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freeinquiry.bsky.social
Free Inquiry
@freeinquiry.bsky.social
300 followers 71 following 100 posts
The journal of secular humanist ideas. http://linktr.ee/freeinquiry
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freeinquiry.bsky.social
Free Inquiry @freeinquiry.bsky.social · 9d
In his column today, Ron Lindsay expresses his concern that at a time when democracies are under serious threat from a bloc of authoritarian countries (Russia, China, N. Korea, Iran) the U.S. has an incoherent foreign policy led by a man-child. secularhumanism.org/exclusive/de...
Democracy—The Good News and the Bad News | Free Inquiry
My wife and I are off to Spain in a few days, so this will be my last column for a couple weeks. I mention Spain not that you’re especially interested in my ...
secularhumanism.org
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Free Inquiry @freeinquiry.bsky.social · 16d
In his column today, Ron Lindsay says there is no longer any doubt that the Christian Right is now the dominant force in the MAGA coalition -- and that's not good news. secularhumanism.org/exclusive/th...
The MAGA Movement—A Conservative Christian-Dominated Coalition | Free Inquiry
Fundamentalist Christians have always been an important part of the MAGA movement. Although perhaps not a majority of Donald Trump voters, they have been hi ...
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Free Inquiry @freeinquiry.bsky.social · 23d
In his column today (written before the Jimmy Kimmel suspension), Ron Lindsay speculates about how far Trump & Co. will go in exploiting the murder of Charlie Kirk. secularhumanism.org/exclusive/th...
The Murder of Kirk—Trump’s Reichstag Fire? | Free Inquiry
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 ...
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Free Inquiry @freeinquiry.bsky.social · Sep 11
In his column this week, Ron Lindsay discusses the irrationality of turning one's life over to self-proclaimed prophets. secularhumanism.org/exclusive/th...
The Madness of Following ‘Prophets’ | Free Inquiry
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 ...
secularhumanism.org
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Free Inquiry @freeinquiry.bsky.social · Sep 4
Unprayerful Reflections has a guest columnist today: Nicole Scott, our managing editor. Nicole dissects the recent, bizarre push for "household voting" by Christian nationalists. On the road to Gilead? secularhumanism.org/exclusive/is...
Is Household Voting Another Step toward Gilead? | Free Inquiry
Last month, CNN interviewed Douglas Wilson, the senior pastor of Christ Church in Moscow, Idaho. During the interview, Wilson stated that he supported votin ...
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freeinquiry.bsky.social
Free Inquiry @freeinquiry.bsky.social · Aug 28
In his column today, Ron Lindsay envisages a future where the combination of ideologically shaped perceptions & gov't pressure make Trump's claim of a rigged 2020 election the "official" version of that event. secularhumanism.org/exclusive/th...
The Resurrection of Jesus and the 2020 U.S. Presidential Election | Free Inquiry
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 ...
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Free Inquiry @freeinquiry.bsky.social · Aug 21
In his column today, Ron Lindsay criticizes Trump's efforts to whitewash American history. He notes, however, that Trump's cultural counter-revolution is, in part, an (over)reaction to the excesses of the Left's identity politics. secularhumanism.org/exclusive/co...
Comments on the Continuing Cultural Counter-Revolution | Free Inquiry
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 ...
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Free Inquiry @freeinquiry.bsky.social · Aug 14
Ron Lindsay's column will not appear today. Instead Ron invites you to read Katherine Stewart's stirring speech at the recently concluded Scopes Centennial conference, if you have not already done so. secularhumanism.org/exclusive/ka...
Katherine Stewart's Scopes Keynote Speech | Free Inquiry
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 ...
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Free Inquiry @freeinquiry.bsky.social · Aug 7
In his column today, Ron Lindsay discusses the puff piece the
New Yorker ran on the "pope's astronomer." No conflict between religion & science. How could there be when God is just that nice feeling you get when the data plot lines up perfectly. secularhumanism.org/exclusive/ha...
Hallmark Catholicism | Free Inquiry
A recent issue of the New Yorker published a piece about the “pope’s astronomer.” Inevitably, the essay, besides providing some interesting biographical det ...
