 | | Message from Debbie
Goddard | 
It's back-to-school time, which not only
means taking advantage of the latest sales (as our radios and
TVs tell us to do), but also gearing up for another challenging
year of brain-busting classes during the day, homework and
projects at night, discussion, and, somewhere in there, learning
a thing or two. Here at the Center for Inquiry we're also
gearing up for another year of education and outreach, packed
full of writing articles and press releases; organizing
lectures, seminars, and events at college campuses across North
America; launching and coordinating new campus and community
groups; running conferences; producing a popular podcast;
publishing over a dozen magazines and journals; researching,
designing, reading, implementing, publicizing, editing...the
list goes on. Not only are these things "action words that look
good on a resume," they're also important for spreading the word
and fulfilling our mission -- to promote reason, science, and
freedom of inquiry in all areas of human endeavor, especially
when it comes to the "sacred cow" issues of society.
In a
special video address at this summer's Student Leadership
Conference, Richard Dawkins announced CFI's new Campaign for
Free Inquiry, through which we'll bring some of the leading
minds in the fields of humanism, biblical scholarship, medicine,
evolutionary biology, history, and paranormal research to
campuses across North America for debates, lectures, and
presentations on a wide range of topics. Some of the events we
already have lined up for the fall are listed in this
newsletter.
The college campus is one of the most
important places to defend freedom of inquiry, which is
threatened both by fundamentalist religionists who try to get
laws passed in order to insulate their worldview in the
classroom, as well as by those on the postmodernist left who
attack the methods of science and reason by insisting that all
truths are equally true. These ideas are contrary to our
experience, however; we don't go to college to put on blinders
against ideas that don't agree with our own, and believing that
the earth is flat doesn't make it so.
Colleges and
universities aren't just there to give degrees that might land
us higher-paying jobs (although that definitely is a perk). One
of the greatest benefits of higher education is the opportunity
to expose ourselves to different viewpoints, values, and
beliefs. If we wanted simply to reinforce what we think, it is
easy enough to only read books that support our views, or to
spend time only with people who think similarly. However, this
is not what it means to be "educated," nor does it simply mean
being familiar with the great works of literature, knowing what
the great scientists did, and being able to solve a math problem
or two. The goal of the university should include teaching
critical thinking skills, challenging the individual, providing
opportunities for intellectual growth, and exposing students to
new ideas and unfamiliar perspectives. These goals cannot be
achieved if we limit the free expression of ideas, even highly
controversial ones, nor can they be achieved if we shut down our
process of questioning, out of fear of stepping on someone
else's, or our own, ideological toes. But we shouldn't fear
these challenges and inquiries, because they are the cornerstone
of not only education and knowledge, but of freedom.
It
is for this that the Center for Inquiry does what it does. If
we're not able to do these things on the campuses, if not at the
college and university, then where will they be
done?
Debbie Goddard
Field Organizer
Center for
Inquiry On
Campus |
| Tell A
Friend | Do you know that according to a new poll
by the University of Akron, for the first time, over 10% of
Americans self-identified explicitly as secular,
humanist, atheist, agnostic, or "Bright," not including the
previously polled category of "unchurched."
This is a
significant minority of Americans, and we argue it is time to
stand up and be counted on the side of science and reason. Help
us stand up against the purveyors of unreason in our culture by
helping us spread the word.
Please send this newsletter
to someone you think may be interested in the evidence-based,
secular, scientific outlook that CFI advances. This can be done
easily using our Tell a Friend
function by clicking here. |
| CFI Discussion Forums | The Center for Inquiry is pleased to
announce our new discussion forums at http://www.cfi-forums.org.
The forums are home to a growing online community of supporters,
activists, and other like-minded individuals who discuss
everything from current events to religion and the paranormal.
We even have a forum dedicated just to campus freethought
activism.
CFI-Forums.org is a great place to meet
friends, stay informed, and share ideas with other student
activists.
Current topics include: free will, the
Muhammad cartoons, and the historicity of Jesus.
