Browse By Date
Year:
Month:
Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers comes out as a nonbeliever. We celebrate the life of former congressman Pete Stark, condemn White House “spiritual adviser” Paula White, parse President 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 president of Black Nonbelievers.
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 we hear 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 vehicle.
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, analyze 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 creator of “Star Trek.”
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
‘Tis the season to fight state/church violations. We talk about FFRF’s full-page “Theocracy” ad in the New York Times, and a number of FFRF’s solstice displays around the country to counter religious exhibits. FFRF attorney Chris Line tells us about Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt’s outrageous attack on the Freedom From Religion Foundation. Then we hear from professor R. Laurence Moore, co-author (with Isaac Kramnick) of Godless Citizens in a Godly Republic: Atheists in American Public Life.
