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Can America Survive as a Secular Democracy?
Historians of the American experience have spilled oceans of ink attempting to explain the heart and soul of the country, and the attempts to do so will never cease. Part of the explanation for this quest is that social and cultural development is not stagnant, and succeeding generations of scholars and activists are motivated by …
This article is available for free to all.When We Become the Seekers
Psychologist Robert Abelson writes that the relationship we have with our beliefs shares properties of our association with physical possessions. We may hear âcome to a conclusion,â âhold an idea,â âinheritâ or âacquire a belief,â âattackâ or âdefend a point of view,â and so on.1 And, like it happens with other things that we own, …
This article is available for free to all.Heartfelt Reasons: Empathy as a Method of Rational Inquiry
âThe heart has reasons that reason does not know,â wrote seventeenth-century French philosopher Blaise Pascal. In the case of empathy, which indeed is an affair of the heart, can we discern those reasons? And are they as reliable as the reasons that serve other methods for acquiring knowledge, science included? This article will answer in …
A Freethinkerâs Guide to the Right to Die
Most Americans are unlikely to have a medical assistance in dying law available to them in the near future, but other options are available for those facing an unacceptable, protracted death that lacks the dignity most people seek. Few people want to discuss dying. But in my over thirty years of working in the right-to-die …
Finish Your Unfinished Business: A Freethinkers Proposal to Defeat So-Called Psychics
In 2022, I revealed in an online article for Skeptical Inquirer that I was victimized by a romance scam after the death of my longtime partner. I thought it was important to share that story so others reading about my experience would learn to recognize the tell-tale giveaways that distinguish scams from genuine attraction between …
Itâs My Funeral (and Iâll Laugh If I Want To)
There comes a time in a manâs life when he must think about the inevitable. When I turned a leaf in 2023, I went online to check the list of notables who died at that age. The list includes George Washington, Leonardo da Vinci, Spencer Tracy, Ingrid Bergman, and Ava Gardner. I started thinking about …
IN THIS ISSUE
It is fair to say that this fall the attention of most of our readers has been focused on the U.S. presidential election. That election may be over (but perhaps not determined!) by the time this issue of Free Inquiry reaches you, but the issues dividing Americans will remain whatever the electionâs results. One of …
Evolution Is Still on Trial 100 Years after Scopes
Jennifer and Jason Reinoehl of Granger, Indiana, tried to bring about a modern version of the Scopes Trial. In 2023, the couple filed suit claiming that the teaching of evolution by their local public school in Mishawaka, Indiana, is the equivalent of teaching atheism. According to their federal court complaint, teaching evolution to their five …
This article is available for free to all.Am I My Sisterâs Keeper? Betrayal in the International Womenâs Movement
Every social movement must have a clear vision of its basic interests and goals. Sadly, much of the womenâs and feminist movement seems to have lost its way recently as it has been sucked into the vortex of the intersectional bandwagon, which maintains that all supposedly oppressed and disadvantaged groups in the world must ally …
Religious Land Wars
Religion has staked its claim to many aspects of peopleâs lives for thousands of years. From where, when, and how you practice your faith to your speech, presentation, and personal conduct, religions dictate an individualâs life and actions. It would not be too far-fetched then for a religion to stake its claim to a specific …