Freethought Radio & Podcast
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2009 Freethought Radio Archives |
2008 Podcast Archives
- December 27, 2008 - New Year's Wrap Up; Irreverent Theatrical Clips; The Warren Brouhaha
- The hosts will discuss what's wrong with prayer at the Inauguration, and with Rev. Rick Warren in particular to lead that invocation. For a relaxing end of the year show, they will play some irreverent theatrical clips on religion, including one comedic jibe at homophobic religion, and end the show with a nod to infidel Robert Burns and his famous Aulde Lang Syne.
- December 20, 2008 - Guest: Conductor David Randolph
- Topic: What's an atheist doing conducting "The Messiah?"?
Distinguished chorale and orchestral conductor David Randolph, an atheist and the oldest person, at nearly 94, to conduct at Carnegie Hall, will be the guest, talking about how music has no religion, among other topics. The co-hosts will play an excerpt from The Stephen Colbert Show's coverage of FFRF's Washington Capitol Winter Solstice display, and discuss FFRF's just-filed lawsuit over an unlawful creche on courthouse grounds in Manitowoc, Wis., including lively media coverage clips.
- December 13, 2008 - Guest: Julia Sweeney
- Comedian and actress Julia Sweeney talks about the long-awaited recent release of her brilliant one-woman show, "Letting Go of God," as a movie, and the hosts play clips from lots of national TV coverage of FFRF's solstice display at the Washington State Capitol in covering that ongoing saga!
- December 6, 2008 - Guest: Barbara G. Walker
- Topic: The Winter Solstice–The Reason for the Season
Dan and Annie Laurie will announce various Winter Solstice initiatives of the Freedom From Religion Foundation, air news clips about FFRF Winter Solstice Displays at State Capitols and its new "Reason's Greetings" billboards (including Bill O'Reilly ranting against them), and play a little tongue in cheek seasonal music. They will also interview scholar and author Barbara G. Walker, about the real meaning of the season and everything they didn't teach you about the origins of "Christmas" in Sunday School! Walker is Freethought Today's columnist and author of the monumental Woman's Encyclopedia of Myths and Secrets.
- November 29, 2008 - Guest: Fred Karger, Californians Against Hate
- Featured guest is Fred Karger, founder of Californians Against Hate, who allegations of unreported Mormon activity to help pass Prop 8, banning same-sex marriage in California, are being investigated by the Fair Political Practices Commission, which oversees state campaign finance laws. Also interviewed will be Southern California FFRF member Mark Monninger, to discuss the uproar over FFRF's "Imagine No Religion" billboard in Cucamonga. The paid-for, contracted-for message was removed after only a week by the billboard company amid allegations that the City had recommended its removal. FFRF's new lawsuit in federal court suing the City of Rancho Cucamonga will also be discussed!
- November 22, 2008 - Guest: Douglas Krueger
- Author: What is Atheism?
- November 15, 2008 - Guest: John W. Loftus
- Author of Why I Became an Atheist: A Former Preacher Rejects Christianity
John W. Loftus, a seminary-trained minister in the Restoration Movement of Churches, will talk about why, after earning a Master of Divinity degree and other theological degrees, he realized he could no longer believe in biblical claims. The hosts will also discuss the Freedom From Religion Foundation's newest lawsuit, filed this week in state court in Denver, suing Colorado Gov. Jim Ritter over his National Day of Prayer proclamations.
