The Freedom From Religion Foundation’s guest this Sunday on its TV show has expertly tracked the decline of religion around the world.
Isabella Kasselstrand is assistant professor in the Department of Sociology at the University of Aberdeen in Scotland. Her publications and her studies explore nonreligion and secularization from a crossnational and comparative perspective. She’s published in many journals, including the Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion. Kasselstrand is co-author of a new book called Beyond Doubt: The Secularization of Society.
“Sometimes a misconception that especially religious people in the United States have is that secularity almost always means something anti-religious,” Kasselstrand tells “Freethought Matters” co-hosts Dan Barker and Annie Laurie Gaylor. “One of the arguments we’re presenting in the book is actually that advanced levels of secularity, like in Scandinavia, actually more look like religious indifference. So, if you live in a place where religion has a weaker sort of presence in public policy, in the media — in society in general — religion becomes more of a private issue and a nonissue that isn’t really kind of present.”
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 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), 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 Nation magazine Justice Correspondent Elie Mystal, eminent philosopher Daniel C. Dennett and Kate Cohen, atheist and contributing columnist for the Washington Post.
You can catch interviews from past seasons here, including recent ones with Gloria Steinem, Ron Reagan, “Daily Show” co-creator Lizz Winstead, author John Irving, actor John “Q” de Lancie and award-winning columnist Katha Pollitt. Past interviews include Julia Sweeney and Reps. Jared Huffman, Jamie Raskin, Hank Johnson and Eleanor Holmes Norton, among many other notable authors, activists, musicians, actors 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!
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