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In honor of the 65th anniversary of the historic McCollum v. Board of Education victory before the Supreme Court (March 8, 1948), we interview Jim McCollum, who was the young boy in that case challenging religious instruction in the public schools. We also listen to Dan Barker’s rousing freethought song, “The Battle of Church and State.”
Bible verses on middle-school baseball caps, now removed; action alert to protest federal money for churches to rebuild after Hurricane Sandy. Our guest on this week’s show is Jenna Miscavige Hill, author of Beyond Belief: My Secret Life Inside Scientology and My Harrowing Escape. Ms. Hill, the niece of Scientology’s leader David Miscavige, tells her heartbreaking story of child labor, split families, mind control, and how she found the courage to run away from it all.
Hasa Diga Eebowai! An atheist songwriter tells us why we should “Not Be Mad At God.” FFRF attorney Patrick updates us on government prayer controversies, as well as a victory stopping church discounts at Milwaukee’s Mexican Fiesta. Then we speak with Gretta Vosper, a pastor in the United Church of Canada who is now a nonbeliever and author of the bestselling book, With Or Without God: Why the way we live is more important than what we believe.
“We are all star stuff.” After discussing FFRF legal complaints in South Dakota and Arkansas, we take up on Carl Sagan’s famous words by talking with paleontologist Neil Shubin, discoverer of Tiktaalik and author of the bestselling Your Inner Fish, whose newest book is The Universe Within: Discovering the Common History of Rocks, Planets, and People.
We’ve got to fight the battle of church and state. This week we have FFRF attorneys Rebecca Markert and Patrick Elliott in studio to discuss current legal complaints–city prayers in Rapid City, South Dakota, and Onalaska, Wisconsin (a victory), pastors roaming the schools in Conway, Arkansas, proselytizing football coaches in North Carolina–and our newest lawsuit over a Jesus painting on the walls of an Ohio Middle School.
Happy Birthday Darwin! We celebrate Charles Darwin’s 204th birthday on February 12, then we ask “Why, BSA” are you discriminating against atheists and gays? We announce FFRF’s newest lawsuit in Ohio, then talk with David Williamson, organizer of Central Florida Freethought Community (an FFRF chapter) about how they are countering bible distribution in public schools with atheist literature in the same schools.
The Boy Scouts may be considering allowing gays, but they still deserve a Badge of Dishonor for excluding atheists. Annie Laurie and Dan discuss FFRF’s Action Alert about the Boy Scouts, complaints about religion in schools, vouchers for religious schools and patriarchal religious attitudes toward women. Then, to celebrate Darwin’s upcoming birthday, they interview biology professor Jerry Coyne, author of Why Evolution Is True.
There was a whole lot of “godding” going on at Obama’s 2nd inaugural. Dan and Annie Laurie analyze the plusses and minuses of the event. Then we interview Zack Kopplin, a 19-year-old activist college student from Louisiana who is trying to repeal that state’s creationism law.
A NY high-school science teacher pushing Christianity in the classroom, and a large portrait of Jesus in an Ohio middle school–these are some of FFRF’s state-church complaints we discuss this week. Then we talk with freethinking feminist author and activist Robin Morgan, who is host of the new CBS radio show Women’s Media Center Live.