- November 8, 2008 - Guest: Nan Aron, director, Alliance for Justice
- Topics: Post-Election: State of the Supreme Court & Judiciary & Postmortems on religious referenda
Nan Aron, expert head of the judicial watchdog, Alliance for Justice, will be this week's guest, to talk about what Nov. 4 will mean for the judiciary. Dan & Annie Laurie will comment on the Nov. 4 fate of religious-right sponsored referenda. Photo credit: Brent Nicastro
- November 1, 2008 - Guest: Former Episcopal Priest-turned-Atheist Dick Hewetson
- Topic: Prop 8 & the Religious War Against Gay Rights The show will be devoted to an expose of the religious backing of Proposition 8, to deny same-sex marriage to California residents via a Nov. 4 ballot initiative. Listen for clips of religious ads, and of religious leaders inveighing against gay marriage. FFRF Lifetime Member and Gay Atheist founder Dick Hewetson will be interviewed about Proposition 8 and the religious war against gay rights. Photo credit: Brent Nicastro
- October 25, 2008 - Guest: Journalist, Author and "Happy Atheist" Guy P. Harrison (link is fixed, thanks for the emails)
- Topic: 50 Reasons Not to Believe in a God
Guy P. Harrison, author of the new book, "50 Reasons People Give for Believing in a God," will gently debunk some of those reasons. The latest twists in the epidemic of religion in politics and church politicking will be discussed. As an antidote to all that religion, the hosts will air the 2008 "Moment of Bedlam" from FFRF's annual national NonPrayer Breakfast!
- October 18, 2008 - Guest: Sociologist/nonbeliever Phil Zuckerman
- Topic: Society Without God
Prof. Phil Zuckerman talks about his hot-off-the-press book, Society Without God, which refutes the myth that religion is necessary for happy citizens and moral societies. Zuckerman, an FFRF member, cites statistical evidence showing the "happiness index" tends to be much higher in godless societies, and offers Scandinavia as a prime example. The broadcast also looks at the contributions of famous freethinkers born in October.
- October 11, 2008 - Guest: Author Larry Beinhart, Salvation Boulevard
- Featured guest is Larry Beinhart, best-known for his book, "Wag the Dog" which became a movie with Dustin Hoffman. An atheist, talks about his new mystery, "Salvation Boulevard," in which atheism, fundamentalist Christianity and Judaism intersect. The Freedom From Religion Foundation's latest litigation, suing Pres. Bush and Shirley Dobson over National Day of Prayer proclamations, is discussed in the news portion of the program.
- October 4, 2008 - Topics: "Religulous," Religion in Politics, Women Without Superstiton
- This week's show previews Bill Maher's irreverent film on religion, "Religulous," and play audios of the infamous "witchcraft" prayer by Gov. Sarah Palin's Kenyan minister-friend and her response. For a change of pace, "Women Without Superstition" is showcased in an interview featuring Annie Laurie Gaylor, as editor of the first anthology of women freethinkers.
- September 27, 2008 - Guests: Eleanor Clift and Carl Silverman
- Journalist and Newsweek contributing editor Eleanor Clift joins Freethought Radio to talk about her new book, "Two Weeks of Life." The book is part memoir, tracing the last days of her husband, Tom Brazaitis, who died of cancer in 2005. Mr. Brazaitis, a well-known journalist, was a longtime FFRF member and, as Ms. Clift writes, "an unwavering atheist." She parallels Tom's last two weeks, with the Terri Schiavo debate occurring over the same time period. Also interviewed: state/church activist and Foundation member Carl Silverman, about getting an "Imagine No Religion" billboard posted in Harrisburg, Penn., last week.
- September 20, 2008 - Guest: Feminist author and atheist Robin Morgan
- Feminist icon and atheist Robin Morgan is interviewed about the 40th anniversary of the first Miss America pageant protest, which Robin organized in 1968, among other free-ranging topics. Ms. Morgan is Ms. Magazine's former editor, now consulting editor and author of the classic "Sisterhood is Powerful," as well as "Fighting Words: A Toolkit for Combating the Religious Right." Religion seeping into current politics comes under analysis in "Theocracy Alert."
- September 13, 2008 - Guests: Dan Barker and Matt (a Phoenix activist)
- Dan Barker changes hats from interviewer to interviewee to talk about his new book, "Godless: How an Evangelical Preacher Became One of America's Leading Atheists" (Sept. 2008, Ulysses Press). And Freethought Radio is joined by a member of the Freedom From Religion Foundation in Phoenix who helped FFRF place five billboards saying "Imagine No Religion" to talk about both the censorship encountered--and the fun!
- September 6, 2008 - Guest: Michelle Trupiano, South Dakota Campaign for Healthy Families
- Topic: Abortion and the Religious Right
This week's Freethought Radio interviews the campaign manager of the organization working against Measure 11, a nationally-watched referendum to ban abortion which will be on South Dakota's Nov. 4 ballot. The show also covers more religion in politics at the Republican and Democratic National Conventions, and analyze the Assembly of God beliefs of McCain's vice-presidential pick.
