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Show 379: The “Abortion Wars” Now Include Birth Control!

The “Abortion Wars” Now Include Birth Control!

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Thirty-nine years after women won the right to abortion, this fundamental right is hanging by a thread. 2011 saw the greatest number of restrictions passed on womens access to abortion ever – and now, more than 90% of counties don’t have abortion providers, millions of women face unnecessary and humiliating legal restrictions to access, doctors who provide this service are hunted and terrorized and women who get abortions are stigmatized and shamed.

But that is not all.

Now, even birth control is under siege. Pharmacists refuse to fill prescriptions. “Personhood” amendments seek to criminalize miscarriages and ban all contraception. And President Obama openly upheld Kathleen Sebelius’s unprecedented decision to overrule the FDA to ban the over-the-counter distribution of Plan B (emergency contraception).

This Saturday,  join Sunsara Taylor as she convenes a round-table of experts and commentators to look back at the past year in the battle over women’s right to birth control and abortion… and, to look ahead to the battles to come.

Guests will include:

Irin Carmon, staff writer for Salon, whose recent titles include, “Why women have second trimester abortions,” and, “The next front in the abortion wars: Birth control.”

Amanda Marcotte, author of “2011: The War on Contraception,” and, “Restricting Plan B Is Bad Politics,” for rhrealitycheck.org.

Erin Gloria Ryan, writer for Jezebel whose pieces include, “The Year In Your Uterus.”

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Show 378: A Naturalistic Christmas

A  Naturalistic Christmas – 2-Hour Special!

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Our program will feature a completely new, exclusive interview with old St. Nick himself who, after years of eluding us, has finally agreed to another interview.  Apparently, Santa’s status as a mythical holiday icon could not insulate him from suffering the same reversal of fortune that has afflicted almost everyone.  Yet despite his considerable setbacks, Santa somehow manages to remain an inspiration.

We’ll also feature our much enjoyed Christmas Day Guided Meditation.

And this year, we will be trying, for the first time, a special Christmas Call-In Experiment: “Real Time Giving and Receiving”

It’s the kind of Christmas that only WBAI can deliver — completely naturalistic and filled with fun, love, and hope.

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Show 377: Jesus: Man or Myth

Jesus: Man or Myth w/ Robert Price

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Tonight is Christmas Eve. Christians around the planet will understand this evening as the celebration of the birth of Jesus Christ, a prophet and son-of-God. Biblical scholarship outside of Christian Apologetics have long held that the Jesus of the Gospels – the Jesus born of a virgin, master miracle worker, and the god who rose from the dead and founded a religion – never existed… That this Jesus was a mythology designed to offer metaphysical bases for a very human religion.

But did a man named Jesus ever exist, historically speaking? If not, who was it Christianity was based on? And if there never existed the Jesus of the Gospels NOR a historical Jesus, what are Christians to do?

Today we will speak with biblical scholar Robert Price on this – the core of an entire religion may much different than most Christians even suspect.

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Show 376: Personal Responsibility, the Social Contract, and the Future of Naturalism in the Age of “Occupy”

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Is there a relationship between a naturalized view of human behavior and rejecting a system which lavishes extreme rewards on some, and doles out harsh privation and punishments to others?

The strongest argument against our becoming an egalitarian, socially just society is the commonly held idea that if things in someone’s life are going badly, they have no one to blame but themselves. But does understanding that human behavior is ultimately caused by factors that are not freely chosen make it more likely that someone would support a more compassionate social agenda?

It’s not surprising that most people in our society subscribe to the belief that people have free will. And that, regardless of the determining factors, they can always choose to behave in a manner that runs contrary to cause and emanates from them alone. Nor should it be surprising that those with this view believe that people who behave in ways we like deserve reward and those who behave in ways we dislike deserve hardship.

What is surprising, however, is that, of the relative few who accept that our behaviors are determined by factors we do not choose and that our actions at any given moment are always the only actions to which the prior determinants could have led, most seem to feel that keeping our system of applying reward and punishment to motivate desirable behavior is justified, albeit with some moderate amelioration.

Does this make logical sense? Does it make moral sense? Is it the most effective approach to protecting our society and maximizing people’s greatest potential to contribute? If not, is there a more effective approach to protecting society and supporting desirable behaviors than retaining the fiction that it is justified to hold people (in the traditional sense) responsible?

Continue reading “Show 376: Personal Responsibility, the Social Contract, and the Future of Naturalism in the Age of “Occupy””

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Show 375: Humanist for the Holidays

Humanist for the Holidays – Call-In Special!

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With the holiday season comes a lot of cognitive (and emotional) dissonance for politically conscious humanists. If you were raised with religion, you might have fond memories called up by holiday decorations that clash with your current understanding of exploitation and consumerism. Meanwhile, you’re visiting family and friends who may not be aware of your “un-believer” status.

So how do humanists maintain integrity during the holidays while still having fun? Call in with your stories, advice, and questions and we’ll sort it all out on Equal Time For Freethought!

We will speak with Greg Epstein, Humanist Chaplain at Harvard University, about humanist celebrations and how humanists and atheists can live full, moral lives without religion, and with Patrick Colucci, Vice Chairman of the HumanLight committee, who will discuss the first ever international humanist winter holiday, now celebrating its 10th year!

