One-Hour Easter Special: “Questioning Judeo-Christian Morality”
Audio here!
Are Easter and Passover the basis for morality or for violence?
This week most people commemorate the foundational narratives of the Jewish and Christian religions, both widely regarded as the main source of ethical inspiration and social stability for the Western world, yet there are sound reasons to believe that it’s our Judeo-Christian tradition that might actually be responsible for a great deal of violence.
At this moment in our nation’s history when we continue to have the largest prison population in the Western world – when we’re being told that the only solution to a disastrous unwinnable military adventure is to send more troops – and when our leaders have seen fit to pass the Military Commissions Act of 2006 which denies detainees the right of Habeas Corpus and the protections against torture afforded by the Geneva Convention – Equal Time for Freethought will take a critical look at how our Judeo-Christian traditions not only fail to curb such institutionalized brutality, but actually make such policies appear as if they are morally acceptable.
Joining us will be University of California Professor Emeritus Dr. Daniel Rancour-Laferriere. Professor Rancour-Laferriere is author of the new book “Tolstoy’s Quest for God,” due to be published latter this month, as well as numerous other books and articles about religion including the article we’ll be discussing with him, “The Moral Masochism at the Heart of Christianity.”
We’ll also feature an interview with developmental, and cross-cultural, neuro-psychologist Dr. James Prescott. Dr. Prescott served from 1963 to 1980 as the Health Scientist Administrator for the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development. His work focuses on the root causes of violence in our society.
We’ll also be playing our own original “promo” for the movie, “The Passion of the Christ;” and if that weren’t enough – just to top off our secular Easter basket – we’ll be throwing in our exclusive recording of the historic debate between the Easter Bunny and Jesus Christ himself.