- August 30, 2008 - Keep Religion Out of Politics
- Freethought Radio interviews Denver attorney Robert R. Tiernan about why religion should stay out of politics. Bob, who has taken many lawsuits on behalf of the Freedom From Religion Foundation and is a lifelong Democrat, got a lot of media attention for protesting the interfaith worship service at the Democratic National Convention. FFRF co-president Dan Barker's new book, Godless, is announced, with the Foreword by Richard Dawkins read by Brian Turany.
- August 23, 2008 - Guests: Ernie Chambers and Katha Pollitt
- This week Freethought Radio talks with Nebraska's most famous state senator, Ernie Chambers, a nonreligious legislator and peoples' advocate, about what's happening with his lawsuit suing "God" over "acts of God." Photo credit: Brent Nicastro
Also interviewed, The Nation's columnist, Katha Pollitt, about her recent religion in politics piece, "Flocking to Faith." The Saddleback church "debate" will be briefly parsed.
- August 16, 2008 - Guests: Julia Cicci, ROTC cadet and unbeliever and Sarah Braasch, FFRF legal intern
- This week Freethought Radio talks with Julia Cicci, a University ROTC cadet and unbeliever, who recently delivered a nonreligious invocation at her ROTC commissioning ceremony. Also interviewed, FFRF's articulate legal intern, Sarah Braasch, who will talk about growing up in the Jehovah Witnesses church and why she left it.
- August 9, 2008 - Guest: Steve Trunk, Atheist, Vet, and FFRF Lifetime Member
- This week Freethought Radio talks with state/church litigant Steve Trunk about a recent development in the Mt. Soledad cross challenge, including the bogus attempt to disguise the 43-foot-tall cross in San Diego as a war memorial. The cohosts discuss the grave implications of a hostile ruling by an appeals court in the Freedom From Religion Foundation's important challenge of pervasive religiosity in healthcare by the Veterans Administration. The contributions of august freethinkers born in early August are also featured. Photo credit: Brent Nicastro
- August 2, 2008 - Guest: Jon Obrien, President of Catholics for Choice
- This week Freethought Radio talks with Jon O'Brien, president of Catholics For Choice (not all Catholics are alike), about his broad investigative indictment of William Donohue's obnoxious Catholic League, and with Ryan Valentine of the Texas Freedom Network about the troublesome plan to teach bible classes in Texas schools.
- July 26, 2008 - Mike Christensen, Seattle "Imagine No Religion Billboard Booster
- Since it's summertime and the living is easy, Freethought Radio plays an excerpt from Julia Sweeney's hilarious CD, "Letting Go of God." After a quick Theocracy Alert, Mike Christensen of Seattle is interviewed. Mike, 28, is an FFRF Lifetime Member who talks about why he is a freethinker and is sponsoring the current "Imagine No Religion" billboard in Seattle.
- July 19, 2008 - Guest: Webster Cook, student senator and non-eater of communion wafers and Sarah Braasch, FFRF Legal Intern
- The inside story about the young Orlando student whom Catholics have accused of committing a "hate crime" for not eating a communion wafer! And listen to Sarah Braasch talk about how some public-funded senior centers are imposing prayer on senior citizens and why that is illegal.
- July 13, 2008 - Guest: David Mills
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Author: Atheist Universe: The Thinking Person's Answer to Christian Fundamentalism
Freethought Radio discusses "atheist in a foxhole" Jeremy Hall's federal lawsuit against the military, charging that it is promoting Christianity and has discriminated against his rights as a nonbeliever, as covered by CNN this week with Anderson Cooper. Journalist and science writer David Mills, the author of the popular book, "Atheist Universe," is interviewed about what's wrong with fundamentalism. The show also highlights contributions by the many famous freethinkers born in July.
