Free Inquiry back issues from March 2002:
Farewell fair play. (Editorial).(U.S. treatment of prisoners, military budget, Israel and Palestine)(Editorial)
Mar 22, 2002; ... Something awful seems to be happening to the traditional American sense of fair play and goodwill. The public response in support of the victims of September 11 notwithstanding, in general there seems to be a decline of empathy and altruism. Perhaps I am overreacting, but this deficiency ...
Letters.(Letter to the Editor)
Mar 22, 2002 ... Save the (Toilet) Children Peter Singer; in his piece on stem cell research ("Where the President's Ethics Lecture Went Wrong," FI, Winter 2001/02) draws the correct conclusion, but then walks away from it. He notes, correctly, that at least half of all fertilized ...
Homsap: Elixir of holiness; Stem cell cloning and religious absolutism. (OP-ED).
Mar 22, 2002; ... Embryonic stem cell research was once billed as the defining issue of the second Bush's presidency. Things have moved on with a vengeance, but the issue, though no longer defining, has not gone away If anything, Bush the victorious warlord seems likely to get an easier ride for his ...
Trading liberty for a illusions. (OP-ED).(Brief Article)
Mar 22, 2002; ... Only a fool with no sense of history would have been sanguine about the prospects for civil liberties after the September 11 attack. Whenever Americans have felt frightened or under siege they have responded by persecuting immigrants, members of suspect ethnic groups, or others guilty only ...
Are faith and safety inversely related? (OP-ED).(Brief Article)
Mar 22, 2002; ... A few days before the assault on American civil society by faith-based death squads, I was a member of a panel discussion at a conservative weekend conference. I gave it as my opinion that there was no means of deriving ethics from religion, and that a moral life was not only possible ...
Freedom and the right to die. (OP-ED).(Brief Article)
Mar 22, 2002; ... The Netherlands' isolation as the only country in which voluntary euthanasia is legal is about to end. In October 2001 the Belgian senate voted by almost 2-1 to allow doctors to act on a patient's request for assistance in dying. The legislation is expected to pass the lower house shortly ...
Ending the War on Drugs. (OP-ED).
Mar 22, 2002; ... A growing chorus of people in a position to know--judges, retired law enforcement people, politicians, journalists--say the War on Drugs is unwinnable; that despite all the money and the incarcerations and the foreign policy maneuverings we haven't succeeded in materially lessening either ...
A Baptist case for separation. (OP-ED).(church and state)(Brief Article)
Mar 22, 2002; ... When the Supreme Court ruled last term that public-school-sponsored prayer before football games was a violation of the separation of church and state, Chief Justice William Rehnquist wrote in dissent and disgust that the majority opinion "bristles with hostility to all things religious in ...
Set a place for Islam. (OP-ED).
Mar 22, 2002; ... Perhaps inadvertently, certainly unwisely, President George W. Bush initially called his campaign against Usama bin Laden and terrorism a "crusade." Given its history, that term was certain to antagonize Muslims and many others. In addition, it played into the hands of the Christian Right ....
What about the children? (OP-ED).(libertarianism and child welfare)(Brief Article)
Mar 22, 2002; ... Those who prize a free society--one wherein government concerns itself solely with protecting individual rights, keeping the peace, and fending off attacks from enemies--have one very tough problem to overcome. This is the fact that millions of people who have no business doing so keep ...
Stem Cells, Cloning, and Explornography. (OP-ED).(Brief Article)
Mar 22, 2002; ... Stem cells are undifferentiated cells capable of becoming all cell types. Separate one from its fellows and identical twins may result. When it happens spontaneously in the womb you get identical twins (or triplets, quads, or quints). These siblings are "natural clones" in every sense of ...
Reason against religious terrorism: A statement by the Russian Humanist Society. (OP-ED).(Brief Article)
Mar 22, 2002 ... The American tragedy of September 11, 2001, has revealed the roots of deep planetary contradictions that threaten the world community and indeed life itself on planet Earth. This act of unprecedented terror against thousands of innocent people ought, at last, to start humanity thinking ...
We also grieve; We also serve. (OP-ED).(atheism)(from National Public Radio's Morning Edition, December 27, 2001)(Brief Article)(Transcript)
Mar 22, 2002; ... This commentary aired on National Public Radio's Morning Edition on December 27, 2001, as "A Grieving Atheist."--EDS. I am an American, a native New Yorker, cousin of a firefighter and--an atheist. The first three pull me intimately into the circle of grief and horror that still ...
Hammers, Nails, and Afghanistan. (OP-ED).(anti-war position)
Mar 22, 2002; ... I confess. I'm one of the eleven Americans who think warfare was not the best response to the September 11 attacks. (Actually, there are probably a few million of us.) If you think it's lonely being an atheist, just try opposing this "war"! I believe the September 11 attacks, hideous as ...
