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Teaching Us How to Feel: An Introduction Paul Fidalgo In Looking for Richard, Al Pacino’s documentary about the play Richard III and the influence of Shakespeare, Pacino speaks to a man on the street who passionately extols the benefits of experiencing Shakespeare’s words, insisting that through Shakespeare we can rediscover what it is to “speak …

The evolution of our kind has resulted in a species with an astonishing capacity to shape our environment and harness the forces of nature for our own use, and increasingly even reach out beyond the environment of Earth to outer space. But that evolution has also left us with a heritage of tribalism—of intense social …

The first time I saw a roasted whole pig, the pig was in an aluminum pan on an altar surrounded by long, red candles. The candles were lit, and next to them was burning incense. Four or five incense sticks were stuck in the sand filling up mini gold vases. The pig, laid there like …

 A few years ago, I attended my first secular convention. I had become involved with the Freedom From Religion Foundation (FFRF) after a local megachurch used my son’s elementary school to promote a Christian religious event. The event was billed as a bike giveaway but was nothing more than a thinly veiled violation of the …

In recent decades, the dominant role of White Christian culture in everyday American life has been in sharp decline, and paradoxically, as a result, the political influence of White Christian nationalism has increased. A word of caution must be kept in mind. White Christian nationalism reflects the thinking of only a small minority of Christians …

In its February/March 2023 issue, Free Inquiry published an article by JD Sword in which he questions whether secularists should support The Satanic Temple (TST). We strongly disagree with Sword’s characterization of The Satanic Temple’s work and achievements, as both secularists and Satanists, and we would like to offer our answer to this question.  We are both deeply …

We humans have argued for millennia over when human life begins and what its value is. Ancient Middle Eastern law codes from Ur Nammu (who ruled Sumer 2047–2030 BCE) to Hammurabi (who ruled Babylon 1792–1750 BCE) considered the fetus equivalent to a body part of the mother, both of which belonged to the father. Ur …

“Gesundheit!” That’s what I say when I am in the company of someone who has just sneezed. It was drilled into me at a young age that to say nothing after someone sneezes is just short of immoral, but I also couldn’t in good conscience say “God bless you,” which is what most people I …

Don’t you think the world could use more happiness? I’m not talking about the excitement of getting the newest gadget or going on a lavish trip … though they both sound nice. I’m talking about a sense of contentment, purpose, joy, and knowing that you are loved and accepted, that you matter. Unfortunately, our society …

It is ironic that Christianity, a religion that is defined by the self-abasement of its god, a religion that insists on humility as the supreme virtue, has nevertheless been the source of the self-aggrandizement, pomposity, and self-righteous criminality of the European colonization of Africa and the Americas. In 1493 (a year after Christopher Columbus landed …