Freethought Radio

Freethought Radio's featured guest is Matthew Rothschild, atheist and editor of The Progressive Magazine. The show includes an update on upcoming oral arguments before the U.S. Supreme Court in FFRF's faith-based lawsuit, and a look at who's who this week in freethought. Co-hosts are Dan Barker and Annie Laurie Gaylor. (MP3, 51 min, 23.1 MB)

Freethought Radio's featured guest is The Nation's sparkling columnist, Katha Pollitt, whose latest book is Virginity or Death! The show also includes a legal update and a look at many fascinating freethinkers born in January. The show is cohosted by Dan Barker and Annie Laurie Gaylor. (MP3, 57 min, 26 MB)

Freethought Radio's featured guest is Norm Allen, executive director of African Americans for Humanism, and editor of the anthology, African-American Humanism. The featured song: a delicious version of "It Ain't Necessarily So" sung by Sammie Davis Jr. Freethinker's Almanac looks at January-born freethinkers Zora Neale Hurston and Butterfly McQueen. Co-hosts are Dan Barker and Annie Laurie Gaylor, co-presidents of the Freedom From Religion Foundation. (MP3, 48 min, 22.2 MB)

Evolutionary psychologist and bestselling author Steven Pinker ("The Blank Slate") will talk about his atheism, hypothesize about why religion exists and discuss his books. The show includes a look at the unorthodox Robert Burns, author of "Auld Lang Syne." Theocracy Alert looks at the practice of swearing in politicians on the bible. Freethought Radio is a production of the Freedom From Religion Foundation and is co-hosted by Dan Barker and Annie Laurie Gaylor. (MP3, 49 min, 22.5 MB)

Pulitzer Prize-winning science writer Natalie Angier of the New York Times, a self-professed "lonely atheist" and bestselling author, will be the guest on Freethought Radio. Also debuting on the show will be a new song by poet Philip Appleman, "Intelligent? Design?" arranged and performed by Dan Barker. The show takes a brief look at distinguished freethinkers born at the end of December. Freethought Radio is a production of the Freedom From Religion Foundation, and is co-hosted by Dan Barker and Annie Laurie Gaylor of the Foundation. (MP3, 50 min, 22.8 MB)

The theme of Saturday's Freethought Radio is the Winter Solstice, and it will feature an interview with Tom Flynn, author of "The Trouble with Christmas," and the song, "Solstice Tribute," by Dan Barker. As Freethought Radio's solstice treat for listeners, the show will broadcast an excerpt from Julia Sweeney's "Letting Go of God" one-woman play, in which the comedian reads the bible and discovers it isn't everything it's cracked up to be. Freethinkers Almanac features songwriter Jay Gorney ("Brother, Can You Spare a Dime?"). A rare song by by blacklisted Gorney celebrating the Bill of Rights, recorded by freethinker Paul Robeson, will also play. Freethought Radio is a production of the Freedom From Religion Foundation, and is co-hosted by Dan Barker and Annie Laurie Gaylor of the Foundation. (MP3, 49 min, 22,4 MB)

Features an interview with Steve Benson, Pulitzer-prize winning editorial cartoonist for the Arizona Republic, and Mormon-turned-atheist. It is co-hosted by Dan Barker and Annie Laurie Gaylor, who are co-presidents of the Freedom From Religion Foundation. The hosts will also discuss the Foundation's annual Winter Solstice sign at the Wisconsin State Capitol, and report on the Foundation's lawsuit challenging the creation of the faith-based office at the White House, to be argued before the U.S. Supreme Court. Freethought Radio is a production of the Freedom From Religion Foundation. (MP3, 51 min, 23.1 MB)

Features an interview with Prof. Daniel C. Dennett, eminent Tufts University philosopher and author of the new book explaining the natural phenomenon of religion, Breaking the Spell. The show will also excerpt a short highlight of Nobel Laureate Steven Weinberg's recent talk urging other scientists at the Salk Institute to help him wake up the world to the nightmare of religion. Freethinkers Almanac will pay homage to Mark Twain. (MP3, 51 min, 23.1 MB)

Features an interview with Ron Reagan, who will talk about what it is like to be the atheist son of Ronald Wilson Reagan, and about why he is working for stemcell research. The show will also give a nod to the recent atheist pronouncements of entertainer Elton John. (MP3, 50 min, 23 MB)

Features an interview with Tom Reed, formerly a Roman Catholic priest, now a longtime Freedom From Religion Foundation member and atheist. In his honor, the featured song will be Dan Barker's version of Tom Lehrer's "Vatican Rag." The November birthday anniversaries of Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Robert Louis Stevenson will be celebrated in Freethinkers Almanac. (MP3, 47 min, 21 MB)

