The Freedom From Religion Foundation’s “Freethought Matters” television show and YouTube podcast focus this week on the lamentable prevalence of bad thinking — and how we can emerge from it.
The guests on the show are both professors of philosophy at the University of Wisconsin-Madison who have co-written a new book called When Bad Thinking Happens to Good People: How Philosophy Can Save Us From Ourselves. On the cover of the book, it warns: “Something is seriously wrong. An alarming number of citizens in America and around the world are embracing crazy, even dangerous ideas.”
Professor Lawrence Shapiro has previously written books such as Zen and The Art of Running: The Path to Making Peace with Your Pace and The Miracle Myth: Why Belief in the Resurrection and the Supernatural Is Unjustified. Professor Steven Nadler’s many books include Spinoza: A Life, God and Evil, and an FFRF favorite, Heretics: the Wondrous and Dangerous Beginnings of Modernity.
“I would not want to be in a position of having public policy, say, tailored to a belief in God,” Shapiro tells “Freethought Matters” co-hosts Dan Barker and Annie Laurie Gaylor. “It’s a belief and belief in God is based on faith, and it shouldn’t be used to justify social policies that would be imposed on people who don’t believe in God.”
If you don’t live in the quarter-plus viewership 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.
“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, Digital Channel 5.5), Sundays at 9:30 a.m. (Digital channel 5.2 has been dropped.)
- New York City, WPIX-IND (Ch. 11), Sundays at 9:00 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.
Upcoming shows will include interviews with Nigerian humanist and atheist leader Leo Igwe and atheist Cynthia McDonald, who makes the secular case for reparations for slavery. “Freethought Matters” is now in its sixth season. To watch earlier shows, including an interview with freethinker and feminist icon Gloria Steinem, visit the “Freethought Matters” playlist on FFRF’s YouTube channel. 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!
