Freethought Radio

The Texas lieutenant governor and a Texas mayor are improperly mixing religion and government. We ask the Pennsylvania governor not to hand state money to churches. After hearing the freethinker Nina Simone's 1964 civil-rights protest song "Mississippi Goddam," we talk with eminent Chicago Law School professor Geoffrey R. Stone about the Supreme Court's upcoming decisions about abortion and state/church separation.

The President of the United States terrorizes fellow Americans in order to stage a Christian Nationalist photo-op. After hearing the protest song "No More" by Broadway composer Charles Strouse, we talk with author and filmmaker Jeremiah Camara about his movie Holy Hierarchy: The Religious Roots of Racism in America and about how we can address oppression and inequality in our country.

President Trump and public officials continue to pander to the Religious Right during the pandemic. FFRF legal fellow Dante Harootunian announces a state/church victory removing a Christian cross from a city mural in Illinois. After hearing the freethinking song "Let The Mystery Be" by Iris Dement, we talk with The Nation columnist Katha Pollitt about her recent column "Why Did the ERA Die? FX's 'Mrs. America' Has Some Answers."

Churches or churchgoers in at least 19 states are hypocritically suing the government for shutting down public worship services. After hearing the Stephen Foster "comfort music" song "Hard Times Come Again No More," performed remotely by Rufus Wainwright and friends, we talk with Michael Shermer, editor of Skeptic magazine and author of the new book Giving the Devil His Due, about "COVID-19 Conspiracists and Their Discontents."

The virus of religion is worsening the pandemic. We talk about religious favoritism at the national and local levels, from the U.S. Supreme Court to states and counties that put ideology over science. Then we speak with Bonya Ahmed and Imtiaz Shams, founders of the new THINK project that is producing quality videos about science, reason and humanism in many languages for countries (including Bangladesh) with little access to such information.

Guess what well-known person is a humanist? Today we talk about U.S. representatives calling for a National Day of Reason (not Prayer), FFRF's full-page ad in the New York Times, Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg's remarks on access to contraception, and a U.S. mosque broadcasting calls to prayer. Then we speak with atheist rapper Baba Brinkman and hear his songs "Stay Home!" and "Neighborhood Atheism."

Are clergy "essential" workers? FFRF is complaining about favoritism to religion during the coronavirus pandemic. Our comfort music this week is "Smile," written by the freethinking Charlie Chaplin. FFRF Director of Communications Amit Pal joins us as we talk by phone from locked-down India with Avinash Patil, the courageous executive president of the Organization to Eradicate Superstition in Maharashtra, India, whose founding president Narendra Dabholkar was murdered by religious fanatics.

Happy Earth Day To You! We report an FFRF state/church victory dealing with HUD and Freedom of Information. FFRF Director of Strategic Response Andrew Seidel describes his groundbreaking article in the Northeastern University Law Review called "Bad History, Bad Opinions." After hearing the "comfort music" song "Promise of Dawn" by Dan Barker and Juanice Charmaine, we talk with poet, essayist and author Katha Pollitt, from her NYC "epicenter" apartment, about how anti-abortionists are exploiting the pandemic to promote their ideological agenda.

God, government, and the coronavirus. Public officials are favoring religion during the COVID-19 crisis. Despite prayer, churches were damaged by Easter storms. After hearing "America's Best Christian" Betty Bowers urge churchgoers to "stay the hell at home," we talk with professor Ryan Burge about his research showing that atheists and agnostics are the most politically active "religious group" in the United States.

We are preserving social distancing between state and church. FFRF attorney Sam Grover describes our recent free-speech victory against Texas Gov. Greg Abbott who removed our winter-solstice display from the state capitol. After hearing more comfort music — including Tom Lehrer's "Vatican Rag" — we talk with eminent British philosopher and author A.C. Grayling about his new books, The History of Philosophy and The Good State.