Product Description

Countering religious fundamentalists, the humanist scholars who write this controversial magazine promote secularism in the contemporary world.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1641 in Magazine Subscriptions
• Format: Magazine Subscription

Customer Reviews

A Magazine for Reason
Free Inquiry Magazine is published by the Council For Secular Humanism, whose stated goal is to educate and support "people who find meaning and value in life without looking to a god".

Given this, it is not surprising to say that the main focus of the magazine is on secular humanism issues and ideas. However, every issue has articles that really do apply to a much wider audience. They cover such general topics such as church-state separation, ethics and issues faced by any religious minority. I'm not surprised to find people referring to back issues for articles on various Supreme Court decisions or discrimination issues.

The magazine's editor is Paul Kurtz, Professor Emeritus of Philosophy at the State University of New York at Buffalo and founder of Prometheus Books. With this kind of influence, I have always found the articles to be well written and logical. They also run the gambit from complex philosophical treaties to humorous op-ed essays.

The antidote to the irrationality that is religion
Produced by the Council for Secular Humanism, Free Inquiry's mission statement is "to promote and nurture the good life - life guided by reason and science, freed from the dogmas of god and state, inspired by compassion for fellow humans, and driven by the ideals of human freedom, happiness, and understanding."

Common topics include secular humanism, atheism, church-state issues, and the rights of religious minorities. A sampling of articles from their most recent issue (February/March 2005) is illustrative of their objective; stories include "Fundamentalist Power in America" (by James A. Haught), "Crime and Causality: Do Killers Deserve to Die?" (Thomas W. Clark), "Law Reform, or DIY Suicide" (Peter Singer); and Jihad in the Netherlands (courtesy of the brilliant and ballsy Christopher Hitchens). They post some of each issue's offerings on their web site, so be sure to check it out.

However, it's well worth the price to spring for a subscription, freebies or not. The articles are consistently well-written and thought-provoking, the topical selection varied yet absorbing. I usually read each new issue cover-to-cover within a week of arrival in my mailbox. Nor do old issues grow stale; it's the kind of magazine you can return to time and again. Hubby and I still have copies from the early `90s that we peruse on occasion!

If you want scholarly yet understandable discourse, sound logic, and in-depth research, Free Inquiry is the magazine for you! It's an excellent change of pace from some of the fluff that passes for news nowadays. Another outstanding option is Skeptical Inquirer, from the Committee for the Scientific Investigation of Claims of the Paranormal (CSICOP). Skeptical Inquirer is quite similar to Free Inquiry (indeed, it's published by the same company and many of the contributors pull double duty), but with a narrower focus (it tends to focus on aliens, faith healers, miracles, and other "supernatural" nonsense).

Also, if you enjoy the magazine, you might also like their "Web Columns"; go to their web site for more details!

- Kelly Garbato

Lifelong skeptic and atheist

Humanistic Answers To Big Questions
FREE INQUIRY is published bimonthly by the Council for Secular Humanism. Sample article titles in the current issue (June/July 2004) are "The Religiosity of George W. Bush" and "From Regenerative Medicine to Human Design." Contributors include Christopher Hitchens, author and columnist, and Robert Price, a member of the Jesus Seminar. Other familiar names of secular humanists mentioned in the magazine are Edward O. Wilson, the late Sir Peter Ustinov, Arthur Schlesinger, Jr. and Gore Vidal.

The tone of a few of the articles can occasionally be quite strident in the style of a fundamentalist preacher. In these rare instances FREE INQUIRY reads like a journal for a rigid nontheistic religion. Fortunately this does not happen too often.On the inside of the front cover is a list of twenty-one humanistic principles endorsed by the Council for Secular Humanism. I am definitely not a secular humanist but I do believe in reading alternative viewpoints especially when they address several of the most important issues of the day.