Inherit More Wind: Darwin Discord Deepens

Debating the War Left and Right I’ve been detecting Free InquIry’s tilt toward political side-taking for a while, but I tried to ignore it. Your Spring 2003 issue, however, was so much politicized as to greatly offend. The editorial statement condemning the Iraqi war, followed by Nat Hentoff and Laurence Britt’s exhortations against U.S. self-protection …

In the last issue of Free Inquiry, we published an editorial criticizing the morality of the pre-emptive war against Iraq. It was written before the war began and published after its start. Several readers objected strongly to this. This raises the basic question: Should secular humanism as a movement ever take political positions? Surely individual …

WAR IN IRAQ OP-ED On the Eve of War I write this on March 18, 2003, on the eve of war, haunted by my countryman W.H. Auden’s lines in “September 1, 1939.” I sit in one of the dives On Fifty-second Street Uncertain and afraid As the clever hopes expire . . . I know …

Edward Tabash Paul Kurtz and other Free Inquiry editors apparently disapprove of war with Iraq under all circumstances (see his editorial in the Spring 2003 issue and the slightly different version online). I disagree with his absolute rejection of military force when faced with a dictator as dangerous as Saddam Hussein. But I write under …

Concerning Iraq, most mainstream American media now stand guilty of failing to raise the issue of aggressive war. On September 20, 2002, George W. Bush told Congress that under his presidency the United States can and will attack nations of his selection even though they are not about to attack us. Since that day the …

It is fortunate that the world’s timeline worked out such that Attila the Hun and his rapacious hordes were long dead prior to the dawning of an age in which they might have gained access to nuclear weapons. It is also fortunate that Albert Speer thought nuclear weapons so longterm and speculative a project that …

Some secular humanists do not consider the war on Iraq a “core issue” for the humanist movement to address. To them the foundation of secular humanism is atheism, with no political convictions implied. True, a healthy humanist movement should never become so politically partisan as to ignore or denounce conflicting points of view. Ethical nonbelievers …

What’s the difference between self-proclaimed psychics who write books predicting future events and self-proclaimed psychics who read palms, tarot cards, or crystal balls? The book-writing psychics are endowed with virtually undisputed First Amendment rights, nationwide. The storefront psychics may or may not enjoy constitutional protection, or any right to prophesy for profit, depending on where …

On February 7, there appeared on the Web site of the Center for Public Integrity an eighty-six-page draft of the Justice Department’s proposed sequel to the USA PATRIOT Act. It so radically subverts the constitutional rights of Americans—far more than even the original USA PATRIOT Act—and so appalled a member of John Ashcroft’s staff that …

I have just published a book about my maternal grandfather, David Oppenheim. A Viennese of Jewish descent, he was a member first of Sigmund Freud’s circle and later of that of Alfred Adler. But despite his abiding interest in exploring human psychology, he underestimated the Nazi threat and did not leave quickly enough after the …

I found myself profoundly depressed by the decision of American atheists and nonbelievers to hold a demonstration and rally, the Godless Americans March on Washington, last November, and, although I live in the nation’s capital, I made no effort to add myself or my family to the turnout. This refusal was for two reasons. First, …

There is a tendency in our society to put people in little boxes. If one is a female, we put that person in a box marked “female,” which makes her different from a male. But how different? Obviously, there is a difference in genitalia and in reproductive capacity, but even with these distinctions there is …

SIDE/LINES We Don’t Think So— In early May, New Hampshire lost its state symbol, and main tourist attraction, when the rock formation known as the Old Man of the Mountain crumbled and fell. Experts had predicted such a fate would befall the 700-ton, 40-foot-high stone profile as part of the natural cycle of freezing and …

When Richard Dawkins urged unbelievers to come out of the closet (“A Challenge to Atheists,” FI, Summer 2002), he knowingly echoed the gay movement’s historic rallying cry. As secular humanists, atheists, and other unbelievers work to improve our standing in American life, we face challenges remarkably like those that faced gay and lesbian activists fifty …

Inherit More Wind: Darwin Discord Deepens After Charles Darwin published On the Origin of Species in 1859, religious conservatives never altogether relaxed their opposition. From the conclusion of the 1925 Scopes trial until the late 1970s, the drums of reaction were muffled. But with the Religious Right’s rise to prominence, attacks on evolutionary theory quickly …

The Twin Dangers of Religious and Scientific Fundamentalism Throughout the twentieth century there has been an ongoing battle for the minds of Americans. This battle, which doesn’t seem to be nearing an end at the dawn of the twenty-first century, sees Christian religious fundamentalism pitted against modern evolutionary biology.1 I see four causes of the …

What Makes ID so Intuitively Appealing? As our tools of exploration become more sophisticated, a correspondingly sophisticated level of complexity emerges in the objects being explored. The Hubble Space Telescope shows us a universe far more active than originally suspected, populated with phenomena that rival the best of science fiction. The recent mapping of the …

Faith in Science and God A huge body of literature now exists in which authors with strong theological and scientific credentials argue that traditional religion, particularly Christianity, can be made consistent with all scientific knowledge. This new breed of scientist-theologians seeks to retain the fundamental Christian premise of a personal, loving, participating creator within a scientific …

