Click here to watch the teaser.
The Freedom From Religion Foundation’s “Freethought Matters” TV show this week makes a secular plea for reparations while eviscerating Christianity’s historical role in racial oppression.
The show’s guest is Cynthia McDonald, a medical case manager, artist and health and political advocate who works with Freedmen Descendants of Chicago, an organization dedicated to achieving equity in the Chicago area. McDonald gave a major address on Black economic justice from an atheistic point of view at last year’s Women of Color Beyond Belief conference, and she takes her arguments further in her “Freethought Matters” appearance.
“I messed up and read the bible,” McDonald jokingly answers when asked by co-hosts Dan Barker and Annie Laurie Gaylor as to how she lost her faith. “This was around the time period that I was studying to be a minister, and I had a lot of questions because what we were covering was not necessarily what was preached about on Sunday mornings. I would get apologetics about slavery, even though we know that the slave verses in the bible were absolutely used in order to justify chattel slavery in United States.”
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 10 a.m. Note time change!
- 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 an interview with returning guest U.S. Rep. Jared Huffman, the only “out” nonreligious member of Congress, jazz musicians and atheists Tahira Clayton and Addison Frei, and student activist and plaintiff Max Nibert, who is suing his West Virginia school over a school-day religious revival, with FFRF’s help. “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!