Center for Inquiry

History

The Center for Inquiry was established in 1991 by atheist philosopher and author Paul Kurtz.{{cite web |access-date=April 30, 2020 |archive-date=September 24, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150924171448/http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/10/22/us-religion-kurtz-idUSBRE89L19D20121022 |url-status=live |access-date=April 30, 2020

Kurtz, a humanist who founded CFI to offer a positive alternative to religion, led the organization for thirty years. In 2009, Kurtz said he was forced out of CFI after conflict with Ronald A. Lindsay, a corporate lawyer hired to become CEO in 2008.{{cite news |access-date=May 1, 2020 |archive-date=December 19, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191219182745/https://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/02/us/02beliefs.html |url-status=live

Robyn Blumner succeeded Lindsay as CEO in January 2016 when CFI announced that it was merging with the Richard Dawkins Foundation for Reason and Science.{{cite web |access-date=May 1, 2020 |archive-date=March 24, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200324000059/https://rlp.hds.harvard.edu/news/merger-creates-americas-largest-secular-humanist-organization |url-status=live |access-date=May 1, 2020 |archive-date=July 27, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200727183113/https://www.philanthropy.com/article/Union-of-Atheist-Nonprofits/235018 |url-status=live |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200727195734/https://news.wbfo.org/post/merger-creates-nations-largest-secular-organization |archive-date=2020-07-27 |access-date=April 29, 2020 |archive-date=April 23, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200423093252/https://religionnews.com/2016/01/21/royal-wedding-atheist-group-richard-dawkins-foundation-launches-woman-top-post/ |url-status=live

Committee for Skeptical Inquiry

Through the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry (CSI), and its journal, Skeptical Inquirer magazine, published by the Center for Inquiry, CSI examines evidential claims of the paranormal or supernormal, including psychics, ghosts, telepathy, clairvoyance, UFOs, and creationism. It also hosts the CSICon.

They also examine pseudoscientific claims involving vaccines, cellphones, power lines, GMOs, and alternative medicine. In the area of religion, they examine beliefs that involve testable claims, such as faith healing and creationism, but stay away from untestable religious beliefs such as the existence of God.{{ cite web |author-link=Massimo Pigliucci |access-date=May 17, 2020

The Committee for Skeptical Inquiry (CSI), then known as the Committee for the Scientific Investigation of Claims of the Paranormal (CSICOP), was, alongside magician and prominent skeptic James Randi, sued by TV celebrity Uri Geller in the 1990s after Randi told a newspaper interviewer that Geller's tricks "are the kind that used to be on the back of cereal boxes when I was a kid."{{cite web |author-link=Michael J. Ybarra |access-date=May 17, 2020 |archive-date=July 27, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200727184316/https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1991-09-13-vw-2279-story.html |url-status=live |access-date=May 17, 2020 |archive-date=August 18, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200818113003/https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/1994/12/10/psychic-cant-bend-opinion/a9f12d6b-255a-4acb-b224-30f02633e7ef/ |url-status=live

The Center for Inquiry Investigations Group

The Investigations Group (Formerly the Independent Investigations Group), a volunteer group based at CFI Los Angeles, undertakes experimental testing of fringe claims.{{cite web |access-date=September 3, 2014 |archive-date=September 4, 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140904102125/http://www.ustream.tv/channel/clairaudient-test |url-status=dead

The IIG Awards (known as "Iggies") are presented for "scientific and critical thinking in mainstream entertainment". IIG has investigated, among other things, power bracelets, psychic detectives, and a 'telepathic wonder dog'.

Religion, ethics, and society

The center promotes critical inquiry into the foundations and social effects of the world religions. Since 1983, initially through its connection with Committee for the Scientific Examination of Religion, it has focused on such issues as fundamentalism in Christianity and Islam, humanistic alternatives to religious ethics, and religious sources of political violence. It has taken part in protests against religious persecution around the world and opposes religious privilege, for example benefits for clergy in the US Tax Code. In 2014 and 2017, respectively, the CFI won two lawsuits compelling the states of Illinois and Indiana to allow weddings to be performed by officiants who are neither religious clergy nor government officials. A similar lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of marriage law in Texas was dismissed in August 2019.