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Show 374: “Thank God for Evolution” w/ Michael Dowd

“Thank God for Evolution” w/ Michael Dowd

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This Saturday, evolutionary evangelist – former pastor and author of ‘Thank God for Evolution’ – Michael Dowd, will speak with host Matthew LaClair on the subject of evolutionary theory and the sciences.

Since 2002, Reverend Dowd and his wife have traveled across the country, addressing more than 1,500 theistic and secular groups alike on the subject of evolutionary theory. How can the sciences be communicated to those with varying religious and political views? Should “religious” language be a part of this discussion? Is it hypocritical to believe in a Supreme Being with no factual information, while simultaneously accepting evolution? Can secularists and theists learn some things from one another?

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Show 373: Rationale for a Movement

Rationale for a Movement

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The “Occupy Wall Street” protests may indicate that after decades of moving ever further to the right, our nation might now be willing to take a more progressive approach to addressing societal problems.

But like its conservative counterpart, to be sustainable, a progressive approach needs to be supported by a socio-political narrative which resonates with the general public.

At its core, the conservative rationale for perpetuating and expanding our top down, authoritarian, and highly stratified system resulting in extreme winners and losers is based on traditional narratives which teach that people are naturally greedy, lazy and antisocial, and because of this, our “big carrot/big stick” system is the only system that can work.

Progressives know this argument is fallacious, but arguing against the default setting of traditional beliefs while managing to keep the audience listening will be a challenge.

So what is the philosophical thinking that informs the OWS organizers?  Is there anything that resembles a cogent view that they commonly hold?  If so, how can this be conveyed to the general public?  And if not, how will this new movement resist the push back from mainstream conservatives who were successfully rolled back the mid 20th century social-economic gains, to a large extent by appealing to people’s underlying conservative mind set.

Join us as we speak with representatives from the Occupy Wall Street movement live in our studio.

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Show 372: The Lolita Effect w/ Meenakshi Gigi Durham

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This week, Sunsara Taylor will speak with Meenakshi Gigi Durham who is an associate professor in the School of Journalism and Mass Communication at the University of Iowa. Durham researches media and the politics of the body, with emphasis on gender, sexuality, race and youth cultures. She holds a joint appointment in the Department of Gender, Women’s and Sexuality Studies.

Durham’s 2008 book, “The Lolita Effect: The Media Sexualization of Young Girls and What We Can Do About It,” provides strategies for empowering girls to make healthy decisions about their sexuality. Her research has received significant coverage in news outlets such as CNN, The New York Times, The Times of London, Frontline, People, “Dr. Phil,” The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, The St. Louis Post-Dispatch and Salon.com, in addition to being reviewed in scholarly journals.

Durham is writing a new book, tentatively titled “Technosex,” about how bodies/sexualities are translated into the virtual environment through practices like sexting.

Sunsara also will speak to two as yet unnamed guests on the rise of violent pornography and child pornography in America.

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Show 371: Providing the Rationale for a Movement

Providing the Rationale for a Movement

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The appearance of the “Occupy Wall Street” protests, on which our host Michael O’Neil recently reported, and the newly  launched “Move Your Money Day” (November 5th) may indicate that, after decades of moving ever further to the right, our nation might now be willing to take a more progressive approach to addressing societal problems.

But just like its conservative counterpart, to be sustainable, a progressive approach will need to be supported by a socio-political narrative which resonates with the general public.

At its core, the conservative rationale for perpetuating and expanding our top down, authoritarian, and highly stratified system of extreme “winners and losers” is based on traditional narratives which teach that people are naturally greedy, lazy and antisocial – and that given this, ours is the only system that could work.

Progressives and Leftists know this argument is fallacious, but arguing against the default setting of traditional beliefs – while managing to keep the audience listening – has always been difficult. This is why we think the work of award winning documentary filmmaker Adam Curtis is of vital importance.

Curtis’ work examines how throughout the 20th century, and thus far throughout the 21st, religion as well as other traditional beliefs have effectively been used to manipulate the popular imagination into supporting the conservative policies that have resulted in an ever widening class divide; the devastation of the middle class; and ever increasing neglect and abuse of the poor.

In our two-hour fall fund drive special, ETFF will examine three seminal Adam Curtis films, made over the past decade:  “The Power of Nightmares;” “The Century of the Self;” and “The Trap.” The “trilogy” provides a brilliant critique of the erroneous ideas that the American people have been deliberately sold. The films also demonstrate how an evidence-based social-scientific understanding of our human experience, mostly absent in the mainstream media, completely contradicts the contrived conservative narrative.

Curtis’ genius is evidenced in his unique ability to present complicated material in a manner that is at all times highly entertaining, frequently witty, and occasionally even exhilarating – with each film offering us a non-stop, rapid fire, visual and aural feast.

Given the very real possibility that a new revitalized left may at long last now be emerging; the work of Adam Curtis is more relevant now than ever. And so for the very first time, we will be pleased to be offering all three of his films to our listener sponsors.

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Show 370: Live From #OccupyWallSt

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In this special edition of ETFF, Michael O’Neil reported live from an #occupywallst march against NYPD brutality, and presented field recordings from the Slutwalk NYC March from earlier that day. The ongoing #occupywallst action and NYC General Assembly present a bold call for economic justice while attempting to implement a form of direct, democratic decision making. How does a human microphone work? What groups have endorsed or joined the occupation, and just what on Earth is a “Slut Walk?”