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freeinquiry.bsky.social
Free Inquiry @freeinquiry.bsky.social · Aug 6
We are pleased to post a forceful, timely speech by Katherine Stewart, recently delivered at CFI's Scopes Centennial Conference. You may not be fined nowadays for teaching evolution, but the threats to science & education from the Trump administration are serious. secularhumanism.org/exclusive/ka...
Katherine Stewart's Scopes Keynote Speech | Free Inquiry
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 ...
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freeinquiry.bsky.social
Free Inquiry @freeinquiry.bsky.social · Jul 31
In his column today, Ron Lindsay discusses the claim of the Religious Right that the separation of church and state is a "myth," arguing that this claim shows a complete misunderstanding of the wording and structure of the Constitution. secularhumanism.org/exclusive/th...
The Myth About ‘The Myth of the Separation of Church and State’ | Free Inquiry
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 ...
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freeinquiry.bsky.social
Free Inquiry @freeinquiry.bsky.social · Jul 24
No Ron Lindsay column today. He's working on his Trump Deflection Index, correlating the intensity of Trump's deflection efforts w/use of certain words, such as "Barack HUSSEIN Obama" In the meantime you should read this excellent essay by @nathanlents.bsky.social secularhumanism.org/2025/07/how-...
How Similar Are Human and Chimp Genomes, Really? Quantifying Genetic Difference Isn’t Straightforward | Free Inquiry
The Trump administration seems determined to gut the scientific research establishment in the United States. Despite the fact that vaccines have likely save ...
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freeinquiry.bsky.social
Free Inquiry @freeinquiry.bsky.social · Jul 21
Free Inquiry is pleased to post on its website a timely, excellent essay by biologist Nathan Lents, professor at CUNY, demolishing a creationist's recent attack on the Smithsonian for allegedly misleading the public. secularhumanism.org/2025/07/how-...
How Similar Are Human and Chimp Genomes, Really? Quantifying Genetic Difference Isn’t Straightforward | Free Inquiry
The Trump administration seems determined to gut the scientific research establishment in the United States. Despite the fact that vaccines have likely save ...
secularhumanism.org
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freeinquiry.bsky.social
Free Inquiry @freeinquiry.bsky.social · Jul 17
In his column today, Ron Lindsay discusses and laments the role that religious fundamentalism -- Jewish, Muslim, and Christian -- has played in the Mideast conflicts. secularhumanism.org/exclusive/th...
The Bane of Religion in the Mideast | Free Inquiry
Hamas is a fundamentalist Islamic group whose charter calls for the establishment of an Islamic state in Palestine. During their control of Gaza, they showe ...
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freeinquiry.bsky.social
Free Inquiry @freeinquiry.bsky.social · Jul 10
In his column today, Ron Lindsay criticizes the IRS policy reversal allowing religious organizations to endorse candidates. Not only is this inconsistent with their nonprofit status, but injecting (more) religious zealotry into politics is a singularly bad idea. secularhumanism.org/exclusive/en...
Endorsed by God | Free Inquiry
“That winter most of the pulpits of Paris rang with eloquence which skirted close to treason. Fanatical friars and demagogic priests vied with one another i ...
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Free Inquiry @freeinquiry.bsky.social · Jul 3
In his column today, Ron Lindsay argues -- surprise! -- that the Trump administration has been very selective when it comes to pursuing its goal of making Americans "safe." What matters is what helps Trump. secularhumanism.org/exclusive/th...
The Crime Fighting Priorities of the Trump Administration | Free Inquiry
We all know Donald Trump and his band of merry incompetents talk a good game when it comes to crime. They keep reminding us that one of their top priorities ...
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Free Inquiry @freeinquiry.bsky.social · Jun 26
Ron Lindsay's column will not appear today. Ron's brain has undergone a temporary meltdown, either from the heat wave or as an effect from reading Ross Douthat's collection of bad arguments in Believe. (See review here: secularhumanism.org/exclusive/ex...) Ron should recover by next week.
