Editor: Thomas W. Flynn
Associate Editors: John R. Shook, Lauren Becker
Managing Editor: Andrea Szalanski
Columnists: Ophelia Benson, Russell Blackford, Arthur Caplan, Edd Doerr, Shadia B. Drury, Nat Hentoff, Tibor R. Machan, P Z Myers, Tom Rees, Katrina Voss
Senior Editors: Bill Cooke, Richard Dawkins, Edd Doerr, James A. Haught, Jim Herrick, Gerald A. Larue, Ronald A. Lindsay, Taslima Nasrin
Contributing Editors: Roy P. Fairfield, Charles Faulkner, Levi Fragell, Adolf Grünbaum, Marvin Kohl, Thelma Lavine, Lee Nisbet, J.J.C. Smart
Literary Editor: Austin McRae
Assistant Editors: Julia Lavarnway, Sean Lachut
Permissions Editor: Julia Lavarnway
Art Director: Christopher S. Fix
Production: Paul E. Loynes Sr.
Interim Chair: Edward Tabash
Board of Directors: R. Elisabeth Cornwell, Kendrick Frazier, Barry Kosmin, Richard K. Schroeder, Edward Tabash, Jonathan Tobert, Leonard Tramiel, Lawrence Krauss (Honorary)
Chief Executive Officer: Ronald A. Lindsay
Executive Director: Thomas W. Flynn
Director, Campus and Community Programs (CFI): Lauren Becker
Director, Secular Organizations for Sobriety: Jim Christopher
Director, African Americans for Humanism: Debbie Goddard
Director of Development (CFI): Alan Kinniburgh
Director of Libraries (CFI): Timothy Binga
Communications Director: Paul Fidalgo
Legal Director (CFI): Steven Fox
Database Manager (CFI): Jacalyn Mohr
Webmaster: Matthew Licata
Staff: Pat Beauchamp, Ed Beck, Melissa Braun, Shirley Brown, Cheryl Catania, Eric Chinchón, Matt Cravatta, Roe Giambrone, Jason Gross, Adam Isaak, Lisa Nolan, Paul Paulin, Anthony Santa Lucia, John Sullivan, Diane Tobin, Vance Vigrass
Executive Director Emerita: Jean Millholland
Free Inquiry (ISSN 0272-0701) is published bimonthly by the Council for Secular Humanism, a nonprofit educational corporation, P.O. Box 664, Amherst, NY 14226-0664. Phone (716) 636-7571. Fax (716) 636-1733. Copyright ©2011 by the Council for Secular Humanism. All rights reserved. No part of this periodical may be reproduced without permission of the publisher. Periodicals postage paid at Buffalo, N.Y., and at additional mailing offices. National distribution by Disticor. Free Inquiry is indexed in Philosophers’ Index. Printed in the United States. Opinions expressed do not necessarily reflect the views of the editors or publisher. No one speaks on behalf of the Council for Secular Humanism unless expressly stated.
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Free Inquiry publishes articles explaining the principles of secular humanism and supporting those living out its ideals. It explores the contributions of science as they increase our understanding of the world and our ability to improve it. It also examines the damage done by ignorance, intolerance, and superstition. The readership includes scholars, researchers, and lay readers with diverse backgrounds. Free Inquiry also publishes a very limited amount of poetry.
Free Inquiry considers only original articles that have not been published elsewhere, either in print or electronic form. Exceptions to this policy include book excerpts, articles previously published in foreign publications with little or no U. S. readership, or by special arrangement with the editors. Authors must not submit an article to any other publication, printed or electronic, while Free Inquiry is considering it for publication. Multiple submissions (articles submitted to several publications simultaneously) will not be considered for publication. The editors may at their discretion reject a previously-accepted manuscript if they discover that a submission has previously been published elsewhere. Please note that online publication (blog, newsgroup, Facebook, etc.) is considered previous publication under this rule.
Free Inquiry protects its authors’ privacy. We do not publish or divulge authors’ contact information for any reason. Paper or electronic communications addressed to authors in care of the magazine will be forwarded promptly.
Write clearly and simply; assume an intelligent general audience. All submissions are judged on the basis of interest, clarity, significance, relevance, authority, and topicality. Space is at a premium. There is a limit of 6,000 words for Articles and 1,600 words for Departments.
Once a manuscript is tentatively scheduled, copy-edited, and typeset, proofs are sent to the author. Corrected proofs should be returned within 5 work days. Make suggested changes only on galleys. Do not retype the submission. Keep changes minimal.
Like most magazines, Free Inquiry cannot guarantee publication of submitted articles. But we do guarantee careful consideration of each article submitted. Unless otherwise agreed, copyright will be transferred to Free Inquiry upon publication.
We maintain a journalistic rather than technical tone, so in-text notes are discouraged. Numbered in-text notes are not permitted; nor are in-text APA-style parenthetical references (Smith 1990a, 21). As a small number of in-text notes are occasionally necessary, one such reference is permitted per finished page, in every case marked with an asterisk pointing to a footnote on that typeset page. In general, authors are encouraged to insert reference information into their text in plain English ("As Smith asserted in her 1990 Title ...") . Most references should be placed at the end of the article in a list titled References, Further Reading, or Recommended Reading. Format is Author-surname, Author-given-name. Title [or, if an article, "Title"] (City: Publisher, Year). End-of-article notes may not include page numbers.
