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New Survey Results: PROFILES OF THE GODLESS Celebrating Reason and Humanity August/September 2009 Vol. 29 No. 5 THE THICS OF E COVER NEUROCHEMICAL ENHANCEMENT James J. Hughes Mark Walker Ronald A. Lindsay David Koepsell VISIONS AND THE PAUL KURTZ ORIGINS WENDY KAMINER OF OF CHRISTIANITY NAT HENTOFF Mary80% 1.5 K. BWR MatossianPD A/S 08 SHADIA B. DRURY 09 JAMES A. HAUGHT 7725274 74957 Published by the Council for Secular Humanism We are committed to the application of reason and it for future generations, and to avoid inflicting need- science to the understanding of the universe and to the less solving suffering on other species. of human problems. We believe in enjoying life here and now and in We deplore efforts to denigrate human intelligence, developing our creative talents to their fullest. to seek to explain the world in supernatural terms, We believe in the cultivation of moral excellence. and to look outside nature for salvation. We respect the right to privacy. Mature adults should We believe that scientific discovery and technology be allowed to fulfill their aspirations, to express their can contribute to the betterment of human life. sexual We believe in an open and pluralistic society and that preferences, to exercise reproductive freedom, to have democracy is the best guarantee of protecting human access to comprehensive and informed health-care, rights from authoritarian elites and repressive majori- and to die with dignity. ties. We believe in the common moral decencies: altruism, We are committed to the principle of the integrity, honesty, truthfulness, responsibility. Humanist separation of church and state. ethics is amenable to critical, rational guidance. There are normative standards that we discover together. We cultivate the arts of negotiation and compromise Moral principles are as a means of resolving differences and achieving tested by their consequences. mutual understanding. We are deeply concerned with the moral education with securing justice and fairness We are concerned of our children. We want to nourish reason and com- in society and with eliminating discrimination passion. and intolerance. We are engaged by the arts no less than by the sci- We believe in supporting the disadvantaged and the ences. handicapped so that they will be able to help them- selves. We are citizens of the universe and are excited by discoveries still to be made in the cosmos. We attempt to transcend divisive parochial loyalties based We are skeptical of untested claims to knowledge, on race, religion, gender, nationality, creed, class, sexual and we are open to novel ideas and seek new orientation, or ethnicity and strive to work together for departures in our thinking. the common good of humanity. We affirm humanism as a realistic alternative to We want to protect and enhance the earth, to pre- theologies of despair and ideologies of violence and as serve a source of rich per sonal significance and genuine satis- For a parchment copy of this page, suitable for framing, please send $4.95 to FREE INQUIRY, P.O. Box 664, Amherst, New York 14226-0664 Editorials Features 4 The Future of Secular Humanism in America August/September 2009 Vol. 29, No. 4 Plus: ISSN 0272-0701 Does the Universe The Ethics of Have Meaning? Neurochemical Enhancement Paul Kurtz 26 Designer Moods: The Ethics of Neurochemical Op-Ed Enhancement 14 Two Cheers for David Koepsell Same-Sex Marriage 28 Social Pressures Tom Flynn for Technological Mood Management 16 The Holocaust, James J. Hughes Rwanda—Never, Ever Again! 33 The Case for Nat Hentoff Happy-People Pills Mark Alan Walker 18 Torture at the Polls Wendy Kaminer 37 The Uncharted Moral 20 A French Revelation, Landscape of Designer Personalities or The Burning Bush Ronald A. Lindsay James A. Haught 21 Without Free Will 41 Profiles of the Godless Tibor Machan Results from a Survey of the Nonreligious 22 Against Grand Luke W. Galen Narratives, Part 2 Shadia B. Drury 46 Visions and the Origins of Christianity 24 Thank You, Mary K. Matossian Science Fiction Katrina Voss Reviews Departments 58 Living Without God: New Directions 63 God Is Back: How the Global 9 Letters for Atheists, Agnostics, Secularists, Revival of Faith Is Changing the and the Undecided World 13 Leading Questions by John Micklethwait Living Well without by Ronald Aronson and Adrian Wooldridge God: A Conversation with Jeff Noonan Matt Marshall Eric Maisel 60 Quantum Gods 64 Helix 52 Church-State Update by Victor J. Stenger by Eric Brown Edd Doerr Stuart Jordan Tom Flynn 54 Living Without Religion 65 The Other Preacher in 61 Worst Instincts: Cowardice, Conformity, Atheist Bus Ads Turn Lynchburg: My Life Across and the ACLU Heads in Canada and Town from Jerry Falwell by Wendy Kaminer Worldwide by John Killinger Justin Trottier Tom Flynn Edd Doerr 62 Pessimism to Realistic Hope: 56 Faith and Reason 65 Holy Hullabaloos: A Road Trip A Cognitive-Behavioral Treatment Sublime Naturalism to the Battlegrounds of the Lawrence Rifkin Program for Depression and Self- Esteem Church-State