Congratulations to President-Elect Barack Obama! The possible ramifications of an Obama presidency will be shaking out for weeks and months to come, but freethinkers are particularly interested in the effect it will have on separation of church and state, the integrity of government-funded science, gay rights, women’s rights, etc. We’ll also take a look at various election results from across the country.
We talk to Dr. Eugenie Scott, executive director of the National Center for Science Education (NCSE) about the recent action by the Texas Board of Education [www.tea.state.tx.us/sboe] that places three creationists on the six-member committee that reviews science standards [link]. How damaging could this move be to the rest of the country?
We discuss Religulous, the new documentary starring comedian Bill Maher (best known for his politically-oriented roundtable talk shows Politically Incorrect and Real Time with Bill Maher). The early box office returns show Religulous making $3.5 million its first weekend on 500 screens (compare this to Ben Stein’s Expelled, which made $3 million on 1,000 screens).
David Driscoll gives a wrap-up on the 14th annual Atheist Alliance International convention in Long Beach, California, including his descriptions of presentations by Julia Sweeney, PZ Myers, Eddie Tabash, Michael Shermer and Michael Newdow. Details on the convention can be found here [link].
David Driscoll reports (almost) live from the 14th annual Atheist Alliance International convention in Long Beach, California. Details on the convention - including the opportunity to watch it from home via live streaming - can be found here [link].
Interview with Ed Buckner, the newly appointed president of American Atheists. Ed was formerly an executive director of the Council for Secular Humanism, and at the time of his appointment to this new post was the Treasurer of the Atlanta Freethought Society.
For more about American Atheists, visit Atheists.org.
As listeners of the American Freethought Podcast know, co-host David Driscoll’s other pod-project is his one-man-show for Secular Nation magazine called “Secular Nation On-the-Go”. It’s essentially David’s audiobook version of the magazine, supplemented with his interviews of contributors and/or persons featured in the articles.
First up, what does the selection of Sarah Palin for the Republican presidential ticket mean for the cause of secular government in America? (Spoiler Alert: It won’t be good.)
Next, we offer a wrap-up of the extremely successful Skeptics Track at this year’s Dragon*Con. If you were in attendance, send an email to dragoncon@dragoncon.org and let them know what a fantastic job Track Director Derek Colanduno did.
Plus: A special, super-secret guest panelist joins us for the first (and hopefully not the last) time!
[Apologies for the sound glitch at the very beginning. The theme music overpowers the voice track, but it only lasts a few seconds.]
Presenting our first-ever live episode, recorded August 30th at Dragon*Con as part of the Skeptics programming track, directed by Derek Colanduno of Skepticality fame. (Derek’s pod-partner Swoopy directed Dragon*Con’s Podcasting track.)
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In this episode we throw in a potpourri of items in the news or random events we think our subscribers will find interesting, plus we discuss some interesting listener feedback.