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During this week of the Winter Solstice, we rejoice in a federal court victory. FFRF attorney Patrick Elliott tells us about the positive decision in our legal challenge to bible classes in West Virginia public elementary schools. After hearing some “holiday humor,” Christmas jokes, and irreverent seasonal songs (including Tom Lehrer’s “A Christmas Song” and Roy Zimmerman’s “Christmas is Pain”), we explain the real reason for the season and listen to Tim Minchin’s “White Wine in the Sun” and Dan Barker’s “Solstice Tribute.”
We celebrate the December 15 “Bill of Rights” Day. FFRF Legal Assistant Whitney Steffen tells us about the many “Winter Solstice” and “Bill of Rights” displays that FFRF members are erecting around the county to counter the Christian nativity scenes on public property. Then we talk with Leslea Mair, co-director, producer, and writer of the beautiful new documentary “Losing Our Religion,” about ministers who have lost their faith.
This week’s guest is feminist-topical singer/songwriter Kristin Lems, who will perform one of her classic songs and a new song about Trump (“Like a Duck”). Tune in to learn more about a surprising First Amendment violation halted speedily in Illinois by FFRF constitutional attorney Ryan Jayne. The show includes a first-hand report on the International Conference on Sharia, Segregation & Secularism, a comment about Einstein’s “ungodly” auctioned letter, and a recap of FFRF’s irreverent Winter Solstice displays countering Christian nativity scenes in public forums around the U.S. Outro music includes a selection of songs with lyrics written by the thoroughly secular Ira Gershwin, in honor of his Dec. 6 birthday.
Twelve-year-old author Bailey Harris, who started writing her first book when she was eight, speaks at FFRF’s annual convention in San Francisco on November 2, telling us how she came to write the freethought children’s book My Name Is Stardust. Then we hear the actor, director and producer John de Lancie (who played “Q” on Star Trek: The Next Generation) explain to our convention audience “The value of telling the truth.”
We have a victory to report in Colorado and a victory to defend in Florida. After hearing 19th-century Robert G. Ingersoll’s 1897 “Thanksgiving Sermon,” the 21st-century comedian Leighann Lord gives us “Six things to argue about at Thanksgiving other than politics.” Then we talk with the first winner of FFRF’s new “Avijit Roy Courage Award,” Rasel Ahmed, co-editor of Bangladesh’s first and only LGBTQ magazine who had to leave the country to seek asylum in the United States because of threats to his life.
We announce a new lawsuit challenging the creation of a Christian chaplaincy in Wisconsin’s Department of Justice. After exposing the dangerous Christian nationalism of the acting Attorney General Matthew Whitaker (appointed by President Trump to replace Jeff Sessions), we talk with FFRF’s new Editorial Assistant Bailey Nachreiner-Mackesey about the Trump administration’s latest assault on women’s health care. Then we interview former Pentecostal Jessica Wilbanks about her poignant new memoir, When I Spoke in Tongues: A Story of Faith and Its Loss.
Just returning from our national convention in San Francisco, we hear the Moment of Bedlam at the annual Nonprayer Breakfast and hear parts of speeches by actor John de Lancie, Secular Coalition for America director Larry Decker, U.S. Representative (Ca.) Jared Huffman, and comedian Leighann Lord. After hearing Dan Barker’s song “The Freethought Blues,” we talk with Maryam Namazie, who is organizing the “International Sharia, Segregation & Secularism” conference in London this month.
FFRF lead attorney Rebecca Markert, celebrating 10 years at FFRF, updates us on the legal department’s past year of litigation and non-litigation victories for state/church separation. After hearing Joni Mitchell sing “Big Yellow Taxi” and Dan Barker sing “Bread & Roses” (in honor of Annie Laurie’s birthday), we talk with United Church of Canada pastor Gretta Vosper, an open atheist and author of With Or Without God, who is undergoing a “heresy trial” even though her congregation wants her to remain in the pulpit.
This week we discuss the oral arguments in two federal cases by FFRF: Barker v. Conroy, in DC Circuit Court of Appeals, dealing with discrimination by the chaplain of the U.S. House of Representatives, and Gaylor v. Mnuchin, in Chicago’s 7th Circuit Court of Appeals, dealing with FFRF’s challenge of the IRS code that allows ministers to exclude their “housing allowance” from income. Then we talk with Cecile Richards, former president of Planned Parenthood, about her new book, Make Trouble: Standing Up, Speaking Out, and Finding the Courage to Lead–My Life Story.
