Freethought Radio

In the News:  Freethought Radio comments on international blasphemy prosecutions, UN committee evaluation of Vatican failings, and asks you to do your bit and buy Girl Scout cookies! (Antiabortionists have called boycott.)  Birthdates  honored: Charles Darwin, Philip Appleman and Phyllis Rose.  Song:  God’s Grandeur, words by Phil Appleman, music by Dan Barker.  Guest:  Patrick Elliott talks about...

IN THE NEWS: FFRF files an amicus brief in the Hobby Lobby Supreme Court lawsuit challenging the Affordable Healthcare Act, and the government appeals FFRF’s federal court “Parish Exemption” victory to the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals. We honor the life of folksinger Pete Seeger, and then talk with artist and filmmaker Scott Burdick about his new film, “In Reason We Trust.” N THE NEWS: FFRF files...

In The News: public vouchers to religious schools, and revelations of hundreds of priests defrocked for raping children. We hear some of the music of nonbelieving composer Jerome Kern, then we talk with Valerie Tarico about her book Trusting Doubt: A Former Evangelical Looks at Old Beliefs in a New Light.

What do "Winnie the Pooh" and the movie "Saving Mr. Banks" have to do with freethought? We will give you two different reasons. Then we talk with New York filmmaker and photographer Chris Johnson about his new gorgeous book of photography, A Better Life: 100 Atheists Speak Out on Joy & Meaning in a World Without God.

Find out which famous singer/entertainer you may not have known is an atheist, and also which rock band leader you may not have known is an atheist. This week we talk about the religious war against women, and then interview science blogger and professor PZ Myers about his new book,  The Happy Atheist.

Baby, it’s cold outside! For the first show of the year, we talk about ObamaCare and religion, Justice Sotomayor and the nuns, vandalism of freethought solstice displays, and the freethinking views of author Zora Neale Hurston. After hearing the song “Baby, It’s Cold Outside,” composed by freethinking songwriter Frank Loesser, we talk with Florida freethought activist Gary Whittenberger about his...

 Happy 2014! We stop and rest at the end of the year, and listen to our selection of favorite freethought music, including Yip Harburg, Burton Lane, Tom Lehrer, Kristen Lems, George and Ira Gershwin, Joe Hill, Philip Appleman, Cole Porter, and Frank Loesser. We end with a Scottish version of freethinker Robert Burns' "Auld Lang Syne."

Away With The Manger! The Winter Solstice is the reason for the season. After hearing news about FFRF's seasonal displays, countering nativity scenes and religious messages on public property, we devote the show to our favorite freethought seasonal music, including Tim Minchin, Tom Lehrer, Roy Zimmerman, South Park's "Merry Frickin Christmas," FFRF's musical albums, and, of course, the agnostic Tc...

It’s that time of year -- for nativity scene violations! We report on a couple of FFRF creche complaints (out of 60+ so far this year), then then we talk with Tom Cara, director of FFRF’s Metropolitan Chicago chapter, about the large atheist ‘A’ and the “nativity of the Bill of Rights” his group erected in downtown Daley Plaza. On the second half of the show, we interview Linda LaScola, one of the...

FFRF wins major federal court victory! Also fifty-five freethought billboards in Sacramento! We talk with Judy Saint of the Sacramento chapter of the Freedom From Religion Foundation about the many local nonbelievers whose faces and phrases appear on billboards all over the country. Then we talk with FFRF’s attorney Rich Bolton and retired IRS attorney Robert Baty about FFRF’s significant federal...

This week we celebrate Thanksgiving with gratitude in the face of the almost impossible fragility of human existence, and listen to Shelley Segal’s “Apocalyptic Love Song." We hear journalist Jamila Bey, of “Sex, Politics and Religion: SPAR with Jamila Bey,” addressing FFRF’s convention. Then student activist Zack Kopplin tells us how he is battling creationism in Louisiana.

Three presidents! This week we play President Obama reading Abraham Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address without saying “under God,” and then hear John F. Kennedy’s famous speech about keeping state and church separate. Then we talk with North Carolina investigative TV reporter Stuart Watson about pastors who abuse the IRS “Housing Allowance,” and have other “financial questions” in their ministries.

After hearing a fun news story about our billboard in Janesville, Wisconsin that says “Enjoy Life Now: There is no afterlife,” we dissect the oral arguments heard in the Supreme Court "Greece vs. Galloway” case dealing with prayer at city council. Then we talk with a legal legend, a true hero of freethought, the plucky Nebraska Senator Ernie Chambers (who has served since 1971), whose 1983 lawsuit...