CFI actively supports secular interests, such as secular state education.{{cite news |url-access=limited |access-date=2014-06-09 |archive-date=December 11, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181211172802/https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/religion/supreme-court-prayer-ruling-may-spur-new-alliances-_-resend/2014/05/08/12b93e52-d6d8-11e3-8f7d-7786660fff7c_story.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140609101016/http://acton.wickedlocal.com/article/20140509/News/140506125 |archive-date=2014-06-09 |access-date=2014-06-09}} It organizes conferences, such as Women In Secularism{{cite web |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140609110107/http://www.womeninsecularism.org/ |archive-date=2014-06-09 |access-date=2014-06-09}}{{cite web |author-link=Chris Stedman |access-date=2020-09-13 |archive-date=September 11, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200911204950/https://religionnews.com/2014/05/10/why-atheists-should-care-about-transgender-issues-a-conversation-with-kayley-whalen/ |url-status=live |author-link=Sikivu Hutchinson |access-date=2014-06-29 |archive-date=October 7, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171007202057/https://www.washingtonpost.com/posteverything/wp/2014/06/16/blacks-are-even-discriminated-against-by-atheists/ |url-status=live |access-date=September 13, 2020 |archive-date=August 3, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200803171702/https://the-orbit.net/blackskeptics/2014/03/20/moving-social-justice-conference-october-14-cfi-los-angeles/ |url-status=live

CFI also undertakes atheist education and support activities,{{cite web |author-link=Colette M. Jenkins |access-date=2020-09-13

CFI is active in advocating free speech,{{cite web |author-link=Rori Donaghy |access-date=2020-09-13 |archive-date=December 3, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201203142548/https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/saudi-arabia-attempts-silence-ngo-human-rights-council |url-status=live

Free Inquiry is published by the Center for Inquiry, in association with the Council for Secular Humanism (CSH).

Publications

The results of research and activities supported by the center and its affiliates are published and distributed to the public in seventeen separate national and international magazines, journals, and newsletters. Among them are CSH's Free Inquiry and Secular Humanist Bulletin,{{cite web |access-date = 2014-06-16 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20140615170447/http://www.secularhumanism.org/index.php/articles/category/shb |archive-date = 2014-06-15 |url-status = dead

In June 2020, CFI announced the "newly launched CFI online publication", Pensar, "the Spanish language magazine for science, reason, and freethought." It is published by Alejandro Borgo, director of CFI Argentina.

CFI has produced the weekly radio show and podcast, Point of Inquiry, since 2005. Episodes are available free for download from iTunes. Its current hosts, , are Leighann Lord and James Underdown. Notable guests have included Steven Pinker, Neil deGrasse Tyson and Richard Dawkins.

Projects and programs

Secular Rescue

The Center for Inquiry has an emergency fund called Secular Rescue, formerly known as the Freethought Emergency Fund. Between 2015 and 2018, Secular Rescue helped thirty individuals fleeing anti-secular regimes gain asylum.

Office of Public Policy

The Office of Public Policy (OPP) is the Washington, D.C., political arm of the Center for Inquiry. The OPP's mandate is to lobby Congress and the Administration on issues related to science and secularism. This includes defending the separation of church and state, promoting science and reason as the basis of public policy, and advancing secular values.

