Freethought Radio

This week's show will make you laugh and will make you groan over the many religious violations in public schools. We'll talk to FFRF staff attorney Stephanie Schmitt about how she is working hard to protect school children from illegal proselytizing.

The Virginia ACLU and FFRF are suing to remove the Ten Commandments from Virginia schools. We'll talk about the suit with ACLU attorney Rebecca Glenberg. Then, don't miss our interview with an Orthodox monk who lost his faith. Help us keep state and church separate at a special time, 10 a.m. on the Mic 92.1 FM.

Reading, writing, arithmetic and religion in public schools? Not if FFRF has its way.  After updating you on legal skirmishes we'll catch up with secular studies expert Phil Zuckerman. He'll announce the very exciting updates in the first ever Secular Studies department. It's about time.

Are hurricanes and earthquakes really acts of god? Why worship such a diety? We'll talk about more state/church violations in public schools. We talk with a brand new atheist and ex-minister who just left a pentecostal church in Louisana. Jerry DeWitt talks about why life is better without god.

Its our back to school special. We'll report on school/church entanglements that FFRF has already nipped in the bud. Then we will talk to atheist high school teacher, James Corbett, whose academic freedom was upheld this month by an appeals court.

Learn about FFRFs victory against CareNet in Wisconsin. Lead ACLU attorney Matt Douglas will talk about their victory stopping a scheme in Colorado to use public money for religious schools.

We'll talk about FFRF's suit against Texas Gov. Rick Perry with state/church activist Kay Staley. Then we'll talk with the fascinating Frank Schaeffer, the fallen son of the religious right icon Francis Schaeffer, who criticizes the bible and the religious right in his new book, Sex, Mom, and God: How the Bible's Strange Take on Sex Led to Crazy Politics

Ash, one of FFRF's outstanding summer legal interns, will talk about his work for FFRF, and how he became the atheist son of a Shiite father from Iraq and a Roman Catholic mom from Iowa! Brave Rhode Island high school student Jessica Ahlquist, 16, who will receive a $1,000 student activist award at FFRF's October national convention in Hartford, Conn., will talk about why she became a plaintiff in an ongoing federal lawsuit against a religious painting at her high school ... and how she lost a few "friends."

An update on FFRF vs. Gov. Rick Perry will air, along with an interview of Larry Beinhart, author of Salvation Boulevard, a mystery- turned-into-new-movie starring Pierce Brosman and Greg Kinnear, a study of faith vs. atheism wrapped inside a comic thriller.

Hey Rick Perry! Get off your knees and get to work. After discussing FFRF v. Perry, FFRF's newest federal lawsuit, the hosts talk with Matthew Chapman, screenwriter and director of the new movie with an atheist protagonist, The Ledge. Chapman, an author, is the great-great grandson of Charles Darwin.

Beware prayer by pious politicians! FFRF sues Gov. Rick Perry

Scientific American columnist and author Michael Shermer discusses his new book, The Believing Brain: From Ghosts and Gods to Politics and Conspiracies -- How We Construct Beliefs and Reinforce Them as Truths. The cohosts talk about the successful 2011 July gathering at Lake Hypatia, hosted by FFRF's chapter, the Alabama Freethought Association, and other FFRF news.

Dylan Galos discusses his billboard that shocked a church so much, it had to be taken down. Sara Paretsky talks about her radical roots growing up in a godless household.

Evolution wins at the "Miss USA" pageant. Patrick Semple, former Church of Ireland (Anglican) clergyman explains why he is now an atheist, and why he was known as "the rector who wouldn't pray for rain."

Guests: Joe (Ojo) Taylor, Grammy Award winning Christian songwriter turned agnostic and Philip Appleman, Poet, Author (New book: Perfidious Proverbs)

The show will also celebrate Tony-nominated "The Book of Mormon" songbook. Victor Stenger says the universe was not designed for us.

Topic: Atheists in the Pulpit Did you know there are atheists and agnostics in the pulpit? Freethought Radio will announce the new Clergy Project, promoted by Dawkins, Dennett, Barker and a contingent of former ministers who are now atheists, to help nonbelieving clergy leave the pulpit. We'll interview "Chris," a nontheist "in the closet" who is a senior pastor at a Southern evangelical church. Also featured: Too much religion in Minnesota politics, and a sneak preview of "Book of Mormon" music.

Topic: Secular activism in the bible belt Damon Fowler talks about how things got ugly in his small Louisiana town and school when he courageously protested illegal graduation prayers last week. Oklahoma native and atheist Rhonda Dorle, local coordinator for FFRF's Tulsa "Out of the Closet" billboard campaign, talks about that exciting and positive new campaign.

Find out why Stephen Hawking and FFRF think the afterlife is a fairy tale. We talk with a brave high school student who wants to stop graduation prayers. Our guest is Janet Heimlich, author of Breaking Their Will, which looks at religious abuse and mistreatment of children.

Tune in - LAST SHOW before the rapture! Benjamin Burchall, a former preacher, shares his experiences with freethought in Atlanta.