Our courts and our democracy are not laughing matters but the Freedom From Religion Foundation’s TV show guest happens to be a humorist who is also a legal maven.
Meagan Hatcher-Mays, an attorney and democracy expert, was previously director of democracy policy at Indivisible, counsel at Demand Justice and an aide to Rep. Eleanor Holmes Norton. She has appeared on MSNBC and other television networks and has been featured in news outlets such as the New York Times, the Washington Post, CBS News and Vox. Hatcher-Mays and bestselling writer Lindy (“Shrill”) West have a humorous podcast on NPR called “Text Me Back.” And Hatcher-Mays is the newest board member of FFRF Action Fund, the lobbying arm of FFRF.
“What we’re all noticing is that it’s not even so much religion, but people who are weaponizing religion to get the government and the courts to do their bidding for them,” Hatcher-Mays tells “Freethought Matters” co-hosts Dan Barker and Annie Laurie Gaylor. “And I think if you look at what’s happening to the Supreme Court, this pull of the court rightward is being funded by a network of people who have very deep ties to not just the Catholic Church, but very extreme right-wing versions of Catholicism.”
Alas, the number of stations broadcasting “Freethought Matters” has reduced this year due to budgetary constraints. If you don’t live in any of the marquee towns 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” now airs in:
- Chicago, WPWR-CW (Ch. 50), Sundays at 9 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.
- New York City, WPIX-IND (Ch. 11), Sundays at 10 a.m.
- San Francisco, KTVU/KICU-IND (on broadcast Ch. 36 and Cable 6), Sundays at 10 a.m.
- Washington, D.C., WDCW-CW (Ch. 50 or Ch. 23 or Ch. 3), Sundays at 8 a.m.
(To view details on channel variations depending on your provider, click here.)
Upcoming shows include an interview with Secular Coalition for America Executive Director Steven Emmert and an episode that spotlights a recent debate Dan Barker and Phil Zuckerman had with religionists at Oxford. You can catch interviews from previous seasons here, including 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 also 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!
