The fascinating guest on the Freedom From Religion Foundation’s “Freethought Matters” TV show Sunday explains why people seem to lose their reasoning when they join a religious movement.
William J. Bernstein is a retired neurologist who’s now a financial theorist and writes about finance and economics. His bestselling books include The Birth of Plenty, about the institutional origins of modern prosperity, A Splendid Exchange: How Trade Shaped the World and Masters of the Word, about how communications technology shaped history. Bernstein’s latest book, The Delusions of Crowds: Why People Go Mad in Groups, tells the stories of both financial crazes and religious mass manias and explores the evolutionary psychology and social psychology behind them.
“What is now happening in the United States is that people are self-segregating themselves by cultural and political belief geographically,” Bernstein tells “Freethought Matters” hosts Dan Barker and Annie Laurie Gaylor. “So if you’re a liberal, you’re not going to move to Lubbock, Texas. And if you’re an evangelical conservative, you’re not moving to Portland, Oregon, or Manhattan. And so what we see politically is this polarization.”
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 FFRF’s YouTube channel. New shows go up every Thursday.
“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 usually at 10 a.m. but this Sunday at noon and 3 p.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), Sunday 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 guests include PRRI CEO Robert Jones and researcher Ryan Burge, author of The Nones. You can catch interviews from past seasons here, including the fall 2022 season with author John Irving, actor John “Q” de Lancie and Washington Post columnist Kate Cohen. Previous interviews include Julia Sweeney and Reps. Jared Huffman, Jamie Raskin, Hank Johnson and Eleanor Holmes Norton, among many other notable authors, activists and freethinkers.
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!