Author: Edward Tabash

The separation of church and state requires a government to be neutral in matters of religion. Such a government does not enact laws that are either overtly or historically traceable to concepts grounded only in religious beliefs, without any independent empirical verification. For those of us who are devoted to attaining this legal ideal, Justice …

Kennedy’s Retirement from the Supreme Court Is a Disaster The president has nominated Judge Brett Kavanaugh to the United States Supreme Court to replace the retiring Justice Anthony Kennedy. If we are to rescue whatever is left of legally protected equality for nonbelievers, it is urgent that we oppose this nomination. The Proper Understanding of …

“The Democratic Party establishment is not innocent when it comes to prejudice against atheists.”

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

Nothing in history, international law, or secular humanism requires withholding sovereign nationhood from Israel while allowing it for countries (and would-be countries) that oppose Israel’s existence.

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

Society is better off when exposed to arguments against the existence of a supernatural being and against the supernatural generally.

Questions have arisen over whether the Internet film Innocence of Muslims (or its fourteen-minute trailer) should be considered protected by the First Amendment.1 The very core of free speech would be nullified if the film were denied constitutional protection. Some may assert that this film meets the standard of “a clear and present danger” in …

This is a time of celebration and sadness, of exultation and grief. We commemorate the life of Christopher Hitchens, our “Hitch.” Atheism has lost a singularly eloquent voice—a fearless, groundbreaking intellectual giant who dared to challenge the most cherished notions of God and religion that still so thoroughly pervade human life. We have lost a …

Restrict annual immigration to the U.S. The godless, naturalistic worldview of secular humanism does not logically compel us to adopt a left-of-center viewpoint on every political issue. Aside from the nonnegotiables—church-state separation and protecting the freedoms that many religious people do not want us to enjoy—nonbelievers may differ on many social and political questions. Notwithstanding …

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 …