Point of Inquiry
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.
Episodes
Historically, of the three branches of government, the judiciary has been the final voice of reason when it came to guaranteeing fundamental freedoms like civil rights, marriage between consenting adults, and the autonomy over one’s body. Unlike legislators and presidents, the court has been less subject to the whims of popular sentiment and more able to focus on the Constitution and justice.
That changed with this current Supreme ...
In the past century, there have been a number of court cases where religious folks have attempted to inject their beliefs into the public schools. But two cases are more noteworthy than most, and bookend the long battle between science and creationism in the classroom. These two trials, The State of Tennessee v. John Thomas Scopes, and Kitzmiller v. The Dover Area School Board are important milestones -- not o...
The Griffith Observatory is the most visited public observatory in the ...
A century and a half ago, one out of every five Americans lived on a farm. Today, it’s closer to one out of every fifty, even though the population has increased more than tenfold. The industrial-scale farm and livestock business that we depend on today feeds hundreds of millions every day, but at what cost?
In this episode of Point of Inquiry, Jim speaks with investigative journalist and a...
The ancient Greeks had a profound influence not only on their own world, but also on what would become Western culture as a whole.
In this episode of Point of Inquiry, Jim chats with Evaggelos Villianatos, a Greek scholar who sheds an interesting light on how his ancestors helped shape the science, arts, language and governments of the modern world.
The art of cold reading has convinced millions of people that gimmicks like crystal balls, palm reading, tarot cards, and other alleged paranormal abilities are real. People walk away from astrologers, mediums, and psychics saying "there's no way he could have known that" or other exclamations of amazement. But are these skills really paranormal, or can they be explained by a series of techniques just abo...
For most of human history, infectious diseases have wreaked havoc on humans. But beginning in the late 18th century, more and more of us beat back illness by getting immunized with vaccines. Today, vaccines are -- or should be – a part of every thinking person’s health regimen.
But exactly what are vaccines and how do they work? How are they tested?
Joining Jim in this episode of Point of Inquiry is immunologist David Miles. David ...
When a business owner, ex-marine, and retired peace office is questioned and later arrested for what appear to be bigoted reasons, there should be recourse in our system of justice to right such a wrong. But Steve Hill is having a hell of a time finding help with his well-documented struggles.
Should the fact that he is a black man and a member of the Satanic Temple enter into whether he is treated fairly or not – or even represent...
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...
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 unaff...
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 coun...
The U.S. Supreme Court -- that over sixty years ago ruled against state-led prayer in public schools -- has swung back the other way with a vengeance. The ultra-conservative majority on the current court has reversed 60 years of progress and put the rights of non-believers in jeopardy.
In this episode, Jim Underdown speaks to Nick Little, former Director of CFI's Legal department, and Eddie Tabash, Chair of the CFI Board of Direct...
The Nones are on the rise! When asked about their religious affiliation, year after year, more and more Americans are choosing “none of the above.” The number of religiously unaffiliated Americans, which includes atheists and agnostics, has been rocketing up over the past couple of decades, and today these Nones make up about one-third of the American population. But they’re not matching their religious counterparts in terms of pol...
Of the 535 Members of Congress, only one is an out-of-the-closet atheist. His name is Jared Huffman, and he is a U.S. Representative from Northern California. He is also the co-chair (with Rep. Jamie Raskin) of the Congressional Freethought Caucus, a group all secular Americans should know about and support.
In this episode, Jim Underdown chats with the congressman ...
What happens when a group of skeptics from across the globe keeps score of over twenty years of psychic predictions? Any guesses?
In this episode of Point of Inquiry, host Jim Underdown speaks to Rob Palmer and Richard Saunders of the Great Australian Psychic Prediction Project about this ambitious effort to track the accuracy of those who claim to see the future.
How ...
The Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena, California may be the world's premiere space exploration facility. From the earliest days of rocketry, JPL has been at the vanguard of designing and building rockets and spaceships.
But the lab has a colorful history, and some of its founders broke the stereotypes of what a rocket scientist might be. Satanism? Friends...
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