The Freedom From Religion Foundation is tickled to announce that its iconic ad featuring Ron Reagan is scheduled to air this weekend for the first time ever on a primetime feature TV series.
The spot was to run during all four of the January broadcasts of “60 Minutes,” but the news show is being pre-empted this coming Sunday, so FFRF’s ad will jump to “NCIS: Hawai’i.” The spinoff of CBS’ popular procedural typically airs Sundays at 10 p.m Eastern. The FFRF commercial will return to “60 Minutes” on Sunday, Jan. 30, and Sunday, Feb. 6. This January was the first time FFRF had been able to persuade the CBS national network to accept its ad, first recorded in 2014, for “60 Minutes.”
Reagan, the son of President Ronald and Nancy Reagan, is an avowed atheist who recorded a refreshed version of the ad last year, saying:
Hi, I’m Ron Reagan, an unabashed atheist, and I’m alarmed, as you may be, by the intrusion of religion into our secular government. That's why I’m asking you to join the Freedom From Religion Foundation, the nation’s largest and most effective association of atheists and agnostics, working to keep state and church separate, just like our Founders intended. Please join the Freedom From Religion Foundation. Ron Reagan, lifelong atheist, not afraid of burning in hell.
The ad has run on MSNBC, Comedy Central and CNN in the past. After CNN aired the FFRF commercial during several Democratic presidential debates in 2019, Reagan was credited with “winning” and becoming the top trending search on Google.
FFRF Co-President Annie Laurie Gaylor reports that numerous folks have joined FFRF as a result of its commercial running on “60 Minutes.” People have memorably called in from around the country after watching the ad:
Cypress, Texas — “I live in Texas. If one more bastard tells me to have a blessed day I'm going to punch him in the face.” (Said with a laugh by an older woman.)
Des Plaines, Ill. — “Ron's got balls.”
Penn Laird, Va. — “I nearly knocked over a piece of furniture to get a piece of paper and pencil to jot down your number."
Your donation to FFRF’s advertising campaign will help keep Ron’s message — your message — on the air, where it is educating the public and substantially growing FFRF’s membership.