Freethought Radio

Tidings of great joy: the bipartisan bill to approve a Thomas Paine memorial in DC is likely to pass this session. After hearing irreverent holiday music by Roy Zimmerman and Tom Lehrer, we talk with professor Cavan Concannon, co-author with Jill Hicks-Keeton of the new book Does Scripture Speak For Itself? The Museum of the Bible and the Politics of Interpretation.

We have a news-packed show this week, with congressional testimony, lawsuit updates, and state/church complaints. We celebrate Bill of Rights Day (Dec. 15) and the Winter Solstice (Dec. 21) by reporting "solstice/bill of rights" displays being erected around the country, and by hearing Dan Barker's seasonal song "Solstice Tribute." Then we speak with Australian reporter Elle Hardy about her new book, Beyond Belief: How Pentecostal Christianity is Taking Over the World.

Tis the season to report on state/church entanglements, as well as state/church victories. This week we listen to professor Anthea Butler, author of White Evangelical Racism: The Politics of Morality in America and contributor to the 1619 Project, deliver her "Do Mess With Texas" speech at FFRF's 45th annual convention in San Antonio, warning us about religious threats to democracy.

We honor Dr. Anthony Fauci, a secular humanist who is retiring at the end of this month as the Chief Medical Advisor for the President of the United States, by hearing Dan Barker's new song, "Thank you, Fauci." Then FFRF's Director of Governmental Affairs Mark Dann recaps our many successes fighting Christian nationalism in the 117th Congress and the challenges that await us in the upcoming 118th Congress in 2023–2024.

On our Thanksgiving show, we give thanks where thanks is due. We hear the new song "Let's All Give Thanks," written by Dan Barker and sung by Tahira Clayton and the Godless Gospel singers. Then FFRF Senior Counsel Patrick Elliott talks about the amicus brief FFRF has filed in the "303 Creative" Supreme Court case about a Christian business owner who wants to discriminate against LGBTQ customers.

This week we talk about the novelist John Irving, Christian supremacy, and the Respect For Marriage Act. After hearing the debut of the Godless Gospel song "I Don't Need Jesus," we talk with scientist and author John C. Wathey about his new book, The Phantom God: What Neuroscience Reveals about the Compulsion to Believe.

After hearing the good news (and a little not-so-good-news) after the November election, we listen to the freethinking Irving Berlin song "Pack Up Your Sins (And Go To The Devil in Hades)" 100 years after its 1922 debut on Broadway. Then we speak with playwright Marin Gazzaniga and qualitative researcher Linda LaScola, producers of the new off-Broadway play "The Unbelieving," about clergy who no longer believe in God.

We hit some of the highlights of FFRF's 45th annual convention in San Antonio, Texas, including welcoming remarks by U.S. Representatives Jared Huffman(CA) and Jamie Raskin(MD). Then we listen in to the live performance at that convention of the world premiere of the Godless Gospel musical group.

Iranian-born Maryam Namazie, with "Ex-Muslims of Britain," describes the dire situation in Iran where protesters of the patriarchal regime are being persecuted and killed. She also tells us how we can help. Then we speak with Harvard student Aidan Scully, who writes a secular column in the student newspaper The Harvard Crimson that combats Christian Nationalism and advocates for state/church separation.

We hear a sneak preview of the Godless Gospel song "You Don't Need to Be Ashamed," written by Andre Forbes, soloists DeAngela Morant and Rogiérs Fibby, with Godless Gospel singers in the chorus. Then we speak with New Hampshire state Representative Sherry Dutzy, who formed the Secular Values Legislative Caucus in her state and who is on the board of the new national Association of Secular Elected Officials.