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From Apostle to Apostate. In the News: Landmark Minnesota Church abuse case. Freethought Hall expansion progress, including video of the artist making commemorative tiles. Then we hear from two former ministers who no longer believe: Randy Bender (Lutheran) and Matt Killingsworth (Pentecostal).
Life Beyond Belief. After state/church news in South Dakota, Georgia, Ohio, and Oklahoma, we hear from science-fiction writer Ursula K. LeGuin, and listen to part of Malala Yousafzai’s Nobel Peace Prize remarks. Then we talk with Bob Ripley, former pastor of the largest mainline Protestant church in Canada who resigned after discarding his faith. His new book is Life Beyond Belief: A Preacher’s Deconversion.
Many FFRF state/church victories to report, including stopping prayers over the loudspeakers at high-school football games. After celebrating the birthdays of the freethinking songwriters P.G. Wodehouse and Ralph Vaughan Williams, we talk with Nikki Muongo, a Missouri mother who successfully convinced the city of Ballwin not to display “In God We Trust” on government property.
FFRF protests Pulpit Freedom Sunday, a day when pastors are encouraged to break IRS electioneering law. Hear about FFRF’s victory in a Texas elementary school, and more on our complaint of the St. Augustine mayor’s invitation to the pope. We celebrate the birthdays of John Lennon, Guiseppe Verdi, Joe Hill, and Thelonious Monk. The we talk with Alabama student activist Amanda Scott about her efforts to separate religion and government.
After protesting invitations of the pope by the U.S. Congress and the City of St. Augustine, Florida, we hear some of our favorite atheist comedians, including Julia Sweeney, Leighann Lord, George Carlin, Bill Maher and Roy Zimmerman, as well as irreverent verses by Yip Harburg. Then we talk with Katja Guenther, professor of sociology at UC-Riverside, about her current research into humor in the “New Atheism” movement.
In the news: football prayer and religion in the military. We hear a tribute to George Gershwin (Rhapsody in Blue, Bernstein; “I Got Rhythm,” Mary Martin; “Let’s Call the Whole Thing Off,” Billie Holiday; “Someone To Watch Over Me,” Nancy Wilson; “It Ain’t Necessarily So” Sammy Davis Jr; “Embraceable You,” Kiri Te Kanawa; American in Paris; “Summertime” Ella Fitzgerald). Then we talk with Sam Erickson, president of AHA!–the Atheists, Humanists and Agnostics at the University of Wisconsin, Madison–the strongest campus freethought group in the country.
This week we are happy to report four state/church victories around the country: one in Florida, two in Pennsylvania, and one in Arkansas, dealing with the Pledge of Allegiance, “In God We Trust,” hotel bibles, and crosses on football helmets. After hearing Dan Barker’s freethought song, “Life is Good,” we talk with physicist Sean Carroll, author of The Particle at the End of the Universe: How the Hunt for the Higgs Boson Leads Us to the Edge of a New World, about “God and Cosmology.”
“Science flies you to the moon. Religion flies you into buildings.” After hearing news of FFRF state/church victories and complaints, we remember the life of physicist, author, and FFRF Honorary Director Victor J. Stenger. Then we talk with Lance Dodes, M.D., about his new book debunking Alcoholics Anonymous: The Sober Truth: Debunking the bad science behind twelve-step programs and the rehab industry.
After hearing Dan Barker’s appearance on the Nancy Grace Show, and reporting the Vatican’s coddling of a pedophilic priest, we honor the birthdays of freethinking baseball great Ted Williams and early feminist activist Frances Wright. Then we talk with Matthew Stewart, author of the new book: Nature’s God: The Heretical Origins of the American Republic.