We
encourage all Campus Inquirer subscribers to register and take
part in our growing online
community! |
| | | Upcoming
Events | September 16 at 8:00 p.m.
Role
of Religion in Society
Paul Kurtz
CFI Community of
Naples
Hilton Hotel
Naples, Florida
October 23rd
at 7:15 p.m.
The Immorality of Religious Ethics
R.
Joseph Hoffmann
CFI Community of Miami
University of
Miami
Miami, Florida
October 29
Why There
Really Is No God
Edward Tabash
IUPUI Freethinkers
IUPUI
Campus Lecture Hall
Indianapolis, IN
December
7th
The War on Christmas
Tom Flynn
Campus Atheists
& Secular Humanists
University of Minnesota
Minneapolis,
MN
For more
information on any of these events please, contact Thomas
Donnelly at tdonnelly@centerforinquiry.net. |
| New Campus
Groups | Sixteen
new campus groups have formed or are in the process of forming
since June 1st, 2006:
University of Toronto,
Scarborough Campus
Scarborough, ON
Ryerson University
Toronto ON
York University
Toronto ON
Carleton University
Ottawa, ON
University of Northern Iowa
Cedar Falls IA
US Air Force Academy
Colorado Springs, CO
University of Missouri Kansas City
Kanas City
MO
Chatham College
Pittsburgh, PA
Columbus State Community College
Columbus, OH
Broward Community College
Fort Lauderdale, FL
Purdue University North Central
Laporte, IN
Arcadia University
Philadelphia, PA
IUPUI Freethinkers
Indionapolis, IN
Murphy High School
Mobile , AL
Woodbridge High School
Irvine, CA
Clemson University
Clemson, SC
If you
would like to work with the Center for Inquiry to start a
freethought group at your school (and receive a free box of
educational and promotional materials), or to get involved with
an existing group, go to http://www.campusinquirer.org
|
|
| | Fall
2006 Campus Visits! |  | Center for Inquiry staff
(along with staff of the Council for Secular Humanism and
CSICOP) will be visiting numerous campuses during the fall of
2006.
| September 14-16 | Long
Island area campuses, such as SUNY Stony Brook |
| September
22-25 |
North East Ohio area campuses, such as
Case Western Reserve University and the University of
Akron |
| October
6-8 |
Pittsburgh Area campuses, such as
University of Pittsburgh and Carnegie Mellon
University |
| October
14-15 |
Austin area campuses, such as the
University of Texas at Austin |
| October
19-23 |
LA
area campuses, such as UCLA and the University of Southern
California |
| October
19-23 |
Miami area campuses, such as Miami
University |
| October 29 |
Indiana University - Purdue University
Indianapolis |
| November 4-6 |
Chicago area campuses, such as the
University of Illinois, Chicago |
| November 28 - December
3rd |
Florida area campuses, in cities
including Daytona Beach, Fort Lauderdale, Miami, Naples, Tampa,
and Tallahassee. |
| December 2 |
Chicago area campuses, such as
Northwestern University |
| December 3-5 |
Wisconsin area campuses, such as
University of Wisconsin campuses in Madison and
Oshkosh |
| December 6-7 |
Minnesota area campuses, such as the
University of Minnesota - Minneapolis |
| December
9-12 |
Tucson area campuses, such as University
of Arizona |
These events will feature CFI speakers such as Edward Tabash,
Lauren Becker, Austin Dacey, Benjamin Radford, David Koepsell,
Thomas Donnelly, Debbie Goddard, DJ Grothe and others.
Information on CFI lecturers and their areas of expertise can be
found here.
To
arrange a Center for Inquiry event at your campus, or for any
information on these events please contact Thomas Donnelly at tdonnelly@centerforinquiry.net. |
| |
| | Featured
Book | |   The God
Delusion
Richard Dawkins
Houghton Mifflin (October 18,
2006)
From the Publisher:
Discover magazine recently called Richard Dawkins "Darwin's
Rottweiler" for his fierce and effective defense of evolution.
