A secular maven who is the scion of a famous scientific family is interviewed on the Freedom From Religion Foundation’s “Freethought Matters” TV show this Sunday.
Sasha Sagan is a television producer, filmmaker, writer and speaker. Her essays and interviews on death, history and ritual through a secular lens have appeared in publications such as The Cut, O, The Oprah Magazine and Literary Hub. Sasha regularly speaks on ways science can inform celebrations, inspired in part by the work of her parents, Carl Sagan and Ann Druyan. Her first book, For Small Creatures Such as We: Rituals for Finding Meaning in Our Unlikely World, is part memoir, part guidebook, part social history.
“I think that those of us who are not religious have to sort of find a way to make the world more fair, to make it so that those of us who grew up privileged as I did, if we don’t think there’s any rhyme or reason, there’s nobody planning all this, then it’s on people who have been very lucky to try to make the world more fair and more just,” she tells “Freethought Matters” guest host Andrew Seidel. “And it solves another problem of secular life, which is just a way to create a community where you’re with people who share some of your values and where you can be together for the hills and valleys of this sometimes very difficult world that we live in.”
If you don’t live in the quarter-plus of the nation where the show broadcasts on Sunday, you can already catch the interview on FFRF’s YouTube channel. You can also receive notifications when we post new episodes of Freethought Matters by subscribing to FFRF’s YouTube channel.
This is the fall/spring season’s 32nd episode of “Freethought Matters,” airing in over a dozen cities on Sunday, April 4.
Coming shows include interviews with author and secular scholar Susan Jacoby, former teen state/church plaintiff/victor Jessica Ahlquis, as well as Debbie and Dan Weisman, whose Supreme Court case halted graduation prayers.
“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.
- San Francisco, KICU-IND (Ch. 36), Sundays at 10 a.m.
- Seattle, KONG-IND (Ch. 16 or Ch. 106 on Comcast). Sundays at 8 a.m.
- Washington, D.C., WDCW-CW (Ch. 50 or Ch. 23 or Ch. 3), Sundays at 8 a.m.
Previous guests from the fall 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 in early December. Recently, the show featured Ann Druyan, the co-creator of “Cosmos,” possibly the most acclaimed TV series of all time (and the mother of this week’s guest). A.C. Grayling, a prominent British philosopher and the author of about 30 books, grappled on the show with philosophy and the pandemic, and discussed how he himself dealt as a nonbeliever with a personal tragedy. Two weeks ago, the interview was with Rep. Jerry McNerney, a co-founder of the Congressional Freethought Caucus.
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!