Features a memorable interview with distinguished TV journalist and author, Betty Rollin. The award-winning former NBC correspondent is now a reporter for PBS' Religion and Ethics Newsweekly. Author of "First You Cry" and "Final Wishes," Ms. Rollin talks movingly about the need for physician-assisted suicide and the Oregon law. Phil Och's song "When I'm Gone" is performed by folksinger Kristin Lems, and famous freethinkers born this week are discussed along with a little referendum news. (MP3, 52 min, 24 MB)

Features an interview with Mike McCabe, Wisconsin Democracy Campaign, who has filed a complaint to the State Election Board about electioneering by Bishop Morlino, Madison (Wis.) diocese, among other church electioneering concerns about upcoming referenda. Discussed will be the Freedom From Religion Foundation's major victory last week ending a proposal to start "single faith" prison programs in federal penitentiaries. The show will also feature reaction to Chuck Colson's recent defamation of groups seeking to end public-funded ministries in prisons. (MP3, 50 min, 22.5 MB)

Features an interview with author and science popularizer Ann Druyan, who was married to Carl Sagan, and co-wrote and co-produced the movie, "Contact," based on Carl Sagan's novel. Ms. Druyan has written the foreward to a new book by Sagan appearing in November, The Varieties of Scientific Experience: A Personal View of the Search for God, based on the newly-discovered transcripts of his Gifford Lecture Series. The show will also include a little news, a little music (Lena Horne singing the irreverent "Ain't It the Truth," by atheist lyricist Yip Harburg), and sound bites from the recent FFRF convention by participants from around the country. Dan Barker's Pagan Pulpit will address The Golden Rule. (MP3, 51 min, 23 MB)

Features two guests: FFRF Life Member Jean Gams, an 87-year-old atheist, who will discuss how she and the Foundation averted a proposed state/church violation in Oshkosh, Wis. this fall; and Arthur Thexton, with the Wisconsin Coalition for the Death Penalty, for a quick look at secular reasons against the death penalty. Also featured: snippets from the Colbert Report's interview with Richard Dawkins and The O'Reilly Factor's interview with George W. Bush, Theocracy Alert, freethought music, a disbelief pop quiz and other news. (MP3, 50 min, 23 MB)

Features an interview with Jan Nikolay, spokeswoman and co-chair of the South Dakota Campaign for Healthy Families. Ms. Nikolay was in the South Dakota Legislature for many years and is a Republican who is part of the nonpartisan group. The Campaign is spearheading the referendum on Nov. 7 to overturn the draconian ban on abortion passed by the South Dakota legislature this spring at the behest of the religious right. The show will also feature secular news, Theocracy Alert, a pop disbelief quiz, and a song celebrating "grassroots fury" by the celebrated folksinger Malvina Reynolds. (MP3, 53 min, 24 MB)

Features an interview with attorney Jim McCollum, whose experiences as a 4th grader in his Champaign, Illinois, public classroom with illegal religious instruction caused his mother, Vashti Cromwell McCollum, to challenge the violation in court. The result? The landmark 1948 decision, McCollum v. Board of Education, which is prevailing precedent against religion in public schools. The show includes rare audio clips of Vashti McCollum talking about the case. Vashti died in August at age 93. The show includes a Theocracy Alert, news, a pop disbelief quiz, and music. (MP3, 54 min, 24.5 MB)

Features an interview with Michelle Goldberg, the lively contributing writer of Salon.com, whose new book, Kingdom Coming: The Rise of Christian Nationalism, covers the threat of the ascendancy of the religious right. The show also includes an audio excerpt from Dawkins' British TV documentary on religion, "The Root of All Evil?" (MP3, 52 min, 23.5 MB)

Features an interview with distinguished British atheist and evolutionary biologist Richard Dawkins, author of the just-released book, The God Delusion. Dawkins will talk about his theory of religion as a virus-like cultural "meme," why he wrote "The God Delusion" and current events. The show includes a brief audio excerpt from Dawkins' British TV documentary on religion, "The Root of All Evil?" (MP3, 48 min, 22 MB)

Features an interview with Sam Harris, author of the New York Times bestseller, The End of Faith, whose new book is Letter to a Christian Nation. Music: Reincarnation, words by Wallace Macrae, music by Dan Barker. Freethinkers Almanac looks at H.L. Mencken and Lance Armstrong. (MP3, 48 min, 21.8 MB)

Reports on legal developments in the Freedom From Religion Foundation's major lawsuit against the Department of Veteran Affairs for intermingling faith with medical care. Annie Laurie Gaylor, author of Woe to the Women: The Bible Tells Me So and editor of the anthology Women Without Superstition, will discuss the bible's treatment of women, and its far-reaching effects today with the rise of the religious right. Margaret Sanger is featured in Freethinkers Alamanc, and Dan Barker's tribute to Sanger, the song, "No Gods - No Masters," will be played. (MP3, 52 min, 24 MB)