Point of Inquiry

Eugene Burger, "universally recognized as perhaps the finest close-up magician in the world," (Stagebill magazine) has written fifteen best-selling books for magicians, starred in a number of instructional videos, lectured widely to magicians' groups in over a dozen countries, and his writings have been translated into several languages. His deep understanding of the psychology and philosophy behind magic has won him international accolades, cover stories in conjuring magazines, and four awards from the famed Magic Castle in Hollywood, California. When the leading international trade journal Magic compiled its list of the one hundred most influential magicians of the twentieth century, Eugene Burger was included for his ability to "arouse feelings of astonishment, as well as a host of other indescribable sensations." His talk, "How Magicians Think," applies his special understanding of deception and perception to the corporate world. He has performed on numerous television shows in Great Britain, Canada, Belgium, Finland and Japan, and has been featured on PBS's The Art of Magic and The Learning Channel's Mysteries of Magic. He's also been been profiled twice on CNN. In this conversation with D.J. Grothe, Burger discusses belief in the paranormal, "Spirit Theater," and the possible deception of the public by paranormal claimants or entertainers such as Israeli psychic Uri Geller and American psychic medium John Edward. He also explores the relationship of magic to religion and to science, what magic can teach us about how we believe, and the kinds of benefits the student of magic receives from learning the art.

Ann Druyan is an author, public lecturer, and TV and movie writer and producer whose work focuses on the worldview of science. She is the widow of Carl Sagan, the great astronomer and public advocate of science and reason. With him, she co-wrote the Emmy Award Winning and the Peabody Award Winning television series Cosmos. She served as Creative Director for NASA's Voyager Interstellar Record Project, the goldern record on the Voyager Spacecrafts that includes visual images and music and she co-created and produced the movie Contact, which is based on the novel Contact that she co-wrote with Carl Sagan. She is also the author or co-author of several other books, including A Famous Broken Heart, and Comet, which was on the New York Times best seller list for two months. She edited the recent title, Varieties of Scientific Experience: A Personal View of the Search for God, which is Carl Sagan's last book. In this wide-ranging discussion with D.J. Grothe, Druyan discusses the new book The Varieties of Scientific Experience, her relationship with Carl Sagan, science as an outlook on life, what Sagan called "informed worship," the use of the word "spiritual" by nonreligious people, the humility of science, skepticism about politics and the paranormal, and the search for extra-terrestrial intelligence. She also explores the place of humanity in the cosmos, the relationship of science to religion, and whether they are compatible.

Joe Hoffmann, formally at Oxford, is director of Committee for the Scientific Examination of Religion (CSER). He has appeared widely in the media and at venues across the United States speaking on Christian origins, the historical Jesus, the proper role of religion in society, and similar topics. He is the author or editor of a number of books, including Just War and Jihad: Violence in Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. In this discussion with D.J. Grothe, Dr. Hoffmann explores the implications of science for religion, and how to study religion in a scientific way, including from scientific perspectives such as cognitive neuroscience, textual criticism and philology, and through the application of the historical sciences. He also examines bias in the study of religion, from various quarters in the academy, and how the scientific approach to religious studies can help avoid such pitfalls.

Tom Flynn is the Editor of Free Inquiry magazine. A journalist, novelist, entertainer, and folklorist, Flynn is the author of numerous articles for Free Inquiry, many addressing church-state issues, as well as the best-selling The Trouble With Christmas, about which he has made hundreds of radio and TV appearances in his role as the curmudgeonly "anti-Claus." He is also the author of the critically acclaimed anti-religious black comedy science fiction novel, Galactic Rapture. His latest work, the New Encyclopedia of Unbelief, is a comprehensive reference work on the history, beliefs, and thinking of America's fastest growing minority: those who live without religion. In this talk with D.J. Grothe, Flynn discusses the origins of Christmas, current public rhetoric about secular progressives' so-called anti-Christmas agenda, why he says it is important for secularists to abstain from Holiday celebrations, and the economic implications of such abstinence, and goes on to actually urge listeners to wage a "War on Christmas," in defense of America's religious diversity and the rights of nonbelievers. He also talks about alternatives to Christmas, such as HumanLight, Kwanzaa, Festivus, and Solstice.

Sue Blackmore is a psychologist and writer whose research on consciousness, memes, and the paranormal has been published in over sixty academic papers, as well as book chapters, reviews and popular articles. She regularly writes in the Guardian, and often appears on radio and television in the United States and the United Kingdom. She spent two decades early in her career investigating psychic phenomena, following an out-of-body experience she had as a student at Oxford. She is the author of a number of books, including Dying to Live (on near-death experiences), In Search of the Light, and Test Your Psychic Powers (with Adam Hart-Davis). The Meme Machine (1999) has been widely acclaimed, and translated into 13 other languages. Her highly praised textbook, Consciousness: An Introduction, and A Very Short Introduction to Consciousness are both published by Oxford University Press, as is her most recent Conversations on Consciousness. In this far-ranging discussion with D.J. Grothe, Susan Blackmore talks about her research into the paranormal and near death experiences and why she left that field of study, memetics and religion as a meme, free will and the question of moral responsibility, consciousness and the illusory nature of the self, and Zen Buddhism and meditative practice, among other topics. She also explores why is it more important than ever for scientists to speak out about important issues of concern in the world today.

