Freethought Radio

After talking about warning labels on bibles and reporting on state/church news, we hear Brandi Carlile's new song "Church and State." FFRF Senior Litigation Counsel Sam Grover joins us to talk about our newest lawsuit with South Carolina plaintiff Jim Reel, who was denied becoming a poll worker because he could not swear "so help me God."

Harvard Professor Steven Levitsky, author of How Democracies Die, tells us about "The Great Abdication: America's Descent into Authoritarianism."

After reporting state/church victories and complaints in California, Massachusetts, Kentucky, Tennessee, Washington, Texas and Arkansas, we speak with Mother Jones national correspondent Kiera Butler about her article, God's "Blank Check": Christian Zionists Are Pouring Billions of Dollars Into Israeli Extremism.

Journalist William J. Kole tells us about his book, "In Guns We Trust: The Unholy Trinity of White Evangelicals, Politics, and Firearms." Then, we speak with historian and poet Jennifer Michael Hecht, author of "The Wonder Paradox: Embracing the Weirdness of Existence and the Poetry of Our Lives."

U.S. Rep. Zoe Lofgren, D-Calif., explains how California's Proposition 50 is trying to fight religious-right authoritarianism. Legal Fellow Kyle Steinberg describes FFRF's new federal lawsuit challenging a religious oath in South Carolina.

After reporting on state/church news, we hear the song "Friendly Atheist T-shirt" by the Freethought Band of Humanists of Minnesota. Then, we speak with University of Toronto Professor of Religion Kevin Lewis O'Neill about his book, Unforgivable: An Abusive Priest and the Church That Sent Him Abroad.

After covering state/church news, we report on the "war-mongering" Christian nationalist rhetoric at Charlie Kirk's memorial. Then, we hear distinguished attorney Richard Katskee speaking at the Scopes Trial Centennial conference about his role in the 2005 lawsuit in Dover, Pa., defending the teaching of evolution in the public schools.

We celebrate a court victory in Arkansas, where a federal court issued a second preliminary injunction blocking a state law requiring the posting of the Ten Commandments in public school classrooms. We criticize a "faith-based disaster recovery event" at the National Mall in which Housing and Urban Development Secretary Scott Turner proclaimed that "faith is back in our government." We speak with Rep. Mark Pocan about the whitewashing of history in the wake of Christian nationalist Charlie Kirk's murder and the ever-growing importance of the separation between church and state.

Christian nationalists in government are ramping up the rhetoric. We report how FFRF is protesting the White House "America Prays" initiative and a bill to put "In God We Trust" on federal buildings. Then, we speak with journalist Haley Cohen Gilliland, author of A Flower Traveled in My Blood: The Incredible True Story of the Grandmothers Who Fought to Find a Stolen Generation of Children, about right-wing Argentine dictator Jorge Rafael Videla, whose government kidnapped, tortured and killed thousands of protesters and stole hundreds of their babies to be raised with "Western Christian values."

We report on state/church victories and challenges in Arkansas, South Carolina, Texas, Morocco, Minnesota and Florida. Then, we hear Pulitzer Prize-winning historian Ed Larson (Summer for the Gods) tell us the story of the 1925 Scopes Trial, the "Trial of the Century," pitting science against religion in Dayton, Tenn., 100 years ago.

We are not retreating from our lawsuit challenging the Ten Commandments in Texas public schools, in spite of the Texas attorney general's warning that he won't back down from posting them. After covering state/church news in Texas, Arkansas, Minnesota and Colorado, we hear Rachel Maddow's warning about authoritarianism. Then, we speak with April Ajoy, author of the book Star-Spangled Jesus: Leaving Christian Nationalism and Finding A True Faith.

After we cover state/church news around the country, FFRF Senior Litigation Counsel Sam Grover recounts FFRF's recent victory stopping the Ten Commandments from being posted in Texas public schools. Then, journalist Mary Annette Pember, a citizen of the Red Cliff Band of Wisconsin Ojibwe, describes her new book Medicine River: A Story of Survival and the Legacy of Indian Boarding Schools.

FFRF Legal Director Patrick Elliott tells us some breaking good news about a Christian nationalist legal attack against FFRF by Oklahoma state Superintendent Ryan Walters. Then, we'll hear a chilling warning about encroaching Christian fascism by author Katherine Stewart.

We announce a great victory from the Arkansas courts blocking the state from displaying the Ten Commandments in every public school classroom. After reporting state/church news in California, West Virginia, Iowa and West Point Military Academy, we hear the Tom Lehrer song "I Got it from Agnes" and the "1919 Influenza Blues" by Essie Ray Jenkins. Then, we listen to the talk given at the Scopes Trial Centennial last month by Brenda Wineapple, author of Keeping the Faith: God, Democracy, and the Trial that Riveted a Nation.

Incursions of Christian nationalism at the federal and state level are increasing, and we are fighting back. We report a quick legal victory removing a Ten Commandments monument from an Illinois county courthouse. Then, we remember the lives of two precious freethinkers who died this month: long-time FFRF member Dick Hewetson, an Episcopal priest turned gay/atheist activist, who died at age 95; and satirical songwriter Tom Lehrer ("Vatican Rag"), who died at age 97.

This week on Freethought Radio, guest hosts Ryan Jayne and Leo Costello talk about a Christian state representative in Texas who's speaking out against a new law that would place the Ten Commandments in every public school in the state. Plus, we listen to debates featuring FFRF Co-Presidents Annie Laurie Gaylor and Dan Barker as they address the questions: "Is religion a force for good?" and "Can religion cure the loneliness epidemic?"

We report on state/church violations in the White House, Department of Homeland Security, Department of Defense and Walter Reed National Military Medical Center. Then, FFRF Rapid Response Attorney Chris Line tells us what it means now that the IRS has announced that places of worship can endorse political candidates. Finally, we speak with distinguished Dartmouth historian Randall Balmer, who is an Episcopal priest, about his new book, America's Best Idea: The Separation of Church and State.

We criticize Texas Governor Gregg Abbott for using the flood devastation as an opportunity to preach his personal religious views. We point out that in spite of the IRS decision not to punish two churches for politicking from the pulpit, the Johnson Amendment prohibiting such action is still the law of the land. After honoring the life of our friend, the Pulitzer Prize-winning political cartoonist Steve Benson, who died this week at age 71, we talk with attorney Kat Grant about their Freethought Now "Pride Month" blog: "Don't make sacrifices on the altar of authoritarianism."

FFRF announces another Ten Commandments lawsuit, this one in Texas. After covering state/church news at the federal, state and local levels, we talk with Joe Gerstein, M.D., founder of SMART Recovery, a secular program for dealing with alcoholism and other addictions that is based on science and evidence, not faith.

We discuss the Supreme Court decision allowing states to defund Planned Parenthood and we decry many attempts by Christian nationalists to force religious conformity on a diverse nation. After celebrating the life of the irreverent comedian, actor, filmmaker, songwriter and playwright Mel Brooks (who turns 99 this month), we hear opening statements in two debates in the United Kingdom that FFRF co-presidents participated in. We hear the Opening Statement by Dan Barker in a debate at Oxford University on the topic: "This House Believes God Is a Delusion." Then we hear the Opening Statement by Annie Laurie Gaylor at Cambridge University on the topic: "This House Believes Religion and Feminism Are Incompatible."