Valentine violence. (Side Lines).(India)(Brief Article)
Mar 22, 2002 ... "L" is for the way lovers look at one another, as the song goes. But the Hindu nationalist party Shiv Shena of India doesn't approve of public displays of affection, and blames the Western tradition of Valentine's Day for encouraging it. In New Delhi this year, Shiv Shena members ...
Olympic image tarnished. (Side Lines).(Brief Article)
Mar 22, 2002 ... Mormons who were worried about putting a good face on their religious beliefs and practices for their Olympic visitors got no help from Utah's liquor and ski industry. Shortly before the games, advertising campaigns promoting new beers and a ski resort debuted that left devout Mormons ...
TV Spectrum sale will be windfall for Christian broadcasters. (Frontlines).(Brief Article)
Mar 22, 2002; ... Acoalition heavy on Christian broadcasters stands to earn billions selling rights to broadcast frequencies that Congress loaned them for free. The Telecommunications Act of 1996--the same law that lifted most restrictions on how many radio or television stations one firm could own--also ...
Post 9/11 Survey shows religion trend tipping other way. (Frontlines).(Brief Article)
Mar 22, 2002 ... After the terrorist attacks of September 11, the media reported a surge of interest of religion. But as the months pass and people digest the shock of the events and move on, those who measure public opinion are seeing anti-religious trends resurface. In November 2001, the Barna ...
R.I.P. Christian Coalition? (Frontlines).(Brief Article)
Mar 22, 2002 ... Pat Robertson has resigned as president of the Christian Coalition, saying that he plans to focus his energy on his religious broadcasting network. Although his successor, ...
Potty protest! (Side Lines).(Harry Potter books)(Brief Article)
Mar 22, 2002 ... According to some, best-selling author J.K. Rowling's books featuring a young wizard named Harry Potter are more than well written flights of the imagination. The books are, it is charged, encouragements to dabbling in witchcraft. In England, evangelical ...
Islam: Voices of dissent. (Introduction).(Brief Article)
Mar 22, 2002; ... In my spare time I write science fiction novels--black comedies set in a consistent future. An advanced civilization discovers "primitive" Earth (circa 2181 C.E.) and almost turns it into an anthropological preserve. Then Earth religions catch the visitors' eyes. Roman Catholicism becomes ...
Islam and Armageddon: Looking behind the myths. (Islam: Voices of Dissent).
Mar 22, 2002; ... Suddenly, everyone, or so it seems, is an expert on Islam. From presidents and prime ministers to the humblest hack, all are ready to lecture the public on what real Islam is. If this knowledge is so readily available to such unlikely mentors it seems odd that so much wrong opinion is ...
The Islamic concept of Peace: Can the West accept it? (Islam: Voices of Dissent).(Brief Article)
Mar 22, 2002; ... After much research and reflection, I have come to understand the Islamic concept of peace as something like this: Peace comes through submission, which is the meaning of the word Islam. This submission, of course, is submission to Muhammad and his concept of Allah in the Qur'an, in other ...
Islam's War against the West: can it abide a secular state? (Islam: Voices of Dissent).
Mar 22, 2002; ... In his letter inviting me to contribute to this issue of FREE INQUIRY, the editor referred to "the thesis expressed by Paul Kurtz, Ibn Warraq, and others "that the terrorist attacks on New York City and Washington, D.C., 'were profoundly religious acts'"; it went on to say that I had 'made ...
Why critical scrutiny of Islam is an utmost necessity: Can reason blunt fanaticism? (Islam: Voices of Dissent).
Mar 22, 2002; ... Islam faces unprecedented scrutiny worldwide. This is appropriate--indeed, an utmost necessity. Westerners demand to know the source of Muslim hatred towards them. After September 11, Qur'ans sold vigorously across the West to readers wondering what it contained that could incite such ...
Lessons for a small planet: "Islam, too, must change". (Islam: Voices of Dissent).
Mar 22, 2002; ... As America and the world community continue to confront terrorism, the idea that Islam itself is not to blame is a comforting mantra. In a letter to the Times of London, nine Muslim leaders wrote, "Islam condemns such abhorrent behaviour [as the September 11 attacks] and the Holy Qur'an ...
Back to the past: Poland's experiment in theocracy; Polish prelates turn back the clock.
Mar 22, 2002; ... The recent ill-conceived initiative by President George W Bush to offer financial help to "faith-based" organizations has renewed debate in the United States about the true meaning of that honored Jeffersonian principle, the separation of church and state. In Poland, on the other hand, it ...
Zod's version. (Islam: Voices of Dissent).
Mar 22, 2002; ... Zod was distraught. On his burnished throne he drooped, raiment disheveled and crown askew, as winged ministers fluttered about. No one had ever seen him like this. For an eon he had radiated empyreal serenity, unalloyed by sublunary emotions. While the ministers dispatched the affairs of ...
