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Never mind how many decades ago I took college astronomy. Suffice it to say that I needed a refresher. Rather than waste time on lightweights such as Brian Cox, Phil Plait, and Neil deGrasse Tyson, I turned to the Science Book of science books—that is, the Bible. All I can say is that the National …

In our earliest personal understandings of atheism, most of us tend to focus on religion as the sole target of unbelief, concentrating on whatever local god, holy book, or other anointed authority our home culture presents us with. But as we become more comfortable with basic atheism, we begin to understand that religion isn’t the …

Historians have been reluctant to acknowledge that India’s most famous prime minister—Jawaharlal Nehru (1889–1964)—was not only an atheist but an extraordinarily learned atheist. His atheism did not develop as a reaction to a religious upbringing or the suffering of the Indian people (though he thought only a secular society could alleviate that suffering). Nor did …

Atheists and theists sometimes notice—or think they notice—the same irony in the legacy of atheist thought. “Isn’t it funny,” they ask, “that many great thinkers atheists look up to are deists?” Many of the writers atheists admire are deists. Voltaire, Thomas Paine, and Mark Twain were all deists. All three also had insightful and funny …

Examining the claims and doctrines of the world’s major religions reveals clearly that there are profound controversies. There is one claim, however, for which there is virtually no disagreement: Religions provide comfort and satisfaction to their adherents. I think this is an understatement. Religious faith provides spectacular rewards to its followers. These include intense feelings …

As a typical American Jew who was born in the 1950s, most of my knowledge of Christian theology comes from having memorized every song in Jesus Christ Superstar when I was in high school. As I understand it, Christians believe that Jesus, the son of God, was born in Bethlehem in the Roman province of …

In the February/March 2021 issue of Free Inquiry, S. T. Joshi wrote, “It is surprising—and dismaying—how little attention antiabortionists pay to the actual person carrying the fetus they are so determined to preserve.” There is another actual person even more forgotten. In the years of bitter argument over abortion, from ancient times to the present, …

From time to time, people try to save my soul. I’m flattered by their interest in me (or is it interest in their own status with the Almighty?). Besides, they do tend to be awfully persistent, panting to meet me one-on-one if telephone evangelism has not worked. I want to let them down gently. I …

Atheism: The Basics, by Graham Oppy (London, United Kingdom: Routledge, 2019, ISBN 9781138506961). 190 pp. Paperback, $24.95. A few years back, an anomaly shook up the publishing world—atheist books became best sellers. Books by Christopher Hitchens, Sam Harris, Richard Dawkins, and others attracted a broad readership and garnered much attention. These so-called New Atheists offered …

The Reality of Religious Violence, by Hector Avalos (Sheffield, England: Sheffield Phoenix Press, 2019, ISBN 9781910928585). xiv + 499 pp. Hardcover, $97.50. In his 2005 book Fighting Words: The Origin of Religious Violence (Prometheus Books), the late secular humanist religious studies scholar Hector Avalos advanced a bold thesis. He argued that religious language and concepts …

O my love, where are they, where are they going The flash of a hand, streak of movement, rustle of pebbles. I ask not out of sorrow, but in wonder. –Czeslaw Milosz Carrying water to the late lilies from Easter, their flowers no more than fingers of pearls, whitely thin and on display, Ribih and …

We grew up, you and I, washed in the blood, two hearts strangely warmed, tuned to the tenets of four-part harmony, and timed to the cadence of an American karma. I walked the aisle, born again and again, reincarnation with a black leather Bible. Hurdy-gurdy hymns and clammy thighs on pews, the unmystic soundtrack for …

Sudden thunder breaks the cat runs— A tiny Steady rain Is still wet— On the broad leaves The sunflower leans into Rain as subtle As a gray cat Among sunflowers— At dusk The sunflowers bend toward dawn

