The guest on the Freedom From Religion Foundation’s “Freethought Matters” TV show this Sunday is asking nonbelievers to speak up — and speak out.
Kate Cohen is a Washington Post-contributing columnist. She also writes documentary scripts, including the Emmy Award-winning “Rising,” “Rebuilding Ground Zero” and the Gold Panda Award-winning “How China Works.” She’s the author of A Walk Down the Aisle: Notes on a Modern Wedding and The Neppi Modona Diaries: Reading Jewish Survival Through My Italian Family. Cohen’s new book, We of Little Faith, will be out next year. Cohen talks on the show in part about her poignant recent column for The Washington Post: “As the Court Forces Christianity On America, It’s time for Atheists to Speak Out.”
“I wrote that column out of frustration with the tumult of news coming out of not just the Supreme Court, but primarily the Supreme Court that really seemed to favor a particular conservative Christian worldview, even when it comes to public policy that the rest of us have to live by,” Cohen tells “Freethought Matters” co-hosts Dan Barker and Annie Laurie Gaylor. “All of us are trying to figure out how to respond, what actions we can take. And I feel as if atheists might have a particular role to play in this battle for what’s right in American public life and in preserving the separation of church and state.”
If you don’t live in the quarter-plus of the nation where the show broadcasts on Sunday, you can right now watch the interview 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 the playlist on FFRF’s YouTube channel.
Two upcoming guests on the show will be authors discussing white Christian nationalism: Katherine Stewart (The Power Worshippers) and Sam Perry (The Flag and the Cross). This fall season already contains must-see interviews with Texas iconoclast Jim Hightower (who will be receiving FFRF’s Clarence Darrow award at its October convention), leading constitutional abortion rights expert Professor Geoffrey Stone and Professor Anthea Butler, an incisive commentator on white Christian nationalism.
“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, WFTC-29, Sundays at 7:30 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.
You can catch interviews from past seasons here, including with Gloria Steinem, Ron Reagan and Julia Sweeney and Reps. Jared Huffman, Jamie Raskin, Hank Johnson, Jerry McNerney and Eleanor Holmes Norton.
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 — your antidote to religion on Sunday morning!
Photo credit: Elizabeth Smolar