No. 5 | Free Inquiry (original) (raw)
The Myth of an Afterlife
Introduction Tom Flynn
I expected to be frustrated when I searched Amazon.com’s Books department on the keyword afterlife. I wasn’t disappointed. (Or should I say that I was disappointed?)
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The Myth of an Afterlife
On the Origin of Afterlife Beliefs by Means of Memetic Selection Steve Stewart-Williams
Modern evolutionary approaches permit far richer naturalistic explanations of the phenomenon of belief in an afterlife than the conjectures of a century and more ago.
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The Myth of an Afterlife
Problems with Heaven Michael Martin
Traditional ideas about Heaven are conceptually incoherent, and that’s just the beginning of their problems.
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The Myth of an Afterlife
Michael L. Martin, Philosopher and Author, 1932–2015 Nicole Scott
Michael L. Martin, an American analytic philosopher and one of the most formidable academic champions of atheism, passed away unexpectedly at the age of eighty-three in Boston on May 27.
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You Are Not Even Worth Despising Rafida Bonya Ahmed
Avijit Roy’s widow addresses her husband’s killers and challenges the government of Bangladesh for its inaction.
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Bangladesh: A Backgrounder Ryan Shaffer
Everything you need to know about the religious crucible that is Bangladesh.
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Theology of the Odd Body: The Castrati, the Church, and the Transgender Moment Leah Mickens
Current Catholic teaching that a person’s birth sex should never be altered or blurred is contrary to the church’s centuries-long acceptance of castrated male singers.
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Secular Humanism’s Second Wave: How Scholarship Undermines Religion
Numerous religious scholars reject literal understandings of Christianity, often in terms average churchgoers would find disturbing to their faith. Secular humanists should do more to make their conclusions more widely known.
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Editorial
Good Without God—But Better Without God? Ronald A. Lindsay
We can make the world a better place, but whether we do so depends on us—that’s both the promise and the challenge of humanism.
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Op-Ed
Where Have All the Anti-altruists Gone? Tom Flynn
Science settled the question whether altruism is real, and most of us never noticed.
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Op-Ed
Why Raif Badawi Matters Faisal Saeed Al Mutar
I am an atheist and very public about it; if I had been living in the Middle East and caught by the government or an Islamic militia, I could be in Badawi’s position.
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Op-Ed
Skepticism and Emotional Responses to Terrible Ideas Greta Christina
Having an open mind doesn’t—and mustn’t—mean willingness to engage in dispassionate debate over reprehensible ideas.
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Op-Ed
Application for the Position of Biblical Evangelist* Mark Rubinstein
A scrap from the dawn of the New Testament. Um, not really.
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Letters in response to Free Inquiry volume 35, issue 4.
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Doerr's Way
Krauthammer’s Wolf Howl, God’s Bankers, Potiphar’s Wife Edd Doerr
Two new books probe the Vatican’s most sensitive mysteries—the church’s finances and clergy sex abuse.
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International Humanism
The Madness of King Charles James Snell
One day England will be ruled by a man who endorses pseudoscience, bullies scientists out of research positions, and has a far-too cozy relationship with Gulf-state royalty. Be very afraid.
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God on Trial
Imprisonment and Religiosity Richard G. Dumont
Religiosity seems to correlate with criminal conduct . . . until you examine the data more scrupulously.
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Great Minds
Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar James A. Haught
Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar unlocked the secrets of dwarf stars and black holes, but never needed the belief in God.
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The Faith I Left Behind
Why I Am an Atheist Jew Shirley Blumberg
Looking back on a life in which there’s never really been room for God . . . or need.
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Humanism at Large
They Burned with Strange Lusts M.C. McDonald
A doorway conversion conversation goes other than as planned.
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Reviews
Faulty Vision Bernard M. Patten
A review of Proof of Heaven: A Neurosurgeon’s Journey into the Afterlife by Eben Alexander, M.D.
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Reviews
God Makes Us Eat Them Brooke Horvath
A review of Animal Liberation and Atheism: Dismantling the Procrustean Bed, by Kim Socha.
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Reviews
Call It Terrorism Tom Flynn
A review of Living in the Crosshairs: The Untold Stories of Anti-Abortion Terrorism, by David S. Cohen and Krysten Connon.
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Reviews
A Fall from Grace Edd Doerr
A review of No Longer on Pedestals, by Carol A. Kuhnert.
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Obituary
Anne Nicol Gaylor, Feminist, Activist, and Freethinker, 1926–2015 Nicole Scott
Anne Nicol Gaylor, the principal founder of the Freedom From Religion Foundation (FFRF), died at the age of eighty-eight in Wisconsin on June 14.
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Poem
One Last Alexander Nussbaum
A poem from the August/September 2015 issue of Free Inquiry.
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