Freethought Radio

We talk about freethought up north and freethought down south. We'll talk with the leader of a Minnesota chapter and a Mexican atheist Gerardo Romera Quijada "Ramas". We'll talk about the first national atheist conference in Mexico where FFRF will be participating.

We review Wisconsin's Lt. Gov's historic welcome speech to the 33rd annual FFRF national convention in Madison, Wis. Rep. Pete Stark accepts the Emperor Has No Clothes Award as Congresses'only out non-believer. Melody Moore,  soprano opera singer, shares why FFRF is special to her.

TOPIC: KEEPING RELIGION OUT OF PUBLIC SCHOOLS FFRF staff attorney Rebecca Markert reports on the prayer in school violation FFRF has contested that is turning Daisy Soddy School District and the rest of Tennessee upside down. This year's Thomas Jefferson Youth Activist Awardee Eric Workman talks about why, as class valedictorian, he sued his public school district over illegal commencement prayers, and how he won.

FFRF unveils the "Out of the Closet" bus sign and billboard campaign for atheists and agnostics. Atheist and comedian extrodinaire Julia Sweeney previews her speech at the FFRF convention next weekend.

Atheism pops up in pop culture as the co-hosts discuss the hit tv show 'Glee.' Veteran journalist and Isthmus editor Bill Lueders discusses his latest book Watchdog: 25 years of muckraking and rabble-rousing.

The co-hosts remember John Lennon. Dan and Annie Laurie speak with Madison cartoonist and illustrator of People's History of American Empire (co-authored by Howard Zinn). Mike talks about his exhibit at the FFRF national convention in Madison over Halloween weekend. The exhibit shows the perils of living in "One nation under god."

Topic: Supreme Challenges In a sneak preview for FFRF's upcoming national convention, convention speaker Linda Greenhouse, the Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist who covered the Supreme Court for The New York Times for 30 years, will talk about her new book on Roe v. Wade, and state/church issues before the high court. The hosts will also play amusing clips about religion and Christine O'Donnell, include coverage of a "war of the billboards" inaugurated by its Tulsa "Atheism is OK in Oklahoma" billboard, and talk about why atheists and agnostics fared so well on this week's PEW survey finding biblical illiteracy among believers.

Freethought Radio will catch up with legal complaints and victories by FFRF's lead staff attorney Rebecca, Markert, who will cohost this week's show while Dan Barker is on the road for freethought. Guest Jon Lindgren, former mayor of Fargo, N.D., professor emeritus of economics and President of Red River Freethinkers, will talk about how he dropped prayers from city commission meetings, and about an 8-year legal battle in Fargo to remove a Ten Commandments monument from city property.

Secular songwriter and secular billboardsBrother, can you spare a buck? This week we talk about secular songwriter Jay Gorney, who wrote the music to the famous and influential Depression-era song, "Brother, Can You Spare a Dime?" (with atheist lyricist Yip Harburg). Our guest is Jay Gorney's widow, the actress Sondra K. Gorney, who wrote a biography about her nonbelieving husband. We'll also catch up with this week's exciting FFRF actions, legal challenges, and billboards in Atlanta, Oklahoma, and elsewhere around the country.

Topics: Atheism in Oklahoma, Billboards in Atlanta Which Senator Gore was an atheist? Find out on Freethought Radio. Also, FFRFs 50 billboards take Atlanta by storm. Hosts speak with Prof. Bill Doosenberry on why atheism OK in Oklahoma – and everywhere. This week only, Freethought Radio airs in Madison on the Mic 92.1 at 10 am (sports preempt).

This week Freethought Radio hosts Annie Laurie Gaylor and Dan Barker will parse the godly tenor of Glenn Beck's D.C. rally, discuss other news developments and interview an 82-year-old Wisconsin farmer about why he dreamed up and paid for FFRF's billboard, recently defaced in Watertown, Wis., saying "Enjoy Life Now: There Is No Afterlife." The show will also air comedian Steve Martin's "atheist hymn."

