Join the Freedom From Religion Foundation’s musical celebration of the real reason for the season — the Winter Solstice — on Sunday’s “Freethought Matters” TV show.
The shortest, darkest day of the year has been celebrated for millennia in the Northern Hemisphere for signaling the rebirth of the sun. A number of freethinking singers and songwriters have recorded their own seasonal or Winter Solstice songs just for “Freethought Matters” : award-winning Native American composer Brent Michael Davids, jazz performers Addison Frei, Tahira Clayton and Susan Hofer, topical folk singers Kristen Lems, Shelley Segal and Roy Zimmerman — and FFRF’s own Dan Barker.
If you don’t live in the 27 percent of the country’s markets where the show broadcasts on Sunday, you can already catch the Solstice celebration on FFRF’s YouTube channel.
As a rejoinder to Christian appropriation of pagan music, Davids culturally appropriates Tchaikovsky’s “Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy,” while Barker turns the tables in setting secular words to the traditional song, “O Little Town of Bethlehem.” Australian-born singer/songwriter and atheist Shelley Segal provides a freethinkingly musical perspective from the land Down Under, reprising Tim Minchin’s ballad, “White Wine in the Sun.” And the show ends with the ultimate New Year’s Eve song by Scottish freethinker Robert Burns: “Auld Lang Syne.”
This is the fall season’s 17th episode of “Freethought Matters,” airing in 12 cities on Sunday, Dec. 20.
Upcoming shows will include interviews with two courageous individuals who’ve recently taken and won state/church lawsuits with FFRF; a member of the Congressional Freethought Caucus; Bangladeshi-American secular activist Bonya Ahmed; Public Religion Research Institute founder Robert P. Jones, author of White Too Long: The Legacy of White Supremacy in American Christianity; Chris Cameron, author of Black Freethinkers: A History of African American Secularism; and the distinguished British philosopher A.C. Grayling.
“Freethought Matters” airs in:
- 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.
- 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 a.m.
- Washington, D.C., WDCW-CW (Ch. 50), Sundays at 8 a.m.
Starting on Jan. 3, the show will also begin broadcasting in San Francisco, KICU-IND (36), Sundays at 10 a.m.
Previous guests this season include: pundit Eleanor Clift, whose interview you can watch here, actor and FFRF After-Life Member John de Lancie of “Star Trek” “Q” fame, Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter Linda Greenhouse, the country’s leading analyst of the U.S. Supreme Court, and legislative stalwart and feminist and civil rights pioneer U.S. Rep. Eleanor Holmes Norton. One of the most eminent public intellectuals in the world, Professor Steven Pinker, was interviewed a few episodes ago talking about his new course on rationality. Legendary TV host, actor and singer John Davidson was the guest two weeks ago. And last week the show featured Ann Druyan, the co-creator of “Cosmos,” possibly the most acclaimed TV series of all time.
Watch previous seasons here, including interviews with Ron Reagan, Julia Sweeney and Ed Asner, as well as U.S. Reps. Jared Huffman and Jamie Raskin, co-chairs of the Congressional Freethought Caucus.
Please tune in to “Freethought Matters” . . . because freethought matters.
P.S. Please tune in or record according to the times given above regardless of what is listed in your TV guide (it may be listed simply as “paid programming” or even be misidentified). To set up an automatic weekly recording, try taping manually by time or channel. And spread the word to freethinking friends, family or colleagues about a TV show, finally, that is dedicated to providing programming for freethinkers!
The Freedom From Religion Foundation, based in Madison, Wis., a 501(c)(3) nonprofit educational charity, is the nation's largest association of freethinkers (atheists, agnostics), and has been working since 1978 to keep religion and government separate.