Vashti McCollum: Champion of the First Amendment

Freethought Radio

Freedom From Religion Foundation

Religion, Religion & Spirituality

4.6 • 577 Ratings

🗓️ 7 October 2006

⏱️ 54 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Features an interview with attorney Jim McCollum, whose experiences as a 4th grader in his Champaign, Illinois, public classroom with illegal religious instruction caused his mother, Vashti Cromwell McCollum, to challenge the violation in court. The result? The landmark 1948 decision, McCollum v. Board of Education, which is prevailing precedent against religion in public schools. The show includes rare audio clips of Vashti McCollum talking about the case. Vashti died in August at age 93. The show includes a Theocracy Alert, news, a pop disbelief quiz, and music. (MP3, 54 min, 24.5 MB)

Transcript

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0:00.0	It's time to wake up.
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0:09.0	A production of the Freedom from Religion Foundation featuring co-hosts Dan Barker and Annie Laurie Gaylor.
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0:20.0	Imagine there's no heaven.
0:23.6	It's easy if you try.
0:28.6	No hell below us, above us only sky.
0:42.3	Imagine all the people living for today.
0:56.4	Hello, heathens, you godless infidels, and good morning to everyone who's listening.
1:01.9	I'm Annie Laurie Galore, and welcome to Free Thought Radio.
1:05.4	We invite you to stay tuned to our hour-long broadcast, the only weekly radio broadcast in the nation devoted to news
1:13.1	and views of atheists, agnostics, and other free thinkers, and the separation of church and state.
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1:31.1	And most of our members are quite the irreverent bunch.
1:36.4	A rabbi went to a boxing match with a priest one day.
1:41.4	And when the bell rang and one of the boxers stood up and did the sign of the cross,
1:45.8	the rabbi turned to the priest and said, what does that mean? And the priest said, not a damn thing
1:52.6	if he can't fight. Okay, that was our joke for today. And our guest today will be attorney
1:59.2	Jim McCollum. As a fourth grader growing up in Champaign,
2:03.5	Illinois in the 1940s, Jim was put into a class of religious instruction at his public school,
2:10.0	and when his mother, Bastion McCollum found out, she challenged that First Amendment violation,
	...

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