As we look forward to 2009, we take a moment to review the success and progress of the American Freethought Podcast in 2008. What was our best episode? What could we have done better?
We also unveil a new contest for our listeners with an impressive stack of cool prizes. Tune in to find out how YOU could be the recipient of this treasure trove of nifty freethought-ish tchoch.
Interview with Mel Lipman (approx. 42 minutes into the show), president of the American Humanist Association (and, incidentally, the father of Lori Lipman Brown, lobbyist for the Secular Coalition for American, whom we talked to in podcast #23). We talk to Mel about the AHA’s holiday ad campaign, which puts the message “Why believe in a god? Just be good for goodness’ sake!” on buses in Washington, DC.
Comedian/pundit Bill Maher’s anti-religion documentary Religulous topped $6.7M at the end of its second weekend of release, expanding from 502 screens to 568. (For those keeping score, Ben Stein’s creationist apologetic Expelled earned $7.7M in eight weeks on over 1,000 screens.)
The Catholic Church – We provide an overview on the good, the bad and the crazy aspects of the Roman Catholic Church. Purgatory. Limbo. Whatever.
Ben Stein – The frontman for the anti-science documentary Expelled opens his mouth and removes all doubt. He appeared on Trinity Broadcasting Network on April 21, 2008 and made some outrageous statements.
Meanwhile, we stumbled across The Mortal Storm, a 1940 movie starring Jimmy Stewart that addresses, among other things, just how (un)scientific the Nazi outlook was. [Link]
Expelled – We discuss Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed, the new crock-umentary starring Ben Stein. For a thorough critique of Expelled, visit Expelled Exposed.
Ben Stein loses NYT gig, grip on reality
Tuesday, August 11th, 2009Ben “Bueller…Bueller…” Stein has been let go from his biweekly gig writing a financial column for the New York Times, ostensibly because of his commercial work for a website called FreeScore.com and the associated (perceived?) conflict of interest. Now, normally I wouldn’t cover something so non-freethoughtish here, but now Stein has written a lengthy self-defense for The American Spectator, in which he blames everyone but the Illuminati for his ouster.
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Tags: ben stein, expelled, freescore.com, new york times
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