Author’s Note: This essay is dedicated to the loving memory of the ever-wise Tom Flynn, who graciously printed so many of my articles over the years on this topic because he shared my deep concern. What more can be said about the oppression of overpopulation that I and my colleagues have not pontificated on for …

In recent years, environmentalism has received growing support from the leaders of major world religions. Since his election in 2013, Pope Francis has been a vocal advocate of climate action, even suggesting that caring for the environment should rank alongside feeding the hungry and sheltering the homeless as an act of Christian mercy. In 2015, …

If a peaceful demonstration ends in smashing, looting, and burning, hard questions arise. Do these actions amount to justifiable violence? Excusable violence? Do they amount to violence at all? A study by Crowd Counting at the University of Connecticut estimated that in the spring and summer of 2020, 98 percent of Black Lives Matter demonstrations …

The freedom to offend is the freedom to criticize, the freedom to ridicule, and the freedom to treat irrational choices with humor—not because a person could not possibly deserve to be offended but because everyone deserves better. Criticism and humor are among the most preferred alternatives to brute physical force for inducing change from a …

“They are MURDERING babies!!!,” anti-abortionists scream in the blogs and forums, and we know the debate that follows. It tends to come down to the same points—disagreements over what constitutes life, neurological development, whether the fetus feels pain, and of course moral questions such as whether abortion is murder and how that should be defined. …

Author’s Note: This article is dedicated to Tom Flynn, for all the time and effort he spent working with me on it. In 1977, I wrote a story for my hometown newspaper, the Haverhill Independent, titled “The Man the Marx Brothers Loved to Hate.” It was about a relatively famous Russian immigrant named Louis B. …

Author’s Note: In memory of Tom Flynn. In my investigative travels through beautiful Italy, I have witnessed many marvels—sometimes accompanied by my great friend and fellow skeptic Massimo Polidoro, who has dubbed me “The Detective of the Impossible.” Alas, among the inviting enigmas that I have only been able to read about is in the …

In 1989, most people had probably never heard of the Santeria Church. I certainly hadn’t. But there I was that year, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Florida, helping to represent this Afro-Cuban religion against a Cuban exile community arrayed against it. Eventually the Santeria case landed in the U.S. Supreme …

A woman I know who has attended Baltimore secular groups for years is a self-avowed pessimist. In 2016, she warned that Donald Trump might well win the presidency, and I poo-pooed what I thought were her politically naive concerns. She has never let me forget that. She despises Trump and his ilk so much that …

Certain advocates of the rights of transgender individuals are becoming increasingly aggressive in demanding that the pronoun they be used in reference to those who wish it; others, who maintain that they do not conform to the “binary” use of the male or female singular pronoun, have also been making such claims. (Some advocates now …

35 Years Ago “The obvious implication—uncomfortable, no doubt, for rationalists and freethinkers—is that atheism does not at all ensure a free society. Indeed, as I’ve tried to suggest, it seems more comfortable with fundamentalism than with liberation. “Atheism is not the same as naturalism either. It is instead a narrowly drawn mirror-image of its opponent. …

Libertarianism Ophelia Benson is confused about Libertarianism in her article “What We Owe Each Other” (FI, October/November 2021). First, she includes three people and one organization in the Libertarian camp that don’t belong there: Sarah Palin, Lauren Boebert, and the John Birch Society are in no manner Libertarian; they are conservative. And although Ayn Rand …

Readers and Free Inquiry’s editorial board will, I hope, forgive my using this space to promote my new consulting business. I’m still toying with names, but as of this writing the leading contenders are Conscience Relievers™ and 21st Century Indulgences™. The concept for the business came to me as I reviewed a religious apologist’s insightful …

Thornton Wilder wrote his acclaimed novel The Bridge of San Luis Rey more than sixty years after the world was first dismayed by Charles Darwin’s great discovery. Was Wilder prompted to write his book because the world in 1925 was still disturbed by Darwin? The answer seemed obvious to me at first. However, after a …

