Freethought Radio

Evolutionary psychologist Steven Pinker, the Johnstone Family Professor of Psychology at Harvard, is the featured guest, discussing both his nontheistic views, and his concerns about the current administration's attacks against science in order to placate the religious right. "Theocracy Alert" discusses the Rev. Wright-Rev. Hagee fallout on the presidential campaigns. The hosts discuss the problem with Easter, and also pay tribute to nonbeliever Arthur C. Clarke, who died this week.

Freethought Radio's Theocracy Alert discusses the unseemly mix of religion and politics in presidential actions and the presidential race. The former reverend Dan Barker's Pagan Pulpit examines the biblical role in sanctifying torture here on earth, and Dan, with co-host Annie Laurie Gaylor, in a segment on "being good without god," addresses the tired old myth that nonbelievers are immoral. The rejection of dogma by Albert Einstein is featured in Freethinkers Almanac.

Freethought Radio devotes its entire program to an interview with evolutionary biologist Richard Dawkins, author of the bestselling blockbuster, The God Delusion.

Freethought Radio discusses exciting new statistics from a major study released this week showing that the nonreligious are the 4th largest sector by religious (or nonreligious) identification in the United States today. Guest is Greg Smith, Pew Forum on Religion. The show also examines the role that women freethinkers have played in making women's history, in honor of women's history month.

Freethought Radio reports on a state/church violation involving a city with a mission to "strive to serve God," plays a fun TV interview of Julia Sweeney ("Letting Go of God") and interviews Christoph Wilcke, a researcher with Human Rights Watch about its campaign to save the life of a Saudi Arabian woman who has been convicted of a nonexistent crime: witchcraft. The show also celebrates the birthdate and achievements of freethinker W.E.B. DuBois, cofounder of the NAACP, and play an ode to the coming of spring and peace, "One Sweet Morning," by lyricist E.Y. Harburg, author of "Rhymes for the Irreverent".

A "war of the billboards" brewing in rural Pennsylvania over the Foundation's "Imagine No Religion" billboard will be discussed, and a religious billboard defaming atheists as "hating America" will be debunked. The special guest is a local atheist from the area who hosted the billboard to counter the ubiquitous religion on the roadside in Chambersburg, Penn. Host Dan Barker will talk about the "anti-Carnival" in Brazil he took part in, as an invited guest representing American freethought. Tune in for some other surprises.

In honor of Darwin's birthday (Feb. 12), Freethought Radio interviews film director, screenwriter and author Matthew Chapman, the great-great grandson of Charles Darwin. Chapman's book, "Forty Days and Forty Nights," is a personal report on the Dover "intellligent design" trial, and "Trial of a Monkey: An Accidental Memoir" recounts his pilgrimage to Dayton, Tenn., home of the Scopes trial.

After dissecting Pres. Bush's call upon Congress this week to make the "faith-based initiative" permanent, Freethought Radio speaks with Ellery Schempp, whose protest as a 16-year-old high school student yielded an enduring Supreme Court decision in 1963 barring bible devotionals from public schools. Ellery, a distinguished retired scientist, remains a passionate advocate of the separation between church and state. Freethought Radio's Freethinker's Almanac also takes a quick look at illustrious freethinkers born the first week in February. Note longtime listeners: This is a fresh interview with Ellery Schempp.

A relaxing Freethought Radio looks at the irreverency and artistry of one of America's most revered songwriters, the atheist Yip Harburg ("Somewhere Over the Rainbow"). Retired scientist and engaging unbeliever Ernie Harburg talks about his own rejection of religion, the progressive Yip Harburg Foundation, and his father's "Rhymes for the Irreverent." Tantalizing clips of many of Yip's famous songs airs during this new interview, and Ernie reads some of his father's freethought poems. The show also features a "Theocracy Alert" update.

The Nation's "Subject to Debate" columnist, author, poet, feminist and atheist Katha Pollitt, returns to Freethought Radio to talk about her latest book, "Learning to Drive," the cultural politics of abortion on this pre-Roe v. Wade anniversary show, and her views on the state of freethought and religion in politics. The show also features a new Freethinkers Almanac and Theocracy Alert.