Our guest this week says that the U.S. Supreme Court’s power to interpret the Constitution is so great that they can use it to justify nearly anything they please. Even the American founders who forged the Constitution often had differing ideas of how its words should be interpreted. But one thing they did not foresee was the Supreme Court having the final say over all constitutional interpretation. Ironically, the most unconstitutional practice that we have may be the Supreme Court’s absolute power to determine what is and is not considered constitutional.
This week Point of Inquiry’s Lindsay Beyerstein chats with Ian Millhiser, the author of Injustices: The Supreme Court’s History of Comforting the Comfortable and Afflicting the Afflicted. Millhiser takes a close look at how the various Justices of the Supreme Court have behaved throughout history, and rather than being champions of equality and justice, he concludes that the Court has largely served to perpetuate inequality and hinder progress. Millhiser argues that the only positive contributions the Supreme Court has made were a result of historical accidents, and that the most productive times of legislation in America’s history were during periods in which the Supreme Court was relatively inactive.
In The News: FFRF’s donation to Charlie Hebdo and a full-page FFRF "Atheists in Foxholes” ad in USA Today’s Defense Commemoration issue. We talk with Eric Stone, an FFRF Life member who helped stop prayers at Concord, California city council meetings. Then we ask former Seventh Day Adventist minister Ryan Bell what happened after his experiment to live a “Year Without God.”
Interview: https://ffrf.org/news/radio/show-items/item/22214-freethought-radio-january-17-2015
In the News: New FFRF billboards in Chicago, Greece’s atheist prime minister sworn in, California mayor refuses prayer, Mike Huckabee disses atheism, and Obama recognizes nonbelievers. We celebrate the birthday of freethinking composer Burton Lane by hearing his irreverent song “The Begats,” from Finian’s Rainbow. Then we talk with skeptical author Michael Shermer about his new book, The Moral Arc: How Science and Reason Lead Humanity Toward Truth, Justice, and Freedom.
Interview: http://ffrf.libsyn.com/the-moral-arc
In this episode, Bo Bennett interviews Margaret Placentra Johnston, author of the book Faith Beyond Belief.
From Margaret’s Patheos blog:
While the word spirituality can mean many different things to different people, on this site we consider it less as a supernatural (and perhaps escapist) concept, and more about living more authentically in this life. Rather than sequester herself away on a mountaintop, a spiritual person as I am using the word, involves herself fully in the world, faces its questions and problems honestly and directly and does what she can to help out.
Specifically the term spiritual development, as used on this site, refers to the intention to move forward spiritually in three ways – Spiritual strength, spiritual maturity and spiritual courage.
After commenting on religious violence around the globe, we talk with Rachel Harger about the upcoming Texas Secular Convention in Austin. We hear actor/novelist Stephen Fry denounce the “wicked” god of the bible, and then celebrate the 89th birthday of freethought poet laureate Philip Appleman by hearing his lyrics set to music in the song “Fleas.” Then we talk with journalist Katherine Stewart, author of the book The Good News Club, about the movement to plant a church in every public school.
Interview: http://ffrf.libsyn.com/a-church-in-every-school
More on this subject: https://www.google.com/search?client=safari&rls=en&q=a+church+in+every+school&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8
They're at it again! Once again, the RNC has partnered with religious extremist David Lane, as Right Wing Watch explains: Earlier this year, the Repu... Read more
Fox News wants the media to blame President Obama for ISIS and, dammit, they are going to make that happen. Some networks (maybe ones that have a smi... Read more
Ben Carson, the 2016 Republican presidential candidate and Tea Party darling, told Republicans on Saturday that they shouldn't allow the government to... Read more
The gap between stagnant incomes and rising rents in many parts of the country is growing out of control. Renter households need to make $19.35 an hour working full time to afford a two-bedroom unit, which is $4 more than the estimated average wage of workers, an article in The Wall Street Journal said... http://www.housingwire.com/articles/33956-minimum-wage-workers-cant-afford-rent
The Founders were a divided bunch. They believed in debate but also in solving problems. Someone tell the Tea Party. There was an emerging disagreement among conservatives, one that grew out of differing dispositions, if not principle. The Tea Party movement possessed an almost centrifugal force i...
Ireland has voted resoundingly to legalize gay marriage in the world's first national vote on the issue, leaders on both sides of the Irish referendum declared Saturday even as official ballot counting continued. "We're the first country in the world to enshrine marriage equality in our constitut...
The Irish referendum on gay marriage was about more than just gay marriage. It was a politically trendy, media backed, well financed howl of rage against Catholicism Whatever happened to Ireland? Its people used to be relied upon to reject social change – in previous referenda they have said no t...
