American Freethought Podcast

Coffee County (Tennessee) District Attorney Craig Northcott refuses to pursue domestic violence cases involving same-sex couples, simply because he disagrees with the Supreme Court decision in Obergefell v Hodges. He also believes Muslims have no rights under the Constitution because they don't worship the right god. Knox County (Tennessee) Sheriff's Detective Grayson Fritts, also a pastor at fundamentalist All Scripture Baptist Church, believes that our civil government should enforce Old Testament law, "speedily" executing gay people simply for being gay. The Alabama state legislature is considering a bill that would allow public schools to offer elective courses on the Bible. The courses would ostensibly educate students on the Bible's influence on literature and history, but it's really just a Trojan Horse to allow Christian teachers to proselytize to a captive audience. Finally, I recommend the new book The Four Horsemen, which transcribes the legendary 2007 conversation of Christopher Hitchens, Richard

I discuss Kevin M. Kruse's 2015 book One Nation Under God: How Corporate American Invented Christian America. Plus: Ken Ham's Ark Park is hilariously suing its insurance company for failure to cover rain damage. In Alabama (where some probate judges have stopped issuing marriage licenses, lest they be forced to issue one to a gay couple), the legislature has passed a bill that would eliminate the need for licenses or ceremonies. Missouri has refused to renew the license of the last remaining abortion clinic in the state. If the government's refusal stands, this will be the first state to eliminate abortion completely since the Supreme Court's Roe v Wade ruling in 1973. The Supreme Court has ruled that Indiana may require fetal remains be disposed of via burial or cremation. They let a lower court ruling stand that the state may not prohibit abortion on the basis of the fetus's gender, race or disability. (You can still get an abortion for no reason at all.) Theme music courtesy of Body Found. Follow American

Conservative Max Boot writes an excellent op-ed in the Washington Post titled "It's time for us to have an unapologetic atheist in the Oval Office." Amen, brother. If you're interested, check out Boot's latest book The Corrosion of Conservatism: Why I Left the Right. Televangelist Pat Robertson has said not one but two things this month that I agree with! First, young earth creationism is baloney. Second, that Alabama's extreme new anti-abortion law goes way too far and will not likely survive challenges in the federal court system. And speaking of abortion...several Republican-controlled states have passed stark new laws aimed at outlawing abortion, with the long game of getting the Supreme Court to overturn Roe v Wade. I address several issues: WHY is the issue of abortion so hard to resolve? WHY are Republicans so eager to overturn Roe? Is it really about protecting children, or is it something more nefarious? WHAT is their strategy, if any? WHAT might it mean for ALL civil liberties in this country if co

I interview filmmaker Penny Lane about her new documentary Hail Satan?, which looks at the surprising growth of The Satanic Temple, a six-year-old organization that engages in confrontational political activism while simultaneously attracting followers interested in their compassionate, rationalist, humanistic belief system. Hail Satan? is in theaters right now! Plus:  Our increasingly connected world means that religious violence in one part of the world can be directly influenced by religious violence in another part of the world, no matter how distant. Witness the fact that the Easter massacre of Catholics in Sri Lanka was revenge for, and the April 27th synagogue shooting in Poway, California was in solidarity with, the March 15th mosque shootings in Christchurch, New Zealand. Theme music courtesy of Body Found. Follow American Freethought on the intertubes: Website: AmericanFreethought.com  Podcast Page: http://americanfreethought.libsyn.com  Twitter: @AMERFREETHOUGHT Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/g

Supreme Court Justice Clarence "Chatterbox" Thomas raised eyebrows during an apperance at Pepperdine University, claiming that the judicial oath was an oath between man and God, going further to imply that atheists don't take oaths seriously and that religious justices are better at the job anyway. Muslim terrorists killed nearly 300 people in Sri Lanka on Easter Sunday, targeting churches and luxury hotels. Details are unfolding. The cathedral of Notre Dame in Paris suffered a devastating fire. The French government promises to rebuild; meanwhile, atheists are divided on whether the money might be better spent elsewhere. A federal court has ruled that the chaplain of the US House of Representatives can legally refuse to allow "secular prayers," saying that both the House and the Senate can set their own rules, and therefore can restrict invocations only to those with religious content. Discrimination against the non-religious exists. Pennsylvania legislator Stephanie Borowicz was apparently freaked out at th

I interview the Brookings Institution's Darrell M. West about his new book Divided Politics, Divided Nation, which explores the exacerbation of America's culture wars during the Trump presidency, and offers suggestions on how both sides might better communicate with one another. For more about Darrell and his work, visit brookings.edu.  Theme music courtesy of Body Found. Follow American Freethought on the intertubes: Website: AmericanFreethought.com  Podcast Page: http://americanfreethought.libsyn.com  Twitter: @AMERFREETHOUGHT Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/21523473365/ Libsyn Classic Feed: https://americanfreethought.libsyn.com/rss Find out how to support the show here and here. Contact: john@americanfreethought.com

