ALL ARTICLES

“. . . LeDrew’s attempts to weave a sweeping, if somewhat conspiratorial, analysis of it all too often founder, usually on
the rocks of his incomplete knowledge of the movement’s nineteenth- and twentieth-
century history.”

“For Baggini, the idea of free will is best understood by listening to those for whom the issue is a daily, vital reality.”

Poem: The religious long tried to silence science…

Scalia presents himself as an originalist regarding constitutional understanding and legal philosophy, claiming to uphold what the constitution actually says.

Opening a discussion of the problem of evil as a proof for God’s nonexistence.

God’s proposed attributes simply can’t be reconciled with the presence of evil. But that only poses new moral challenges for atheists.

Most theodicies that defend a good god have mirror twins that defend an evil god.

If we choose to pave our way through suffering with labels such as like “good” and “evil,” we should not expect this to alter our suffering.

How dare the materially privileged bask in the promise of salvation when others don’t have the advantages they enjoy in this world?

All gratuitous suffering makes God’s existence unlikely, but the towering suffering of the Holocaust places it in high relief.

Far from defending the goodness of God, Hick’s portrait of God is so repellent that human decency requires denouncing him without reservation.

“. . . In light of a general optimism on the part of atheists regarding human capacity for good (and evil), how do atheists explain crushing moral evil?”

The necessity of atheodicy—and why humanists and atheists who’ve been harmed by religion will see it most clearly.

Even China was unprepared to do what will be necessary to not just stop population growth but to reduce human numbers to a sustainable level.

Greta Christina responds to Kristine Harley’s critique of her column “Trigger Warning.”

“There is a need right now to break this cycle of violence and support a third-party government, even if it currently doesn’t have enough popular support currently to function on its own.”

Humanist and atheist organizations can’t solve every problem in society; maybe they should stick to the issues on which they can make the largest difference.

Letters in response to Free Inquiry volume 36, issue 1

“Teachers and their unions are blamed for the real or imagined shortcomings of our schools.”

“He was a cultural commentator who helped usher in a new era
of American thought, and then he arbitrarily dug in his heels against any further progress
nce he saw his gals achieved.”

In which Mencken skewers the late William Jennings Bryan with perverse gusto.

Jean Raspail’s novel  The
Camp of the Saints was not clairvoyant, but in 2015 it sure seems prophetic.

Religious extremists are crazy, right? Not so fast.

“‘How can you be moral without God?’ my companion asked me in all earnestness. I’ve often thought I should’ve answered, ‘You know, you’re right,’ and stabbed his hand with my fork.”

“I grew out of my childhood belief in Santa Claus and his North Pole toy factory—why not God and his heaven?”

“Unfortunately, most environmental-conservation charities want nothing to do with
overpopulation concerns.”

Poem: The abandoned church stood
 / In an open field
 / Where lately not a soul had trod.

Humans created “God,” not the other way around. Better that we take that lesson before we finish wrecking the planet.

Humans created “God,” not the other way around. Better that we take that lesson before we finish wrecking the planet.

“Francis is not only aiming to develop an
environmentally friendly narrative but a brand-new theology.”

Catholic rhetoric about a “culture of life” may sound humanistic, but when clearly understood it is the opposite.

In many settings, trigger warnings are not as helpful to hurting people as they are patronizing—and polarizing.

Portrait of a happy atheist who faced death without pretension, without illusion.

Determinism or randomness: Are these the only options? In the debate over free will, perhaps there is a middle way.

Readers sound off on Israel, Palestine, and the Middle East. The second of two parts.

Though religions claim a monopoly on hope, the brightest hope for humanity’s future lies in humanism.

Still think of Turkey and India as secular democracies? Think again: both countries are close to theocracy.

Pigeonholing can be dangerous, but it’s nonetheless true that commentators upon Islam tend to belong to one of six groups.

Identity is a far more complicated concept than it appears at first glance.

Far from bewailing the legitimation of same-sex marriage, conservatives might celebrate that so many same-sex couples find matrimony desirable.