Free Inquiry Audio Edition

Brian D. Earp responds to Steve Grumette's criticism of his scholarship on child genital cutting. Read this article and find accompanying references at: https://secularhumanism.org/2026/09/from-vibe-coding-to-vibe-critiquing-on-ai-bullshit-and-what-i-actually-argue-about-genital-cutting-a-response-to-steve-grumette/ About the Author: Brian D. Earp is a philosopher, cognitive scientist, and bioethi...

Daniel N. MacClymont argues that male circumcision and female genital mutilation (FGM) share important ethical concerns, including the nonconsensual removal of healthy genital tissue from children and the potential for lasting physical and sexual harm. Responding to critics who distinguish the practices by their severity, he contends that both encompass a range of outcomes that can overlap, and th...

Steve Grumette argues that female genital mutilation (FGM) and routine male circumcision should not be treated as morally or medically equivalent simply because both involve nonconsensual genital alteration. Read this article and find accompanying references at: https://secularhumanism.org/2026/09/a-dangerous-false-equivalence/ About the Author: Steve Grumette is an Academy Award–winning filmmaker...

Ben Bayer examines Bart Ehrman's history of Christian altruism, arguing that Christianity's emphasis on selfless service to strangers represented a major shift in Western moral thinking but was rooted in religious faith rather than rational evidence. Read this article and find accompanying references at: https://secularhumanism.org/2026/09/stranger-danger-how-bart-ehrmans-latest-unmasks-the-histor...

Ronald A. Lindsay argues in his final Free Inquiry editorial that humanism should remain a philosophy grounded in freedom of inquiry, reason, evidence, and individual autonomy rather than becoming a system of dogma or ideological litmus tests. He warns that attempts to enforce orthodoxy on contentious issues—including race, transgender identity, and sex—undermine humanism's commitment to open deba...

The Center for Inquiry welcomes Ariel Peckel to his new position as Exectutive Director of the Council for Secular Humanism and editor of Free Inquiry. Read this article and find accompanying references at: https://secularhumanism.org/2026/09/ariel-peckel-named-new-executive-director-of-csh-and-editor-of-free-inquiry/ Subscribe to Free Inquiry: https://secularhumanism.org/subscribe/

Ronald A. Lindsay previews his last issue as editor of  Free Inquiry, Volume 46, Number 6, titled Altruism & Its Christian Taint. Read this article and find accompanying references at: https://secularhumanism.org/2026/09/in-this-issue-october-november-2026/ About the Author: Ronald A. Lindsay is the former president and CEO of the Center for Inquiry, recent interim general counsel for CFI, and edi...

Daniel James Sharp argues that freethinkers and secular humanists in both the United States and Britain face a growing threat from Christian nationalism and other forms of religious authoritarianism, making international solidarity more important than ever. Read this article and find accompanying references at: https://secularhumanism.org/exclusive/we-need-a-good-dose-of-freethinking-international...

Bart Laws examines the realities behind crime, punishment, and incarceration in the United States, challenging common assumptions that harsher penalties alone can solve crime. Read this article and find accompanying references at: https://secularhumanism.org/2026/07/crime-and-punishment/ About the Author: Bart Laws is a medical sociologist and an adjunct associate professor of Health Services, Pol...

Ronald A. Lindsay praises S. T. Joshi's The Downfall of God: A History of Atheism in the West, Vol. 2 as a comprehensive and authoritative account of how scientific, philosophical, literary, and cultural developments fueled the rise of atheism from the seventeenth century to today. He argues that the book's depth, breadth, and nuanced treatment of influential thinkers make it the definitive modern...

Dennis E. Curry reviews Julian Barnes's Levels of Life , arguing that its unflinching exploration of grief offers a deeply humanist alternative to religious consolation. Through Barnes's memoir of losing his wife, the book portrays grief with honesty, wit, and emotional depth, ultimately suggesting that memory, rather than faith, provides a meaningful path through profound loss. Read this article...

Richard Carrier argues that Bill Cooke's review of The Obsolete Paradigm of a Historical Jesus misrepresents both his arguments and the evidence, claiming the review ignores key sections of the book while attributing positions to him that he explicitly rejects. Carrier maintains that readers should judge his case directly from his work, asserting that his mythicist conclusions rest on a broad eval...