Scouting policy suffers first setback. (Church-State Update).(includes various church-state items)
Mar 22, 2002; ... Church-State Update tracks continuing developments in important federal, state, and local church-state issues. Each item is preceded by an up arrow # or a down arrow @ based on the story's implications for separation of church and state and the rights of the nonreligious. # Boy ...
Theodor Noldeke: Father of Qur'anic criticism. (Great Minds).(includes excerpt from Encyclopedia Britannica article on the Koran; obituary of Patrick Romanell)
Mar 22, 2002; ... Theodor Noldeke, generally recognized as the father of Western Qur'anic criticism, was born on March 2, 1836, in Harburg, Hanover, Germany. He died on December 25, 1930, in Karlsruhe, Germany. One of the greatest Semiticists of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, Noldeke was ...
Humanism and Suffering. (Faith and Reason).
Mar 22, 2002; ... In one of his more melancholy moods, the great philosopher Bertrand Russell wrote: The life of Man is a long march through the night, surrounded by invisible foes, tortured by weariness and pain, towards a goal that few can hope to reach, and where none may tarry long ....Very ...
The religionizing of supernaturalism. (Science and Religion).(Brief Article)
Mar 22, 2002; ... Although Christianity is one variety of supernaturalism, it is difficult for Christians to comprehend Christianity as such--that is, as a variety of supernaturalism--because Christianity has acquired an epistemological significance as a religion, whereas supernaturalism is viewed as ...
Science and Freedom. (Applied Ethics).
Mar 22, 2002; ... In 1998, the Ethics and Public Policy Center, a conservative think tank headed by Elliot Abrams, hosted a twoday conference in Washington, D.C., on "Neuroscience and the Human Spirit."' As psychologist Dr. Frederick Goodwin, an organizer of the conference, put it, the core question was "Do ...
Reverse logic in the philosophy of God. (God on Trial).(Brief Article)
Mar 22, 2002; ... A logical problem is usually formulated by specifying a premise statement and a relational statement, then deriving a solution from them. In arguments used to prove or disprove the existence of God this order is often reversed. The arguer assumes the existence or non-existence of God, then ...
A historical study of Religion: A new approach sheds new light.(Richard H. Schlagel, 'The Vanquished Gods: Science, Religion, and the Nature of Belief')
Mar 22, 2002; ... The Vanquished Gods: Science, Religion, and the Nature of Belief, by Richard H. Schiagel (Amherst, N.Y.: Prometheus, 2001, ISBN 1-67392-898-4) 360 pp. Cloth $36.00. In The Vanquished Gods, author Richard Schiagel takes a fresh approach to philosophy of religion, departing from ...
Religion Explained? Maybe so.(Pascal Boyer, 'Religion Explained? The Evolutionary Origins of Religious Thought')
Mar 22, 2002; ... Religion Explained? The Evolutionary Origins of Religious Thought, by Pascal Boyer (New York: Basic Books, 2001, ISBN 0-465-00695-7) 375 pp. Includes notes, references, index. Cloth $27.50. Say what you will about the dovetailed fields of evolutionary psychology and cognitive ...
Humans and Animals.(Midas Dekkers, 'Dearest Pet: On Bestiality')
Mar 22, 2002; ... Dearest Pet: On Bestiality, by Midas Dekkers, translated from the Dutch by Paul Vincent (New York: Verso, 2000, ISBN 1859843107) 208 pp. Cloth $18.00. Dearest Pet is a fascinating, lighthearted but serious romp through history and mythology. Though the subtitle indicates the ...
A Rational Tale.(Massimo Pigliucci, 'Tales of the Rational: Skeptical Essays About Nature and Science')
Mar 22, 2002; ... Tales of the Rational: Skeptical Essays About Nature and Science, by Massimo Pigliucci (Atlanta, Ga.: Freethought Press, 2000, ISBN 1-887392-11-4) 278 pp. Paper $17.00. Irrational beliefs never die. They just take new forms. Tales of the Rational: Skeptical Essays About Nature ...
The Astrological Diary of God.
Mar 22, 2002; ... The Astrological Diary of God, by Bo Fowler (New York: Bloomsbury, 2001, ISBN 1-58234-118-4) 296 pp. Paper $14.95. If Kurt Vonnegut, Jr., and the late Douglas Adams had a crack baby together, Bo Fowler might have been the result. Fowler burst on the scene in Britain in 1998 with ...
My Cosmic Pessimism.
Mar 22, 2002; ... My Cosmic Pessimism, by Luis A. Santander (Raleigh, N.C.: Pentland Press, 2000, ISBN 1.57197-211-0) 100 pp. Paper $12.95. Luis A. Santander is a native of Argentina and a physicist. My Cosmic Pessimism is his attempt to deal with his existential angst. At first, one might easily ...
Errata.
Mar 22, 2002 ... I just received the new FREE INQUIRY yesterday I, as usual, read practically all of it the day it arrived. I always enjoy it tremendously I think, though that an error was made concerning the survey you cited about Americans' religious beliefs (Frontlines, Winter 2001/02). The journalism ...