Tilda Storey-Law's essay examines the emotional and cognitive dynamics underlying the transgender bathroom debate, particularly through the lens of J.K. Rowling's criticism of the proposed reforms to the U.K.'s Gender Recognition Act (GRA).

Read this article and find accompanying references at:

https://secularhumanism.org/2025/01/in-the-toilet-with-j-k-rowling-reason-vs-emotion-in-the-transgender-bathroom-debate/

About the Author: Tilda Storey-Law is a London-based writer and researcher. She has recently completed her master's degree at Goldsmiths, University of London. Her undergraduate degree in Liberal Arts was obtained at the University of Nottingham. Storey-Law specializes in gender, culture, the internet, and philosophy. She also has chaired several events at The Oxford Literary Festival.

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Free Inquiry Audio Edition is a production of The Council for Secular Humanism and the Center for Inquiry.

Gary L. Francione's article explores the controversy surrounding transgender rights through the lens of liberal pluralism.

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https://secularhumanism.org/2025/01/transgender-rights-a-framework-for-resolving-the-controversy/

About the Author: Gary L. Francione is Board of Governors Professor of Law and Katzenbach Scholar of Law and Philosophy Emeritus at Rutgers University in New Jersey. He is also tutor in philosophy at Oxford University (Continuing Education), visiting professor of philosophy at the University of Lincoln (U.K.), and honorary professor of philosophy at the University of East Anglia (U.K.). His latest book is Why Veganism Matters: The Moral Value of Animals.

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Free Inquiry Audio Edition is a production of The Council for Secular Humanism and the Center for Inquiry.

Free Inquiry editor Ronald Lindsay introduces a special section of Volume 45, No. 2, focusing on transgender controversies.

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https://secularhumanism.org/2025/01/introduction-to-special-section-on-transgender-controversies/

About the Author: Ronald A. Lindsay is the former president and CEO of the Center for Inquiry, recent interim general counsel for CFI, and editor of Free Inquiry magazine.

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Free Inquiry Audio Edition is a production of The Council for Secular Humanism and the Center for Inquiry.

Christo Roberts critiques the claim that Christianity played a pivotal role in abolishing slavery, particularly focusing on historical and theological contexts.

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https://secularhumanism.org/2025/01/christianitys-supposed-role-in-ending-slavery/

About the Author: Christo Roberts is a contributor to Free Inquiry magazine. Read more here https://secularhumanism.org/authors/christo-roberts/

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Free Inquiry Audio Edition is a production of The Council for Secular Humanism and the Center for Inquiry.

Russell Blackford critiques government-driven efforts to combat misinformation, warning that such laws can turn digital platforms into "ministries of truth," suppressing dissent and entrenching ideological orthodoxy. While he acknowledges the dangers of unchecked misinformation, he advocates for ethical self-regulation and informed public discourse as more democratic alternatives, albeit challenging in polarized societies.

Read this article and find accompanying references at:

https://secularhumanism.org/2024/11/our-ministries-of-truth/

About the Author: Russell Blackford is a conjoint senior lecturer in philosophy at the University of Newcastle (Australia) and a regular columnist for Free Inquiry. His latest book, The Tyranny of Opinion: Conformity and the Future of Liberalism (2019), is published by Bloomsbury Academic.

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Free Inquiry Audio Edition is a production of The Council for Secular Humanism and the Center for Inquiry.

Jennifer and Jason Reinoehl's 2023 lawsuit against their local school for teaching evolution echoed the century-old debate over science and religion from the Scopes Trial, alleging it promoted atheism and violated their parental rights. Though their case was dismissed as "futile," efforts to undermine evolution persist, with creationist legislation and advocacy testing the boundaries of science education nearly 100 years after Scopes.

Read this article and find accompanying references at:

https://secularhumanism.org/2024/11/evolution-is-still-on-trial-100-years-after-scopes/

About the Author:

Robyn E. Blumner is the CEO of the Center for Inquiry and the executive director of the Richard Dawkins Foundation for Reason and, Science. She was a nationally syndicated columnist and editorial writer for the Tampa Bay Times (formerly the St. Petersburg Times) for sixteen years.

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Free Inquiry Audio Edition is a production of The Council for Secular Humanism and the Center for Inquiry.

Gabriel Dall'Alba and Guilherme Guzzo's article delves into the ways people form, protect, and identify with their beliefs, drawing parallels between beliefs and personal possessions. Using examples like Festinger's study of the "Seekers," they illustrate how social support, personal investment, and tribal identity can entrench beliefs, making them resistant to change even when contradicted by evidence.

Read this article and find accompanying references at:

https://secularhumanism.org/2024/11/when-we-become-the-seekers/

About the Authors:

Gabriel Dall'Alba is a biologist with a master's degree in genome sciences and technology from the University of British Columbia (UBC). As a sessional lecturer at UBC, Dall'Alba aims at fostering critical thinking skills and appreciation for the nature of science through courses such as Seminars in Science (SCIE 113) and Thinking Like a Life Scientist (BIOL 180). Dall'Alba is also a founder of the Brazilian science communication project Nas Trilhas da Razão (On the Trails of Reason).

Guilherme Brambatti Guzzo is a biologist and an assistant professor of biological scienes at the Universidade de Caxias do Sul (UCS, Brazil). He is interested in the promotion of critical thinking and skepticism in science education and is the founder of the Brazilian science communication project Nas Trilhas da Razo (On the Trails of Reason)

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Free Inquiry Audio Edition is a production of The Council for Secular Humanism and the Center for Inquiry.

Thomas Ricento explores the tension between the myth of America as a Christian nation and its historical reality as a secular democracy.

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https://secularhumanism.org/2024/11/can-america-survive-as-a-secular-democracy/

About the Author: Thomas Ricento, PhD, is professor and research chair, emeritus, at the University of Calgary, Canada. He has a BA in political science (Gettysburg College) and PhD in applied linguistics (UCLA). He is the author of Refugees in Canada: On the Loss of Social and Cultural Capital (Palgrave Macmillan, 2021) among many other books and articles dealing with language ideologies and the politics of identity. He is currently writing a book on the Americanization movement of the early decades of the twentieth century. He has been a Fulbright Senior Lecturer and a visiting professor at universities in Aruba, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Germany, Spain, and Switzerland.

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Free Inquiry Audio Edition is a production of The Council for Secular Humanism and the Center for Inquiry.

About the Author: Robert F. Allen lives in the Philadelphia suburbs where he is editor, president, and chair of absolutely nothing. He writes, brews beer, reads, and plays traditional music for no reason other than to entertain himself and others—but mostly himself.

Read this article and find accompanying references at:

https://secularhumanism.org/2023/12/my-children-the-atheists/

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Free Inquiry Audio Edition is a production of The Council for Secular Humanism and the Center for Inquiry.

Free Inquiry Audio Edition is a production of Free Inquiry and the Center for Inquiry.

About the Author: Patrick Gannon is a technical blogger and a small-business owner providing enterprise-class broadband satellite services to clients all over the globe. He is an ardent blog participant in diverse forums, mostly debating religious issues, and maintains a keen interest in science.

Read this article and find accompanying references at:

https://secularhumanism.org/2024/01/no-one-pushing-quarks-around-souls-and-quantum-field-theory/

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