Prospect magazine voted him among the top three public
intellectuals in the world (along with Umberto Eco and Noam
Chomsky). Now Dawkins turns his considerable intellect on
religion, denouncing its faulty logic and the suffering it
causes.
He critiques God in all his forms, from the sex-obsessed tyrant
of the Old Testament to the more benign (but still illogical)
Celestial Watchmaker favored by some Enlightenment thinkers. He
eviscerates the major arguments for religion and demonstrates
the supreme improbability of a supreme being. He shows how
religion fuels war, foments bigotry, and abuses children,
buttressing his points with historical and contemporary
evidence. In so doing, he makes a compelling case that belief in
God is not just irrational, but potentially deadly.
Dawkins has fashioned an impassioned, rigorous rebuttal to
religion, to be embraced by anyone who sputters at the
inconsistencies and cruelties that riddle the Bible, bristles at
the inanity of "intelligent design," or agonizes over
fundamentalism in the Middle East -- or Middle
America.
To read more about this book, or to
pre-order a copy, click
here.
|
| |
| | The God
Delusion Book Tour | | Center for Inquiry On Campus
is pleased to announce Professor Dawkins US book tour schedule
for The God Delusion. Many of these tour dates are on
university campuses.
| October 16 |
University of
Kansas |
Lawrence, KS |
| October 18 |
New York Academy of
Science |
New York, NY |
| October 19 |
Harvard Bookstore Reading
The First Parish Church |
Cambridge, MA |
| October 20 |
PopTech Conference |
Camden, ME |
| October 21 |
McGill University |
Montreal, QC |
| October 23 |
Philip Thayer Memorial
Lecture
Randolph-Macon Woman's College |
Lynchburg, VA |
| October 24 |
Politics & Prose |
Washington, DC |
| October 26 |
University of Washington
Bookstore |
Seattle, WA |
| October 27 |
Powell's Books |
Portland, OR |
| October 28 |
Skeptics Society
Cal-Tech, Beckman Auditorium |
Los Angeles, CA |
| October 30 |
City Arts & Lectures
The Palace of Fine Arts |
San Francisco, CA |
| November 2 |
Free Library of
Philadelphia |
Philadelphia, PA |
| November 3-4 |
University of
Virginia |
Charlottesville, VA |
| November 6 |
Salk Conference |
San Diego, CA |
|
| |
| | Neil
deGrasse Tyson on Point of Inquiry | |  Point of Inquiry is
the Center for Inquiry's radio show and podcast, drawing on
CFI's relationship with the leading minds of the day including
Nobel Prize-winning scientists, public intellectuals, social
critics and thinkers, and renowned entertainers. Each episode
combines incisive interviews, features, and commentary focusing
on CFI's three research areas: pseudoscience and the paranormal,
alternative medicine, and religion and secularism.
A
recent episode of Point of Inquiry featured an interview
with Neil deGrasse Tyson, one of America's superstars of
science.
Dr. Tyson, director of the Hayden Planetarium in
New York City, focuses his research on star formation, exploding
stars, dwarf galaxies, and the structure of our own galaxy, the
Milky Way.
In addition to dozens of scholarly
publications, Dr. Tyson is one of America's most eloquent and
popular science writers. He has a monthly column for Natural
History magazine simply titled the "Universe." Among his
seven books is his memoir The Sky is Not the Limit:
Adventures of an Urban Astrophysicist; and also Origins:
Fourteen Billion Years of Cosmic Evolution, co-written with
Donald Goldsmith. Origins is the companion book to the
PBS-NOVA series of the same title, in which Dr. Tyson serves as
the on-camera host. Beginning Fall 2006, he will appear as the
on-camera host of PBS-NOVA's program ScienceNow, which
will explore the frontiers of all the science that shapes our
understanding of our place in the universe.
