Susan Jacoby on Secularism and Free Thinking

Journalist and historian Susan Jacoby talks with Bill about the role secularism and intellectual curiosity have played throughout America's history, a topic explored in her new book, The Great Agnostic: Robert Ingersoll and American Free Thought..


Partway through the interview, Bill presents a short clip from the documentary The Lord Is Not on Trial Here Today, the story of how Illinois mother Vashti McCollum faced down three years of "headlines, headaches and hatred" to fight for the separation of church and state in America. Her efforts resulted in a landmark 1948 Supreme Court decision that struck down religious education in the public schools. More On This