Around Town 12/22/22: Atheist Group Reacts to Bucksport’s Nativity Scene

Producer/Host: Amy Browne

This week:
One of the things people are talking about around town this holiday season is the controversy around a nativity scene in Bucksport. A Penobscot resident made a report to the Freedom from Religion Foundation‘s Maine Chapter about the town sponsored religious display, and the chapter responded by asking to add a small sign nearby, celebrating the solstice and the Bill of Rights. Tom Waddell, columnist for the Kennebec Journal, and the President of Maine Chapter of the Freedom from Religion Foundation explains why they got involved.

About the host:
Amy Browne started out at WERU as a volunteer news & public affairs producer in 2000, co-hosting/co-producing RadioActive with Meredith DeFrancesco. She joined the team of Voices producers a few years later, and has been WERU’s News & Public Affairs Manager since January, 2006. In addition to RadioActive, Voices, Maine Currents and Maine: The Way Life Could Be, Amy also produced and hosted the WERU News Report for several years. She has produced segments for national programs including Free Speech Radio News, This Way Out, Making Contact, Workers Independent News, Pacifica PeaceWatch, and Live Wire News, and has contributed to Democracy Now and the WBAI News Report. She is the recipient of the 2014 Excellence in Environmental Journalism Award from the Sierra Club of Maine, and Maine Association of Broadcasters awards for her work in 2017 and 2021.