Dr. Tyson is
the recipient of seven honorary doctorates and the NASA
Distinguished Public Service Medal. His contributions to the
public appreciation of the cosmos have been recognized by the
International Astronomical Union in their official naming of
asteroid "13123 Tyson". On a lighter note, a few years ago he
was voted "Sexiest Astrophysicist Alive" by People
Magazine.
In this wide-ranging interview with DJ
Grothe, Dr. Tyson discusses recent developments in astronomy
which may have increased the count of planets in our solar
system, reveals why he believes it is likely that there is life
elsewhere in the universe, examines Intelligent Design and what
he calls "stupid design," eloquently explains how parents may
foster an appreciation for science in children, and also
discusses science education's real-world economic impact for
America.
Also in this episode, DJ and Lauren Becker
discuss the new collaborative effort between the Center for
Inquiry and the State University of New York called Science and
the Public.
Past episodes
include interviews with Richard Dawkins, Chris Mooney, Sam
Harris, Daniel Dennett, Max
Maven, Ibn Warraq, James Randi, Susan Jacoby, Joe Nickel, Paul
Kurtz, Jamy Ian Swiss, Nobel Laureate
Herbert Hauptman, Eddie Tabash, and others - all of which are
available
for free online.
Point of Inquiry can be listened
to online at http://www.pointofinquiry.org.
If you have Apple's iTunes installed on your computer, you can
subscribe to Point of Inquiry by clicking here.
Additional subscription instructions can be found here. |
| |
| | Campaign
for Free Inquiry | | As Richard Dawkins announced
during his video presentation at CFI's Student Leadership
Conference in July, Center for Inquiry is conducting a new
Campaign for Free Inquiry, which will begin hitting campuses
across North America this fall. The Campaign for Free Inquiry
aims to publicly ask hard questions about our society's most
cherished beliefs, often through multi-day events at leading
universities -- supporting the mission of the university itself.
These topics include the existence of the God, the supernatural
and paranormal, pseudo-scientific claims, and Alternative and
Complementary Medicine.
If you would like to work with
CFI to bring the Campaign for Free Inquiry to your school this
year, contact Thomas Donnelly tdonnelly@centerforinquiry.net.
|
| |
| | Volunteer Opportunities | | Center for Inquiry On Campus
is currently looking for volunteers to help with Committees on
Publications and Promotions, Membership, Public Relations,
Activism and Programs. Here's a brief description of these
volunteer committees.
Publications and Promotions
- Helps coordinate the revisions of CFI's campus organizing
guide, as well as makes recommendations (and possibly provides
volunteer support for) new Center for Inquiry On Campus
promotional materials for distribution to campuses over the
coming semesters.
Membership - Works with CFI to
further develop membership campaigns both for Center for Inquiry
On Campus and for CFI Campus Groups.
Public
Relations - Assists in developing coordinated PR campaigns,
featuring student spokespeople.
Activism - The
chair of the Committee works as liaison with CFI's new Office of
Public Policy in Washington, D.C. This Committee helps implement
grassroots activism campaigns in coordination with the new
Office of Public Policy.
Programs - This volunteer
committee works help implement the Campaign for Free Inquiry
2006-2007, with planned major events at two dozen universities
throughout the academic year.
If you would like to serve
on any of these volunteer committees, or possibly chair a
committee, please contact DJ Grothe at djgrothe@centerforinquiry.net.
|
| |
| | CFI
Hires New Campus Organizer | |  The Center for Inquiry has
expanded its staff again in August 2006, hiring Justin Trottier
as a new campus organizer. Justin has an extensive background in
secularist activism and campus organizing, having co-founded the
Toronto Secular Alliance. He has also been involved with the
Humanist Association of Toronto and helps coordinate the Secular
Freethought Centre of Toronto, ON. Justin will primarily
concentrate on suporting the Center for Inquiry's expanding
network of campus groups in Canada, in addition to other
freethought activism. CFI is proud to welcome Justin Trottier as
the newest Field Organizer in the department of campus and
community programs. |
| |
| | News of
Note | | |
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