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I greatly enjoyed the dialogue between historian Yuval Noah Harari and philosopher A. P. Norman (“The Meaning and Legacy of Humanism,” FI, April/May 2018). Who would have thought that a debate over the definition of a single word could be so interesting and thought-provoking? Apparently the definition of humanism varies not only according to personal perception …

Let us speculate about the tendency we have to become addicted to substances such as alcohol, caffeine, and cocaine. Caffeine is our primary example. Can there be any countervailing advantage associated with the ability to become addicted? Yes. Addicts tolerate fatal doses of the substances to which they are addicted without even getting sleepy. Imagine …

Noah had no idea how old he really was, but since he was certainly the oldest person he knew it sometimes seemed like he must be six hundred, so that’s what he claimed as his age. Eventually he’d really come to believe that number. It’s what he told his eventual biographer. When the bad dreams …

The Human Instinct, by Kenneth Miller (Simon and Schuster, 2017, ISBN 978-1476790268). 304 pp. Hardcover, $26.00. Although Kenneth Miller, a pro-evolution cell and molecular biologist, is within the modern liberal, science-friendly wing of Roman Catholics, in the end he is a creationist in the sense that he believes there really is a supernatural creator deity. …

Neither Ghost nor Machine: The Emergence and Nature of Selves, by Jeremy Sherman, foreword by Dr. Terrence Deacon (New York: Columbia University Press, 2017, ISBN 978-0-231-17332-2). 312 pp. Hardcover, $90.00; softcover, $30.00. It was not what I expected but something better. In this book, psychologist Jeremy Sherman turns a light on the mystery of goal-oriented …

Behold, He Said, by Tom Flynn (Double Dragon Publishing, 2018, ISBN 9781790470907) 778 pp., Hardcover, $27.99. I hesitate to accord Tom Flynn’s deliriously erudite oeuvre the familiar label “cult books,” since cults are among the many human follies this witty and adroit novelist takes to task. In any event, the coterie of discerning fans who …

(originally dedicated to Michel Leiris) Revue Européenne, August 1923 Les Pénitents en maillots roses, 1925 When a white arm slips off its glove You recall an absent love When like a breeze in a field of wheat A skirt rustling near your feet Brushes against your dancing shoe Something lightly troubles you. When someone sings …

(Action, vol. 1, n. 2, March 1920; Le Laboratoire central, 1921) No, Monsieur Gambetta, Bolivar’s taken his leave We saw his top hat and his meteorite Under the jet of the gas lamp’s flare Pierrot companion and cascade. His smock at the end of the quay betrayed I’m dining at home tonight. The Seine has …

1. once I came … in my dream … to Paradise … when you came with me 2. the closer I came inside to the Garden … in my dream … the closer you became 3. and when I walked all through Paradise … you came closer still 4. yet when I stood near the …

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 …

As I made the short walk back to my house from my mailbox, shuffling my stack of mail along the way, an impersonally addressed, oversized postcard caught my eye. So intriguing was this invitation to an upcoming event, I began perusing its content before I reached the front door. Apparently, per the return label, “Emmanuel”—the …

“The irrational cannot be ignored.” So said the American poet Wallace Stevens. Humanists have successfully used the charge of “irrationality” in fighting religious beliefs since the eighteenth century, but Stevens, himself a lifelong nonbeliever, preferred to describe believers as “out of touch with reality” rather than as irrational. He did this because he wanted to …

“In a civilized society freedom to offend should be protected.” —Nigel Warburton Offensive humor has become a hot-button issue. Roseanne Barr tweets a racist joke (or was it a “joke”?) and is exiled to the wilderness. Daniel Tosh makes clumsy rape jokes and unleashes a social-media firestorm. Michelle Wolf mocks President Trump and the partisan …

The following is excerpted from Tom Flynn’s third science-fiction novel, the antireligious black-comedy technothriller Behold, He Said (Double Dragon Publishing, November 2018). It is the belated sequel to his earlier novels Galactic Rapture (2000) (being reissued as Messiah Games) and Nothing Sacred (2004) (also being reissued, both by Double Dragon). In a future not unlike …

