Freethought Radio

We celebrate Juneteenth, recognizing the end of slavery, and World Humanism Day, which occurs at the Summer Solstice as a secular alternative to religious holidays. After covering national and FFRF news, we speak with FFRF's Senior Policy Counsel Ryan Jayne and Regional Governmental Affairs Manager Mickey Dollens about the slew of good and bad bills dealing with religion at the state level around the ...

We announce that FFRF is a sponsor of the "No Kings Day of Action" protesting the erosion of democratic and constitutional safeguards against a monarchical administration, especially its embrace of Christian nationalism. After hearing Dan Barker's protest song "We, The People," we introduce three new FFRF lawsuits. FFRF Senior Litigation Counsel Sam Grover and FFRF Legal Fellow Hirsh Joshi join us to ...

We announce two new lawsuits this week that FFRF is taking with a coalition of state/church groups. The first challenges the placement of statues of Catholic saints at the entrance of the public safety building in Quincy, Massachusetts. The second challenges a new Texas measure that mandates the placement of the Ten Commandments in every public school classroom. Then, we speak with Pulitzer Prize fina...

This week we honor the life and work of our friend, the Broadway composer Charles Strouse—who died last week at age 96—who wrote "Annie" and "Bye Bye Birdie" and many other musicals and songs, by hearing some of his music, including "Poor Little Me," which he co-wrote with FFRF Co-President Dan Barker. Then, we speak with journalist Talia Lavin, author of the book Wild Faith: How the Christian Right I...

The new head of the Catholic Church, Pope Leo XIV, has insulted "practical atheists," but it is really his own church that needs to apologize for bad behavior. After hearing Dan Barker's song "The Battle of Church and State," we speak with FFRF’s Senior Policy Counsel Ryan Jayne and Regional Governmental Affairs Manager Mickey Dollens about the many "goo...

We have some good state/church news to report out of Oklahoma and Arizona. Then, in response to Trump's remarks at the May 1 "National Day of Prayer," we celebrate the May 4 "National Day of Reason" by hearing impassioned and humorous remarks at the Second Annual "Reason Reception" in D.C., sponsored by FFRF, American Humanist Association and the Secular Coalition for America, for the Congressional Fr...

Mayday! Mayday! We listen to some of the oral arguments in a pivotal Supreme Court case heard Wednesday about whether a private Catholic charter school can be funded with public money. If allowed, this would deal a serious blow to public education. After reporting on state/church news in Oklahoma, Louisiana and Texas, and decrying Attorney General Pam Bondi's “Eradicating Anti-Christian Bias” Task For...

We first do a round-up of the news nationally and globally, including the death of Pope Francis and the Trump administration's setting up of a dubious religion-based task force. Then, guest host FFRF Communications Director Amitabh Pal interviews University of Louisville Professor David T. Buckley on his recent book, Blessing America First: Religion, Populism and Foreign Policy in the Trump Administra...

This week, we report that Christian nationalism is on full display at all levels of government. After covering national state/church news, FFRF Senior Policy Counsel Ryan Jayne tells us about the many bills, good and bad, that FFRF's Action Fund is tracking in the states (and Puerto Rico). Then, George Mbuagbaw, acting president of the Humanist Association of Nigeria, tells us about the many nonbeliev...

FFRF's IT Director Scott Knickelbine gives us the inside scoop on the case by Catholic Charities in Wisconsin that is before the U.S. Supreme Court seeking to deny workers unemployment insurance based on religious privilege. Then, we talk with Maryland Delegate Heather Bagnall about the bill she introduced to exonerate people accused of witchcraft in 17th-century Maryland, including Moll Dyer, who fro...

Besides covering state/church issues in Kentucky, Wisconsin and Arizona, most of the news is out of Oklahoma, including the fact that Oklahoma's Superintendent of Public Instruction Ryan Walters is suing FFRF for allegedly interfering in the right of his office to promote religion in the public schools. FFRF Legal Director Patrick Elliott joins us to talk about that case, Walters v. FFRF. Three smart ...

After a roundup of state/church news around the country, we celebrate the birthday of Eric Idle, 82, (who calls himself an "old agnostic") by listening to his irreverent song, "Always Look on the Bright Side of Life," from the movie "Monty Python's Life of Brian." Then, professor and author Josh Cowen tells us about his book The Privateers: How Billionaires Created a Culture War and Sold School Vouche...

We report on the threats and actual harm of Christian nationalism to the country, to the Department of Education and to Oklahoma, Kentucky, Texas, New Mexico and Wisconsin. After hearing the Yip Harburg song "One Sweet Morning," yearning for the end of winter and the end of war, we speak with attorney Kat Grant, a contributing FFRF writer and host of the "Transing Boundaries" blog, about the sharp inc...

This week, we track a tsunami of (mostly bad) bills in Wisconsin, Oklahoma, Texas, Iowa, West Virginia and North Dakota. After hearing sneak previews of some of FFRF's other shows — "Ask an Atheist," "Freethought Matters" and "We Dissent" — we talk with Brian Ruder, president of the board of the Final Exit Network, which offers people who are unbearably suffering an intractable medical condition the o...

We celebrate the fact that Pew reports 43 percent of young adults are nonreligious, and that overall the "Nones" (nonreligious) are larger than any religious denomination. Mandisa Thomas, founder and president of Black Nonbelievers, tells us about the upcoming Revival of Reason conference in Atlanta. Then, we speak with public-health expert Professor Patrick L. Remington, who is on the board of the Ce...

After discussing some of Trump's religiously motivated executive orders and appointments, we focus on some of the bad bills in the states, including Oklahoma, Idaho, Alabama, Kentucky, New Hampshire, North Dakota, Texas and Wisconsin. Then we speak with David Clohessy, a survivor of childhood sexual molestation by clergy, who is the former director of SNAP, Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests...

We announce the first atheist billboard in Africa! We report on a tsunami of Christian nationalist bills and executive orders at the federal and state levels, including Texas, Wisconsin, North Dakota, Iowa and Tennessee. In honor of Valentine's Day, we hear Dan Barker's secular love song "It's Only Natural." Then sociology Professor Ryan T. Cragun, author of Goodbye Religion: ...