The Truth That Fictions Tell: In Defense of Blasphemous Literature Editor’s note: This is the third article in a limited series. The first appeared in the August/September 2022 issue. In the past two issues, we demonstrated how fiction has a unique, subversive ability to open minds and engender empathy for heterodox points of view, directly […]
An Angelicdevlish Fall Nicole Scott Free Inquiry Read More »
After the fall of Afghanistan, a former religious extremist struggles for freedom and hope. In 1995, the year of my birth, Kabul was the main battlefield of Afghanistan’s civil war. The Mujahideen and other groups had been fighting with each other since the collapse of the communist government under President Mohammad Najibullah. The Taliban
Through the Gates of Torkham Nicole Scott Free Inquiry Read More »
Confessions of a Recovering Conspiracy Theorist I was deep in the rabbit hole. For years, I was a true believer in conspiracy theories1 and alternative facts. I could offer several examples of wild claims that caught my attention at various formative moments, but the truth is that I was always intensely interested in conspiracy theories. I
A Light at the End of the Rabbit Hole Nicole Scott Free Inquiry Read More »
Will the cowardly attack on Salman Rushdie help those in the West understand the stakes for free expression? Salman Rushdie, 2014. Credit: Ed Lederman / PEN American Center I first heard news of writer Salman Rushdie’s attack in a cryptic text message sent to me by a close friend. My heart sank like a stone,
Rushdie’s Long War Nicole Scott Free Inquiry Read More »
M Aman Ullah fights for the victims of blasphemy persecutions in Pakistan. It has cost him. Self-portrait by M Aman Ullah. I was putting out calls to secular and human rights activists in 2017, when I received a curious message on Facebook from a man who introduced himself as M Aman Ullah. This was not
Defender of Dissidents Nicole Scott Free Inquiry Read More »
Read More News | Center for Inquiry On Thursday, December 1, Oklahoma Attorney General John O’Connor issued an opinion that clears the way for public funding of charter schools operated by religious entities. The Center for Inquiry (CFI) condemns this new opinion, which summarily upends existing state law prohibiting charter school programs from being “affiliated
Read More Military Religious Freedom Foundation November 30, 2022 With the regularity of the calendar & the clock, MRFF’s assistance this holiday season has once again been requested by clients seeking to perform their duties without the overbearing and unconstitutional imprimatur of fundamentalist Christian religious preference and superiority with the U.S. Military. This situation created
I remember the day I realized I was going to die. I mean, intellectually, I’d known it for a long time. Other people died, for instance. Not anybody in my immediate family, but I’d been to funerals. I’d lost pets. I went to one dual funeral for a high school buddy’s aunt and uncle. The
Hello, Mr. Death Nicole Scott Free Inquiry Read More »
If we are to believe Lewis Carroll, Humpty Dumpty employed “rather a scornful tone” when he told Alice, “When I use a word, it means just what I choose it to mean—neither more nor less.” Due respect to Mr. Dumpty, but usage, not fiat, defines words. The facts of linguistic life are that new words
Bumfuzzled Nicole Scott Free Inquiry Read More »
In February 2015, I had only been working for the Center for Inquiry (CFI), home of Free Inquiry, for about a month when activist and writer Avijit Roy was murdered by machete-wielding assailants in Dhaka, Bangladesh. Bonya Ahmed, his wife and a fellow writer, was also badly injured during the attack. This was my introduction
A Long History Supporting Free Expression Nicole Scott Free Inquiry Read More »
