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We celebrate Black History Month by hearing Nina Simone sing “I Ain’t Got no God” in the song “Ain’t Got No,” and by talking with Mandisa Thomas, founder and president of Black Nonbelievers, who tells us about the upcoming “Women of Color Beyond Belief” conference in Chicago. Then we speak with Polish atheist, feminist and activist Nina Sankari, vice-president of the Kazimierz Łyszczyński Foundation, about the “Days of Atheism” conference next month in Warsaw.
We give a Bronx cheer to Trump’s religious remarks at the State of the Union and the National Prayer Breakfast, but we give a real cheer to Black History Month by celebrating Butterfly McQueen and Frederick Douglass. After hearing a Valentine’s Day love song, “The Man I Love” (written by the nonbelieving Gershwin brothers, and sung by Dan’s mother when she was a teenager), we talk with author and filmmaker Jeremiah Camara about his new documentary movie, Holy Hierarchy: The Religious Roots of Racism in America.
Good news: Michigan’s newly elected Attorney General Dana Nessel removed the state from three amicus briefs opposing FFRF lawsuits. After we analyze the National Prayer Breakfast and the Christian-nationalist “Project Blitz” strategy to inject religion into state governments, we hear Susan Hofer sing Dan Barker’s love ballad “It’s Only Natural” in honor of Darwin’s birthday on Feb. 12. Then we talk with Professor Andrew S. Curran, author of the new book Diderot and the Art of Thinking Freely about the 18th-century’s most famous atheist, the French encyclopedist Denis Diderot.
Our 666th (!) episode is a hell of a show. We announce billboards asking people to “Leave the Church” during Catholic Education week, and describe our legal brief encouraging the Supreme Court to prohibit a huge Christian cross on city property. After hearing the 1922 Irving Berlin song “Pack Up Your Sins and Go To The Devil in Hades,” we talk with Lucien Greaves, co-founder and spokesperson for the secular state/church activist group, The Satanic Temple.
FFRF’s Director of Strategic Response and Constitutional attorney Andrew Seidel tells us about our recent final victory in our five-year federal lawsuit challenging prayer and preaching at the Chino Valley, California, school board. After hearing the song “Reincarnation,” words by cowboy poet Wallace D. McRae and music by Dan Barker, we talk with FFRF’s Director of Communications Amit Pal about the rise of Hindu nationalism in India, with alarming parallels to the push for Christian nationalism in the United States.
FFRF and other secular groups are protesting the Attorney General nomination of William Barr, a religious extremist who disrespects secularists and state/church separation. During this anniversary week of Roe v Wade (January 22, 1973), we celebrate the life of Margaret Sanger by hearing Dan Barker’s song “No Gods, No Masters.” Then we talk with University of Chicago Law Professor Geoffrey Stone about his book Sex and the Constitution: Sex, Religion, and Law from America’s Origins to the Twenty-First Century.
We recap FFRF’s impressive legal statistics for 2018 (1,060 formal complaint letters to erring government officials ending 315 state/church violations!). FFRF’s Robert G. Ingersoll Legal Fellow Colin McNamara briefly joins us to recount the ruckus his complaint over religious displays is creating in Camden, Mo. The rest of the program is devoted to a never-before-broadcast interview of the fascinating, freethinking, feminist and feisty Cecile Richards, formerly head of Planned Parenthood, before an audience of 1,000 freethinkers. Tune in to hear what it was like growing up in Texas as the daughter of Gov. Ann Richards, Cecile’s first state/church protest in sixth grade, how Jared Kushner tried to “bribe” Planned Parenthood to stop providing abortions and why Cecile thinks patriarchy might be in its last gasp. P.S. As a bonus, we play a bit of “Sandan Shuffle,” by saxophonist Virginia Mayhew, granddaughter of Ansel Adams and daughter of longtime FFRF member Anne Helms.
FFRF’s lead attorney Rebecca Markert tells us about our recent victory by the Ninth Circuit Federal Court of Appeals, who refused to rehear their decision declaring unconstitutional the practice of the Chino Hills (California) School Board opening sessions with prayer. After hearing Secretary of State Mike Pompeo declare that Christians should fight marriage equality “until the Rapture,” we listen to folksinger Malvina Reynolds perform “This World.” Then we speak with Nigerian activist and scholar Leo Igwe, who tells us about next week’s humanism convention in Abuja, “Leaving Religion: Risks, Challenges and Opportunities,” and the dangers nonbelievers face in that country.
Princeton professor Imani Perry tells us about her new biography, Looking For Lorraine: The Radiant Life of Lorraine Hansberry, about the artist/activist/freethinking author of the play and movie Raisin In The Sun, who was the first Black woman to have a play on Broadway. We celebrate the New Year on a relaxing but irreverent note by hearing some songs written by Eric Idle of Monty Python, and a beautiful rendition of “Auld Lang Syne” performed by Scottish balladeer Jim Malcolm.