- July 5, 2008 - Guest: Nica Lalli
- Freethought Radio analyzes Barack Obama's controversial decision to rename and expand Bush's "faith-based initiative," using clips from his announcement this week. It also interviews southern activist Pat Cleveland, who is in the midst of the annual 4th of July bash in the heart of the bible belt sponsored every year by the activist Alabama Freethought Association. Author Nica Lalli is interviewed about her memoir about growing up as and embracing being a "nothing" when it comes to religion.
- June 28, 2008 - Guest: Jim McCollum
- Jim McCollum, who at age 10 became the center of a huge legal battle against religious instruction in the public schools, talks about the 60th anniversary of the Supreme Court decision, McCollum v. Board of Education, keeping schools free of indoctrination. The show also pays homage to several other anniversaries of significant Supreme court decisions affirming separation between church and state. Listen for cameos of famed litigants Roy Torcaso, Ed Schempp and Vashti McCollum.
- June 21, 2008 - Guests: Elissa Wall and Sarah Braasch
- Elissa Wall, author of "Stolen Innocence," talks about being married against her will at age 14 to an adult in her polygamous Fundamentalist Latter Day Saints community in Utah. Wall was the key witness in the criminal trial which convicted FLDS patriarch Warren Jeffs of being an accomplice to rape. The show also features Sarah Braasch, FFRF's legal intern, who will talk about her research into unlawful Christian prayers opening the Wisconsin State Assembly. Her interview will include sound bites of a legislator casting the "Evil One" out of the chambers!
- June 14, 2008 - Guests: Michael Shermer and Mike Smith
- Michael Shermer, one of America's leading skeptics, is interviewed, along with Denver FFRF activist Mike Smith, about the "Imagine No Religion" billboard he helped get posted for two months this summer in Denver.
- June 6, 2008 - Guest: Jeff Sharlett
- Author: "The Family: The Secret Fundamentalism at the Heart of American Power," Jeff Sharlet, contributor to Harper's and Rolling Stones, is interviewed about his new book exposing a religious-right cult with tentacles reaching into Congress. Freethinkers Almanac will celebrate several musical composers and the hosts discuss the biblical roots of the polygamy scandal involving the Fundamentalist Latter-day Saints.
- May 31, 2008 - Guests: Bestselling author Prof. Daniel C. Dennett and Prof. Eric Barnes
- Author of the bestselling "Breaking the Spell: Religion as a Natural Phenomenon," Prof. Daniel C. Dennett of Tufts University, is interviewed. State/church activist Prof. Eric Barnes is also interviewed about why he complained about ownership of a lighted cross by the Village of Holmen, Wis., and what has since transpired. Freethought Radio updates the continuing saga of pastors embarrassing the presidential candidates they have endorsed, in this case John McCain.
- May 24, 2008 - Guest: Geneticist Sean Carroll
- Freethought Radio interviewed leading geneticist and the lively science educator, Prof. Sean Carroll, author of The Making of the Fittest, about the evidence for evolution being found at the DNA level, and the ongoing controversy over creationism. China's devastating earthquake and Myanmar's cataclysmic cyclone were addressed in Dan's Pagan Pulpit, which discussed the age-old theological "problem of evil."
- May 17, 2008 - Guests: The Amazing James Randi & Dad Complainant in FFRF's Newest Religion-in-School Court Challenge
- Freethought Radio discusses the Freedom From Religion Foundation's newest legal challenge over school subsidy of the Child Evangelism Fellowship in a Wisconsin school, and will talk with the dad who originally lodged the complaint. (He is not being identified to protect his children.) Sound clips from John McCain and his pastor supporter relating to their views against state/church separation are featured. And the show concludes with an interview of internationally-known magician and exposer of hoax, the atheist and author, James Randi!
- May 10, 2008 - Guest: Richard Sloan
- This weekend's show features an interview with Richard Sloan about timely issues involving the dangers of religion and prayer being prescribed as "medicine." Freethinkers Almanac looks at the nonreligious views of Irving Berlin and Katharine Hepburn, and the hosts talk about a freethinking visit to New York City and Los Angeles.
- May 3, 2008 - Guests: Eugenie Scott, director, National Center for Science Education: Exposing "Expelled", & "Atheist in Foxhole" Litigant Jeremy Hall: Military Harassment Continues
- Freethought Radio talks with Eugenie Scott about the rightwing antievolution film "Exposed." Hosts Dan Barker and Annie Laurie Gaylor also speak with Jeremy Hall, who will be receiving FFRF's "Atheist in Foxhole" award.
