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The Freedom From Religion Foundation’s “Freethought Matters” show this Sunday interviews one of the most noteworthy intellectuals of our time.
Time magazine has included distinguished evolutionary psychologist and Harvard Professor Steven Pinker in its list of the 100 most influential people in the world today. Pinker has written bestselling books such as The Blank Slate, How the Mind Works, The Language Instinct and Enlightenment Now. FFRF has awarded Pinker its Our Emperor Has No Clothes Award and is honored to call him its honorary president. Pinker talks on “Freethought Matters” about his hot off-the-press book, Rationality: What It Is, Why It Seems Scarce, Why It Matters.
“It’s just a phase where I think we are always pushing back against elements of irrationality that are kind of baked into us and that probably served us well before we had modern science and math and journalism and recordkeeping — but that are always there as part of human nature,” Pinker tells “Freethought Matters” co-hosts Dan Barker and Annie Laurie Gaylor. “And some people used religious arguments in favor of bad ideas — for example, there were religious people arguing in favor of slavery, using the bible. And there are a lot of religious people in a pandemic who are saying, well, ‘My God will take care of me.’”
(You can hear Pinker in person and get a copy of this new book signed at FFRF’s Nov. 19-21 annual convention in Boston. There’s still time to sign up through Oct. 31 at ffrf.org/convention-2021.)
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 the “Freethought Matters” playlist on FFRF’s YouTube channel. New shows go up every Thursday. You can also receive notifications when we post new episodes of “Freethought Matters” by subscribing to FFRF’s YouTube channel.
Coming shows this season include a tribute to legendary actor Ed “Lou Grant” Asner, an FFRF honorary director who recently died, as well as an interview with the head of Spain’s only humanist group.
“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, KIAH-CW (Ch. 39), Sundays at 11 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.
The show launched its fall season in early September with clips from the best past interviews on the program. Subsequently, it featured an interview with famed evolutionary biologist Richard Dawkins. The program focused on a landmark Supreme Court case against religious indoctrination in public schools, and two weeks ago it offered answers on how nonreligious people should deal with death. A couple of weeks ago, the interview was with FFRF Honorary Director Katha Pollitt, one of the nation’s foremost writers, freethinkers, atheists and feminists. Most recently, the guest was reporter and lawyer Charlotte Dennett, the author of a poignant family memoir and co-author of Thy Will Be Done: The Conquest of the Amazon: Nelson Rockefeller and Evangelism in the Age of Oil.
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!