An ACLU official in charge of the group’s efforts on state/church separation is the guest on the Freedom From Religion Foundation’s “Freethought Matters” TV show this Sunday.
Daniel Mach is the director of the ACLU Program on Freedom of Religion and Belief. He leads a wide range of religious liberty litigation, advocacy and public education efforts nationwide, and often writes, teaches and speaks publicly on religious freedom issues. Mach currently serves as an adjunct professor of law at the George Washington University Law School, focusing on constitutional law and religious liberty. At FFRF’s recent convention in San Antonio, he accepted on behalf of the ACLU FFRF’s Henry Zumach Freedom From Religious Fundamentalism Award of $35,000.
“It used to be the case for much of the court's history, at least over the last half century, that the Supreme Court was concerned about forced taxpayer funding of religion,” Mach tells “Freethought Matters” co-hosts Dan Barker and Annie Laurie Gaylor. “And this is something that the Supreme Court rightly tied to a concern of the Founders of our nation, who were also deeply troubled at the idea that taxpayers could be forced to support religious beliefs to which they do not subscribe. Now, we are doing the opposite. At least the conservatives on the Supreme Court are not only accepting as permissible that kind of funding, but telling the government and taxpayers that you can fund religion.”
If you don’t live in the quarter-plus of the nation where the show broadcasts on Sunday, you can 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.
Upcoming shows will feature abortion provider Amy Hagstrom Miller, Andrew Seidel talking about his new book American Crusade and 11-year-old Elle Harris, author of Elle the Humanist. This fall season already contains must-see interviews with bestselling award-winning author John Irving, “Star Trek” actor John “Q” de Lancie, acclaimed thinker Professor Daniel Dennett, Texas iconoclast Jim Hightower (who received FFRF’s 2022 Clarence Darrow Award at its recent convention), leading constitutional abortion rights expert Professor Geoffrey Stone and atheist Washington Post columnist Kate Cohen.
“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 10 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, Julia Sweeney and Reps. Jared Huffman, Jamie Raskin, Hank Johnson 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!