- April 26, 2008 - Guest: John Allen Paulos
- Freethought Radio talks with Temple University professor John Allen Paulos, author of the bestseller "Innumeracy," about his new and amusing book debunking belief in a god, "Irreligion: A Mathematician Explains Why the Arguments for God Just Don't Add Up." The show also dissects what's wrong with a National Day of Prayer.
- April 19, 2008 - Guest: Matthew LaClair, High School State/Church Activist
- 18-year-old high school senior Matthew LaClair, who received the Thomas Jefferson Student Activist Award last year from the Freedom From Religion Foundation, talks about his latest headline-grabbing complaint about religion in public schools, this one involving a biased text used nationwide. The hosts go after CNN-TV for the media imposition of a religious test for public office, imposed on Democratic candidates in a April 13 "faith forum," and object to public financing of the pope's visit to America. Photo by Brent Nicastro.
- April 12, 2008 - Special Guest: Scott Dikkers, editor of The Onion
- In addition to speaking with the intrepid editor in chief of the irreverent Onion weekly newspaper, this weekend's show will thoroughly dissect what's wrong with the Ten Commandments (listen for cameos from The Ten Commandments), in response to a Senate resolution pending to declare the first weekend in May "Ten Commandments" weekend.
- April 5, 2008 - When Prayer Fails: Child Homicide via Prayer
- The unnecessary, tragic deaths of two children last month whose respective parents let them die of preventable diseases in the name of faith will be discussed with Shawn Francis Peters, author of When Prayer Fails: Faith Healing, Children and the Law. Dan Barker's "Pagan Pulpit" exposes the biblical admonitions to rely on faith to heal. Also featured: clips from "Fitna," the controversial Internet movie about Islam by Dutch parliament member Geert Wilders, an update on a Congressional probe of prosperity preachers, and a recording of Tom Lehrer, born April 8, singing his classic "Vatican Rag."
- March 29, 2008 - Guest: Author Susan Jacoby
- Journalist and freethinker Susan Jacoby, author of the new book, The Age of American Unreason, who also wrote Freethinkers: A History of American Secularism, is interviewed on this weekend's show.
- March 22, 2008 - Guest: Harvard Prof. Steven Pinker
- Evolutionary psychologist Steven Pinker, the Johnstone Family Professor of Psychology at Harvard, is the featured guest, discussing both his nontheistic views, and his concerns about the current administration's attacks against science in order to placate the religious right. "Theocracy Alert" discusses the Rev. Wright-Rev. Hagee fallout on the presidential campaigns. The hosts discuss the problem with Easter, and also pay tribute to nonbeliever Arthur C. Clarke, who died this week.
- March 15, 2008 - Being Good Without God
- Freethought Radio's Theocracy Alert discusses the unseemly mix of religion and politics in presidential actions and the presidential race. The former reverend Dan Barker's Pagan Pulpit examines the biblical role in sanctifying torture here on earth, and Dan, with co-host Annie Laurie Gaylor, in a segment on "being good without god," addresses the tired old myth that nonbelievers are immoral. The rejection of dogma by Albert Einstein is featured in Freethinkers Almanac.
- March 8, 2008 - Special Guest: Richard Dawkins
- Freethought Radio devotes its entire program to an interview with evolutionary biologist Richard Dawkins, author of the bestselling blockbuster, The God Delusion.
- March 1, 2008 - Religiously Unaffiliated Grow to 16%!
- Freethought Radio discusses exciting new statistics from a major study released this week showing that the nonreligious are the 4th largest sector by religious (or nonreligious) identification in the United States today. Guest is Greg Smith, Pew Forum on Religion. The show also examines the role that women freethinkers have played in making women's history, in honor of women's history month.
