This week’s episode of the Freedom From Religion Foundation’s TV show features a longtime investigator of the Christian right discussing her latest bombshell exposé work.
Katherine Stewart is a leading authority on the politics of Christian nationalism. A previous “Freethought Matters” episode had Stewart talking about her “The Power Worshipers: Inside the Dangerous Rise of Religious Nationalism.” And the show has also spotlighted her role in last year’s documentary called “God and Country,” co-produced by Rob Reiner, of which she’s executive producer. Hot off the press is Stewart’s new book called “Money, Lies, and God: Inside the Movement to Destroy American Democracy” — a tour de force in which she follows the money and leaders behind anti-democratic and Christian nationalist efforts. By the way, Stewart will be speaking at the Scopes Centennial Conference, co-sponsored by FFRF and the Center for Inquiry, in July in Chattanooga, Tenn., as well as at the 48th annual national FFRF convention in Myrtle Beach, S.C., in October.
“The intellectuals of the New Right provide a lot of the ideology and support of this radical move. It’s their voices that make this into a genuinely anti-democratic movement,” Stewart tells “Freethought Matters” co-hosts Dan Barker and Annie Laurie Gaylor. “And they have formed an important alliance with Christian nationalist leaders. So this helps provide a certain amount of cover for them and allows them to present the movement to the rank and file as one that’s intended to preserve some kind of special heritage and to protect so-called real Americans from the threats that they believe we face.”
You can learn more about these nefarious forces by watching the entire interview on FFRF’s YouTube channel now. New shows go up every Thursday.
“Freethought Matters” airs this weekend 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.
Upcoming shows include an interview with Mubarak Bala, who was recently released after serving five years for the “crime” of blasphemy in Nigeria, with Felicia Martin, executive director of Texas Freedom Network, and with sociologist and atheist Ryan Cragun. You can catch interviews from earlier this season and from previous seasons here, including with Gloria Steinem, Ron Reagan, author John Irving, actor John “Q” de Lancie and award-winning columnist Katha Pollitt.
Please tune in to “Freethought Matters” . . . because freethought matters. 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!
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.
