Latest Articles
Tim Minchin Reaches across the Algorithmic Chasm
December 22, 2022“Progressives, statistically, have a higher level of education; a little bit, on average, we’re a bit more educated,” says musician and comedian Tim Minchin in his stage show Back. “But are we kinder? Are we? FUCK!” (In other words, no, he doesn’t think so.) In a “lecture” portion of his show recently posted online, which …
The Light is Coming Back: Wishes for the Winter Solstice
December 21, 2022Today is the Winter Solstice, which, if not a “holy day,” is still a day imbued with significance for humans of all theological dispositions. For those of us residing on the Northern Hemisphere of the planet, today we will experience the year’s shortest period of daylight (and, of course, its longest night of darkness) as …
Defender of Dissidents
Volume 43, No. 1December 2022/January 2023
M Aman Ullah fights for the victims of blasphemy persecutions in Pakistan. It has cost him. I was putting out calls to secular and human rights activists in 2017, when I received a curious message on Facebook from a man who introduced himself as M Aman Ullah. This was not too uncommon. I had been …
A Light at the End of the Rabbit Hole
Volume 43, No. 1December 2022/January 2023
Confessions of a Recovering Conspiracy Theorist I was deep in the rabbit hole. For years, I was a true believer in conspiracy theories1 and alternative facts. I could offer several examples of wild claims that caught my attention at various formative moments, but the truth is that I was always intensely interested in conspiracy theories. I …
Popular Articles
Have Christians Accepted the Scientific Conclusion That God Does Not Answer Intercessory Prayer?
Volume 39, No. 1December 2018 / January 2019
In 1982, a young cardiologist at the San Francisco General Medical Center named Randolph Byrd had a brilliant insight that would motivate several important investigations of prayer during the following two decades. He realized that the standard research paradigm known as the double-blind randomized clinical trial could be used to test the efficacy of intercessory …
Why I Am Pro-Abortion, Not Just Pro-Choice
Volume 36, No. 5August / September 2016
Why be pro-abortion? Because of all the genuine, unquestioned goods it makes possible.
The Importance of Being Blasphemous
Volume 35, No. 6October / November 2015
Looking back on the Satanic Verses affair from the time of the Charlie Hebdo massacre, it is clear that Western culture has hemorrhaged away its courage.
Popular Articles
Have Christians Accepted the Scientific Conclusion That God Does Not Answer Intercessory Prayer?
Volume 39, No. 1December 2018 / January 2019
In 1982, a young cardiologist at the San Francisco General Medical Center named Randolph Byrd had a brilliant insight that would motivate several important investigations of prayer during the following two decades. He realized that the standard research paradigm known as the double-blind randomized clinical trial could be used to test the efficacy of intercessory …
Why I Am Pro-Abortion, Not Just Pro-Choice
Volume 36, No. 5August / September 2016
Why be pro-abortion? Because of all the genuine, unquestioned goods it makes possible.
Looking Back
The Rise of Global Fundamentalism: Are Humanists Really ‘Winning’?
Volume 35, No. 1December 2014 / January 2015
To understand the distressing growth of conservative Christianity and Islam, we must understand the history and cultural dynamics of the so-called “wretched of the earth.”
In Defense of Scientism
Volume 35, No. 1December 2014 / January 2015
Adherence to scientism has been repaying handsomely, economically as well as culturally, whereas betting on anti-scientistic dogmas threatens the growth of knowledge.
Honest Atheism
Volume 35, No. 1December 2014 / January 2015
Honest atheism is not tragic, but for some it’s genuinely frightening. The answer is more honesty.
The Rise of Global Fundamentalism: Are Humanists Really ‘Winning’?
Volume 35, No. 1December 2014 / January 2015
To understand the distressing growth of conservative Christianity and Islam, we must understand the history and cultural dynamics of the so-called “wretched of the earth.”
In Defense of Scientism
Volume 35, No. 1December 2014 / January 2015
Adherence to scientism has been repaying handsomely, economically as well as culturally, whereas betting on anti-scientistic dogmas threatens the growth of knowledge.