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Happy Blasphemy Day! Religion & abortion, religion & capital punishment, and religion & Covid-19 are among our topics today. FFRF attorney Ryan Jayne joins us to talk about the friend-of-the-court brief we recently filed with the Supreme Court dealing with the death penalty. Then we speak with Cheryl Abram, author of the book Firing God, about how she took a “leap of doubt” to escape the oppressiveness of religion.
This week, we talk about the religious attack on abortion rights. FFRF attorney Liz Cavell explains FFRF’s friend-of-the court brief we filed at the U.S. Supreme Court challenging Mississippi’s 15-week abortion ban. Then we talk with Mandisa Thomas, founder and president of Black Nonbelievers, about the “Women of Color Beyond Belief” conference in Chicago.
We celebrate Constitution Day by listening to a song, “We, The People,” written and performed in the U.S. Constitution’s honor by FFRF Co-President Dan Barker. We spotlight FFRF’s recent multimedia efforts, including a new Ron Reagan TV spot, a full-page New York Times ad and a billboard campaign in Nashville aimed at megapreachers. Then, FFRF Communications Director Amit Pal speaks with Professor and India scholar Christophe Jaffrelot about his new book, Modi’s India: Hindu Nationalism and the Rise of Ethnic Democracy.
A special sister/brother treat! Charlotte Dennett discusses her book The Crash of Flight 3804: A Lost Spy, a Daughter’s Quest, and the Deadly Politics of the Great Game for Oil (Foreword by brother Daniel C. Dennett) about the mysterious 1947 death of their father Daniel C. Dennett II when he was an American spy in the Middle East. Then we talk with her brother, the atheist philosopher Daniel C. Dennett III, about his new book Just Deserts: Debating Free Will.
After the horrible Supreme Court decision upholding an abortion ban, we say “DO mess with Texas.” We honor the memory of actor Ed Asner and hear folksinger Kristin Lems perform her classic cautionary song “Days of the Theocracy.” Then we listen to a retrospective of Freethought Matters TV guests, including Ron Reagan, John Davidson, Cecile Richards, Ann Druyan, Julia Sweeney, Daniel C. Dennett, two members of Congress, and others.
Covid, Afghanistan and court reform are among this week’s topics. We hear from the winners of FFRF’s “First in the Family” Freethought Tuition Relief for students of color (selected by Black Skeptics Los Angeles). Then FFRF’s Director of Communication Amit Pal joins as we talk with Professor Benjamin Cowan about his new book Moral Majorities across the Americas: Brazil, the United States, and the Creation of the Religious Right.
We begin by criticizing anti-science resistance to vaccinations and masking. After reporting an FFRF state/church victory in Florida, stopping a high-school baseball coach from praying with students, we hear the 1986 rock song “Dear God” by atheist Andy Partridge. Then we speak with Professor and author Juan Cole of the University of Michigan, an expert on the Middle East and South Asia, about what is happening with the Taliban takeover in Afghanistan.
We are still fighting religious resistance to vaccinations. FFRF attorney Liz Cavell tells us about FFRF’s new “Prayer Walk Report” describing how some public schools are unconstitutionally inviting or allowing “prayer warriors” to invade the campus. Then former African imam Mohamed Cisse tells us why he left Islam and is now a board member of the secular Clergy Project.
Masks, vaccinations and religion. After reporting FFRF legal complaints and victories, we celebrate the birthdate of 19th-century freethinker Robert G. Ingersoll by listening to his voice on an early 1890s Edison cylinder and hearing the song “The Time To Be Happy Is Now,” which is based on Ingersoll’s creed. Then we speak with former minister Candace Gorham, a licensed mental health counselor, about her new book On Death, Dying, and Disbelief.