The Dark Side Of Susan B. Anthony The “triumvirate” of Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Susan B. Anthony, and Matilda Joslyn Gage were considered the intellectual and charismatic leaders of the National Woman Suffrage Association (NWSA). These three friends worked tirelessly against religiously inspired sexism throughout the last half of the nineteenth century. A woman’s right to vote, …

Children Must Be Rescued From Religion And Restored To Humanity “Our children are our own. They are ours to thrash or kill, if we choose; who are you to poke your nose in?” Yes, millions of parents still feel that way, in every part of the world. They justify harsh punishments with dictums like “You …

The Tie That Binds Need Not Be Legal Has marriage become an anachronism? It would seem so. It is being replaced by cohabitation. The latest census shows that cohabitation between the sexes almost doubled in the decade surveyed, while traditional marriage increased by a paltry 7 percent. On top of this, marriagelike unions between persons …

One Nation Without God? The Council for Secular Humanism came to Washington, D.C., in April for its international conference, “One Nation Without God? Secular ism, So ciety, and Justice.” Attendees enjoyed three-and-a-half days of fascinating speakers and lively discussion at the luxurious Capital Hilton, just a few blocks from the White House. About three hundred …

Church-State Update tracks continuing developments in important federal, state, and local church-state issues. Each item is preceded by an up arrow (-) or a down arrow (¸), based on the story’s implications for separation of church and state and the rights of the nonreligious. Washington Wire . . .¸Education Department Plumps for School Prayer. New U.S. …

The U.S.-led war on Iraq has resulted in a hardening of anti-Western attitudes and opinions among Muslims in the Middle East. While Western media trumpeted coalition efforts to spare civilian targets, the provision of humanitarian aid, and relief of the long-oppressed Iraqi people, Muslim media ran horrific images of Iraqi civilians killed and maimed by …

Pierre Bayle was one of the most famous and thoroughgoing skeptics of his day. This fact is difficult to reconcile with his professed Calvinism, the sincerity of which is anybody’s guess. Some commentators maintain that it was completely genuine. Frederick the Great and Voltaire thought that it was a cover so that Bayle could live …

In religious philosophy the problem of evil and pain, called “theodicy,” arises from the tension between several mandatory yet apparently mutually exclusive propositions: 1. God is good. 2. God is all-powerful (almighty). 3. Evil and pain exist. There can be no doubting the fact of the third point, and the first two have been fundamental …

Many moons ago I encountered Ayn Rand’s ideas, and one of her more contentious ones dealt with selfishness. Rand believed that one ought to be selfish. Now, this seems an odd notion for a serious person to hold, and Rand was nothing if not serious. Say selfish and people think “cruel,” “thoughtless,” “mean,” “uncaring,” and …

Countless secular humanists have sought various ways to promote personal commitments as meaningful substitutes for prayer. “Saying My Promises” is suggested as a hybridization of our thoughts for use by youngsters. These general concepts are not wholly new, I hasten to note, and I especially acknowledge Family Matters reader Dawn DeGrazio for her input along …

There are American states in which Jehovah’s Witnesses and Christian Scientists who kill their children by denying them lifesaving blood transfusions or other medical procedures can escape the consequences of their crime by pleading “freedom of religion.” Currently, thirty-nine states’ civil codes include religious exemptions from child abuse or neglect charges, while thirty-one allow a …

The Lunar Men: Five Friends Whose Curiosity Changed the World, by Jenny Uglow (New York, N.Y.: Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 2002, ISBN 0-374-19440-8) 588 pp. Cloth $30.00.   “The Affirmations of Humanism: A Statement of Principles,” which appears in every issue of Free Inquiry, is without question a document of our time, a good number …

The Blank Slate: The Modern Denial of Human Nature, by Steven Pinker (New York, N.Y.: Viking Press 2002, ISBN 0-670-03151-8) 439 pp. Cloth $27.95. The question of how much our genes contribute to what makes us human continues to be highly controversial within certain academic as well as many religious circles. In this book, without …

The Black Humanist Experience: An Alternative to Religion, edited by Norm R. Allen, Jr. (Amherst, N.Y.: Prometheus Books, 2003, ISBN 1-57392–967-0) 167 pp. Cloth $24. If there are readers anywhere naïve enough to think that secular humanism is exclusively or even mostly a “White” or European phenomenon, Norm R. Allen, Jr.’s latest book will quickly …

Separation of Church and State, by Philip Hamburger (Cambridge, Mass. Harvard University Press, 2002, ISBN 0-674-00734-4) 514 pp. Cloth $49.95. Philip Hamburger’s book would be better titled Christian Disputes About the Separation of Church and State, as much of his research focuses on how Christians have wrestled over the relationship. Hamburger, a University of Chicago …

Life Without God: A Guide to Fulfillment Without Religion, by Nicolaos S. Tzannes (Baltimore, Md.: PublishAmerica, 2002, ISBN 1-59129-769-1) 157 pp. Paper $19.95. Nicolaos Tzannes teaches electrical engineering at the University of Central Florida, where he chaired the department from 1986 to 1994. In Life Without God, he has “put together a unified theory—a useful …