The late Christopher Hitchens was a prodigiously gifted writer and polemicist. He was also an enormously provocative and controversial one. In 2007, KPFA organized a debate between journalist Chris Hedges and Hitchens on the subject of religion, to a rapt and overflowing audience, which ultimately inspired Hedges to write his book I Don't Believe in Atheists.

Four men who would have a profound impact on U.S. culture converged at Harvard in the early 1960s. In The Harvard Psychedelic Club, Don Lattin tells the story of what Timothy Leary, Ram Dass, Andrew Weil, and Huston Smith did, how they interacted, and how they influenced the psychedelic and countercultural and spiritual and holistic-health movements of the 1960s and '70s and way beyond.

Joseph Levine grew up an Orthodox Jew, found himself attracted to the '60s counterculture, and studied in Israel for two years. Soon after, he became an atheist. Levine talks about his upbringing, about Torah Jewish practice and doctrine, and about the ideas that spurred him to reject religious faith.

In this second installment of Ron Hassner's talk, the U.C. Berkeley political scientist addresses, among other things, the notion that religion has motivated most of the wars, or at least the bloodiest ones, throughout history. Also included is more from an interview with the politically inquisitive Lisa Kron.

Ron Hassner confronts the argument that religions are naturally conducive to peace. He emphasizes, among other things, the ambiguous and contradictory nature of religious texts and passages. Also, a new play by Lisa Kron points out blind spots in the political consciousness of many middle-class liberals.

In the 1980s, the emergent US New Right took shape on the battleground of Central America, bringing together secular free-marketers and evangelical Christians in an unholy alliance. Historian Greg Grandin talks about the ideology of US neo-conservatism in Central America, while David McNally speaks about the offensive of neoliberalism and the roots of the current financial meltdown.