The story of the events of Easter Day in combination with the events leading up to it is a narrative so loaded with dysfunctional, anti-humanistic, and delusional content, it has served as a virtually inexhaustible wellspring of toxicity for two thousand years, providing support for most of the very worst ideas in our society which are still with us today.Belief in universal sin, belief that universal sin could somehow be relieved through someone’s torture, and belief in an immortal soul that rises up after we die, are just some of the problematic lessons of Christ’s Passion.

A major example of an inhumane institution which derives legitimacy from beliefs which can be traced back to the Easter narrative can be found in our American system of criminal justice. Joining us to facilitate our examination of our modern prison system will be author of “American Furies,” Sasha Abramsky, and Dr. Philip Zimbardo, author of “The Lucifer Effect,” and Chief Researcher and designer of the famous “Stanford Prison Experiment.”

And we’ll also be replaying the now classic confrontation between Jesus and the Easter Bunny, first played on this program, in which we’re given the best argument to date for why we should jettison all the suffering, blood and gore and instead celebrate the Spring for the natural “miracle” it is.

 

 Easter 2008 Show [62:14m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Sunsara Taylor talks to Kathryn Joyce, author of the upcoming book, Quiverfull: Inside the Christian Patriarchy Movement.

Joyce discusses the relationship between the Right-Wing Christian Fundamentalist movement both in the US - and it’s affect in Europe - and Xenophobia, racism, patriarchy, the Pro-Life movement and the white anti-immigration madness of the 21st Century.

Kathryn Joyce is a freelance writer whose work has appeared in The Nation, Mother Jones and other publications. Quiverfull: Inside the Christian Patriarchy Movement, is due out from Beacon Press in early 2009.

 

 Kathryn Joyce [28:54m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Michael O’Neil talks to Edward Trippel of the Antioch College Action Network (ACAN) about the corporatization and sabotage of one higher education’s most forward-thinking and progressive institutions.

From ACAN:

“The Antioch College Action Network (ACAN) is a coalition of Antioch College Community Members—students, faculty, staff, alumni, villagers and friends—dedicated to a vibrant, humane, self-governing and self-sustaining Antioch College. Operating on principles of direct participatory democracy, ACAN continues to work towards a true Non-Stop Antioch, uncompromised in its academic integrity and commitment to social justice. To this end, ACAN advocates autonomy, independence, participatory community governance; open, public and accountable decision-making processes, faculty tenure, respect for students and employees, sustainable student services, aggressive admissions, and faculty-driven curriculum for Antioch College.”

Click here for info about the struggle of Antioch College against Antioch University…

 

 Edward Trippel [29:59m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

From the Publisher:

Turmoil in the Middle East has escalated to unprecedented levels in the twenty-first century. Opposing cultural, religious, and political forces have resumed old conflicts and spawned new ones, fighting with words and images as well as bombs and bullets. The path toward peace and reconciliation seems further away and less clear than ever.

Stephen Eric Bronner’s Peace Out of Reach is both a deeply personal account and a careful analysis of the crises currently threatening the cradle of civilization. Bronner’s insights into Middle Eastern tensions are significantly enhanced by his extensive travels in the region. Equally informed by scholarly research and conscientious engagement, Bronner critically evaluates the motivations and actions of the powerful players on the Middle Eastern stage. Peace Out of Reach challenges policymakers to build bridges, recognize common interests, foster genuine diplomacy, and seek realistically navigable roads to lasting peace, rather than resort to propaganda, threats, and military actions.

Stephen Eric Bronner is Distinguished Professor of Political Science at Rutgers University. He is the author of numerous books, including Blood in the Sand: Imperial Fantasies, Right-Wing Ambitions, and the Erosion of American Democracy, and coeditor of The Logos Reader: Rational Radicalism and the Future of Politics.

 

 Stephen Eric Bronner [30:05m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

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• Joel Kovel’s home page

Joel Kovel has spent the better part of his adult life profoundly concerned with the effects of human relationships as they impact the species as a whole, and indeed the planet itself. Like many of us on the Left, Joel has come to his work from a place of deep emotional and intellectual conflict… a conflict we experience via between the way we see the human adventure, and the way certain forces have shaped where we are today. All too often, the clash between what “is” and what we think “ought” to be, winds up in the end to favor the status quo. We are given all sorts of reasons for this by our more conservative friends from political and economic “practical” reasons, to the “lowly” nature of human beings (whether of the Christian or Hobbesian kind).