This week Freethought Radio hosts Annie Laurie Gaylor and Dan Barker interview Wynne LeGrow, M.D., the Democratic challenger of U.S. Rep. Randy Forbes, who came out last week as an atheist, about his decision to announce his lack of faith as a political candidate. The hosts also catch up with Steve Benson, the Pulitzer Prize-winning editorial cartoonist of the Arizona Republic, who will reprise Tunes N Toons with Dan at the 33rd annual FFRF convention in Madison, Wis., Oct. 29-30. Also discussed: the war against religious progress in light of a federal court ruling last week halting federal funding of embryonic stem cell research.

This week Freethought Radio hosts Annie Laurie Gaylor and Dan Barker interview the internationally lauded Prof. James F. Crow, for whom the new evolution institute at the University of Wisconsin-Madison has been named. The nonagenarian will talk about inspiring generations of students, why he is a freethinker and what the new center for evolution will mean for science education. The hosts will also talk about the mosque controversy, FFRF's New Orleans billboard campaign and celebrate the upcoming 90th anniversary of the adoption of the 19th Amendment granting women the right to vote in the U.S. (Aug. 26, 1920).

TOPICS: BILLBOARDS, CITY PRAYER, AND ATHEIST JAZZThis week Freethought Radio hosts Annie Laurie Gaylor and Dan Barker interview the award-winning California jazz vocalist Tokeli and talk about her career and life as an atheist Mom. Listen to clips from Tokeli's CD "Where Do You Start?," including "The Nearness of You," "I've Got the World On a String," and "As Time Goes By." Also hear two TV news stories about FFRF's blitz of 20 new billboards in Tampa, Florida, and an update on the city prayer controversy in Aiken, South Carolina.

TOPICS: ANSEL ADAMS & FREETHOUGHT; REMEMBERING ROBERT G. INGERSOLLFreethought Radio will interview the daughter of photographer Ansel Adams, who is a freethinker and Lifetime Member of FFRF, about her life, her famous father, what it was like growing up in Yosemite, current exhibits, and will also interview Ken Helms, a former Unitarian minister and FFRF Lifetime Member. In honor of 19th century "infidel" Robert G. Ingersoll's Aug. 11 birthdate anniversary, the show will play a clip from a famous 1950s movie that pays homage to Ingersoll, and play some of his famous poems set to music. Also featured: How FFRF is stirring things up in South Carolina!

Meet high-school science teacher Kirk Mefford, faculty advisor for the West High School chapter of the Freedom From Religion Foundation, and learn how hard it is to be an open atheist on campus. This week’s show also announces many state/church victories and complaints made by FFRF’s legal staff, and features a very funny excerpt of the “Door to Door Atheist” video made by Australian filmmaker John Safran.

The highly intelligent and hardworking Sam Grove, FFRF's summer intern from the law school at Boston University, will talk about his varied legal experiences working for FFRF, and promises to give the "inside story" on what it's like to work for FFRF. The hosts also report on the Vatican's decision to go after pedophile priests. Not!

This week we celebrate the historic 162nd anniversary of the Seneca Falls Women's Rights Convention by speaking with the daughter of the authors of Bloomer Girls, an atheist hit. Dan and Annie Laurie also examine some "unfriendly" friend-of-the-court briefs filed in appeal to the National Day of Prayer ruling

News clips include excerpts of Sen. Diane Feinstein's quizzing of Supreme Court nominee (now justice) Elena Kagin over the Hein v. FFRF Supreme Court decision, a clip on the National Day of Prayer issue from the Keith Olbermann Show, and news excerpts about the outcry over Iran's plan to stone an "adulteress" to death (now in abeyance). The cohosts also debunk U.S. Rep. Louie Gohmert's portrayal of July 4 as a religious event!

The show includes clips of Australia's new atheist prime minister. Guests include: Prof. Mark Silk, an expert on the topic of religion in America, who questions a new Gallup poll on church attendence, and lighthearted filmmaker Roger Nygard, whose new documentary takes on the "Nature of Existence."