The OPP publishes position statements on its subjects of interest. Examples have included acupuncture, climate change, contraception and intelligent design. The Office is an active participant in legal matters, providing experts for Congress testimony and amicus briefs in Supreme Court cases.{{cite web |access-date=February 6, 2014 |archive-date=February 3, 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140203034901/http://www.centerforinquiry.net/newsroom/cfi_tells_supreme_court_hobby_lobby/ |url-status=live

https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/religion/why-repealing-blasphemy-laws-might-help-promote-religious-freedom-analysis/2015/09/29/80125a9e-66e0-11e5-bdb6-6861f4521205_story.html

https://books.google.com/books?id=w8e5-URInCUC&pg=PA167&lpg=PA167

--Guy Macon 14 May 2020

--

"Science and the Public" Master of Education program

In partnership with the Graduate School of Education at the State University of New York at Buffalo, CFI offers an accredited Master of Education program in Science and the Public, available entirely online. Aimed at students preparing for careers in research, science education, public policy, science journalism, or further study in sociology, history, and philosophy of science, science communication, education, or public administration, the program explores the methods and outlook of science as they intersect with public culture, scientific literacy, and public policy.

Quackwatch

In February 2020, Quackwatch, founded by Stephen Barrett, became part of CFI, which announced it plans to maintain its various websites and to receive Barrett's library later in the year.

ScienceSaves

ScienceSaves is a nationwide pro-science campaign to generate an appreciation for the role of science. National Science Appreciation Day started in 2022 and is part of the ScienceSaves initiative and happens annually on March 26. In 2022, CFI got proclamations declaring March 26 as National Science Appreciation Day from more than a dozen states.

Teacher Institute for Evolutionary Science

Main article: Teacher Institute for Evolutionary Science

This program provides teachers with tools to teach evolution.

Richard Dawkins Award

Main article: Richard Dawkins Award

The Richard Dawkins Award is an annual award that was presented by the Atheist Alliance of America up until July 2019, when it moved to the Center for Inquiry (CFI). According to the CFI press release, "The recipient will be a distinguished individual from the worlds of science, scholarship, education or entertainment, who publicly proclaims the values of secularism and rationalism, upholding scientific truth wherever it may lead". The award has been presented since 2003, and is named after Richard Dawkins, an English evolutionary biologist who was named the world's top thinker in a 2013 reader's poll of Prospect magazine.

Past projects and programs

The following projects and programs are no longer active.

Camp Inquiry

The Center for Inquiry organized an annual summer camp for children called Camp Inquiry, focusing on scientific literacy, critical thinking, naturalism, the arts, humanities, and humanist ethical development. Camp Inquiry has been described as "a summer camp for kids with questions" where spooky stories were followed by "reverse engineering sessions" as the participants were encouraged to determine the cause of an apparently supernatural experience. Camp Inquiry has been criticised as "Jesus Camp in reverse"; its organisers countered that the camp is not exclusive to atheist children and that campers are encouraged to draw their own conclusions based on empirical and critical thinking.

CFI Institute

The Center for Inquiry Institute offered undergraduate level online courses, seminars, and workshops in critical thinking and the scientific outlook and its implications for religion, human values, and the borderlands of science. In addition to transferable undergraduate credit through the University at Buffalo system, CFI offered a thirty-credit-hour Certificate of Proficiency in Critical Inquiry. The three-year curriculum plan offered summer sessions at the main campus at the University at Buffalo in Amherst.

Medicine and health

The Commission for Scientific Medicine and Mental Health (CSMMH) stimulated critical scientific scrutiny of New Age medicine and the schools of psychotherapy. It supported naturalistic addiction recovery practices through Secular Organizations for Sobriety. CFI challenges the claims of alternative medicine{{cite news |access-date=2014-06-09}} and advocates a scientific basis for healthcare.{{cite web|url=http://www.centerforinquiry.net/news/cfi_and_csi_petition_fda_to_take_action_on_homeopathic_drugs |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110925001948/http://www.centerforinquiry.net/news/cfi_and_csi_petition_fda_to_take_action_on_homeopathic_drugs |archive-date=2011-09-25 |title=CFI and CSI Petition FDA to Take Action on Homeopathic Drugs |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131112175428/http://www.srmhp.org/0401/media-watch.html |archive-date=2013-11-12 |url-status=dead