Capitalization of “secular humanism” and “humanism.” It is the policy of the Council for Secular Humanism that the life stance, or eupraxsophy, known as secular humanism is not a religion. For this reason the phrases secular humanism or secular humanist are never set in text with initial capitals (Secular Humanism), but is always set in lower case, subject only to ordinary rules for capitalization at the beginning of a sentence ( “Secular humanists maintain that …”; note that only the first word of the phrase is capitalized). This is intended to minimize the likelihood that casual readers might misconstrue a passage to imply that secular humanism is a religion.
It is also the policy of the Council for Secular Humanism that the words “humanism” or “humanist” should not be capitalized in text, so as to minimize the likelihood that humanist, even without the modifier secular, will be misconstrued by casual readers as a religious label. This is intended as a countermeasure against false claims by religious activists that humanism, with or without a modifier, is inherently religious. An exception is made in the special case when an author is referring specifically to religious humanism. For example, Humanism will be permitted in a text where a religious humanist is speaking of Humanism as his or her religion. Even in this situation, the phrase religious humanism will be set in all lower-case. Use of religious Humanist with the capital h is generally discouraged but may be permitted at the editors’ discretion, for instance when a religious humanist is writing in the first person and strongly prefers that construction ( “As a religious Humanist I hold that …”).
Submissions should include the author's mailing address, daytime phone number, and email address. Send to: Thomas Flynn, Editor, Free Inquiry, P. O. Box 664, Amherst, New York, 14226-0664. Articles should be submitted as three sets of 8-½ x 11” hardcopy with double-spaced type. In addition, the hardcopy should be accompanied by PC-readable electronic media such as a cd-rom or thumb drive. 3-½” diskettes are no longer accepted. We take no responsibility for media readable only by Apple computers. Hardcopy submissions unaccompanied by media will be considered only by advance arrangement with the editors. Text should be delivered in a word-processor file such as is produced by Microsoft Word or similar programs. Word-processor files should include text only, with any charts or graphics delivered in one or more separate spreadsheet or graphics files. Word-processor files must not include embedded or anchored text; text intended for publication as a sidebar or other supplement should be plainly marked and included in the article text. PDF files, HTML files, Microsoft Works files, Appleworks files, or files produced by Adobe InDesign, Quark Xpress, or Microsoft Publisher are not acceptable for submission.
Figures and graphs should be in high quality camera-ready form, or in any common electronic graphics format. Please do not send Adobe InDesign, Quark XPress, PageMaker, or Microsoft Publisher files for use as graphics.
Electronic photos are acceptable if in the editors’ judgment their resolution is sufficient. Hardcopy photos are also acceptable. Photos may be black and white or color.
Free Inquiry publishes selected letters to the editor which are 300 words or less and pertain to previous Free Inquiry articles. Send submissions to Andrea Szalanski, Letters Editor, Free Inquiry, P.O. Box 664, Amherst NY 14226-0664. Letters to the editor may also be emailed to freeinquiry@secularhumanism.org. Emailed letters should include the writer’s city and state of residence, and also country of residence if outside the United States. Letters intended for publication must include your name, address (including city and state), and daytime phone number for verification purposes only. Not all letters can be published; letters may be edited for clarity and content.
FREE INQUIRY publishes a limited amount of poetry in most issues. The magazine seeks unpublished original poetry that is lyrical and enlightening, and compatible with our magazine’s secular humanist focus. We consider poetry of any kind: formal to free-verse, traditional to experimental. Poems should be accessible without being pat, compelling without being preachy, and shortish rather than longish. We generally publish several poems per issue, depending on space.
Poems (no more than three per submission) should be sent hard-copy and accompanied by a PC readable CD-ROM or thumb drive. Please include a brief cover letter and mail to the following address:
Austin MacRae, Literary Editor
FREE INQUIRY
P.O. Box 664
Amherst, NY 14226-0664
Submissions may also be sent in the body of an e-mail to amacrae@centerforinquiry.net.
FREE INQUIRY reviews books relevant to atheism, humanism, secularism, the scholarly examination and criticism of religion, and related topics as space permits. Titles for review must have been published in English during the current or prior year. We review mostly nonfiction but occasionally review fiction that is relevant to our movement. With very rare exceptions we review only titles released by mainstream publishing houses and academic presses, and only titles released on paper. (Self-published titles, subsidy-press titles, and titles released solely as e-books are reviewed only if the author is a major figure in the movement and/or the work is of highly exceptional importance.) Though our readership is about 90 percent U. S.-based, we will review high quality titles published principally or exclusively for the Canadian, British, Oceania, or India markets.
That said, note that we publish six times yearly and only have space for three to seven reviews per issue!
To submit a title for review, send a physical copy or a paper proof (clearly labeled as such) to:
Andrea Szalanski, reviews editor
FREE INQUIRY
P.O. Box 664
Amherst NY 14226-0664 USA
If shipping by private carrier use this alternate address:
FREE INQUIRY
1310 Sweet Home Road
Amherst NY 14228 USA
PDF proofs are never accepted for review purposes.
FREE INQUIRY
P.O. Box 664
Amherst, NY 14226-0664
Phone: (716) 636-7571
Fax: (716) 636-1733
CFI SUMMIT
OCTOBER 24-27 2013
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Joint Conference of the Council for Secular Humanism, Center for Inquiry, and Committee for Skeptical Inquiry
The transnational secular humanist magazine
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