The Freedom From Religion Foundation’s TV show focuses this week on the “Forgotten Founder” Thomas Paine — and a planned monument to him in the nation’s capital.
A pair of leading experts are interviewed on “Freethought Matters” about the revolutionary patriot and freethinker. The two talk about how they, FFRF and others have helped pass a law to authorize a long overdue national monument to Paine in Washington, D.C. — and about how you can help.
Margaret Downey is a well-known freethought activist who is president of the Freethought Society and president of the Thomas Paine Memorial Association, which is the group Congress has authorized to erect a monument to Paine in D.C. Zenos Frudakis, who will sculpt the Paine monument, is perhaps best known for his Freedom sculpture in downtown Philadelphia. Some viewers might recall that Frudakis was the subject of a “Freethought Matters” show last year, recorded on site in his studio.
“As a freethinker, Thomas Paine’s reputation was under question mostly by religious people who didn’t like that,” Downey explains to “Freethought Matters” co-hosts Dan Barker and Annie Laurie Gaylor about why he has been largely forgotten. “He questioned the bible. He wrote the book The Age of Reason, and he did take on religious beliefs and the figures that represent the authority of religion.”
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 8:30 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 interviews with legendary paleontologist and outspoken atheist Donald C. Johanson, the discoverer of “Lucy,” and author and attorney Marci Hamilton, a critic of extreme religious liberty, 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!