That pithy subtitle comes from the website of the Matilda Joslyn Gage Foundation (matildajoslyngage.org). It’s too good not to share. If Robert Green Ingersoll is the most remarkable American most people never heard of, Matilda Joslyn Gage is his female equivalent. Had you asked me just two years ago for a recitation of the most …

In her editorial in this issue, Robyn E. Blumner recounts her discovery of “forgotten suffragist” Matilda Joslyn Gage. That discovery was facilitated by Blumner’s participation in the Silver Anniversary celebration of the Robert Green Ingersoll Birthplace Museum held in Syracuse, New York, this past August. A presentation there reviewed Gage’s life and work in preparation …

The slogan “No platforms for fascists” came from events in the United Kingdom during the 1970s. It was aimed at propagandists and recruiters for violent, indubitably fascist, organizations such as the National Front. This was also a time of protests against the South African regime’s odious Apartheid policy, and student unions in the United Kingdom …

Americans tend to have a romantic view of democracy as government of the people, by the people, and for the people. They imagine that democracy is identical to freedom and self-government. They forget that democracy is primarily rule of the majority. They forget that the majority can be hoodwinked by the propaganda of demagogues, oligarchs, …

It’s a funny thing that many people take amateur medical (or “wellness”) advice seriously if it comes from a shiny blonde movie star with a pleasing smile. The public doesn’t flock to buy health products promoted by car mechanics or dog groomers, but people who read lines in front of a camera—now that’s a whole …

The Council for Secular Humanism has announced the recipients of the 2017 Forkosch Awards, recognizing the book and Free Inquiry article that made the greatest contributions toward the advancement of secular humanism during that year. The Morris D. Forkosch Award for Best Book of 2017 goes to novelist and public radio host Kurt Andersen for …

Deo Ssekitoleko has been credited with bringing humanism to Uganda, Kenya, and East Africa when he first brought young people from the University of Nairobi, Kenya, to the International Humanist and Ethical Union (IHEU) General Assembly in 2004, which was held in Kampala, Uganda. There students were not only exposed to the IHEU but to …

35 Years Ago in Free Inquiry “As humanists, surely we do not wish to develop according to the model of the classical religions. Though these religions have provided a social structure, a moral framework, and psychological comfort for their adherents, humanism is not and should not be a denomination or sect competing with others. We …

Opinions I have been a subscriber to your magazine for going on thirty years, and I have to say I do not care for the tone taken by some of your contributors. The worst in the most recent issue is Ed Doerr. While I agree with his position of not using tax money to support …

Ah, air conditioning. It cools our homes and apartments, offices and factories, shopping malls and restaurants, cars and subway trains. In 2016, there were 1.6 billion air conditioners worldwide, and by 2026, there will be six billion air conditioners and refrigerators and refrigeration units. Demand grows as global climate warms. Right now, over 90 percent …

I bristled when I overheard a friend place the evidence for Jesus and Santa on a par. I felt it was patently unfair to Santa. Don’t get me wrong. I am no fan of Christmas. For all I care, the likes of Santa, Jesus, decorations, and Paul McCartney’s “Simply Having a Wonderful Christmas Time” can …

Bloomsbury. A century ago that word stood for everything loathsome to the dying Victorian Age. Homosexuality and impiety, infidelity and socialism, all were embraced at one time or another by the roughly dozen figures of the Bloomsbury Group while even the most freethinking of their Imperial elders scratched their heads, wondering what their small acts …

From Mrs. Dalloway. (Harcourt Brace and World, Inc., 1953 Paperback edition), pp. 186–192. Yes, Miss Kilman stood on the landing, and wore a mackintosh; but had her reasons. First, it was cheap; second, she was over forty; and did not, after all, dress to please. She was poor, moreover; degradingly poor. Otherwise she would not …

