Freethought Radio

Dan and Annie Laurie report on their visit to the Global Atheist Conference in Melbourne, Australia, and Dan talks about his visit to the first atheist conference in the Philippines. Lots of U.S. state/church news to report, then an interview with Saloma Furlong about her book, Why I Left The Amish, followed by Australian songwriter Shelley Segal singing "Saved," from her new CD: An Atheist Album.

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.