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After hearing New Jersey Senator Cory Booker acknowledging nonbelievers at the DNC, and Barack Obama affirming that the United States is not under a “savior,” but under “We, the people,” we talk with FFRF legal intern Chris Line about an egregious violation of state/church separation involving public money to a Texas charter school that is brazenly promoting Jesus and the bible. Then we talk with professor Tim Whitmarsh at Cambridge University about his new book Battling The Gods: Atheism in the Ancient World, showing that atheism is older than Christianity.
FFRF staff attorney Liz Cavell tells us about a Christian flag that is being removed from a Georgia county courthouse. Former presidential candidate Ben Carson associated the Democratic presumptive nominee with “Lucifer,” while Ken Ham of Answers in Genesis equated the Freedom From Religion Foundation with “the Devil” for daring to protest the opening of the Kentucky “Ark Encounter.” After hearing actor and atheist Daniel Radcliffe singing Tom Lehrer’s song “The Elements,” we listen to Marjorie and Philip Appleman perform Philip’s poem “Noah,” shedding light on the absurdity of the myth of a worldwide flood.
After hearing televangelist Pat Robertson accuse the Freedom From Religion Foundation of being led by “the Devil,” we hear comedian Robin Williams lampoon the story of Mary and Joseph. We listen to jazz pianist/composer (and FFRF member) Addison Frei’s freethinking song “Clinging,” sung by Tahira Clayton. Then we interview Jim Helton, president of Tri-State Freethinkers, about the successful protest he organized against young-earth creationist Ken Ham’s publicly subsidized “Ark Encounter” in Kentucky, a monument to genocide and ignorance.
This week we’ll report that FFRF’s first billboard in Mississippi managed to stay up only 5 days before being censored, play Oliver Sacks’ poignant last interview in honor of the upcoming anniversary of his birth, honor poet Sherry Matulis and listen to a little Stephen Foster to celebrate that freethinker’s July 4 birthday. Then we’ll hear from three FFRF insiders: Attorney Patrick Elliott will talk about how he’s challenging the Madison, Wis. diocese seeking unfair tax privileges; Director of First Impressions Lisa Treu (known in the radio world as Lisa Miller) will help co-host part of the show while Dan Barker is on the road, and we’ll get acquainted with Amit Pal, FFRF’s new and expert director of communications. Among FFRF’s news making activities of the past week are actions regarding the Ark Encounter, which just opened.
This week we celebrate the Fourth of July, as well as the Supreme Court’s decision on abortion rights. We announce FFRF billboard activism in Mississipi, Minnesota, and Cleveland, Ohio, where we welcome visitors to the RNC this month with the face of Ronald Reagan advocating for state/church separation. We report legal victories in Kansas, Oklahoma, Colorado and California. After hearing the music (!) of actor and atheist Kevin Bacon, we talk with author George H. Smith, whose classic 1974 book, Atheism: The Case Against God, has been reprinted with a Foreword by Lawrence Krauss.
FFRF protests the city of Hondo, Texas, sign saying “This is God’s Country.” After an FFRF complaint, Ex-Muslims of America finally get their cake that was denied by a local Wegman’s food store. We hear the song “Salvation” by Elliott Ingersoll (great grandnephew of Robert Ingersoll), and then talk with FFRF’s Legal Assistant and activist Calli Miller, who has been handling state/church entanglement intake and case management for FFRF’s legal department, and who is now headed for Harvard Law School.
FFRF protested Rev. Franklin Graham’s “Decision America” rally in Wisconsin this week. We hear FFRF staff members Alyssa Schaeffer and Calli Miller interviewed by the press during that event. After hearing Roy Zimmerman’s poignant song, “To The Victims Of This Tragedy,” bemoaning the ineffectiveness of prayer and moments of silence after tragedies like the shooting in Orlando, we talk with Jesse Castillo and Kevin Price, the two brave plaintiffs who helped FFRF successfully sue Brewster County, Texas, over Christian crosses on police vehicles. [Photo by Ingrid Laas]
This week we protest the Iowa Governor’s proclamation to read the bible. We speak with FFRF attorney Sam Grover about our lawsuit successfully removing Christian crosses from Brewster County, Texas, police vehicles. After hearing the witty and brilliant Julia Sweeney on CNN talking about the Reason Rally, we interview Marie Schaub, the courageous plaintiff in an FFRF lawsuit challenging the Ten Commandments monument in her daughter’s Pennsylvania high school.
Psychologist, author and songwriter Elliott Ingersoll, descendant of the family of the great 19-century agnostic orator Robert G. Ingersoll, tells us about his TED talk challenging the notion of “chemical imbalances” in the brain, which, he says, can be better treated with talk therapy than with drugs. After hearing his performance of his song “American Infidel,” we introduce a drawing for free downloads of the audiobook of Dan’s book GOD: The Most Unpleasant Character in All Fiction by listening to Richard Dawkins reading his Foreword. We also are treated to an in-studio reading from the book by Dan Barker and Buzz Kemper, who pays the role of “God.”
