Dogma Free America

Dogma Free America is a political podcast that discusses current events relating to the intersection of religious dogma and American/International politics. The hosts believe, in their words, that "dogma makes you crazy" and try to elucidate this philosophy with news items of religious dogma being taken to the extreme by both practitioners and by the state.

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The show regularly has notable guests on to discuss topics relating to the problems caused by the misapplication of religious dogma. Such notable guests include Lars Vilks (a Swedish artist who touched off an international controversy when he exhibited drawings of the prophet Muhammed as a dog), Out Campaign organizer Josh Timonen (producer of the DVD The Four Horsemen), author Frank Cress (author of Reason For Life), Edward Tabash, Ivan Stang, Bob Park (author of Voodoo Science), George Ricker (author of Godless in America), cult expert Rick Ross, Brian Dunning of Skeptoid, Jason Torpy (President Of The Military Association of Atheists and Freethinkers), Ezra Levant, Terry Sanderson, Joe Kaufman (founder of Americans Against Hate) and leading atheist Margaret Downey.

History

The show began December 10, 2006 and publishes a new episode roughly every week. The show went on what was intended to be a permanent hiatus after the 50th show (November 11, 2007) although it returned five months later with a slightly new format and publishing schedule (projected to be bi-weekly). Dogma Free America's main host Rich Orman explained the podcast was consuming too much of his personal time and show 50 was a good round number upon which to end. Episode 51, Orman explained the return owing to him missing his platform to the world. Orman's caveat was the show would likely move to a less demanding bi weekly release schedule.

Listenership

Dogma Free America is a top ten rated show on iTunes in the Religion & Spirituality / Other category. It is frequently listed by iTunes as the first noteworthy show for its category.

Accents

Orman and his cohosts, when reading quotes from news items from foreign countries or regions of America with accents distinct from the Midwestern accent, attempt to do the quoted individuals in their regional accents. This humorous feature of the show has not been without controversy or complaint.

Spot the Fake Dogma

When the show returned from hiatus, host Orman introduced a new end segment called "Spot the Fake Dogma". Orman would read three or four news items and then challenge the cohost that week (Dr. Orman or Owens) to guess which news item was the fake item. The segment was inspired by The Skeptics' Guide to the Universe's "Science or Fiction" segment, which is itself inspired by NPR's Wait Wait... Don't Tell Me! quiz show. The segment proved unpopular with the listeners and it was discontinued by podcast 59. During its short but unpopular run, cohost Owens managed to spot more fake dogma items than cohost Dr. Orman.

Religious Violence

Despite the show being titled "Dogma Free America," most of the news items relating to religious dogma are sourced from abroad, such as Malaysia, Pakistan, and the UK. The show has done a lot to make listeners aware of religious violence being perpetrated against people in sub-Saharan Africa and India suspected of practicing "witchcraft."

Festivus

In lieu of Christmas or Chanukah, Orman celebrates Festivus, a parody holiday introduced on the Seinfeld sitcom. Each year Orman invites listeners to submit ideas for the "Feats of Strength" holiday ritual. For the Festivus 2007 party, Oram offered to invite the submitter of the winning entry to his home to be part of his Festivus celebration. The winner was, however, required to submit a criminal background check before gaining entry to Orman's home. It was initially assumed Orman was joking about the criminal background check but in a later episode he made it clear he was serious.

Wikipedia Controversy

The archived debates on Wikipedia regarding the show's notability can be found here, here, and here. Click here to view the original Wikipedia page for Dogma Free America, which has been locked. Note as well the discussion page has been deleted several time, Wikipedia Admins apparently becoming even tired of any debate.

External links

• Official web site
• Digg on Dogma Free America
• Host Rich Orman interviewed by The Indigo Room podcast