Tune In, Pay It Forward, Question EVERYthing!
A Conversation with Freethought community leader, Michael De Dora
Audio here!
Join us for a chat with the director of the Center for Inquiry-NYC, Michael De Dora, on his work with the center, and within the NYC Freethought community as a whole, and what he recommends needs to be done to expand said community. We will also talk with him about alternatives to traditional philosophy-group meetings and venture into how to better serve local atheists, agnostics, skeptics, and humanists.
Global Rebellion: Religious Challenges to the Secular State
Audio here!
On Saturday, we will be airing a special one-hour program on the global rise in religious fundamentalism and in particular the political revolution and/or rebellion of groups who seemed defined by their religion against the industrial nations whether capitalistic or s0-called communistic. What are the motives of these groups? Why have they become so numerous over the last 4o years? Does religion act as the catalyst, cause, or as a tool for these uprisings? And, how do those nations best deal with the violence these groups target them with, while finding new ways to prevent these uprisings in the first place?
To speak to these questions and more, we will have on the line sociologist Mark Juergensmeyer, author of Global Rebellion: Religious Challenges to the Secular State, from Christian Militias to Al Queda. Juergensmeyer is an American scholar and writer best known for his studies of religious violence and global religion. He also has written on conflict resolution and on South Asian religion and society, and has been a pioneer in the field of global studies.
Continue reading “Show 331: Global Rebellion: Religious Challenges to the Secular State”
Call In Show on Freethought Community
Audio here!
When people move from traditional religious practice to agnosticism or atheism (or humanism), they sometimes regret leaving behind some of the community and spiritual benefits church, synagogue, or mosque offer. However, most Freethought organizations and groups offer primarily intellectual stimuli, and on occasion, unorganized social gatherings… but not much else. What alternatives does the Freethought have?
Arnell Dowret will host a call-in show to discuss what alternative ETFF has come up with, as well as what our listeners would like to see happen.. So…
Tune in, Pay it Forward, and Question Everything!
Eating, Drinking, and Even – Having Fun – with Atheists!
Audio here!
Traditionally, most of the activities offered in the Freethought community are usually directed toward meeting the participants’ intellectual needs. Yet for the past several years Manhattan Freethought community leader Rich Sander has been offering “Drinking with Atheists” .. fun Friday night socials that are consistently well attended which bring together men and women of all ages, from a variety of Freethought groups.
To discuss his involvement with the Freethought community, and to provide us with an overview of some of the various things that non-religious people can do in New York City, Rich Sander will be joining us live in our studio.
While it’s often been said that the prospect of getting non-religious people to socialize is like trying to “herd cats,” over the years Rich’s meetings have provided a warm and welcoming place for hundreds of atheists, agnostics, secular humanists, members of ethical culture, and skeptics alike.
Please join us to hear about community building and outreach from a true humanist activist who is out there on the front lines and definitely doing something right!
“911: The Day that Changed Everything?” w/ Deepa Kumar
Audio here!
It has been 9 years since the terrorist attacks on two cities in the US, that – at least according to the ruling classes – changed the world forever. Certainly, these passing years have indeed changed the lives of many. Many lives have been lost, especially in Iraq and Afghanistan, American families have lost or welcomed home maimed and distraught young men and women from the Middle East, the American Left has been even more marginalized than before, despite an early, strong resistance to the Iraq invasion back in 2003, and tensions have been drawn between people of differing religions (and the non religious), not the least of these being, of course, Muslims here and abroad.
Every year since 911 – particularly with the vicious and sometimes delusional attacks on President Obama – fear and hatred of Muslims everywhere has grown to dangerous proportions, culminating thus far in a major protest over a proposed Muslim Center near Ground Zero, to planned Koran burnings in Florida by a Christian Pastor. What is going on here, and can it be stopped before we have a full-fledged disaster on our hands? And can the Left find a voice in these deeply troubling times when those who seem to be heard the loudest – and who have genuine concerns we on the Left share – are taking their cues from the radical right?
Continue reading “Show 328: “911: The Day that Changed Everything?””
What makes a healthy society?
Audio here!
Are we blank slates which can produce any sort of society we desire or do we ONLY create the kinds of societies our genetic and evolutionary heritage could allow; and if the latter is only partly true, what does our evolutionary heritage say about human nature anyway?
Are we the fallen’, seriously flawed species many religious and otherwise cynical people believe we are – whether via nature or as according to the doctrine of Original Sin – or are we a flexible species, free to build different kinds of societies.. some of which which might lead to a truly healthy society?
And what sort of society do we have now as regards health, and what may be some alternatives?
We’ve invited Dr. Bruce Levine (another guest could not make it) to speak to these questions. Dr. Levine is a clinical psychologist in private practice in Cincinnati, Ohio. He has been in practice for more than two decades. His most recent book is Surviving America’s Depression Epidemic: How to Find Morale, Energy, and Community in a World Gone Crazy (Chelsea Green Publishing, 2007), which argues that by not seriously confronting societal sources of depression, American mental health institutions have become part of the problem rather than the solution. The book provides an alternate approach that encompasses the whole of our humanity, society, and culture, and which redefines depression (as a problematic strategy to shut down pain) in a way that makes enduring transformation more likely.