What is the creature that walks on four legs in the morning, two at noon, and three in the evening? The answer, which allowed the Greek King Oedipus to defeat the sphinx, is humankind. In our infanthood we crawl, from our childhood to old age we walk on two legs, and at the end of …

My earliest memory of learning about God was when my parents took me to Child Evangelism classes taught by two neighbors. I remember that the “flannel board” was used extensively, and, since the time was during World War II and materials were in short supply, the class cut out words and letters from newspaper headlines …

Every reader of this publication will know of Thomas Malthus, the man who first warned of human overpopulation. His warnings that exponential human population growth would outpace food production have become so well known since his death (in 1834) as to give birth to that adjective Malthusian. And for the past half century or so, …

Tim Tebow’s attempt to play Major League Baseball (MLB) was obstructed recently when he broke a bone in his hand while swinging a bat. An injured minor-league baseball player wouldn’t normally make national news. Tebow, however, is not a typical case. Tebow’s fame comes not from baseball but from football. His dramatic victories, combined with …

Jesus Before the Gospels, by Bart Ehrman (New York: HarperOne, 2016, ISBN 978-06-228520-1). 326 pp. Hardcover, $27.99. For evangelical apologists, the search for the historical Jesus centers often on the existence of supposed witnesses very close to, or from within, his actual lifetime. Accordingly, we supposedly can trust those sources because memories would be fresh …

Fear: Trump in the White House, by Bob Woodward (New York: Simon and Schuster, 2018, ISBN 978-1-5011-7551-0). 444 pp. Hardcover, $30.00. (Also available in audio and Kindle versions.) On September 5, The New York Times published an op-ed titled “I Am Part of the Resistance Inside the Trump Administration” by an unidentified, but known to …

Bertrand Russell: Public Intellectual. Edited by Tim Madigan and Peter Stone (Rochester, N.Y.: Tiger Bark Press, 2016, ISBN 978-0-9976305-0-3). 241 pp. Softcover, $22.95. This appealing anthology profiles mathematician, philosopher, peace activist, sex radical, and humanist Bertrand Russell (1872–1970) through the lens of his status as a public intellectual. In the mid-twentieth century, Russell was perhaps a …

Free Will Explained: How Science and Philosophy Converge to Create a Beautiful Illusion. By Dan Barker (New York: Sterling Publishing, 2018, ISBN 978-1-4549-2735-8). 176 pp. Softcover, $9.95. Former fundamentalist minister, lifelong musician, and longtime freethought activist Dan Barker seems to have found a new niche: reinterpreting the Four Horsemen for broader audiences. His 2016 God: The …

Find ten people slap them 3 times each, per cheek. Walk 5 dogs sit on 2 of them and let the others shit on Sean’s lawn. Ride 12 horses whipping none but dabbing 6 with your own blood. It’s all about percentage, and probability,  and need. Unclog 7 sinks look up how for all of …

This will work out I’ll drive no hiccup perhaps the rotation will undo itself will turn on its nose I’ll just walk there It won’t take that long It must be so, if I say it is But then, when I get there fools in a circle and I on the floor I’ll need some …

Among the various accounts of the First World War that appeared following the 1918 armistice, a little-known post-mortem by a Belgian lieutenant carries a striking assertion. “I was always as disgusted by the misuse of patriotism for the promotion of militarism and imperialism as I was by the prostitution of religious feeling to the purposes …

The subject of theism and its opposite, usually called “atheism,” has heated up in the past few years, thanks mostly to the New Atheists who have predictably inspired a counterwave of reassurances from the pro-God camp that all is still well and that age-old beliefs don’t have to be discarded just yet. The purpose of …

Puzzlement vs. Religion There have been many excellent publications on the continuing legacy of human conflict that religion has brought to society. In his 2004 book The End of Faith, Sam Harris takes his reader through a terrifying journey surveying the atrocities of continuing religious conflict. At the end of the book he suggests in …