Podcast Link.
April 19, 2008 – Guest: Matthew LaClair, High School State/Church Activist
Theocracy Alert. The Pope is here!
Democratic candidates continue to pander to the religious Reich. All of the questions that I heard were specifically designed to appeal to fundamentalists (6 day creation, real presence of the holy spirit, etc) the least rational, least populous christian group. Why on earth should the rest of us care what the religious Reich think of our candidates?
This is the second time that Matthew LaClair has been on the program. The first time he made the news, I had to admit he had a case (especially after hearing this program) however, this time I think he’s looking for a reason to get in the news. Both CFI and FFrF have taken up this cause, and I really don’t see the textbook errors as being worth a national case (don’t buy textbooks written by (neo-)conservatives if you don’t want their bias in the classroom.
Members of the religious Reich are going to lament, in print, the separation of church and state. That’s a given, textbook or not. But the subject of global warming and it’s validity (as discussed in a politics textbook) is hardly an equivalent issue.
True, the scientific community has recently rallied round the data concerning global warming, and there is even data that appears to show that global warming is due to man’s impact on the environment (never mind that CATO’s expert on the subject, a climatologist himself, points out that there hasn’t been any global warming in the last 20 years, based on the scientific record) but that is completely beside the point of including the subject in a political textbook, where the subject is going to be political/government action on specific environmental concerns.
And when it comes to what the government should do to combat global warming, the scientists are indeed at odds as to what the proper course might be. I don’t call myself an environmentalist anymore, even though I was recycling back when only hippies recycled. The move to politicize the environmental movement has alienated me from those who now want to wear the mantle of environmetalism.
This was the second worst interview of the program, Right after the Rothschild interview, and before the third worst (to date) Sumners interview. It shows a fair amount of political dogma about issues that are outside the scope of separation of church and state, the purpose of Freethought Radio. (The 2008 RAnthony would not like the 2020 RAnthonys editor’s notes or his politics. -ed.)
2007 Archive episode.
April 21, 2007 – “Monkey Girl”: The Dover “ID” Case
Theocracy Alert. Partial birth abortion ban passes Supreme Court, all five justices who support the constitutionality of the law are practicing Roman Catholics. Coincidence?
…and then comes the dogma. Gun control isn’t banning guns? Bullshit, Dan Barker. The only way to control guns is to control access to them, and that is banning guns of some type from some or all groups. If professors had been allowed to carry guns; if students could get concealed carry permits, there would have been a realistic deterrent in place to keep the killings at Virginia Tech from occurring. As long as schools remain gun free zones, they will remain tantalizing targets for crazy people with guns (guns purchased legally with waiting periods and other forms of gun control in place) who will always be able to obtain weapons, because laws only affect the law-abiding. More thoughts on gun control. (especially read the editor’s note on that article. -ed.)
Edward Humes, author Monkey Girl was the guest in this episode. A book about the case against the Dover Pennsylvania School Board over their intentions to teach Intelligent Design. Illuminating discussion on the facts of the Creation vs. Evolution debate.
Freethinkers Almanac rounds out the episode. Shakespeare is featured, as well as Mary Crisp.