This week we announce FFRF's new lawsuit in state court, challenging official city prayer and City Chaplain in Pismo Beach, California. We hear Dan Savage's "Emperor Has No Clothes" award acceptance speech. Then we talk with Peter Boghossian, author of the new best-seller A Manual For Creating Atheists.

Happy Birthday Annie Laurie! We hear the Scottish ballad "Annie Laurie," then listen to a 1980 interview of Annie Laurie Gaylor (who was 24) talking about the harm of religion to women. We also celebrate the birthday of Bad Religion's Greg Graffin by playing the punk-rock tune "God's Love." Then we talk with Jesse Galef, Communications Director of the Secular Student Alliance, about the difficulti...

Freethought Radio will play an excerpt of Arizona State Rep. Juan Mendez' Emperor Has No Clothes Award acceptance speech at the recent national FFRF convention. Mendez is the only "out" atheist in elected state government and talks about why he gave a freethought invocation before the Arizona State Legislature last spring and what happened when he did. Candace R. Gorham, author of the new book, "T...

Julia Sweeney says "OMG, there is no God!" on FFRF's Times-Square billboard, while Oprah Winfrey insults atheist swimmer Diana Nyad by claiming nonbelievers cannot experience "awe." We laugh at the mixing of religion and government with the government shutdown, hear the brave 16-year-old Malala Yousafzai defending education as an antidote to religious violence. Then we talk with scientist Richard...

This week we celebrate "Freethought Day," the anniversary of the October 12, 1692 end of the Salem Witch Trials, and the October 12, 1872 birthday of freethinking English composer Ralph Vaughan Williams. After "FFRF in the News," we talk with professor Brian Bolton, who has endowed FFRF's graduate student essay contest, about the inefficacy of prayer and the myth that America is a "Christian natio...

  36th Annual FFRF Convention wrap-up. Announcing Steven Pinker as new Honorary President of FFRF. Tennessee PTA prayer nixed. Five freethinking composers with birthdays this week! This week we talk with Aisha Goss, Deputy Director of the Secular Coalition of America.

"Why does all my money have to say 'In God We Trust'?" This week we challenge the motto on U.S. currency as well as on license plates. We hear a young Ellery Schempp in 1963 being interviewed by Eric Sevareid on CBS News about the historic Abington v. Schempp decision by the Supreme Court outlawing bible reading in public schools. Then we talk with Guy P. Harrison, author of the book, 50 Simple Qu...

FFRF tells high court to stop city prayer. We celebrate the equinox and end the summer by celebrating the birthday of nonbelieving composer George Gershwin, who wrote "Summertime" and "It Ain't Necessarily So." Then we discuss the amicus filed by FFRF in the Greece, NY, city-prayer case before the Supreme Court, with our two staff attorneys who drafted the brief: Patrick Elliott and Andrew Seidel.

INFIDELS! We hear the only known recording of journalist H. L. Mencken, admitting he was an agnostic, commenting on his coverage of the 1925 Scopes "monkey trial." Then we hear Ayaan Hirsi Ali, the ex-Muslim Somali author of Infidel and Nomad, give her acceptance speech of FFRF's "Emperor Has No Clothes" Award.

We stop football prayer and expose Hobby Lobby’s “crafty” and misleading ads about the founding fathers. Then we talk with Dan Savage, author and founder of It Gets Better, about his new book,  American Savage: Insights, Slights, and Fights on Faith, Sex, Love, and Politics.

"The bases are loaded," as a federal judge this week gave FFRF the green light to proceed in our 3rd ongoing lawsuit against the IRS. On the second half of the show, we interview Joe Muto, a former employee of Fox News and an associate producer of The O'Reilley Factor, author of the new book An Atheist in the Foxhole: A Liberal's Eight-Year Odyssey Inside the Heart of the Right-Wing Media. (Photo...

State/church whistleblowers We celebrate the 93rd anniversary of Women's Equality Day and the 50th anniversary of Martin Luther King's "I Have a Dream" speech. We talk about FFRF's state/church activism, including this week's federal court victory upholding standing to proceed in our IRS electioneering lawsuit. Then we talk with Hawaii state/church activists Holly Huber and Mitch Kahle who, as whi...