Bill Cooke’s article “Must Humanism Be Optimistic?” (Free Inquiry, October/November 2021), reminded me of the reasons I’m reluctant to call myself a humanist. Although my main objection is to the term itself, I’m also uncomfortable with “The Affirmations of Humanism:  A Statement of Principles.” My least favorite principle is the one cited by Cooke: We …

The secular humanist, atheist, and agnostic community places great emphasis on reason—on our ability as humans to reason from assumptions to conclusions, to think critically, and to arrive at the truth. We also believe reasoned argument will allow us to convince others when they are mistaken. We like to think that our superior reason explains …

As the joke goes, taxes and death are inevitable, but death at least does not become worse every time the U.S. Congress is in session. Taxes are a separate topic; here, only death will be discussed. The first question is obvious: Is death really inevitable? If this is the case, there is obviously nothing to …

“Full many a flower is born to blush unseen and waste it’s sweetness on the desert air.” —Thomas Gray, “Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard” How does one like me reconcile the conviction that the human race will be gone in less than a hundred years due to global warming, resource depletion, and population increase? …

When very young, I was threatened with punishment by the devil. When I asked about him, he was described as being in a black outfit with a long tail, horns, and a pitchfork. He had endless ways to punish me, but his specialty was fire, which he was to apply into eternity. I was reminded …

My mother died in April 2020 at theageofninety-six.Since then,I havesaidKaddishonlyahandful of times. Soonafter havinga shivaZoomcallformymom withmyold(and I domeanold)Camp Ramahfriends,onefriend,whoknowsofmycurrent religiousbeliefs,sentmethe followingemailmessage: “So,Mendel,whatdoesadevoutatheistdoaboutKaddish?Askingforafriend,ofcourse.” I responded: “Your ‘friend’ should do like I do: read Kaddish in a language that she/he does not understand so that she/he will not realize how ridiculous it is.” Although Kaddish is recited …

I wrote an e-book titled Disagreements I Have with Christianity. It details my gradual move away from the faith and several ethical and philosophical concerns about the central doctrines. Parts of my critique against Christianity essentially come down to plausibility or probability, not possibility. Do I think it is possible that the Bible is true? …

Christianity and the Triumph of Humor: From Dante to David Javerbaum, by Bernard Schweizer. (New York: Routledge, 2020, ISBN 9780367785338). 254 pp. Softcover, $48.95. In 2001, psychologist Richard Wiseman set out to identify the world’s funniest joke. To that end, he created a website where people could submit and rate jokes. He eventually conceded that …

Why Trust Science?, by Naomi Oreskes (Princeton and Oxford: Princeton University Press, 2019, ISBN 9780691179001). 360 pp. Hardcover, $24.95. Naomi Oreskes’s new book, Why Trust Science? asks a question that secular humanists should be able to answer. We are often touting the trustworthiness of science, or at least scientific reasoning, over faith. But exactly how …

A Response to Jill Filipovic’s New York Times Review of Prey Ayaan Hirsi Ali’s latest book, Prey: Immigration, Islam, and the Erosion of Women’s Rights (Harper Collins, 2021), has not only altered my perspective on immigration, but it has also—as her epigraph promises—“triggered” me. Her descriptions and documentation of the crimes and sexual abuse by …

I wake & the universe knows itself, carbon, calcium, flesh, bone & brain peering from the bed at its hydrogen burning

Big Mama says when she brings out the food, everybody’s gonna run to the table and grab a plate. And those heavy-handed ones will be first in line. They’ll get so much food till their plates run over and then they’ll come back for a take home plate. And they are always the ones who …

On August 23, 2021, I lost my friend and editor Tom Flynn, a great man among men and women. His death was sudden, unexpected, and far earlier than its due time. Seven days later, I lost my beloved wife, Marie. Her death was not sudden. It was expected, even overdue. Death unhurriedly arrived at our …