Naturalism Research Project

CFI also ran the Naturalism Research Project, a major effort to develop the theoretical and practical applications of philosophical naturalism. As part of this project, CFI's libraries, research facilities, and conference areas were available to scientists and scholars to advance the understanding of science's methodologies and conclusions about naturalism.{{cite web |access-date=2014-03-01 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120401082720/http://www.centerforinquiry.net/research/ |archive-date=2012-04-01 |url-status=dead

Activities of the Naturalism Research Project included lectures and seminars by visiting fellows and scholars; academic conferences; and support CFI publications of important research. Among the central issues of naturalism include the exploration of varieties of naturalism; problems in philosophy of science; the methodologies of scientific inquiry; naturalism and humanism; naturalistic ethics; planetary ethics; and naturalism and the biosciences. | archive-url =https://web.archive.org/web/20140416183200/http://business.highbeam.com/5799/article-1G1-159963517/center-inquiry-launches-naturalism-research-project | url-status =dead | archive-date =2014-04-16

Organization and locations

CFI is a nonprofit body registered as a charity in the United States. It has 17 locations in the U.S., and has 16 international branches or affiliated organizations. The organization has Centers For Inquiry in Amherst, New York (its headquarters), Los Angeles, New York City, Tampa Bay, Washington, D.C., Indiana, Austin, Chicago, San Francisco and Michigan.{{cite web|url=http://www.centerforinquiry.net/about/branches |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140615141407/http://www.centerforinquiry.net/about/branches |archive-date=2014-06-15

International activities

CFI has branches, representation or affiliated organizations in countries around the world. It organizes its international activities under the banner Center For Inquiry Transnational. In addition, CFI holds consultative status to the United Nations as an NGO under the UN Economic and Social Council.{{cite web |access-date=2014-06-16 |archive-date=July 23, 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140723141216/http://www.centerforinquiry.net/unitednations/ |url-status=live

University exchange programs

International programs exist in Germany (Rossdorf), France (Nice), Spain (Bilbao), Poland (Warsaw), Nigeria (Ibadan), Uganda (Kampala), Kenya (Nairobi), Nepal (Kathmandu), India (Pune and Hyderabad), Egypt (Cairo), China (Beijing), New Zealand (Auckland), Peru (Lima), Argentina (Buenos Aires), Senegal (Dakar), Zambia (Lusaka), and Bangladesh (Dhaka).{{cite web |access-date=2014-06-25 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131018182553/http://www.centerforinquiry.net/oncampus/groups/index/ |archive-date=2013-10-18 |url-status=dead

Centre for Inquiry Canada

Main article: Centre for Inquiry Canada

CFI Canada (CFIC) is the Canadian branch of CFI Transnational, headquartered in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Justin Trottier served as National Executive Director from 2007 to 2011. Originally established and supported in part by CFI Transnational, CFI Canada has become an independent Canadian national organization with several provincial branches. CFI Canada has branches in Halifax, Montreal, Ottawa, Toronto, Saskatoon, Calgary, Okanagan (Kelowna), and Vancouver.

Affiliate organizations

List of affiliates

Organizations affiliated with the Center for Inquiry include:

• Centre for Inquiry Canada
• Centre for Inquiry UK
• Institute for the Secularisation of Islamic Society (see below)
• Committee for Skeptical Inquiry (CSI)
• Committee for the Scientific Examination of Religion (CSER)
• Commission for Scientific Medicine and Mental Health Practice (CSMMH)
• International Academy of Humanism
• Richard Dawkins Foundation for Reason and Science

Institute for the Secularisation of Islamic Society

The Institute for the Secularisation of Islamic Society (ISIS) is an organization of writers that promotes the ideas of secularism, democracy and human rights within Islamic society. Founded in 1998 by former Muslims, the best known being Ibn Warraq, the group aims to combat theologically driven fanaticism, violence and terrorism. The organization subscribes to the rule of secular law, freedom of speech and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. It does not promote any belief system or religious dogma.

