Charles M. Blow’s columns have appeared in the New York Times since 2008. These pieces tackle hot-button issues such as social justice, racial equality, LGBTQ-plus rights, mental health and national politics. He’s an MSNBC political analyst and has been the anchor of “Prime with Charles Blow” on the Black News Channel. He is the author of the New York Times bestselling books “Fire Shut Up in My Bones,” a memoir, and “The Devil You Know.” “Fire Shut Up in My Bones” was developed into an opera, the first by a black composer to premiere at the Metropolitan Opera. “The Devil You Know” has been adapted into a feature-length documentary, “South to Black Power,” for HBO. Charles Blow received FFRF’s Emperor Has No Clothes award at FFRF’s recent annual convention in Denver.
“I was working at National Geographic,” Blow reveals to “Freethought Matters” co-hosts Dan Barker and Annie Laurie Gaylor how he finally lost his religion. “When you’re touching fossils, the idea that the world is 12,000 years old doesn’t make sense anymore. Also when you are looking at the infinite stretches of the universe, part of the job is understanding this and explaining to people. The simplistic kind of understandings of the world from religious texts starts to look a bit silly.”
“Freethought Matters” now airs in:
- Chicago, WPWR-CW (Ch. 50), Sundays at 9 a.m.
- Los Angeles, KCOP-MY (Ch. 13), Sundays at 8:30 a.m.
- Madison, Wis., WISC-TV (Ch. 3), Sundays at 11 p.m.
- New York City, WPIX-IND (Ch. 11), Sundays at 10 a.m.
- San Francisco, KTVU/KICU-IND (on broadcast Ch. 36 and Cable 6), Sundays at 10 a.m.
- Washington, D.C., WDCW-CW (Ch. 50 or Ch. 23 or Ch. 3), Sundays at 8 a.m.
If you don’t live in any of the marquee towns where the show broadcasts on Sunday, you can already catch the interview on FFRF’s YouTube channel. New shows go up every Thursday.
Upcoming guests include Tia Levings, author of “A Well-Trained Wife,” Matthew D. Taylor, author of “The Violent Take It By Force” and Josh Cowen, author of “The Privateers: How Billionaires Created a Culture War and Sold School Vouchers.” You can catch interviews from earlier this fall, including with Rep. Jared Huffman, and from previous seasons here, including with Gloria Steinem, Ron Reagan, author John Irving, actor John “Q” de Lancie and award-winning columnist Katha Pollitt.
Please tune in to “Freethought Matters” . . . because freethought matters.
P.S. Please tune in or record according to the times given above regardless of what is listed in your TV guide (it may be listed simply as “paid programming” or even be misidentified). To set up an automatic weekly recording, try taping manually by time or channel. And spread the word to freethinking friends, family or colleagues about a TV show, finally, that is dedicated to providing programming for freethinkers — your antidote to religion on Sunday morning!
