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FFRF’s state/church and freethought billboards are generating a lot of interest in Tennessee. FFRF’s Steven Pinker TV ad is airing on “60 Minutes,” and the Catholic League is angry about our national ads. After hearing the song “Spooky Mormon Hell Dream” from “The Book of Mormon,” we listen to Nancy Northup, director of the Center For Reproductive Rights, accepting FFRF’s “Forward” Award and warning us to resist the scary Religious Right.
Atheist books are now being burned! Kentucky Governor Matt Bevin and HUD Secretary Ben Carson are mixing religion and government. This week, we hear excerpts of the powerful and informative speeches — including two members of Congress, authors, activists, filmmakers, comedians and freethinking students — delivered at FFRF’s 42nd annual convention in Madison, Wis.
FFRF’s Ron Reagan ad ran twice during the Democratic debate this week, and is really trending on social media and in the press. We push back against Attorney General William Barr and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo’s egregious “Christian nationalist” speeches last week. Then we hear U.S. Representative Mark Pocan — a member of the Congressional Freethought Caucus — tell the shocking story that propelled him into activism.
The U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear an appeal of FFRF’s victory over religion in West Virginia public schools. FFRF’s Director of Strategic Response Andrew Seidel explains why we have filed an ethics complaint over the Texas judge who gave a bible to convicted murderer Amber Guyger. Then we talk with Therrin Wilson, an atheist college student whose face is on FFRF’s billboard in Knoxville, Tenn., about how he overcame poverty, homelessness, and near-blindness to study to become an optometrist.
In the week of the birthday anniversary of John Lennon, our program examines the concept of “Imagine no religion” from several angles. Freethought Radio features Congress’ lone “out” nonbeliever — U.S. Rep. Jared Huffman, in a fascinating interview in which he talks about being an ex-Mormon, the inside story on congressional issues regarding separation of state and church, and why he founded the Congressional Freethought Caucus. The show also examines new developments in the rise of Hindu nationalism in India, during this birth week of Gandhi.
FFRF Director of Communications Amit Pal, an expert on the phenomenon, is interviewed briefly by solo host Annie Laurie Gaylor. In the news segment, Freethought Radio excerpts TV news coverage of several major FFRF victories and recounts FFRF’s newest national complaint over the judge in the Amber Guyger trial forcing a bible on her and instructing which passages to read. We play a poignant version of “Imagine,” arranged by Native American composer Brent Michael Davids on flute, with Lenape tribe member and absentee host Dan Barker accompanying on piano. The show contains passages of music not only by Lennon, but by nonreligious classical composer Guiseppe Verdi, also born this week in history.
We report recent FFRF legal victories, announce winners of the Graduate Student Essay contest and analyze President Trump’s theocratic remarks before the United Nations. After hearing Sammy Davis, Jr. sing “It Ain’t Necessarily So” by George Gershwin (whose birthday is today), we talk with cartoonist Graham Sale, whose new book is called Crazy Little Thing Called Love: 100% Politically Incorrect God Cartoons.
¡Adios a Dios! After reporting some state/church victories around the country, we talk with Mandisa Thomas, founder and president of Black Nonbelievers, about the historic “Women of Color Beyond Belief” conference she is organizing in Chicago on October 4-6. Then we interview David Tamayo, founder and president of Hispanic American Freethinkers, about his public debate on biblical morality (the first-ever in Spanish) in Puerto Rico against an evangelical minister.
FFRF’s TV ads are censored in some places, accepted in others. FFRF’s South Dakota billboards challenge “In God We Trust.” We hear the debut of Dan Barker’s song in Spanish, “Es Solo Natural.” After talking with FFRF attorney Chris Line about a number of state-church victories in Southern schools, we interview the winner of the Michael Hakeem Memorial College Student Essay Contest, Jack Buchanan, about why he now agrees with John Lennon that there is “no hell below us.”
Congressman Jared Huffman comes under fire for defending freedom of conscience on FFRF’s “Freethought Matters” TV show. Victory in Fresno, California, public schools. Scholarships and awards to freethinkers of color. After hearing the song “Salt Lake City Blues,” written by ex-Mormon cartoonist Steve Benson and Dan Barker, we talk with Egyptian freethinker Omar Makram who, after rejecting Islam and religion, had to flee his country and fight to gain amnesty in Sweden.
