Throughout history, young humans have endured careful moral instruction on the difference between right and wrong. Yet humanity owns a spectacular history of violent conflict between holders of relatively minor differences of opinion in the interpretation of moral tenets.  Catholicism versus Protestantism and Shi’ite versus Sunni Islam are just two of the culture wars that …

Do You Believe in God? You are in conversation with a neighbor, friend, associate at work, or family member, and they pointedly ask you the question, “Do you believe in God?” I most certainly did, quite some time ago, and throughout my twenty-five years as a Christian minister I spent a great deal of my …

Logical fallacies within a religious text are problematic for followers of that religion. This is because fallacies call into question the religion’s validity, especially if the follower proclaims that their deity is infallible. It is thus a common strategy for theists to highlight the fallacies of rival religions in hopes that the opposition will rationally …

It has been estimated by the Center for the Study of Global Christianity that in the world there are some 45,000 different denominations of what is commonly called “Christianity,” a religion wholly based (so they all affirm) on the words of a man named Jesus. He lived in the place now called Palestine about 2,000 …

Many former believers never escape the remnant radiation from the religious calendar. For example, every year during the Jewish High Holy Days, my thoughts turn to the meaning of my life. But the contemplation, as you can read below, can be unsettling when it leads to the subject of death. Secularists may disagree about what …

One of the truly wonderful things about being human is that we have a relatively brief lifespan. Fewer than eighty years. And, let’s face it, eighty years ought to be enough for anybody. Eighty years is enough to read all the great books you should be reading but aren’t. I personally am about to turn …

I grew up in New Jersey as a child of immigrants. My family wasn’t particularly religious; we simply never talked about it much. I guess you could say we were nominally Christian, although church was just one of those activities that fell under the category of Things Other People Do, like bridge clubs, bar mitzvahs, …

Back in 2007, when I was working on my first master’s degree at Boston University, I was thrilled to learn that, because of the Boston Theological Institute (a consortium of religion and theology schools in Boston), I could take classes at Harvard. Jumping at the chance, I signed up for an introduction to Zoroastrianism taught …

Part of my daily routine is to begin my morning with a cup of coffee. In the past week, that morning routine has been literally shattered to pieces, and, in those broken pieces, a transformation has begun. Some twenty-seven years ago, in my early forties, I was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease. Over those years, the …

I want to strongly second the motion of former Free Inquiry Editor Paul Fidalgo1: atheists should focus less on what they reject and instead work together to make life better for everyone regardless of their theological dispositions. They must unite on what he calls the Last Mission: the ongoing endeavor to advance the higher universalist …

As I stood in line at the bank holding an obnoxious number of one-dollar bills, the lady behind me attempted to strike up a conversation. “Are you a waitress?” she asked politely. “No, I’m a dancer,” I replied, knowing what would come next. “Oh, how nice. Ballet?” “Exotic,” I said curtly but with a gleam …

When I began working for the Center for Inquiry (CFI, copublisher of Free Inquiry) nine years ago, I had never heard of the term secular humanism. You see, my education and career are in editing. My life is words. So, it never really mattered to me what I was editing. I joined the CFI editorial …

By this time, I imagine, we have long become inured to the spectacle of Christians in positions of power and influence saying and doing appalling, offensive, and downright stupid things. But of late we have had some exceptionally rib-tickling instances of such bad behavior, and one suspects the trend is likely to continue as the …

To blaspheme is to utter contempt for God or to disrespect or insult the sacred. It is ironic, and strangely overlooked, that the greatest blasphemers have been the deeply religious. How is this possible? In most religions, the creator god made man his supreme handiwork. In the Abrahamic bible, God makes man in “his own …

There are some questions that humans have been asking since the beginning of time, such as: What is right and what is wrong? To answer this question, societies have looked to deities and god-appointed kings. Laypeople were told what was right and wrong. As society evolved, some people began to question whether what the deities …

(“Applaud My Friends, for the Comedy Is Finally Over”) —attributed as Ludwig Von Beethoven’s last words Shall it be Goethe’s, “Light, more light!”? Though, Voltaire could hardly distinguish Between a candle and the flames of hell. I might be more inclined to say something Like Enrico Fermi’s, “I hope it won’t take long,” Or maybe …

By all appearances, Bermuda seems a hostile environment for secularists. An island of only twenty-one square miles inhabited by 66,000 residents, Bermuda has 110 churches! Not one secular/humanist group can be found on the island. The 2020 World Religion Database does report that 6.2 percent of Bermudians consider themselves nonbelievers. But with 5.92 percent calling …

Philosopher Peter Kreeft ends his essay “The Apple Argument against Abortion” with a plea: I hope a reader can show me where I’ve gone astray in the sequence of 13 steps that constitute this argument. I honestly wish a pro-choicer would someday show me one argument that proved that fetuses are not persons. It would …

Before I retired as a long-term academic at the College of Charleston, I often served on its Tenure and Promotion Committee. When faculty apply for tenure (a lifetime appointment), usually in the sixth year of teaching at an institution, the committee looks at the candidate’s resume, teaching evaluations, and letters of recommendation. The committee then …

I must have been around nine years old. It was after school, and I was walking past the wrought-iron back gates of San Ignacio, our neighborhood Catholic church. I was kicking a large rock down the sidewalk and trying to make it bounce like the stones I had seen kids on TV skip on water. …

Humanly Possible: Seven Hundred Years of Humanist Freethinking, Inquiry, and Hope. By Sarah Bakewell. New York, NY: Penguin Press, 2023. ISBN: 978-0735223370. 464 pp. Hardcover, $30. What is humanism? We have been asking that question for many years and looking for a concise yet meaningful and accurate definition of the word and how it applies …

Humanly Possible: Seven Hundred Years of Humanist Freethinking, Inquiry, and Hope by Sarah Bakewell. New York, NY: Penguin Press, 2023, ISBN: 9780735223370. 454 pp. Hardcover, $30.00. With her monumental book Humanly Possible, English scholar Sarah Bakewell takes the reader through 700 years of humanist freethought, critical inquiry, and hope. She achieves this with brisk precision and wit, …

Veganism I would like to congratulate Ronald A. Lindsay on his excellent article “Is Veganism a Moral Imperative?” (February/March 2024). Speaking as a retired veterinarian, I can say that the basis for our moral dealings with animals he formulated corresponds exactly with that which guided my career. I could also point out that pets are …