I interview Jessica Wilbanks, author of When I Spoke in Tongues: A Story of Faith and Its Loss, a story that starts with her Pentecostal upbringing in rural Maryland and ends with an extraordinary journey exploring the flourishing fundamentalist Christian movement in Nigeria. For more about Jessica and her work visit JessicaWilbanks.com. Also mentioned in the conversation: Infamous Nigerian preacher Helen Ukpabio (discussed back in show 172) and humanist activist Leo Igwe (whom we interviewed back in show 181). Theme music courtesy of Body Found. Follow American Freethought on the intertubes: Website: AmericanFreethought.com  Podcast Page: http://americanfreethought.libsyn.com  Twitter: @AMERFREETHOUGHT Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/21523473365/ Libsyn Classic Feed: https://americanfreethought.libsyn.com/rss Find out how to support the show here and here. Contact: john@americanfreethought.com  

I read my presentation about Muslims in America, from colonial times to the present. (Image is the portrait by Charles Wilson Peale of Yarrow Mamout, a freed Muslim slave who was born about 1736 in West Africa and died in Washington, DC in 1823.) Plus: Monica Miller, whom I interviewed in show #268, has had her day in court! She argued before SCOTUS on behalf of the American Humanist Association that a giant cross-shaped war memorial is actually a Christian symbol and not a suitable secular monument. The Court will rule in June; meanwhile, you can listen to the oral arguments here. The Southern Baptist Convention has responded to an investigative report showing 380 clergy and other church representatives have been accused of sexual misconduct in the last 20 years. The church seems to be taking the report seriously, and has promised to put measures in place to prevent and deal with such criminal behavior in the future. The United Methodists have voted NOT to solemnize same-sex marriages and NOT to allow ordina

I interview Catherine Nixey about her new book The Darkening Age: The Christian Destruction of the Classical World, which explores how the early Christians, once they gained power, did everything they could to eliminate the architectural, artistic and literary heritage of the non-Christian Roman Empire. Also recommend on the same subject matter: Bart Ehrman's The Triumph of Christianity. Plus: More developments in what shouldn't be a controversy: attempts by Democratic House committee leaders to omit the phrase "so help you God" from the oath required of those testifying in hearings. Theme music courtesy of Body Found. Follow American Freethought on the intertubes: Website: AmericanFreethought.com  Podcast Page: http://americanfreethought.libsyn.com  Twitter: @AMERFREETHOUGHT Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/21523473365/ Libsyn Classic Feed: https://americanfreethought.libsyn.com/rss Find out how to support the show here and here. Contact: john@americanfreethought.com

I look at John Gray's latest book Seven Types of Atheism, in which he argues that modern mainstream secularism is nothing more than monotheism rebranded. And it's all wrong anyway. Plus: Happy Darwin Day! February 12th is the 210th anniversary of the birth of Charles Darwin. In less celebratory anniversaries, February 14th marks the 30th anniversary of Ayatollah Khomeini's fatwa against Salman Rushdie over his novel The Satanic Verses. Rushdie had to go into hiding for a decade as a result. The newly Democratic House Committee on Natural Resources has scrapped a plan to revise committee rules to remove "so help you God" from the oath people must take before testifying. (They should have gone through with their plan--it's the right thing to do, and Republicans will flog them over it anyway.) Donald Trump continues to pander to the evangelical base with a tweet in support of Bible study in public schools. Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi is fond of quoting a Bible verse that isn't actually in the Bible. Theme

I interview Monica Miller, Senior Counsel for the American Humanist Association. Ms. Miller will be representing AHA before the Supreme Court in February, arguing that the 94-year-old, four-story-high "Peace Cross" in Bladensburg, Maryland is an unconstitutional endorsement of Christianity by the government. For more info visit americanhumanist.org. Plus: More SCOTUS talk! I ramble on about David Kaplan's book The Most Dangerous Branch, the Ruth Bader Ginsburg biopic On the Basis of Sex, the Ruth Bader Ginsburg documentary RBG, Jane Sherron de Hart's book Ruth Bader Ginsburg: A Life, and Forrest Gump. Also mentioned: an article from a few years ago that argues he Religious Right isn't so concerned about Roe v Wade as they are about using abortion as a stalking horse for keeping segregation alive by protecting private schools. Liberty Counsel (an evangelical non-profit that frequently gets involved in legal controversies) wants LGBT people removed from the Justice for Victims of Lynching Act of 2018, passed la

I interview Dan Barker about his latest book Mere Morality. Dan is co-president (with wife Annie Laurie Gaylor) of the Freedom from Religion Foundation, and co-host with her of the weekly show Freethought Radio. For ambitious readers, here are the other books mentioned during the course of the conversation: Free Will Explained by Dan Barker Mere Christianity by C. S. Lewis Sapiens by Yuval Noah Harari The Moral Landscape by Sam Harris Plus: Congratulations to NASA on placing the Osiris-Rex probe in orbit around the near-earth asteroid Bennu, and on the spectacular New Horizons flyby of the Kuiper Belt object Ultima Thule! Kudos also to the Chinese for Chang'e 4, the first-ever soft landing on the far side of the moon. The Pew Research Center reports that the new 116th Congress is the most religiously diverse in history, with the influence of mainstream Christianity continuing to diminish. Among the freshmen legislators are Ilhan Omar and Rashida Tlaib, the first Muslim women to the elected to the House of R