- February 23, 2008 - Saudis Plan to Execute Illiterate Woman as "Witch"
- Freethought Radio will report on a state/church violation involving a city with a mission to "strive to serve God," will play a fun TV interview of Julia Sweeney ("Letting Go of God") and will interview Christoph Wilcke, a researcher with Human Rights Watch about its campaign to save the life of a Saudi Arabian woman who has been convicted of a nonexistent crime: witchcraft. The show also will celebrate the birthdate and achievements of freethinker W.E.B. DuBois, cofounder of the NAACP, and play an ode to the coming of spring and peace, "One Sweet Morning," by lyricist E.Y. Harburg, author of "Rhymes for the Irreverent".
- February 16, 2008 - War of the Billboards
- A "war of the billboards" brewing in rural Pennsylvania over the Foundation's "Imagine No Religion" billboard will be discussed, and a religious billboard defaming atheists as "hating America" will be debunked. The special guest is a local atheist from the area who hosted the billboard to counter the ubiquitous religion on the roadside in Chambersburg, Penn. Host Dan Barker will talk about the "anti-Carnival" in Brazil he took part in, as an invited guest representing American freethought. Tune in for some other surprises.
- February 9, 2008 - Special Guest: Matthew Chapman, Darwin's Great-Great Grandson
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In honor of Darwin's birthday (Feb. 12), Freethought Radio interviews film director, screenwriter and author Matthew Chapman, the great-great grandson of Charles Darwin. Chapman's book, "Forty Days and Forty Nights," is a personal report on the Dover "intellligent design" trial, and "Trial of a Monkey: An Accidental Memoir" recounts his pilgrimage to Dayton, Tenn., home of the Scopes trial.
- February 2, 2008 - Champion of the First Amendment
- After dissecting Pres. Bush's call upon Congress this week to make the "faith-based initiative" permanent, Freethought Radio speaks with Ellery Schempp, whose protest as a 16-year-old high school student yielded an enduring Supreme Court decision in 1963 barring bible devotionals from public schools. Ellery, a distinguished retired scientist, remains a passionate advocate of the separation between church and state. Freethought Radio's Freethinker's Almanac also takes a quick look at illustrious freethinkers born the first week in February. Note longtime listeners: This is a fresh interview with Ellery Schempp.
- January 26, 2008 - The Atheist Lyricist Who Put the Rainbow in the Wizard of Oz
- A relaxing Freethought Radio looks at the irreverency and artistry of one of America's most revered songwriters, the atheist Yip Harburg ("Somewhere Over the Rainbow"). Retired scientist and engaging unbeliever Ernie Harburg talks about his own rejection of religion, the progressive Yip Harburg Foundation, and his father's "Rhymes for the Irreverent." Tantalizing clips of many of Yip's famous songs airs during this new interview, and Ernie reads some of his father's freethought poems. The show also features a "Theocracy Alert" update.
- January 19, 2008 - Special guest: Katha Pollitt
- The Nation's "Subject to Debate" columnist, author, poet, feminist and atheist Katha Pollitt, returns to Freethought Radio to talk about her latest book, "Learning to Drive," the cultural politics of abortion on this pre-Roe v. Wade anniversary show, and her views on the state of freethought and religion in politics. The show also features a new Freethinkers Almanac and Theocracy Alert.
- January 12, 2008 - Atheists in the Pulpit: Ministers Who Lose Their Faith
- Psychology Today's feature, "An Atheist in the Pulpit" (Jan/Feb 08), about ministers who lose their faith, inspired this week's show. Radio cohost Dan Barker, a former fundamentalist minister, as well as Freedom From Religion Foundation member Tom Reed, a former Roman Catholic priest, talk about their loss of faith stories. Both men are featured in the Psychology Today article. Tune in to hear Dan Barker's first-ever media interview as a "baby atheist," on the Oprah Winfrey Show! "Theocracy Alert" looks at mischief-making Congressional resolutions. Photos by Brent Nicastro.
- January 5, 2008 - State/Church Litigation and the people behind it
- Freethought Radio looks at end-of-the-year threats to women by Islamists, talks with Taku Ronsman, a plaintiff in the Freedom From Religion Foundation's newest lawsuit against a city-displayed creche in Green Bay, Wis., and consults Anne Wiseman, chief legal director of Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, over CREW's recent federal court victory forcing the White House to release visitor logs on leaders of the religious right. Tune in for that, and much more!