Special Announcement

April 28, 2004

Campus Inquirer is the leading news source for the student humanist and skeptic movement, comprising announcements, news stories, editorials, and features. Campus Inquirer is published monthly by the Center for Inquiry - On Campus, a campus outreach program of the Center for Inquiry, promoting reason, science, free inquiry, and church-state separation in education.

Contents:

* Book of the Month

* CFI-On Campus News

Featured Links:

*
CFI - On Campus

*
Center for Inquiry

*
C.S.I.C.O.P.

*
Council for Secular Humanism

Featured Book:

* Purchase The Case for Humanism

Book of the Month
The Case for Humanism, by Lewis Vaughn and Austin Dacey. Rowman & Littlefield, 2003.
The Case for Humanism, co-authored by Austin Dacey, director of educational programs at the Center for Inquiry, explores Western humanism and traces it from its roots in ancient Greece, through the Enlightenment, and into the modern day. The text takes the most important parts of humanistic thought and shows how they are relevant to the "big questions" of human existence.
An interview with The Case for Humanism's co-author Austin Dacey
Campus Inquirer: Why did you write The Case for Humanism?

Austin Dacey: There was a need for an introduction to humanism, secularism, and philosophical naturalism designed specifically for college courses. Books affirming humanist ideas were common, but objective, comprehensive surveys of the arguments for and against it were hard to come by.

CI: What classes is the book suited for?

AD: The Case for Humanism is ideal for courses in introduction to philosophy, philosophy of religion, or interdisciplinary history of ideas. Our publisher is also marketing to religious studies professors who want to cover nonreligious worldviews alongside the traditional faiths.

CI: Why should students read this book?

AD: For the same reason that every student should read the Bible (OK, I admit it's nowhere near as good a read as the Bible): cultural self-understanding. The humanist tradition is the ideology of modern Western culture. So if you want a grasp on that culture, we think this book is a great place to start.

CI: Is the book anti-religious?

AD: One of the things that my co-author Lewis Vaughn and I emphasize is that the philosophy of humanism in the West historically emerged in large part from Christian sources (in China and India the story is different). In turn, humanist values have transformed Western religion in the direction of liberalism and secularism. No doubt, contemporary rationalists are skeptical of supernatural beings and immaterial souls. But at least they believe these things deserve serious attention. Actually, few people care more about questions of God, meaning, and morality than secular humanists: they just come at them from a different angle. They see a God-sized hole in the universe that needs filling.

Note: Purchase a copy of The Case for Humanism by clicking on the book icon to the left.

______________________________________________________________

CFI - On Campus News

God's Existence Debated at Purdue University

Austin Dacey, director of research and education at the Center for Inquiry, debated well-known Christian apologist William Lane Craig at Purdue University earlier this month. The two tackled the topic of the existence of God, with a packed audience of both theists and non-theists.
Craig, for the affirmative, called on the cosmological argument, saying that even though the universe began at the Big Bang, something must have caused the Big Bang, as well as suggesting that the existence of objective moral beliefs is evidence of God. Dacey, for the negative, stressed the cruel nature of the world, and the contradictory qualities assigned to God in traditional religions, as evidence against the existence of God.
Over four thousand students, faculty and members of the community flocked to the event, making it one of CFI-On Campus's most successful campus-wide debates this year.
We're often asked why we sponsor, underwrite or organize debates and lectures on these topics. Do they make a difference? At Purdue we worked with the Campus Crusade for Christ to make this event a success. While we disagree on the answers, we agree that the questions are important, and this, after all, is the goal of a fine liberal arts education: to be able to ask the right questions.
For more information about the debate on God's existence at Purdue, go to CFI-On Campus's press page to read three newspaper articles from before and after this event. If you'd like to work with CFI - On Campus to bring an event to your school, click here.

Austin Dacey, director of educational programs at the Center for Inquiry, makes a point during his debate at Purdue University with Christian apologist William Lane Craig.

Campus Inquirer is published by CFI - On Campus, a non-profit educational and advocacy organization that unites students, student groups, supporters and faculty on college and high school campuses in the United States and abroad to promote reason, science, free inquiry, and church-state separation in education.

join | subscribe | contribute