Exploiting Ignorance: Douthat’s Call to Believe | Free Inquiry
The dust jacket for Ross Douthat’s recent book, Believe: Why Everyone Should Be Religious, boasts that the book “provides an intellectual pathway from doubt ...
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freeinquiry.bsky.social
Free Inquiry @freeinquiry.bsky.social · Jun 18
Because of the Juneteenth holiday, Ron Lindsay's Thursday column is posted today. This column is an extended review of Ross Douthat's book Believe. Ron finds the book's arguments provide no reason for believing in a deity. secularhumanism.org/exclusive/ex...
Exploiting Ignorance: Douthat’s Call to Believe | Free Inquiry
The dust jacket for Ross Douthat’s recent book, Believe: Why Everyone Should Be Religious, boasts that the book “provides an intellectual pathway from doubt ...
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freeinquiry.bsky.social
Free Inquiry @freeinquiry.bsky.social · Jun 12
In his column today, Ron Lindsay argues that the debate over the wisdom of physician-assisted dying for the terminally ill should be over, but different considerations do apply for those who are not terminally ill. secularhumanism.org/exclusive/as...
Assisted Dying/Assisted Suicide | Free Inquiry
As I write this (Wednesday, June 11), the New York legislature has passed a bill that would permit physician assistance in hastening a patient’s death. Whet ...
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freeinquiry.bsky.social
Free Inquiry @freeinquiry.bsky.social · Jun 5
In today's column, Ron Lindsay argues that if we do not want kings to rule us we should modify the one provision in the Constitution that expressly allows the president to act like a monarch: the pardon power. secularhumanism.org/exclusive/a-...
A Check on Presidential Pardons | Free Inquiry
Anyone who paid attention in their high school civics class knows that a fundamental facet of American democracy is the separation of powers among our three ...
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Free Inquiry @freeinquiry.bsky.social · May 29
In today's column, Ron Lindsay discusses the renewed push for official prayer time in public schools and how the cry of "religious freedom" serves as a mask for religious coercion. secularhumanism.org/exclusive/th...
The Intermittent Fever of School Prayer | Free Inquiry
Ever since the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in the 1960s that school-sponsored prayer and Bible readings in public schools were unconstitutional, religious zeal ...
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Free Inquiry @freeinquiry.bsky.social · May 22
Ron Lindsay's column will not appear this week. Instead he invites you to read a Free Inquiry exclusive: a journalist's illuminating first-hand, contemporaneous account of the Scopes trial (100th anniversary this year). secularhumanism.org/exclusive/un...
Uncle John in Dayton—First-Hand Reporting on the Scopes Trial | Free Inquiry
In May 1925, my then twenty-three-year-old uncle, John Moutoux, cub reporter for The Knoxville News in Knoxville, Tennessee, spotted a short, Associated Pre ...
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Free Inquiry @freeinquiry.bsky.social · May 15
In his column this week, Ron Lindsay ponders why the pope receives such lavish praise from the mainstream media when other religious leaders with similar views on key issues (abortion, birth control, same-sex marriage) are often characterized as extremists. secularhumanism.org/exclusive/th...
The Aura of Sanctity Around the Pope | Free Inquiry
I thought I was done writing about the pope, but the continual, unrestrained gushing by the mainstream media over Pope Leo XIV compels me to make one last s ...
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Free Inquiry @freeinquiry.bsky.social · May 9
Now that the media frenzy is subsiding perhaps we can focus on reality: Leo XIV is just another leader of an archaic institution, selected exclusively by a group of celibate men. In 1st sermon, Leo laments "de facto atheism," as if that's the biggest problem in the world www.wsj.com/world/europe...
Pope Leo Warns Against Spread of ‘De Facto Atheism’
The pope spoke of the challenges the Catholic Church faces.
www.wsj.com
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Free Inquiry @freeinquiry.bsky.social · May 8
In his column this week, Ron Lindsay imagines what Trump would say if, in line with the image he posted of himself, he were actually elected pope. secularhumanism.org/exclusive/ma...
Make Anathema Great Again | Free Inquiry
I’d say “thank you,” but of course you should be thanking me for taking on this job. Only I can make the Catholic Church great again. I am speaking to you i ...
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