American Freethought Podcast

Original release August 8, 2014. Encore release November 1, 2018. Encore release July 25, 2017. We interview Rachael Berman, Grassroots and Celebrant Program Coordinator for the American Humanist Association (AHA). AHA's Humanist Celebrant program is coordinated by the Humanist Society, an adjunct of AHA. We discuss the difficulty nonbelievers have had when it comes to finding someone to officate at weddings, funerals, baby naming ceremonies, etc. They're usually faced with the choice of finding a random judge or county clerk, or of enduring a wedding infused with prayer and religious bromides. A number of organizations, including the Center For Inquiry and the AHA are challenging religion's monopoly on private weddings. There is still the occasional bump in the road: CFI recently won an appeal in Indiana against a state law that privileged SOME religions over others, and over secular groups. And in Georgia, a Humanist Celebrant encountered difficulty when a judge balked at her credentials. And for what