Bill Cooke reviews and critiques Richard Carrier's  The Obsolete Paradigm of a Historical Jesus (2025), arguing that its case for Jesus mythicism relies on circular reasoning, subjective use of Bayesian statistics, and selective treatment of the historical evidence while ignoring mainstream scholarship on the historical Jesus.  Read this article and find accompanying references at: https://secular...

Robyn E. Blumner explores how artificial intelligence may reshape humanity's relationship with work, arguing that even if technology creates a future of abundance and leisure, work provides essential sources of purpose, dignity, identity, and personal growth. She examines whether a world without the necessity of labor could leave people struggling to find meaning and fulfillment. Read this article...

Russell Blackford explores how the word sex has shifted in meaning over the past century, arguing that modern society has replaced old religious discomfort with new forms of linguistic squeamishness. He traces how gender increasingly displaced sex in everyday language and how today's algorithm-driven "algospeak" (such as "seggs" or "s*x") reflects a new kind of technological puritanism that can un...

Ronald A. Lindsay previews Free Inquiry 's August/September 2026 issue. Read this article and find accompanying references at: https://secularhumanism.org/2026/07/in-this-issue-august-september-2026/ About the Author: Ronald A. Lindsay is the former president and CEO of the Center for Inquiry, recent interim general counsel for CFI, and editor of Free Inquiry magazine. Subscribe to Free Inquiry: h...

Ronald A. Lindsay argues that modern religions, particularly the Abrahamic faiths, retain the ancient practice of trying to placate deities through sacrifice and petitionary prayer, differing more in form than in substance from ancient Greek religion. He contends that petitionary prayer is logically incompatible with the concept of an all-knowing, benevolent God and concludes that religion reflect...

Ronald A. Lindsay argues that two recent U.S. Supreme Court decisions significantly expand presidential power and the influence of money in politics, threatening the independence of federal regulatory agencies and further empowering wealthy political interests. He contends that allowing presidents to fire agency leaders at will and removing campaign spending limits for political parties will make...

Ronald A. Lindsay explores how myths, legends, and misinformation become attached to prominent figures, comparing modern conspiracy theories about public figures and historical myths about George Washington to the legendary development of the Gospel narratives about Jesus. He argues that beliefs are often shaped more by emotion, ideology, and storytelling than by historical evidence or factual acc...

Ronald A. Lindsay critiques the widespread attention given to Pope Leo XIV's recent AI encyclical, arguing that the Catholic Church's theological claims and supernatural beliefs undermine its credibility as an authority on emerging technologies.  Read this article and find accompanying references at: https://secularhumanism.org/exclusive/why-listen-to-the-pope-speaking-as-the-pope-on-ai/ About the...

Steve Grumette argues that effective moral education should be grounded in empathy, critical thinking, and evidence-based understanding of human moral development rather than religious authority, enabling students from diverse backgrounds to reason through ethical challenges together. Read this article and find accompanying references at: https://secularhumanism.org/2026/05/secular-approaches-to-m...

Leo Igwe examines how humanist activists in Africa are combating witch hunts by challenging superstition, promoting critical thinking, and helping victims seek legal protection against accusations that often lead to violence, abuse, and death. Drawing on real cases from Nigeria, he argues that reason, science, and human rights advocacy offer the most effective path toward ending witchcraft-related...

Mark Kolsen argues that rock 'n' roll and the sexual revolution played a significant role in the rise of religious "Nones" in the United States by encouraging more permissive attitudes toward sex and weakening traditional religious participation. He traces how early rock music emerged from Pentecostal church culture, how conservative religious backlash against rock and sexuality politicized religi...

This is a modified version of an article that originally appeared in The Free Press under the title "The Golden Age of Humanity? We're Living in It." Free Inquiry is republishing it with the gracious permission of The Free Press and the authors. Copyright is retained by The Free Press . Read this article and find accompanying references at: https://secularhumanism.org/2026/05/medieval-christendom-...

Ronald A. Lindsay examines competing narratives about American history and identity ahead of the United States' 250th anniversary, arguing that both right-wing myths of a flawless Christian nation and left-wing portrayals of America as irredeemably oppressive distort a more complicated reality rooted in Enlightenment ideals. He contends that free speech, democracy, and gradual moral progress—espec...