American Freethought is back to continue the fight for separation of church and state, reason-based living and secular culture! Find out why we're back and what to expect in the coming weeks. Follow American Freethought on the intertubes: Website: AmericanFreethought.com  Podcast Page: http://americanfreethought.libsyn.com  Twitter: @AMERFREETHOUGHT Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/21523473365/ Libsyn Classic Feed: https://americanfreethought.libsyn.com/rss Find out how to support the show here and here. Contact: john@americanfreethought.com

Original release December 29, 2016. Encore release December 30, 2018. Encore release September 22, 2017. Our final episode! We reminisce about the best (and worst) of the podcast, read listener feedback on our demise, and thank the many, many people who helped make the show a success.

Original release December 17, 2016. Encore release December 29, 2018. Encore release September 21, 2017. We interview transgender activist Vandy Beth Glenn. She was the plaintiff and victor in the groundbreaking (and precedent setting) federal lawsuit Glenn v Brumby. She is also the first transgender person to testify before a Congressional committee. For more about Vandy Beth and her projects visit vandybethglenn.com, or follow her on Twitter @redvelvetcakes.

Original release December 2, 2016. Encore release December 28, 2018. Encore release September 20, 2017. A Texas member of the Electoral College has resigned rather than cast a vote for Donald Trump, stating that the president-elect is not "biblically qualified" to hold office.  Also in Texas, the Republican-controlled government is implementing a new regulation requiring abortion clinics to dispose of fetal tissue only via cremation or burial. They cite health and public safety concerns, but offer no explanation as to how such tissue differs from other medical waste like removed organs, amputated limbs, etc. in terms of its danger to the community. Finally, Donald Trump has selected Georgia Congressman Tom Price as his Secretary of Health and Human Services. Yes, an anti-abortion, anti-gay, anti-regulation, anti-global warming, anti-Obamacare crusader will be in charge of the nation's healthcare system.  

Originally released November 12, 2016. H. L. Mencken said, "Democracy is the theory that the common people know what they want, and deserve to get it good and hard." They (and we) are about to get Donald Trump, a crooked businessman with no governmental experience who channels old-school misogyny, racism, bigotry, and near-complete ignorance on almost every topic of importance. Trump has pulled off one of the most unlikely upsets in political history. He stunned the Republican establishment, as well as nearly every pollster and pundit, to capture the most powerful office on the planet. So how did he do it? How could voters support a candidate like this? To help us understand, we talk with political scientist Arthur Lupia, author of the new (and incredibly timely) book Uninformed: Why People Know So Little About Politics and What We Can Do About It, available in hardcover and for Kindle. (Please note: a technical glitch which led to some problems in sound quality and continuity. We apologize for the inconvenie

Original release November 6, 2016. Encore release December 26, 2018. Encore release September 18, 2017. Why has the Southern Poverty Law Center placed Ayaan Hirsi Ali and Maajid Nawaz on their list of "anti-Muslim extremists"? Certainly both Ali (who was the victim of female genital mutilation and narrowly escaped an arranged marriage before making a success of herself in the Western world) and Nawaz (himself once a jihadist who spent jail time in Egypt, and who now heads a counter-extremist think-tank in the UK) have been critical of Islam, but is it fair to call them extremists in turn? Plus: Virginia pastor Terry Wayne Millender and his wife have been arrested, accused of orchestrating a $1.2 million scam that victimized members of their church. In recent years, churches have organized "Hell Houses" at Halloween. Instead of traditional scares like vampires and zombies, Hell Houses showcase sadistic fundamentalist fantasies of the horrors that await the unsaved in the afterlife. This year, a Chicago area ch

Original release October 22, 2016. Encore release December 25, 2018. Encore release September 17, 2017. Alabama Chief Justice Roy Moore has been suspended without pay from his office until the end of his term, effectively putting an end to his judicial career. Moore becomes (as far as we can tell) the only judge in US history to be removed from office TWICE (the first time over his installation of a 2.5 ton Ten Commandments monument in the judiciary building; the second time over his obstruction of the US Supreme Court's same-sex marriage ruling in Obergefell v Hodges. Moore is appealing the decision, although there seems very little chance it will be reversed. Good riddance, we say, although it wouldn't surprise us to see him continue in the political arena; e.g. running for governor or for Congress. Plus: Teresa MacBain, who left the Methodist ministry in 2012 and "came out" as an atheist, has in recent months quietly returned to religion. The freethought community is obviously dismayed and disappointed by

Original release September 30, 2016. Encore release December 24, 2018. Encore release September 16, 2017. We interview Karen Garst, editor of Women Beyond Belief: Discovering Life without Religion. This new collection contains 22 essays by women from various backgrounds, telling their stories of how the decided to leave religion and embrace secular, rational values. Women Beyond Belief is available in paperback and for Kindle. For more about Karen Garst and her projects, visit faithlessfeminist.com.