In the media

CFI participates in media debates on science, health,{{cite web |access-date=2014-06-29 |archive-date=March 2, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210302124537/https://thehill.com/policy/healthcare/209611-dr-oz-gets-tough-treatment-on-weight-loss-claims |url-status=live |access-date=2014-06-29 |archive-date=September 4, 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140904170808/http://www.centerforinquiry.net/news/safe_and_secular/ |url-status=live |access-date=2014-06-29 |archive-date=September 4, 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140904014319/http://thinkprogress.org/health/2014/06/05/3445016/secular-health-care/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140806184508/http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2014/07/24/new-charges-for-burzynski/13111483/ |archive-date=2014-08-06 |url-status=dead

CFI campaigns for a secular society, for example in opposing the addition of prayer text on public property.{{cite news |access-date=2014-06-29 |archive-date=September 24, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150924135836/http://www.deseretnews.com/article/865604661/Senate-approves-prayer-plaque-for-World-War-II-monument.html?pg=all |url-status=dead |access-date=2014-06-29 |archive-date=September 10, 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140910230610/http://gadgets.ndtv.com/social-networking/news/coalition-of-us-based-firms-urges-pakistan-to-end-social-media-censorship-540206 |url-status=live

On November 14, 2006, the CFI opened its Office of Public Policy in Washington, DC, and issued a declaration "In Defense of Science and Secularism", which calls for public policy to be based on science rather than faith. The next day The Washington Post ran an article about it entitled "Think Tank Will Promote Thinking".

In 2011, video expert James Underdown of IIG and CFI Los Angeles did an experiment for "Miracle Detective" Oprah Winfrey Network which replicated exactly the angelic apparition that people claim cured a 14-year-old severely disabled child at Presbyterian Hemby Children's Hospital in Charlotte, North Carolina. The "angel" was sunlight from a hidden window, and the girl remained handicapped.

Consumer fraud lawsuits against CVS and Walmart

In July 2018, CFI filed suit against CVS in the District of Columbia for consumer fraud over its sale and marketing of ineffective homeopathic medicine. The lawsuit in part accused the CVS of deceiving consumers through its misrepresentation of homeopathy's safety and effectiveness, wasting customers' money and putting their health at risk. Nicholas Little, CFI's Vice President and General Counsel said, "CVS is taking cynical advantage of their customers' confusion and trust in the CVS brand, and putting their health at risk to make a profit and they can't claim ignorance. If the people in charge of the country's largest pharmacy don't know that homeopathy is bunk, they should be kept as far away from the American healthcare system as possible." In May 2019, CFI announced that they have filed a similar suit against Walmart for their range of homeopathic products. In July 2019, CFI announced that the Stiefel Freethought Foundation was contributing an additional $150,000 to the previously committed $100,000 to support the two lawsuits. In 2020 both cases were dismissed. In September 2022 the District of Columbia's Court of Appeals revived the lawsuits.

Lack of racial diversity on its board of directors

In 2016, the atheist Sikivu Hutchinson criticized the merger of the secular organizations Center for Inquiry and the Richard Dawkins Foundation for Reason and Science, which gave Richard Dawkins a seat on the board of directors of the Center for Inquiry. Her criticism was that both organizations had all white boards of directors.

Wyndgate Country Club and Richard Dawkins, 2011

During Richard Dawkins' October 2011 book tour, Center for Inquiry – the tour's sponsor – signed a contract with Wyndgate Country Club in Rochester Hills, Michigan, as the venue site. After seeing an interview with Dawkins on The O'Reilly Factor, an official at the club cancelled Dawkins' appearance. Dawkins said that the country club official accepted Bill O'Reilly's "twisted" interpretation of his book The Magic of Reality without having read it personally.{{cite web |access-date=2011-10-15 |archive-date=December 19, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151219065235/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cBU8nS9OFDY |url-status=live |access-date=2011-10-15 |archive-date=October 14, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111014184110/http://www.freep.com/article/20111012/NEWS05/110120357/Atheist-Richard-Dawkins-snubbed-by-Detroit-area-country-club-?odyssey=tab%7Ctopnews%7Ctext%7CFRONTPAGE |url-status=live |access-date = 2011-10-15 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20140416183900/http://www.myfoxdetroit.com/story/18450960/rochester-hills-country-club-cancels-richard-dawkins-appearance |archive-date = 2014-04-16 |url-status = dead