His silence around Indiana's Religious Freedom Restoration Act starts to make some sense You held out for as long as you could, but one day — against your better judgment — you clicked on a viral video. A song about chocolate rain. A man going full-psycho over double rainbows. Rebecca. Effing. Bl...
The Islamic State, on a roll this week. Ramadi down. Palmyra down. American strategy and the future of the Middle East, in question. And then, all kinds of news. Big banks, cheating and fined big. Billions. The biggest recall in history. 34 million airbags. Oil spill in Santa Barbara. Biker bloodbath in Waco. Alleged Chinese spies. Bin Laden’s bookshelf. Baltimore indictments for all six cops. TPP. NSA. David Letterman’s last show. And Hillary Clinton answers a question or two. This hour, On Point: Our weekly news roundtable goes behind the headlines. / Tom Ashbrook
Interview: http://onpoint.wbur.org/2015/05/22/isis-airbags-goodbye-letterman
The Senate scrambles to save the Patriot Act as negotiations continue. The Justice Department says the NSA will begin winding down bulk collection of Americans’ phone records if lawmakers do not act today. The Senate clears a hurdle to give President Obama fast-track authority on a Pacific Rim trade deal. Fox News puts in place new rules to limit the number of candidates who can participate in the first GOP debate. And what’s next in the release of Hillary Clinton’s emails. A panel of journalists joins guest host Indira Lakshmanan for analysis of the week’s top national news stories.
Interview: http://thedianerehmshow.org/shows/2015-05-22/friday-news-roundup-domestic
The so-called Islamic State makes major gains this week, capturing Ramadi in Iraq and Palmyra in Syria, prompting new questions about U.S. strategy against the terror group. U.S. intelligence officials release a trove of documents from the 2011 raid on Osama bin Laden’s compound, providing an unprecedented window into the man’s private world and his final days. The international community condemns Egypt for sentencing ousted President Mohamed Morsi and more than 100 others to death. Southeast Asian nations agree to a temporary measure to relieve the latest migrant crisis on the high seas. And the last administrative hurdle to Cuba re-opening its Washington embassy is cleared. A panel of journalists joins guest host Indira Lakshmanan for analysis of the week’s top international news stories.
Interview: http://thedianerehmshow.org/shows/2015-05-22/friday-news-roundup-international
Netflix and Metacritic are two of the most useful tools in existence for film fans, but they're surprisingly difficult to use in conjunction with each... Read more
"I know Richard Clarke was speaking of Iraq in this interview where he talked about the consequences of our invasion there, but his word sent a cold chill up my spine when I realized that his description of the fallout in Iraq is the same aspiration Republicans have for this country...."
Interview: Read more
Democracy Now's Amy Goodman's web only interview with Rolling Stone's Matt Taibbi on his recent article "Forget What We Know Now: We Knew Then Iraq War Was a Joke," which he wrote in response to Jeb Bush's interview Megyn Kelly on whether he would have authorized the invasion of Iraq, and subsequent flip-flopping...
Interview:
... Read more
A new study finds that processes related to global warming are weakening several Antarctic ice shelves surprisingly quickly – causing glaciers to lose... Read more
Senator Bernie Sanders argues that American public colleges should be tuition- free. Higher education should be, writes Robert Reich, but the US needs... Read more
“These little pain-capable unborn children of God” was just one of the phrases uttered during the U.S. House of Representatives’ recent floor vote to further restrict access to abortion. As representatives passed a ban on abortions after the 20-week mark, many used their faith as a justification for their unconscionable vote... The Reader Comments are well worth a look too. http://talkingpointsmemo.com/cafe/the-bible-says-nothing-about-abortion-but-it-has-a-lot-to-say-about-compassion
All four of the GOP governors with 2016 ambitions are facing budget shortfalls back home that their critics would argue are disasters of their own doing. It puts them in a politically difficult position: consider tax increases that put their fiscal conservative credentials on the line, or move forward with ugly cuts that risk high-profile showdowns with their legislative counterparts... http://talkingpointsmemo.com/dc/budget-battles-gop-2016-governors
My Conservative Inbox is a feature where TPM brings you some of the more interesting emails we receive each day. What you see below is a real email, p... Read more
Sally Haslanger (M.I.T.) discusses a classic argument that God does not exist, called 'The Problem of Evil'. Along the way, she distinguishes different ways in which people believe that God exists, and discusses what's bad about having contradictory beliefs. http://youtu.be/9pRzyioUKp0
"At the South Carolina Freedom Summit, Rep. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN 7) advocated State Department intervention when asked what role the United States should play in protecting Christians around the world:
One of the things that we should be doing here is being very strong in our stance with religious freedom in our country... Our allies around the globe want to see us stay strong on our rights and not erode those rights... With the human rights violations and religious persecutions around the globe, we need a State Department that is going to step in and say, "This is not acceptable."
