Free Inquiry

09/19/2025

The digital edition of the October/November 2025 issue of Free Inquiry is online and ready to read! Remember...subscribers get full access to all articles, including this month's cover feature by Richard Dawkins. Check it out and subscribe today (if you haven't already)...
https://secularhumanism.org/volume/no-6-vol-45/

09/18/2025

"Trump clearly plans to take advantage of Kirk’s murder to crack down on his political opponents. How far will he take it? I doubt we’re going to be faced with an outright dictatorship—but then again how many people predicted we would see the military patrolling our streets."

As should be obvious coming from the editor of a magazine with the name of “Free Inquiry,” I condemn Charlie Kirk’s murder, which appears to have been polit ...

09/11/2025

The interesting question is not why someone like Hashem would peddle this nonsense but why there are always people willing to slavishly follow “prophets” no matter how ridiculous and transparently self-serving their claims.

The Messiah—or, if you prefer, the Mahdi—has arrived. Mooresville, Indiana, native Abdullah Hashem is a founder of the Ahmadi Religion of Peace and Light. A ...

09/09/2025

On Monday, President Trump Trump announced the launch of “America Prays,” described as a “faith-driven initiative” that “calls on Americans to dedicate time every week to pray for the country and to underscore faith as central to the nation’s founding and future.”

CFI Director of Government Affairs Azhar Majeed responded: "With today's speech, Donald Trump continues to demonstrate that he and his administration have no regard for the separation of church and state, despite it being a cornerstone of American democracy for centuries.

"The Trump administration's agenda is to advance Christian nationalism through its policies. We are seeing this playbook at the state level as well, with many states pushing school prayer, Bible-based curricula, and the Ten Commandments in public schools. The Center for Inquiry remains resolute in opposing these efforts through our lobbying and advocacy."

President Donald Trump is launching the America Prays initiative which encourages weekly prayer for the nation as part of America's 250th birthday preparations.

09/04/2025

Free Inquiry managing editor Nicole Scott writes: "The creation of Gilead was out of concern for a declining population, but the extreme restrictions placed on all women in Gilead has abundant similarities to the Christian nationalist movement rising in America today. We need more lawmakers and politicians who will stand up for democracy and against creating a Christian nation."

Last month, CNN interviewed Douglas Wilson, the senior pastor of Christ Church in Moscow, Idaho. During the interview, Wilson stated that he supported votin ...

08/28/2025

"Our desires, hopes, and prejudices influence our perceptions and ultimately can shape our beliefs."

Although there are some who claim Jesus was not even an actual person, I believe the more likely reality is that there was a guy from Galilee who attracted ...

08/21/2025

From Ronald Lindsay's latest column: "The whitewashing of American history and culture is lamentable on many levels, with the most obvious being the sacrifice of truth on the altar of Christian nationalist ideology.

"But while wringing our hands in anger and frustration, we should pause to reflect how we arrived here."

A few months ago, I wrote about how the Trump administration was determined to bring about a cultural counter-revolution. In the next issue of Free Inquiry ...

08/14/2025

CFI has posted the full-length video of Katherine Stewart's presentation at the Scopes Centennial Conference on YouTube. WATCH HERE:

Award-winning journalist Katherine Stewart —author of Money, Lies, and God: Inside the Movement to Destroy American Democracy—explores the war on science, at...

08/13/2025

"Consolmagno’s religion is like the religion embraced by many believers with higher education. The Bible is just a collection of metaphors, and God himself is a feel-good deity, not so much an entity with clearly defined characteristics, but a warm, fuzzy feeling, a presence that one can sense but not deduce. Heartfelt—like a Hallmark card.

"And, ultimately, just as vacuous."

A recent issue of the New Yorker published a piece about the “pope’s astronomer.” Inevitably, the essay, besides providing some interesting biographical det ...

08/06/2025

We are pleased to share the full text of Katherine Stewart's keynote address from last month's Scopes Trial Centennial conference.

Editor's note: This is the keynote speech Katherine Stewart delivered at the recent Scopes Trial Centennial conference. We publish it here with the gra ...

08/06/2025

This is a speech Richard Dawkins delivered at the recent Scopes Trial Centennial conference. We publish it here with his gracious consent.

Editor's note: This is a speech Richard Dawkins delivered at the recent Scopes Trial Centennial conference. We publish it here with his gracious consen ...

07/31/2025

"In short, the only myth relating to the separation of church and state is the myth that the Constitution does not mandate their separation."

House Speaker Mike Johnson, a self-proclaimed “constitutional attorney and history buff,” has flatly stated that the separation of church and state is a “mi ...