CSH actions against faith-based initiatives

In 2007, CSH sued the Florida Department of Corrections (DOC) to block the use of state funds in contracts to faith-based programs for released inmates, claiming that this use is prohibited under the "No Aid" provision or Blaine amendment of the Florida constitution. The initial decision found in favor of the DOC but, on appeal, the case was remanded in 2010 on just the issue of the unconstitutionality of appropriating state funds for this purpose.

While this case was in progress, after the appellate finding, Republican legislators began an effort to amend the Florida constitution to remove the language of the Blaine amendment, succeeding in 2011 to place the measure on the 2012 ballot as amendment 8. The ballot measure failed.{{cite web |access-date= May 16, 2016 |archive-date= October 31, 2015 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20151031061509/http://ballotpedia.org/Florida_Religious_Freedom,Amendment_8(2012) |url-status= live

In 2015, CHS (now CFI) and the state (along with its co-defendants) both filed for summary judgement. The court granted the state's motion in January, 2016, allowing the contested contracting practice to continue. After consideration, CFI announced in February, 2016, that it would not appeal.{{cite web |access-date= May 16, 2016 |archive-date= June 10, 2016 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20160610202635/http://www.centerforinquiry.net/news/center_for_inquiry_will_not_appeal_adverse_decision_in_florida_lawsuit/ |url-status= live

Heckled at the UN

CFI representative Josephine Macintosh was repeatedly interrupted and heckled by the delegation from Saudi Arabia whilst presenting the center's position on censorship at the UN Human Rights Council. CFI advocated free speech, and opposed the punishment by Saudi authorities of Raif Badawi for running an Internet forum, whom they accused of atheism and liberalism. CFI's statement was supported by the American, Canadian, Irish, and French delegates.

Blasphemy Day

Main article: Blasphemy Day

Blasphemy Rights Day International encourages individuals and groups to openly express their criticism of or outright contempt for religion. It was founded in 2009 by the Center for Inquiry. A student contacted the Center for Inquiry in Amherst, New York, to present the idea, which CFI then supported. Ronald Lindsay, president and CEO of the Center for Inquiry, said regarding Blasphemy Day, "We think religious beliefs should be subject to examination and criticism just as political beliefs are, but we have a taboo on religion", in an interview with CNN. It takes place every September 30 to coincide with the anniversary of the publications of the controversial Jyllands-Posten Muhammad cartoons.

Blasphemy Day and CFI's related Blasphemy Contests started (in CFI's own words) "a firestorm of controversy". The use of confrontational free speech has been a topic of debate within the Humanist movement and cited as an example of a wider move towards New Atheism and away from the more conciliatory approach historically associated with Humanism.

References

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62. Mazzei, Patricia. (April 27, 2011). "Blaine amendment repeal passes Florida house". [[Tampa Bay Times]].
63. (January 20, 2016). "CFI v Jones (2016)". Fl 2nd District Court.
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65. (June 23, 2014). "Saudi Arabia Tries to Silence Center for Inquiry at UN Human Rights Council – 6/23/14".
66. (2009-09-29). "Penn Jillette Celebrates Blasphemy Day in 'Penn Says'". Center for Inquiry.
67. Basu, Moni. (September 30, 2009). "Taking aim at God on 'Blasphemy Day'". CNN.com.
68. (2009-11-16). "CFI Announces Blasphemy Contest Winners". Center for Inquiry.
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70. Bradley Haggerty, Barbara. (2009-10-19). "A Bitter Rift Divides Atheists". NPR.
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