Episodes

  • Well-Trained Wife
    Sep 19 2024

    After reporting state/church news in New York, Alabama, Mississippi, Missouri and Virginia, we hear Dan Barker's song "Life is Good!" performed by Tahira Clayton and the Godless Gospel singers. Then, we speak with Tia Levings, author of the bestselling book A Well-Trained Wife: My Escape from Christian Patriarchy.

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    50 mins
  • Anti-Caste Activist
    Sep 19 2024

    Margaret Downey, president of the Thomas Paine Memorial Association, tells us about an exciting celebration of the birth of the “Forgotten Founder" Thomas Paine on his Jan. 29 birthday. Then, FFRF Director of Communications Amit Pal speaks with the actor, theater director and artist-in-residence at UW-Madison Vamsi Matta, a Dalit (the most oppressed in the Hindu caste hierarchy) who is fighting back against religious discrimination.

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    49 mins
  • The Case Against School Vouchers
    Sep 12 2024

    FFRF Legal Director Patrick Elliot and FFRF Legal Fellow Hirsh Joshi join us to talk about state-church developments in Utah, Alabama, Colorado, Missouri, Tennessee and Minnesota. Then, we speak with Michigan State University Professor Josh Cowen about his new book, The Privateers: How Billionaires Created a Culture War and Sold School Vouchers.

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    50 mins
  • What's a 'contraduction'?
    Sep 5 2024

    After news updates, the hosts recap the "Celebrate Dissent" conference in Oslo about ex-Muslims. Annie Laurie Gaylor then interviews co-host Dan Barker about Contraduction, his new book on "the death of the Design Argument."

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    49 mins
  • Secularism and Hindu Nationalism in the World's Largest Secular Democracy
    Aug 29 2024

    After summarizing secular activism and victories around the country, we talk about secularism and Hindu nationalism in India (the world's largest secular democracy) with our two guests: activist Shabnam Hashmi from India and Professor Barry A. Kosmin from here in the United States. Interspersed through the show is the music of freethinking jazz legend Charlie "Bird" Parker, whose birth anniversary we celebrate today.

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    50 mins
  • Breaking the Spell
    Aug 22 2024

    We announce FFRF's Chicago billboard saying "Keep Freedom Alive: Stop Project 2025." After reporting state/church complaints and victories in Texas, Missouri, Florida, and Arkansas, we announce FFRF Action Fund's "Secularist of the Week." Then, we take a time machine back to 2006, our first year of broadcast, to hear our first interview with philosopher Daniel C. Dennett, the year of release of his blockbuster book Breaking the Spell: Religion as a Natural Phenomenon.

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    50 mins
  • How to talk to Christians
    Aug 15 2024

    After reporting on efforts to keep state and church separate in Tennessee, Indiana, Oklahoma, and Florida, we get acquainted with FFRF's new multimedia producer Leo Costello. Then, South Carolina humanist and atheist debater Herb Silverman, founder and president emeritus of the Secular Coalition for America, tells us "How to talk to Christians."

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    49 mins
  • Earth-alujah!
    Aug 8 2024

    After reporting on state/church news around the country, FFRF's Senior Counsel Sam Grover tells us about the FFRF court victory against the Texas governor that took nine years to finalize! We hear the song "Because" by Reverend Billy and the Stop Shopping Choir. Then, we speak with "Reverend Billy" (William Talen), the "pastor" of the secular Earth Church in New York City who uses performance art to combat consumerism and save the planet.

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    50 mins