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Letters from Free Inquiry volume 35, issue 1.

Overpopulation was the cause of Rwanda’s 1994 genocide, which the world has largely overlooked.

For believers, C. S. Lewis proves that a Christian commitment is intellectually defensible. But it turns out there is precious little that is intellectual about Lewis’s own journey to Christian belief.

An atheist prep-school student wonders whether his unbelief will stunt his future.

Santa Claus is described in many stories as knowing whether children are “naughty or nice.” This is bothersome for two reasons.

Gerald A. Larue, a senior editor of Free Inquiry and a Laureate of the International Academy of Humanism (a program of the Council for Secular Humanism), died September 17, 2014, at the age of ninety-eight.

Victor J. Stenger, a physicist and the author of many popular books on atheism and science, died on August 27, 2014, at the age of seventy-nine.

A review of Waking Up: A Guide to Spirituality Without Religion, by Sam Harris.

A review of The Soul of the World, by Roger Scruton.

A review of Atheist Awakening: Secular Activism and Community in America, by Richard Cimino and Christopher Smith.

The poem from the December 2014/January 2015 issue of Free Inquiry.

What is religion good for? For secular humanists on the atheist side of the spectrum, the reflexive answer is often ‘Nothing much.’

As humanity faces ecological disaster, we must find wisdom wherever we can—even in religion.

The god of Moses commanded the Israelites (mythically or otherwise) to undertake a campaign of genocide in Canaan.

Religious thinking systematically defies every rule of rational accountability essential to a robust and healthy political discourse. We need to do better!

The idea of separating religion and government is not new to Africa. Elements of secularism are identifiable in precolonial African societies.

Winning future church-state lawsuits may require us to step away from the familiar arena of “religious freedom” and into the more inclusive arena of freedom of conscience.

Predictions of the imminent decline of atheism keep on coming . . . and they keep failing to come true.

In an authoritarian Facebook post, one Catholic bishop reveals more than he might have meant to.

On further consideration, there are still specific situations where it is ethical to conceal your atheism.

There are risks, but the prospect of reducing parasitic diseases through gene-drive genetic engineering seems too good to pass up.

Critias believed not in religion but only in its utility. His closet atheism made him more reprehensible than many tyrants who were honest theists.

Uncharacteristically, Israel silences a domestic critic. But Hamas is the real enemy.

Despite early Christians’ efforts to destroy it, the ancients—especially the Greeks—had much of value that contemporary society could stand more of.

Our approach toward a more secular society cannot be solely achieved through the courts.

Letters in response to the August/September 2014 issue of Free Inquiry.

Outrage over Hobby Lobby—and a priest turns (sort of?) secular humanist.

After the stunning loss in Greece v. Galloway, secularists’ battle cry should now be “No Invocations without Representation!”

The Dalai Lama carries some serious baggage, which scarcely anyone in an unfairly adoring West will dare to speak about.

The atheist’s understanding of death is only enriched by understanding the neurochemistry of attachment, loss, and mourning.

Much—so very much—that afflicts humanity today can be traced to the story of the Garden of Eden.

The Fifteen Commandments according to one secular humanist.

We honor Barbara Stanosz, Humanist Laureate and philosopher.

A review of Plato at the Googleplex: Why Philosophy Won’t Go Away, by Rebecca Newberger Goldstein.

A review of Death and the Afterlife, by Samuel Scheffler.

A review of Philosophy for a Better World, by Floris van den Berg.

A review of Teachers versus the Public: What Americans Think about Schools and How to Fix Them, by Paul E. Peterson.

The poem from the October/November 2014 issue of Free Inquiry.

Morality is neither objective nor subjective—it’s a practical enterprise enmeshed in human relationships. That gives it objectivity enough.

By the same principles that prove the Old Testament a precursor of Jesus, Jesus is just as obviously a precursor of Hamlet.