Alas, many of us live with the notion that ‘the more things change (for better or worse), the more they stay the same… which is just another way of our accepting what “is,” and putting our aspirations, hopes, and desires into that hidden away bottom shelf labeled “Utopian Fantasies.”

But as we have addressed for a long time now on Equal Time for Freethought - and indeed all across WBAI - Utopia is not a fantasy, but a destination-one no one expects to reach, but is driven by our very nature to come closer to. Those who argue for another kind of human nature that somehow justifies the status quo, do so from either a place of ignorance, fear, or - for those of us who are financially or politically well off - narcissistic comfort. For Joel Kovel, this just won’t do, and he has done his part to see that Utopia is removed from the bottom shelf, brushed off, and returned back to all of us.
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 Fund Drive Special With Dr. Joel Kovel [119:29m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

On February 12th, many will be celebrating the birthday of the father of modern evolutionary theory, Charles Darwin. Darwin Day, as the celebration is aptly called, was initiated by Dr. Robert Stephens at Stanford University and the Stanford Humanist Student Group in 1995. According to the official website - www.DarwinDay.org - “the objective of the Darwin Day Celebration is to encourage existing institutions worldwide, such as municipalities, public and private schools, colleges and universities, libraries, museums, etc., - and individuals - to celebrate Science and Humanity every year, on, or near, February 12th.”
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 Show 252: Darwin Day Special Featuring Holistic Darwinism w/Peter Corning [29:55m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

 

 Show 252: Extended Podcast Edition! [56:00m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

What is the relationship between the way we are raised, and religion? Equal Time for Freethought explores the way in which our experience as children predisposes us toward certain religious attitudes and practices, and how religious attitudes and practices in turn influence the way in which we raise our own children.

Join Arnell Dowret and independent scholar Dr. Benjamin Abelow, author of the as of yet unpublished book, The Crucified Child. Also joining us is renowned education theorist, and author of Unconditional Parenting and The Homework Myth, Alfie Kohn.

Whether or not you know a child, or were ever a child yourself, this program will most probably offer some valuable insight into the experience of childhood through which most of us pass.

 

 Children, Religion, Coercion, and Submission [30:18m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

A person is a person through other persons”. This rather humanistic concept articulated by the Zulu philosophy of “Ubuntu” is enjoying a renaissance in the 21st Century, serving as a fashionable touchstone for progressive ideals from African diplomacy to the Free Software movement. But what is Ubuntu, and how can its history and present use be instructive to humanists around the world? Eckson Khambule, a Phd candidate in the Programs in Anthropology and Education at Teachers College, Columbia University, joined Michael O’Neil to discuss.

 

 Ubuntu, Humanism and South Africa [29:57m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

“Women’s Reproduction, Christian Fascism, and Women’s Emancipation: The Morality of Abortion and the Immorality of Those Who Want to Take it Away, Pt. II”

As the 35th anniversary of Roe V. Wade approaches, it is appropriate to take stock at the degree to which the rise of Christian fundamentalism in American politics and culture has brought with it an unprecedented assault on the most fundamental rights of women.

This week Sunsara interviews Dr. Susan Wicklund, whose new book, This Common Secret, details the horrific experiences of women whom underwent illegal abortions which has motivated her to become an abortion provider, her many years of care for women, and the threats and dangers she has had to confront to do her liberating work.

 

 Show 249: Cristina Page Interview Pt. 2 [29:01m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

“Women’s Reproduction, Christian Fascism, and Women’s Emancipation: The Morality of Abortion and the Immorality of Those Who Want to Take it Away.”

Part 1 of a two-week special hosted by Sunsara Taylor!

As the 35th anniversary of Roe V. Wade approaches, it is appropriate to take stock at the degree to which the rise of Christian fundamentalism in American politics and culture has brought with it an unprecedented assault on the most fundamental rights of women.

Access to abortion is out of reach for many poor and rural women, abortion providers are still under constant physical – and increasingly, legal – threat, and the Supreme Court - with their decision to uphold the so-called “Partial Birth Abortion Ban” - has begun the process of criminalizing abortion. A growing number of pharmacists are refusing to fill birth control prescriptions, the life-endangering “abstinence-only” programs are being pushed onto our school children by Democrats and Republicans alike, and “Purity Balls” where young girls pledge their virginity (and receive a ring) to their fathers until they get married, are spreading like wildfire across the country.
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 Show 248 Cristina Page Interview Pt 1 [29:41m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download