Annie Laurie Gaylor

[music] This is Free Thought Radio with cohosts Dan Barker and Annie Laurie Gaylor.

Irreverent views, news, music, and interviews.

[singing] Imagine there's no heaven.

I, I, I...

Hello, and welcome to Free Thought Radio.

I am Annie Laurie Gaylor.

And I'm Dan Barker.

Annie Laurie and I are co-presidents of the Freedom From Religion Foundation.

This is Free Thought Radio with co-hosts Dan Barker and Annie Laurie Gaylor.

Irreverent views, news, music, and interviews.

Imagine there's no heaven It's easy if you try No hell below us

Hello and welcome to Freethought Radio.

I'm Annie Laurie Gaylor and happy September.

Remember, there are only 61 days till the midterm elections on November 3rd.

And I'm Dan Barker.

Beware of dogma.

[gentle music] This is Free Thought Radio with cohosts Dan Barker and Annie Laurie Gaylor.

Irreverent views, news, music, and interviews.

[singing] Imagine there's no heaven.

Barely gettin' by.

It's all takin' and no givin'

Hello, I'm Annie Laurie Gaylor, and welcome to Free Thought Radio.

That, of course, is 9 to 5 by Dolly Parton, who died this week.

For more about why we're talking about Dolly on our Free Thought show, we'll, we'll say that in a minute.

[gentle music] This is Free Thought Radio with co-hosts Dan Barker and Annie Laurie Gaylor.

Irreverent views, news, music, and interviews.

Imagine there's no heaven.

Imagine all the people living for today.

Welcome to Free Thought Radio.

I'm Annie Laurie Gaylor.

And I'm Dan Barker, and this is radio for the rest of us.

Annie Laurie and I are co-presidents of the Freedom From Religion Foundation.

The Fifth Circuit ruled in April that the law is fine, even though the Supreme Court struck down a nearly identical Kentucky law back in 1980.

Annie Laurie Gaylor of the Freedom From Religion Foundation says the First Commandment is, quote, "...the antithesis of our First Amendment." Rabbi Joseph Fixler of Houston says these displays force kids to defend their own family's beliefs.

Public schools exist to educate, not to convert.

And that used to be settled law.

And Bob Smetana, a journalist who's covered American religion for years, is going to widen the lens what's actually driving this movement state by state and why it's more complicated than either side's slogans suggest.

Annie Laurie Gaylor co-founded the Freedom From Religion Foundation decades ago, built on a simple argument that freedom of religion has to include freedom from government-imposed religion.

She spent her career asking one question of laws like Texas's, whose version of religion is the government actually endorsing?

Annie-Laurie Gaylor, welcome to the program.

You know, even a kindergarten who can't read, or if they can read, what are they supposed to make out of Thou Shalt Not Commit Adultery? Why would we have that in our public schools? What about the kids are going to be saying, teacher, what does adultery mean? I mean, the whole thing is preposterous.

And I hope that reason will and the Constitution will prevail in this case.

Annie Laurie Gaylor, co-founder of the Freedom From Religion Foundation, on the legal fight against Texas's Ten Commandments law.

That's a case being made by an organization actively fighting these policies in court.