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Guest: Phil Zuckerman. After reporting on victories and challenges regarding governmental prayer, we parse the Supreme Court oral arguments in the case involving a praying high-school football coach. Then we hear sociologist and author Phil Zuckerman, a pioneer in secular studies, making the case for why secular Americans, as a group, are more moral than religious Americans.
Guest: Clement Hiel. After reporting on national state/church news, we hear freethinker Barbra Streisand sing the song “Smile,” written by the freethinking Charlie Chaplin. Then we speak with NASA scientist Clement Hiel about his alma mater, the Vrije Universiteit Brussel (Free University of Brussels), which was founded as a direct challenge to the Catholic Church. The school’s motto is “Science Conquers Darkness.”
Guests: Sam Grover; Ian Millhiser. After we report on national state/church news, FFRF attorney Sam Grover joins us to talk about the oral arguments he gave last week before the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in our lawsuit challenging a Texas judge who opens sessions with a prayer. Then we speak with journalist and author Ian Millhiser about his new book The Agenda: How a Republican Supreme Court is Reshaping America.
Guests: Patrick Elliott; Ryan Jayne; Barbara Alvarez. After reporting on state/church news, we talk with a trio of FFRF staff members. FFRF Senior Counsel Patrick Elliott describes our friend-of-the-court brief to the Supreme Court about a praying high-school coach. Strategic Response Attorney Ryan Jayne tells us about the many bad state bills dealing with LGBTQ rights. And Contributing Writer Barbara Alvarez updates us on the good and (mostly) bad religiously motivated state bills dealing with abortion.
Guests: Chris Line; Ann Druyan. After we report on national and regional news, FFRF attorney Chris Line updates us on the many state/church complaints and victories he has been handling around the country. Then we hear author, educator and Emmy-winning producer of the “Cosmos” TV series Ann Druyan (along with her daughter Sasha Sagan) as she accepts FFRF’s “Emperor Has No Clothes” award.
Guest: Jeremy Schipper. Religion at Ketanji Brown Jackson’s Supreme Court confirmation hearing. State/church complaints in Colorado, Virginia and Tennessee. Jazz musicians Tahira Clayton and Addison Frei perform freethinker Cole Porter’s “I Concentrate on You.” Then Professor of Religion Jeremy Schipper describes how the bible was used in both sides of the slavery/anti-slavery debates in his new book, Denmark Vesey’s Bible: The Thwarted Revolt that Put Slavery and Scripture on Trial.
Spring is here, and state/church violations are bursting out all over. We report on violations in Ohio, Colorado, West Virginia and Indiana, and ask Idaho’s governor not to sign a draconian anti-abortion bill. After hearing Audra McDonald sing the evocative “Spring is Here” by freethinking composer Richard Rodgers, we listen to Harvard Professor Steven Pinker at FFRF’s convention in Boston describing his new book, Rationality: What It Is — Why It Is Scarce — Why It Matters.
FFRF attorney Sam Grover updates us on the oral arguments in our “Do mess with Texas” lawsuit before the federal 5th Circuit Court of Appeals challenging Gov. Greg Abbot’s censorship of our Bill of Rights nativity display at the state capitol. Then the actress and author Alice Greczyn offers a scientific explanation for ecstatic religious experiences, which she describes in her talk: “Drunk, High and Hypnotized: How Neurotheology Healed My Religious Trauma.”
This week, we comment on President Biden’s State of the Union address as it relates to state/church separation, abortion, and LGBTQ+ rights. We hear Dan Barker’s performance of the feminist anthem “Bread and Roses.” Then we speak with journalist and author Katherine Stewart about her powerful cautionary column in the Sunday New York Times: “Why was a Catholic hospital willing to gamble with my life?”
