Latest Articles
The Medicine of Extinction
December 22, 2023Wild animals are being squeezed out of their habitats all over the world because of human overpopulation. We reached eight billion people on our limited planet last year, and we continue to add over eighty million each year. Countries with relative abundance continue to attract those seeking prosperity and refuge from their beleaguered countries of …
An Epitaph for Humanity
December 21, 2023We were the people of planet Earth. Homo sapiens was the scientific name we selected for ourselves, meaning “wise humans.” Now that we’re extinct, it seems we weren’t so wise after all. As the most advanced ape to evolve, we developed educational facilities, sophisticated technologies, and vibrant cultures. However, we never moved beyond our divisiveness to fully advance …
Foxholes, Deathbeds, and the Extraordinary Case of Ayaan Hirsi Ali
December 20, 2023Every once in a while, an atheist or other nonbeliever will undergo a change of heart. Someone who has self-identified as an atheist or, at the very least, a “none-of-the-above” type undergoes a change of mind. They may do a full turnabout and embrace a religious faith, either for the first time or as a …
My Children, the Atheists
December 19, 2023I was an embittered, well-lapsed Catholic when I married my standardly rebellious Catholic wife. My wife despises the Church’s moral bullying, misogyny, and corruption, but she believes in God and admires the charitable side of the clergy, which is considerable, I admit. I decided to throw belief away entirely four or five years into our …
Popular Articles
Have Christians Accepted the Scientific Conclusion That God Does Not Answer Intercessory Prayer?
Volume 39, No. 1December 2018 / January 2019
In 1982, a young cardiologist at the San Francisco General Medical Center named Randolph Byrd had a brilliant insight that would motivate several important investigations of prayer during the following two decades. He realized that the standard research paradigm known as the double-blind randomized clinical trial could be used to test the efficacy of intercessory …
Why I Am Pro-Abortion, Not Just Pro-Choice
Volume 36, No. 5August / September 2016
Why be pro-abortion? Because of all the genuine, unquestioned goods it makes possible.
The Importance of Being Blasphemous
Volume 35, No. 6October / November 2015
Looking back on the Satanic Verses affair from the time of the Charlie Hebdo massacre, it is clear that Western culture has hemorrhaged away its courage.
Popular Articles
Have Christians Accepted the Scientific Conclusion That God Does Not Answer Intercessory Prayer?
Volume 39, No. 1December 2018 / January 2019
In 1982, a young cardiologist at the San Francisco General Medical Center named Randolph Byrd had a brilliant insight that would motivate several important investigations of prayer during the following two decades. He realized that the standard research paradigm known as the double-blind randomized clinical trial could be used to test the efficacy of intercessory …
Why I Am Pro-Abortion, Not Just Pro-Choice
Volume 36, No. 5August / September 2016
Why be pro-abortion? Because of all the genuine, unquestioned goods it makes possible.
Looking Back
October/November 2019 Erratum
Volume 40, No. 1December 2019 / January 2020
The cover of the October/November 2019 issue of Free Inquiry did not include a critical prefix identifying the main article of the issue. The text should have read “Why Apostasy Laws Won’t Stop the Rise of Ex-Muslim Women.” Our apologies to Zara Kay and Peter Clarke for the unfortunate error. You can find the corrected …
The United States Is Not a Christian Nation. It Never Has Been, and It Never Will Be
Volume 40, No. 1December 2019 / January 2020
Attempts to acknowledge Christianity as the official religion of the United States date back to the founding constitutional convention and have erupted at regular intervals for the past two hundred years. The current onslaught was initiated by pseudo-historian David Barton in the late 1980s and continues to this day under the banner of Project Blitz, …
A Suitable Sobriquet
Volume 40, No. 1December 2019 / January 2020
Alas! It’s come to this. America has long prided itself on being a Christian nation founded on Christian teachings and principles. Wrong! The Founding Fathers and Mothers detested the harmful and arrogant bond between monarch and church in their former nation, Great Britain. At best, most of our nation-establishing progenitors might possibly be described as …
October/November 2019 Erratum
Volume 40, No. 1December 2019 / January 2020
The cover of the October/November 2019 issue of Free Inquiry did not include a critical prefix identifying the main article of the issue. The text should have read “Why Apostasy Laws Won’t Stop the Rise of Ex-Muslim Women.” Our apologies to Zara Kay and Peter Clarke for the unfortunate error. You can find the corrected …
The United States Is Not a Christian Nation. It Never Has Been, and It Never Will Be
Volume 40, No. 1December 2019 / January 2020
Attempts to acknowledge Christianity as the official religion of the United States date back to the founding constitutional convention and have erupted at regular intervals for the past two hundred years. The current onslaught was initiated by pseudo-historian David Barton in the late 1980s and continues to this day under the banner of Project Blitz, …