Center for Inquiry
The Center for Inquiry is a U.S. nonprofit advocacy group that works to mitigate belief in pseudoscience and the paranormal and to fight the influence of religion in government.
History
The Center for Inquiry was established in 1991 by atheist philosopher and author Paul Kurtz. It brought together two organizations: the Committee for the Scientific Investigation of Claims of the Paranormal and the Council for Secular Humanism. The Center for Inquiry Inc was registered as a tax-exempt nonprofit organization in April 2001.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.
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.
Committee for Skeptical Inquiry
Through the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry, 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.
The Committee for Skeptical Inquiry, then known as the Committee for the Scientific Investigation of Claims of the Paranormal, 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." The case ran for several years, and was ultimately settled in 1995 with Geller ordered to pay the legal costs of Randi and CSICOP.
The Center for Inquiry Investigations Group
The Investigations Group, a volunteer group based at CFI Los Angeles, undertakes experimental testing of fringe claims. It was founded by James Underdown, who is currently executive director of CFI West and a Fellow of the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry. The Group offers a cash prize of US$500,000 for successful demonstration of supernatural effects. This prize had been previously raised to US$250,000 when the IIG re-branded as the Center for Inquiry Investigations Group in 2020 before it was raised again to the current amount.The IIG Awards 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. It organizes conferences, such as Women In Secularism and a conference focused on freethought advocate Robert Ingersoll. CFI has provided meeting and conference facilities to other skeptical organizations, for example an atheist of color conference on social justice.
CFI also undertakes atheist education and support activities, for example sending freethought books to prisoners as part of its Freethought Books Project.
CFI is active in advocating free speech, and in promoting secular government. It speaks against institutional religion in the armed forces.
Free Inquiry is published by the Center for Inquiry, in association with the Council for Secular Humanism.
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, and CSI's Skeptical Inquirer, CFI's American Rationalist. The Scientific Review of Alternative Medicine, The Scientific Review of Mental Health Practice and Philo, a journal covering philosophical issues, are no longer being published.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 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. It publishes a list of bills it considers of interest as they pass through the U.S. legislative process.