In this special episode of Point of Inquiry, Paul Kurtz joins D.J. Grothe for an overview of CFI's mission and challenges. Kurtz is founder and chair of the Center for Inquiry and many other organizations and is a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. He is also Professor Emeritus of Philosophy at the State University of New York at Buffalo, chairman of the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry (previously CSICOP), the Council for Secular Humanism, and Prometheus Books. He is editor-in-chief of Free Inquiry Magazine and author of over forty five books, including Science and Religion: Are They Compatible and Living Without Religion. Throughout the last thirty years, he has been a leading defender of science and reason against the prevailing cults of irrationality in our society. In this episode, and for the first time in a year of weekly episodes featuring the leading minds of the day, Paul Kurtz and D.J. Grothe discuss the various programs and projects of the Center for Inquiry, including the Institute for the Secularization of Islamic Societies, Secular Organizations for Sobreity (an atheist alternative to Alcoholics Anonymous), African Americans for Humanism, CFI's community and campus programs, its international programs, its North American branches, its magazines, its social services, and other aspects of CFI's work. Kurtz also discusses ways listeners can get involved in the Center's efforts.

Barry Kosmin is a sociologist, and is research professor in public policy and law at Trinity College. He is co-author of One Nation Under God and author of Religion in a Free Market. Kosmin was also the Principal investigator of the 2001 American Religious Identification Survey, the groundbreaking study on religion in America that showed the number of seculars in America has almost doubled in the ten years preceding the survey. In this discussion with D.J. Grothe, he details the scientific study of religion and secularism, the "secularization hypothesis," religious diversity in contemporary America, and the rise of the nonreligious in recent years. He also explores the relationship between science and secularism.

Norm Allen is executive director of African Americans for Humanism, an educational organization primarily concerned with fostering critical thinking, ethical conduct, church-state separation, and skepticism toward untested claims to knowledge among African Americans. He is the editor of the ground-breaking book African-American Humanism: An Anthology, AAH Examiner, and Deputy Editor of Free Inquiry magazine. He has traveled and lectured widely throughout North America, Europe, and Africa and his writings have been published in scores of newspapers throughout the US. He has spoken on numerous radio and television programs and his writings have appeared in such books as Culture Wars and the National Center for Science Education's Voices for Evolution. In this talk with D.J. Grothe, Norm Allen explores the relationship between Christianity and American slavery, the history of freethought in the abolitionist and civil rights movements, the gullibility of the black community, the explosive growth of skepticism and humanism in Africa, the impact of religion and the paranormal on the working poor.

Michelle Goldberg is a freelance writer who has reported from all over the United States, as well as from Jordan, Egypt, Iraq, Israel and the West Bank. In her writing, she focuses on the role of ideology in politics, and has reported extensively on both sides of America's intensifying culture wars. In 2002, after a year of traveling and reporting in India and East Asia, Goldberg moved to New York City and took a job as a news and politics reporter with Salon.com, where she covered all aspects of the political right, from the neocons to the theocons. In addition to Salon, Goldberg's work has appeared in publications including Rolling Stone, The New York Observer, The New Republic online, The Guardian, The UTNE Reader, Newsday and other newspapers nationwide. She was a columnist for the San Francisco Bay Guardian and for Shift Magazine, and has taught at New York University's Graduate School of Journalism. She is a fellow at the Committee for the Scientific Examination of Religion, which is one of the organizations here at the Center for Inquiry. In this discussion with D.J. Grothe, she talks about her acclaimed book Kingdom Coming, and about religious-political extremism in America today and its anti-scientific agenda, the origins of its opposition to gay rights, the use of "secular humanism" as an Religious Right organizing principle, and about the future of "Christian Nationalism." She also talks about the recent midterm elections and the history and effects of the Religious Right in American and world politics. Also in this episode, Lauren Becker returns to offer some thoughts about Richard Dawkins, J. R. R. Tolkien, and the lure of fiction.

Psychologist Professor Richard Wiseman started his working life as a professional magician and currently holds Britain's only Professorship in the Public Understanding of Psychology at the University of Hertfordshire. He frequently appears in the media, and has written over 60 academic articles and several books, including the best-selling The Luck Factor. Theatre of Science, his new show in collaboration with Dr. Simon Singh, is making its American debut with a run at the Theater for the New City in Manhattan as part of CFI's Science + Art festival, and is sponsored by Skeptical Inquirer magazine. Featuring lie detectors, bolts of lightning, backwards masking, and contortionist Delia Du Sol, this show revives a Victorian tradition in which audiences attended the theatre to see scientific demonstrations as entertainment. Theatre of Science previously played to sold-out audiences and rave reviews at the Soho Theatre, in London's West End. In this conversation with D.J. Grothe, Professor Wiseman discusses Theatre of Science, the intersection of science and art, and the role science plays in our society. He also explores strategies that science advocates can use to confront anti-science trends in our society. Also in this episode, Nathan Bupp explores a humanist answer to the question "Where are we going?"