The nation’s premier freethinking television show is off to a strong start in its fresh season, with a stalwart of the freethinking movement interviewed on the program this week.
Robyn Blumner is the CEO of the Center for Inquiry and the executive director of the Richard Dawkins Foundation for Reason & Science. She was a nationally syndicated columnist and editorial writer for the Tampa Bay Times (formerly the St. Petersburg Times) for 16 years. She holds a law degree and worked for several years as director of local affiliates of the ACLU.
“If you think about any public policy that emanates out of religious dogma, we are usually involved with it,” Blumner says on the show. “Which is why we'd be on the side of abortion rights, contraception rights, same-sex marriage rights, because we know the opposition is organized religion.”
As an antidote to religion on the airwaves and Sunday morning sermonizing, the half-hour show airs Sunday mornings in 11 cities and Sunday evening in FFRF’s hometown of Madison, Wis.
The first guest in the new season was Rep. Jared Huffman, founder of the Congressional Freethought Caucus, who represents California’s second congressional district since 2013. Huffman’s appearance on the show made media waves due to his remarks about his colleague Rep. Liz Cheney’s dogmatic stance on the religious oath.
The guests in subsequent weeks include legal scholar Geoffrey Stone, Rep. Jamie Raskin and philosopher and scientist Daniel Dennett.
The cities where “Freethought Matters” will be broadcast, along with the channels and timings, are listed below:
- Chicago, WPWR-CW (Ch. 50), Sundays at 9 a.m.
- Denver, KWGN-CW (Ch. 2), Sundays at 7 a.m.
- Houston, KUBE-IND (Ch. 57), Sundays at 9 a.m.
- Los Angeles, KCOP-MY (Ch. 13), Sundays at 8:30 a.m.
- Madison, Wis., WISC-TV (Ch. 3), Sundays at 11 p.m.
- Minneapolis, KSTC-IND (Ch. 45), Sundays at 9:30 a.m. (note the time change!)
- New York City, WPIX-IND (Ch. 11), Sundays at 8:30 a.m.
- Phoenix, KASW-CW (Ch. 61, or 6 or 1006 for HD), Sundays at 8:30 a.m.
- Portland, Ore., KRCW-CW (Ch. 32), Sundays at 9 a.m. Comcast channel 703 for High Def, or Channel 3.
- Sacramento, KQCA-MY (Ch. 58), Sundays at 8:30 a.m.
- Seattle, KONG-IND (Ch. 16 or Ch. 106 on Comcast). Sundays at 8:00 a.m.
- Washington, D.C., WDCW-CW (Ch. 50), Sundays at 8 a.m.
FFRF co-founder Annie Laurie Gaylor and her husband, Dan Barker, a former evangelical minister and well-known atheist author, are FFRF co-presidents and typically co-host the program. The intent is to introduce communities to leading freethought authors, thinkers and activists. “The purpose of the show is to offer lively discussions that provide a perspective most often missing on television,” says Barker.
The Freedom From Religion Foundation is the nation’s largest association of freethinkers (atheists and agnostics), with more than 30,000 members nationwide. FFRF also works as a watchdog guarding the constitutional separation between religion and government.
The show is produced by FFRF’s videographer Bruce Johnson, a veteran of many years in public television. Crew includes staff members Monica Schwartz, Kristina Daleiden, Lauryn Seering and Chris Line, plus various floor managers, with sound production provided by Audio for the Arts.
Please tune in to “Freethought Matters” . . . because freethought matters.