Paul Kurtz is founder and chair of the Center for Inquiry and a number of other organizations. A Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, he is Professor Emeritus of Philosophy at the State University of New York at Buffalo, chairman of the Committee for the Scientific Investigation of Claims of the Paranormal (CSICOP), the Council for Secular Humanism, and Prometheus Books. He is editor-in-chief of Free Inquiry. He is the author or editor of over forty five books, including the recent Science and Religion: Are They Compatible. Throughout the last almost 40 years, Paul has been a leading defender of science and reason against the prevailing cults of irrationality in our society. He has been interviewed widely in the media on subjects ranging from alternative medicine and communication with the dead, to the historicity of Jesus.

In this discussion with D. J. Grothe, Kurtz talks about the what he calls "creedal fascism," the connection between religion and violence, why it is so vital for humanity's future to critically examine religion, and also recounts his first published fears about Islamic extremism leading to world-wide violence over ten years ago in Free Inquiry.

Also in this episode, David Koepsell, executive director of the Council for Secular Humanism, shares "An Open Letter to Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld."