Freethought Radio

This week we talk with Paul Heffron, a former minister who is now part of the Freethought Band, and listen to some of their lively irreverent music. We also talk with Debbie Weisman, whose family were plaintiffs in the 1992 landmark Lee v. Weisman victory before the U.S. Supreme court that stopped clergy-led prayer at high-school graduations when she was a student at a Rhode Island high school.

We devote this entire show to the life and work of the freethinking songwriter Frank Loesser, who wrote Guys and Dolls, "Heart and Soul," How To Succeed In Business Without Really Trying, "Baby, It's Cold Outside," "What Are You Doing New Years," and many other songs. We talk with his daughter Susan Loesser, who wrote a memoir about her father called A Most Remarkable Fella: Frank Loesser and the Guys and Dolls In His Life.

During this Easter weekend, we discuss why the resurrection story is false. We play a tribute to the irreverent atheist songwriter Yip Harburg (born April 8, 1896) and then talk with Tara Ayres, artistic director of the Stage Q production of the docu-musical This Beautiful City, about gays, fundamentalists and atheists in Colorado Springs.

This week we announce FFRF's newest federal lawsuit challenging Pennsylvania's "2012 Year of the Bible." We play FFRF's new national TV ad featuring JFK, which ran on CBS and will also air on NBC and MSNBC. Then we discuss atheism around the world with Tanya Smith, president of Atheist Alliance International.

Since there is no radio show this week, Dan Barker put together a collection of freethought music. Enjoy this discussion of irreverent tunes!

Nothing is as divisive as church in government. We talk with Mitch Kahle, who stopped Senate prayers in Hawaii. Mitch has just won a major lawsuit defending his rights.

Honoring International Women's Day, we talk with two women who have made a difference: one in high school and one in her 80s. (Note: Barbara Ehrenreich was announced, but was unable to join us due to a scheduling conflict.) Krystal Myers is the Tennessee high-schooler whose article on atheism was censored by her high-school newspaper, and Anne Nicol Gaylor is the founder of the Freedom From Religion Foundation as well as the Women's Medical Fund, the country's longest-lived abortion charity, helping needy women.

Is the separation of church and state "absolute," as JFK said, or does it make you want to vomit (as Rick Santorum said)? This week we talk about FFRF's challenge of Alabama school board prayers, and then interview Jim McCollum, whose family's landmark 1948 Supreme Court victory is the bedrock of modern law regarding religion in the schools. We also hear the song "I Don't Believe in Fairies" by atheist Australian singer/songwriter Shelley Segal.

Jessica’s victory, Santorum’s intolerance, Green Bay prayers, Annie Laurie’s open letter encouraging liberal Catholics to exit “en mass,” and an interview with Katherine Stewart, author of the eye-opening investigative book The Good News Club: The Christian Right’s Stealth Assault on America’s Children.

What don't we talk about on this week's show? God at the Grammys, atheism at the Golden Globes, Jon Stewart and the "attack on religion," prayers at county board meetings, Ten Commandments in City Hall. We also talk with Canadian professor Christopher DiCarlo, author of How To Become a Really Good Pain In The Ass: A Critical Thinker's Guide to Asking the Right Questions