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Atheists in the Bible Museum! For the first half of the show, we talk with FFRF attorney and Director of Strategic Response Andrew Seidel about our visit to the Museum of the Bible in Washington DC. Andrew describes many of the inaccuracies and exaggerations in the less-than-objective institution. Then FFRF Director of Communications Amit Pal interviews Annie Laurie and Dan about the 40-year history of the Freedom From Religion Foundation, established as a national group on April 5, 1978.
We have a fun “April Fool’s” show this week. After discussing the partial (but strong) victory in our Indiana school nativity lawsuit with FFRF attorney Sam Grover, we hear Irish comic Dave Allen rip into the Catholic Church. Then we talk with New Orleans “dark humor” novelist Patty Friedmann about her new book, Organized Panic, which comically explores the challenges of living in a “mashed up” family of believers and nonbelievers.
We protest Kentucky Governor Bevin’s declaration of “Christian Heritage Week.” After we celebrate freethinking songwriter Stephen Sondheim’s 88th birthday, FFRF Attorney Patrick Elliott tells us about the Ten Commandments plaque that we got removed from a Minnesota County courthouse. Annie Laurie memorializes former Wisconsin Attorney General Bronson La Follette, a friend to freethought. Then we talk with Mandisa Thomas, founder and president of Black Nonbelievers.
We mourn the death of scientist and atheist Stephen Hawking. FFRF attorney Ryan Jayne tells us about stopping a North Carolina County from paying for a church mural. Communications Director Amit Pal warns us about the scary nomination of extremist evangelical Mike Pompeo for Secretary of State. Then we talk with Toni Van Pelt, president of the National Organization for Women, about equality, inclusivity, and the importance of secular values in moving women’s rights forward.
Harvard cognitive psychologist, linguist and popular science author Steven Pinker (The Language Instinct, The Blank Slate, The Better Angels of Our Nature) gave his very first public talk about his new book, Enlightenment Now, at FFRF’s 40th annual convention in Madison, Wisconsin. His optimistic talk is replayed in full on this week’s show while Dan and Annie Laurie are traveling to the Central Florida Freethought Community’s cruise to the Bahamas.
What’s wrong with evangelist Billy Graham lying in state in the nation’s capitol? Nonbelief Relief awards $75,000 in spring grants, FFRF announces four student essay contests, and unveils the new Avijit Roy Memorial Award in honor of the Bangladesh-American freethought author who was hacked to death by Islamic extremists in 2015 for his nonbelief. Then we talk with champion swimmer and freethinking Olympic athlete Rada Owen, who competed for the U.S. Olympic swimming team in Sydney, Australia in 2000.
“Thoughts and prayers” are no response to the tragedy of gun violence. Billy Graham’s death leaves a legacy of divisiveness and disrespect for state/church separation. After discussing the Russians using religion as a tool to meddle in US policies, we talk with the founder of Jordanian Atheists, Mohammed al Khadra, about the challenges of being a nonbeliever in a country that outlaws blasphemy and apostasy.
Is Vice President Mike Pence delusional when he thinks Jesus is talking to him? Is a Georgia senator’s proposed law (in response to FFRF victories) to allow public school teachers to pray with students constitutional? After discussing the recent Florida shooting, FFRF’s “In Science We Trust” billboard in Atlanta, and hearing a child prompted by parents to call FFRF to tell us we are “going to hell,” we talk with novelist Tova Mirvis, whose newest book, The Book of Separation, is a moving memoir about divorcing not only her husband, but her entire Orthodox Jewish faith.
We analyze the “Christian nationalism” remarks made by President Trump and others at today’s National Prayer Breakfast. After reporting an FFRF state/church victory in Tulsa, Oklahoma, stopping police and firefighters from raising money for the Salvation Army while in uniform, we celebrate poet Philip Appleman’s 91st birthday by hearing his poem “Fleas.” Then we talk with Muhammad Syed, president of Ex-Muslims of North America, a group that is helping those who have left the faith and working for secular government.’
