Freethought Radio

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 birth...

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 "an...

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...

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 song...

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.

Psychology Today's feature, "An Atheist in the Pulpit" (Jan/Feb 08), about ministers who lose their faith, inspired this week's show. Radio cohost Dan Barker, a former fundamentalist minister, as well as Freedom From Religion Foundation member Tom Reed, a former Roman Catholic priest, talk about their loss of faith stories. Both men are featured in the Psychology Today article. Tune in to hear Dan...

Freethought Radio looks at end-of-the-year threats to women by Islamists, talks with Taku Ronsman, a plaintiff in the Freedom From Religion Foundation's newest lawsuit against a city-displayed creche in Green Bay, Wis., and consults Anne Wiseman, chief legal director of Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, over CREW's recent federal court victory forcing the White House to release...

This week's show offers a respite from seasonal state/church conflicts and religious intrusions in politics. Relax as the hosts feature secular songwriters and freethought music!

Tis the season . . . for state/church violations and this week's program briefly updates seasonal violations, including an interview with a brave county board supervisor, Robert SinKlair of Sauk County, Wis., who is opposing the nativity scene at his county courthouse. An NBC camera crew filmed the segments dealing with the "real reason of the season" and seasonal state/church violations for a (br...

This week's radio show parses Mitt Romney's "faith in America" speech, reports on seasonal state/church entanglements, and features interviews with two recent victors in the legal battle to keep church and state separate. Guest Ray Ideus talks about his victory this week over religion at the Spokane police department. Kay Staley talks about her major victory at the Supreme Court level, removing a...

Just in time for the exciting debut this weekend of The Golden Compass film, the children's movie spectacular of the season, is Freethought Radio's interview with the fascinating Philip Pullman, the British children's novelist and nonbeliever who wrote the book the headline-making movie is based on. The program also reviews some timely developments, good and bad, for freethought and the separation...

This week's show features an interview with the irrepressible litigant Michael Newdow, whose latest challenges of "under God" in the Pledge of Allegiance, and of the motto "In God We Trust," will be argued before the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. The show also debuts teasers of Mike's funny "solstice" rewrites of traditional Christmas carols, from his new "Solstice Classic" CD. Also appeari...

This week's show features a deferred interview with SPC Jeremy Hall, who was threatened with "fragging" (a "friendly fire" murder) after suing the Pentagon for religious discrimination. Hall sued after he was threatened with military retaliation for organizing a freethought meeting at his base in Iraqi. "Theocracy Alert" looks at timely violations, and the birthdate of nontheist composer Scott Jop...

This week's show is a freethought potpouri! Nation columnist Katha Pollitt reads her recent column, "Onward, Secular Soldiers!" Columnist Stephanie Salter talks about a humorous new website set up to record hypocrisy by drivers with "In God We Trust" license plates in Indiana. Dan and Annie Laurie discuss the upcoming "Golden Compass" movie, starring Nicole Kidman, based on the first book in athei...

Comedian and Saturday Night Live alum Julia Sweeney returns to Freethought Radio for a new interview about her "beautiful loss of faith story," and her monolog, "Letting Go of God," soon to be released as a film!

Dan and Annie Laurie play sound bites from GOP candidates genuflecting before the Religious Right. They also discuss the monopolization of words like "morality" and "values" by the Christian right with nonbeliever Eric Zorn, columnist for the Chicago Tribune.

Irreverent Pulitzer Prize-winning editorial cartoonist Steve Benson of the Arizona Republic, who is the grandson of Ezra Taft Benson, the late president of the Mormon church, talks about why he left that church in a highly-publicized break and is now an atheist. Also, attorney Robert R. Teirnan talks about FFRF's newest federal lawsuit, challenging the promotion of churchgoing by a school district...

In honor of "Nobel Week," Freethought Radio talks with Paul D. Boyer, Nobel Laureate in Chemistry, 1997, about why he is an atheist, as well as discussing statistics revealing that the overwhelming number of elite scientists are nonbelievers. Prof. Boyer also talks about his support of death with dignity in the face of church opposition to physician-assisted suicide. Photo by Brent Nicastro. (MP3,...

An interview with Ron Reagan about his atheism. Reagan, a radio host and TV commentator, is the son of Ronald and Nancy Reagan. Also featuring 17 year old Emma Martens, a high school senior who is leading a walkout of students in Boulder, Colo., to protest "under God" in the Pledge of Allegiance. And a discussion about the Freethought Renaissance--how unbelief and atheism are increasing in the Uni...

Freethought Radio's featured guest is Christopher Hitchens, author of the bestselling "God Is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything." Freethought Radio is the first nationally-broadcast radio show from the secular point of view! Freethought Radio broadcasts weekly. The show offers programming for nonreligious listeners, as well as countering the religious-right domination of our public airwav...

Debra Sweet, whose statement to Pres. Nixon as a 19-year-old made international headlines, talks about her continuing activism with the groups Refuse & Resist, and World Can't Wait, both of which are concerned with attacks on the separation between church and state. The show also marks the birthdate of celebrated composer George Gershwin, and airs a current "Theocracy Alert." (MP3, 50 min, 45.7 MB...

Two timely guests: Nebraska State Senator Ernie Chambers talks about his slightly tongue-in-cheek lawsuit, Chambers v. God, commanding headlines this week! And schoolteacher Alan Ginsberg, who teaches third grade in Madison, Wis., talks about the complaint he and the Freedom From Religion Foundation have launched over the distribution of "Jesus Flyers" in Madison public schools. (MP3, 44 min, 40.8...

Jim Haught, author of Holy Hatred, Holy Horror, Honest Doubt: Essays on Atheist and editor in chief of the Charleston Gazette, W.Va., is the guest. There is an important announcement about Freethought Radio going national, and a clip of comedian Kathy Griffin, whose irreverent remarks were censored at some of the Emmy awards. The show also features Irving Berlin's revue song from the 1920s, "Pack...