 It’s a rare person indeed who can trick and amaze people on one hand while reassuring them that what they are experiencing is not real. Meet Banacek. He’s not only an illusionist, magician, mentalist extraordinaire, he’s a skeptic’s skeptic who for decades has been instrumental in exposing fraud and deception.   In this episode of Point of Inquiry, Jim talks to Banacek about his life as a performer, investigator, and man on a mission. Banchek talks about what led him into magic and mentalism, his relationship with James Randi, his new show at the Stratosphere, and more.   For more information about Banacek, or to get tickets to his mentalism show at the Stratosphere in Las Vegas, visit Banacek.com    This Week’s Music    “Bon Journée” by Chad Crouch / CC BY-NC 3.0 “Idle Ways” by Blue Dot Sessions / CC BY-NC 4.0 

Banachek - From the Inside of Being a Mentalist

Point of Inquiry is the Center for Inquiry's flagship podcast, where the brightest minds of our time sound off on all the things you're not supposed to talk about at the dinner table: science, religion, and politics.

Guests have included Brian Greene, Susan Jacoby, Richard Dawkins, Ann Druyan, Neil deGrasse Tyson, Eugenie Scott, Adam Savage, Bill Nye, and Francis Collins.

Point of Inquiry is produced at the Center for Inquiry in Amherst, N.Y.

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There Are Definitely Atheists in Fox Holes

Almost 30 percent of the U.S. population is religiously unaffiliated, but only a fraction of those so-called "Nones" identify as atheist or agnostic. Fewer still feel comfortable revealing to the people in their lives that they don't believe in God. Kate Cohen was one of those people. Though she had determined that God was a human-made fiction from a young age, the challenges of navigating social pressures and familial expectations led her to "play along" with God and religion well into adulthood. But then she had children of her own, and something changed. She decided to stop pretending to believe. On this episode, Free Inquiry Editor Paul Fidalgo talks to Cohen about her new book, We of Little Faith: Why I Stopped Pretending to Believe (And Maybe You Should Too). It's the story of her evolution from closeted atheist to truth-teller that illustrates the rewards of honesty, as well as a call to action for fellow nonbelievers to embrace the truth, both for their own sake and the country’s. Kate Cohen is a columnist for the Washington Post, and a chapter from her new book is excerpted in the February/March 2024 issue of Free Inquiry magazine.   

Kate Cohen on Atheism and the Rewards of Honesty

Members of Gen X and older grew up in an America in which being religious was the default and atheism was, as best, on the fringes. A lot has changed in the last couple of decades, and for many Millennials and members of Gen Z, being nonreligious is really no big deal. Folks in younger generations are accustomed to living among people of various religious and ethnic backgrounds, and as the percentage of Nones (the religiously unaffiliated) has risen, relatively few young Americans feel the need to explicitly identify as a nonbeliever. So what does that mean for atheism and building a secular humanist community?   Sarah An Myers is a regular contributor to Free Inquiry magazine, as well as Psychology Today and other publications. She has been giving a lot of thought to these questions, and in this conversation with Free Inquiry editor Paul Fidalgo, she discusses what secular humanism might be able to offer those who don't jibe with traditional religion but are tolerant and curious about other forms of spirituality. Can a community of the rational embrace a little irrationality?   You can read Sarah An Myers’ work at Free Inquiry here. 

Sarah An Myers on Secularism and the Millennial Mind

 In 2019, Academy Award-nominated documentary filmmaker Scott Kennedy was working on a film about the years-long anti-vaxxer movement. Filming with top public health officials–including Tony Fauci–as well as rare interviews with anti-vaccine activists who were persuading parents by the millions to refuse vaccines for their children.  And then COVID hit, and further fueled immunization fears that would kill countless people. Scott chronicled the subsequent events from day one in his film, Shot in the Arm, released in late 2023.   Jim's conversation with Scott about his film, his process, and his other work is testimony to the fact that there are still documentarians out there with integrity, and use their skills to bring out the truth.  Visit the documentary's website for more information. 

Vaccine Hesitancy With Filmmaker Scott Kennedy

To The Temple of Tranquility, and Step on It

Point of Inquiry

Banachek - From the Inside of Being a Mentalist

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