, Kentucky and Colorado, and celebrate the lives of February freethinkers such as NAACP founder W. E. B. Du Bois and actor Tony Randall. After hearing folksinger Malvina Reynolds sing about "This World," we talk with Swedish-born Yale professor Martin Hägglund about his book This Life: Secular Faith and Spiritual Freedom, in which he explains that the concept of eternity destroys true meaning and value.
Feb 20, 2020•49 min
We report stopping prayer at a Nevada school board and complain about an over-the-top pastoral prayer in the Virginia Legislature. FFRF's Legal Director Rebecca Markert tells us about our final victory allowing nontheistic invocations in Brevard County, Fla. After parsing the remarks by President Trump at the problematic National Prayer Breakfast, FFRF's Director of Governmental Affairs Mark Dann tells us how freethought values are being championed in Washington, D.C., through congressional legi...
Feb 13, 2020•49 min
We celebrate Black History Month by honoring the many prominent Black Americans and Africans who were/are nonreligious. After parsing Trump's religious remarks in his State of the Union speech, we hear Paul Robeson sing "The Bill of Rights." Filmmaker Jeremiah Camara tells us about his newest movie, Holy Hierarchy: The Religious Roots of Racism in America . Then we hear atheist rapper Greydon Square tell us why he does not believe in God.
Feb 05, 2020•49 min
Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers comes out as a nonbeliever. We celebrate the life of former congressman Pete Stark, condemn White House "spiritual advisor" Paula White, parse Trump's outrageous "Rally For Life" remarks, and balance that with the song "Every Sperm is Sacred," co-written by Terry Jones. FFRF attorney Patrick Elliott tells us what is wrong with Vice President Michael Pence's "celebration" of school choice. Then we hear FFRF "Freethought Heroine" Mandisa Thomas, founder and presid...
Jan 30, 2020•49 min
This week we respond to President Trump's guidelines for prayer in school. FFRF litigation attorney Sam Grover tells us about the friend-of-the-court brief we filed in the U.S. Supreme Court dealing with state money for religious schools. After hearing atheist comedian and actor Patton Oswalt talk about "the insanity of faith," retired Kentucky postal worker Ben Hart tells us what it feels like, after three years of litigation, to finally mount his irreverent "I'M GOD" license plate on his vehic...
Jan 23, 2020•49 min
Despite a dismissal on standing, FFRF's IRS lawsuit about church accountability will continue. We reply to former Attorney General Jeff Sessions after he criticized FFRF for complaint about coach-led baptisms, analyze Trump's proposal for prayer in schools, discuss FFRF's Reagan ad on CNN, and denounce the Pentagon for blessing an official Bible. After honoring Rush drummer Neil Peart, we talk with Susan Sackett, who for 17 years was the personal executive assistant for Gene Roddenberry, the cre...
Jan 16, 2020•49 min
FFRF complains over the largest Christian cross in the country being depicted on government property in Effingham, Ill., and about the governor of Nebraska forcing his private religious views about abortion on the state. We parse some of the remarks President Trump made at a rally held in a Miami church. Then we hear professor and author Anthony B. Pinn talk about racism and religion and tell us why freethinkers should be concerned about social justice.
Jan 09, 2020•49 min
Attorney General Bill Barr thinks Americans are going to hell. Katherine Stewart and Caroline Fredrickson's New York Times column reveals how President Trump is being played by evangelicals. After hearing the freethought song "Experiment" by the atheist songwriter Cole Porter, we listen to author and professor Isaac Kramnick tell us how "God" got inserted into the Pledge of Allegiance, explaining the faulty legal reasoning that allows it to remain.
Jan 02, 2020•49 min
Happy New Year! Christianity Today did the right thing by condemning Trump's morality. We talk on the phone from Mumbai with India's well-known film and TV actor Sushant Singh, who lost his job as a TV host after publicly condemning the Hindu nationalist violence against students protesting the government's new laws that would discriminate against Muslims. Then we welcome 2020 with Scottish singer Jean Redpath's lovely rendition of Auld Lang Syne written by freethinker Robert Burns....
Dec 26, 2019•49 min•Ep. 713
Hear about the visit to Freethought Hall of the legendary actor Ed Asner (Lou Grant, "Up"). This week's show is an antidote to traditional Christmas music. We play a number of funny, irreverent (and sometimes positive) Winter Solstice songs, such as "O Isthmus Tree" by Ken Lohnquist, "Solstice Song" by Kristin Lems, "Christmas Carol" by Tom Lehrer, "Blah Blah Bethlehem" by Ian Assersohn, "Christmas is Pain" by Roy Zimmerman and "White Wine in the Sun" by Tim Minchin.
Dec 18, 2019•49 min
We complain about prayer and worship in the White House, and report a number of FFRF state/church victories. Tom Cara, president of the FFRF Metropolitan Chicago Chapter, tells us about the un-holy holiday displays chapter members have erected in the Chicago area to counter Nativity scenes and religious displays. Then we hear Rachel Laser, President and CEO of Americans United for the Separation of Church and State, accepting FFRF's "Henry Zumach Freedom From Religious Fundamentalism" award....
Dec 12, 2019•49 min