Blackburn thought that Christians are being persecuted in the U.S., but could not give any examples when asked by this reporter." https://youtu.be/3V_znygZHj4
When five of the world's biggest banks were busted this week for manipulating the cost of dollars and euros, they did more than violate antitrust laws. They violated the public trust... Read more
...The main problem is that they're either easy to remember or "somewhat secure," but usually not both. That's according to a blog post written by Elie Bursztein, Google's anti-abuse research lead, and Ilan Caron, a software engineer. If security questions are easy to remember, they're probably easy for an impostor to guess; but if they're too complicated, the person who created them won't be able to remember them... http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/05/22/password-security-questio_n_7414372.html
“ … over the last 40 years, sadly, I think there’s been an effort to either make folks mad at folks at the top, or to be mad at folks at the bottom. And I think the effort to suggest that the poor are sponges, leeches, don’t want to work, are lazy, are undeserving, got traction. … I have to say that if you watch Fox News on a regular basis, it is a constant menu — they will find folks who make me mad … They’re like, I don’t want to work, I just want a free Obama phone — or whatever. And that becomes an entire narrative … very rarely do you hear an interview of a waitress — which is much more typical — who’s raising a couple of kids and is doing everything right but still can’t pay the bills...
Point of Inquiry, the flagship podcast of the Center for Inquiry, has been hand-selected by the popular streaming service Spotify to be part of the launch of its new slate of offerings, which now includes podcasts. The weekly audio program features the most fascinating and brilliant minds in science, religion, and politics in thought-provoking long-form interviews... http://www.centerforinquiry.net/newsroom/point_of_inquiry_selected_by_spotify_for_launch_of_new_podcast_offerings/
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Historians and Apologists have been arguing for centuries about the evidence for a historical Jesus, the Mythicist theory takes the position that Jesus may never have existed as a real person and has compelling evidence to support it. Join us as we invite the top three scholars/authors in the Mythicist field to discuss the best and worst evidence for a historical Jesus.
The Authors:
Robert M. Price holds two Ph.D. degrees (in Theology and New Testament). He has taught undergraduates, seminarians, and doctoral students. He served as pastor of the First Baptist Church of Montclair and as the Director of the Center for Inquiry, Metro, NY. His numerous books include Deconstructing Jesus, The Incredible Shrinking Son of Man, The Amazing Colossal Apostle, and The Human Bible New Testament. Price is the host of the podcasts The Bible Geek, The Human Bible, and The Lovecraft Geek.
Richard Carrier has a Ph.D. in the history of philosophy from Columbia University, and is a published philosopher and historian, specializing in contemporary philosophy of naturalism, and in Greco-Roman philosophy, science, and religion, and the origins of Christianity. He blogs regularly, lectures for community groups worldwide, and teaches courses online. He is the author of many books including Sense and Goodness without God, On the Historicity of Jesus, and Proving History, as well as chapters in several anthologies and articles in academic journals. For more about Dr. Carrier and his work see www.richardcarrier.info
David Fitzgerald is an atheist activist, writer, public speaker and historical researcher who has been actively investigating the Historical Jesus question for over 15 years. He has a degree in history and was an associate member of CSER (the Committee for the Scientific Examination of Religion) He lectures around the country at Universities and national secular events. He is also author of NAILED: Ten Christian Myths That Show Jesus Never Existed At All and The Complete Heretic’s Guide to Western Religion series.
Interview: https://youtu.be/LPZ39rqaIZ0
This week, the International Monetary Fund put out a big report claiming the world spends $5.3 trillion a year subsidizing energy, mainly fossil fuels... Read more
Between 2000 and 2014, the population of the District of Columbia grew by more than 15 percent to 658,893. That influx of people has raised, and conti... Read more
On the surface, Rand Paul held the Senate floor for nearly 11 hours Wednesday to protest a new version of the Patriot Act provision under which the Na... Read more
One of Rand Paul's emerging angles in his hoped-for race against Hillary Clinton is to put the former Senator and Secretary of State on the line for her husband's role creating the system of mass incarceration which many on both sides of the political spectrum now believe was either a mistake or at least should be reined in. “I’ll ask Hillary Clinton," he said earlier this week, "what have you done for criminal justice? Your husband passed all the laws that put a generation of black men in prison. Her husband was responsible for that.”... Read more