Wars by Jay Wexler Poem by Tony Picchioni Edd Doerr By J.D. Schraffenberger Mary Ann Barnhart 53 In the Beginning 62 Write These Laws on Your Children: Inside the World of Conservative Christian Homeschooling by Robert Kunzman Edd Doerr FI Editorial Staff Editor in Chief EDITORIALS Paul Kurtz Editor PAUL KURTZ Thomas W. Flynn Associate Editors Norm R. Allen Jr., Nathan Bupp, D.J. Grothe, John R. Shook Managing Editor Andrea Szalanski Columnists Arthur Caplan, Richard Dawkins, Shadia B. Drury, Nat Hentoff, Christopher Hitchens, Wendy Kaminer, Tibor R. Machan, Peter Singer, Katrina Voss Senior Editors Bill Cooke, Richard Dawkins, Martin Gardner, James A. Haught, Jim Herrick, Gerald A. Larue, Ronald A. Lindsay, Taslima Nasrin Contributing Editors Jo Ann Boydston, Roy P. Fairfield, Charles Faulkner, Levi Fragell, Adolf Grünbaum, Marvin Kohl, Thelma Lavine, Lee Nisbet, J.J.C. Smart, The Future of Secular Svetozar Stojanovi´c, Thomas Szasz Ethics Editor Elliot D. Cohen Humanism in America Literary Editor David Park Musella Assistant Editors Donna Danford, Julia Lavarnway ext year will be the thirtieth anniversary of the founding Permissions Editor of the Council for Secular Humanism and the launching Julia Lavarnway of FREE INQUIRY magazine. At that time, secular human- Art Director ism was the bête-noire of the Religious Right. We were Christopher S. Fix Naccused of dominating American life—the courts, public education, Production Paul E. Loynes Sr. the universities, foundations, and the media. Our accusers claimed that secular humanism was a “religion” and that it was being taught in the schools and colleges, hence violating the First Amendment. I Council for Secular Humanism myself came under heavy attack from Tim LaHaye and other funda- Chair Emeritus mentalist preachers such as Jerry Falwell and Pat Robertson. What Paul Kurtz patent nonsense! I insisted that we were secular, not religious. The Chair battle against secularism came to a head with the election of Ronald Richard K. Schroeder Board of Directors Reagan to office, and the attacks continued unremittingly. Kendrick Frazier, David Henehan, Dan Kelleher, Jonathan Kurtz, Paul Kurtz, Edward Tabash Emeriti: Jan Loeb Eisler, Joseph Levee, Lee Nisbet Executive Director Thomas W. Flynn “I recount the history of our movement Director, Campus and Community Programs (CFI) because . new readers . may not know D.J. Grothe what an uphill battle it has been to build Director, African Americans for Humanism these institutions.” Norm R. Allen Jr. Vice President of Planning and Development (CFI) Sherry Rook Vice President of Communications (CFI) Nathan Bupp Assistant Communications Director (CFI) Our first decade and a half was devoted to responding to these Henry Huber intemperate charges, and FREE INQUIRY devoted many issues to Director of Libraries (CFI) Timothy Binga examining the claim that America was a Christian or Judeo- Database Manager (CFI) Christian nation with its ideals rooted in the Bible. We insisted that Jacalyn Mohr we were secular humanists to distinguish us from the avowedly Staff religious humanists, although some of my best friends are religious Pat Beauchamp, Lauren Becker, Cheryl Catania, humanists, and surely none are dangerous to America! Eric Chinchón, Thomas Donnelly, Aek Eisenhauer, Roe Giambrone, Debbie Goddard, Leah Gordon, Whitney Kemp, Sandra Kujawa, Sandy Lesniak, We pointed out that it was the Enlightenment that inspired so Corey Neil, Lisa Nolan, Paul Paulin, Anthony Santa Lucia, Dan Riley, John Sullivan, Vance Vigrass Paul Kurtz is chair emeritus of the Center for Inquiry, the Executive Director Emeritus Council for Secu lar Humanism, and the Com mittee for Jean Millholland Skeptical Inquiry. He is the editor in chief of FREE INQUIRY. free inquiry http://www.secularhumanism.org 4 many of the Founding Fathers (Jefferson, Madison, Franklin), of the Council for Secular Humanism, CSI, and the Center for and we defended the civic virtues of democracy: tolerance, the Inquiry, a position that I held since our founding. right to dissent, the need for the negotiation of differences, Accordingly, I wish to point out the direct relevance of and the importance of using reason and science to solve our secular humanism today. This is especially the case with the problems. emergence of the so-called new atheism, based upon well- Over the years, FREE INQUIRY evolved into a movement as known authors, many whom contribute to FREE INQUIRY. The we began to establish at first secular humanist groups, and new atheists have had a significant impact, for they brought then in cooperation with the Skeptical Inquirer, published by CSICOP (now the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry), we launched in 1991 the Center for Inquiry and began to establish Centers and Com munities in North America and worldwide. “The core value of secular humanism is By then we had expanded our agenda and declared our com- mitment to science, reason, and free inquiry in every area of the realization and enhancement of human interest, particularly secularism and humanist ethics.