Point of Inquiry

Hemant Mehta is an honors graduate from the university of Illinois, and has been involved in secularist student activism for years. Early on, he attended one of CFI's summer sessions on scholarship, becoming that year's student volunteer president of CFI's campus outreach program. He is now in graduate school at DePaul University. Mehta once held an unique auction on eBay wherein the highest bidder could send Mehta to a church of his or her choice. This led to his writing his new book, I Sold My Soul On Ebay. In this discussion with D.J. Grothe, Mehta discusses common misconceptions people (and especially atheists) have about Christians, his impressions of various churches he has visited in the process of researching his book, and details specific mega-churches such as Ted Haggard's in Colorado Springs, and Joel Osteen's in Houston, Texas. He also offers suggestions about how churches can be more effective at reaching out in dialogue with the skeptical community.

Taner Edis, born and raised in Turkey, is associate professor of physics at Truman State University and the author of The Ghost in the Universe: God in Light of Modern Science and Science and Non-belief, among other publications. His latest book is An Illusion of Harmony: Science and Religion in Islam. In this conversation with D.J. Grothe, Taner Edis explores whether the Koran anticipates the modern scientific understanding of the world, the intelligent design creationist movement within Islam, and whether science is even compatible with the Muslim faith. He also shares his views about the future of Islam, especially in relation to the secular, more scientific West.

Matthew C. Nisbet, Ph.D., is a professor in the School of Communication at American University. His research tracks scientific and environmental controversies, examining the interactions between experts, journalists, and various publics. In this area, Nisbet has published numerous peer-reviewed studies, with his work having been cited more than 100 times over the past couple years. In addition to his research, Nisbet co-authored with Chris Mooney the much-talked-about Columbia Journalism Review cover story on intelligent design, and he has written for other popular outlets such as Foreign Policy and Geotimes magazines. He also contributes the semi-regular "Science and the Media" column for Skeptical Inquirer online, and he tracks current events related to strategic communication at his blog Framing Science, which was recently named by the NY Daily News as a "top political blog." Nisbet is a frequent invited speaker at conferences and meetings across the U.S. and Canada, and he is often called upon for his expert analysis by major news organizations. He holds a Ph.D. in Communication from Cornell University and an A.B. in Government from Dartmouth College. From 1997 to 1999, he worked as Public Relations Director for the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry at the Center for Inquiry-Transnational. In this discussion with D.J. Grothe, Nisbet explores the issue of "framing science" in the public mind, how scientists may be failing at effectively communicating the importance of the implications of science for society, and steps the science community may take to more expertly sell their science to a disinterested public. He also argues about Richard Dawkins and his effect on the public appreciation of science, and the impact of linking atheism with science for issues such as stem-cell research, teaching evolution in the public schools, and global warming.

Phil Plait works in the physics and astronomy department at Sonoma State University. In the early '90's, he started Badastronomy.com, which has become a popular website focused on educating the public about astronomy and space science, especially as regards common misconceptions and pseudoscientific astronomy claims. In recent years, he has also been involved with debunking several more general pseudoscientific theories. In March 2006, Science magazine celebrated the Bad Astronomy website, praising Plait's blog, begun in March 2005. This blog was also a finalist for the 2006 Weblog Award (the "Bloggie"). The author of one book, The Bad Astronomer, Phil Plait is also a regular contributor to many online publications, including The Huffington Post. In this interview with D.J. Grothe, Phil Plait discusses science education, the need for the public appreciation of science, public investment in space science, and how such investment benefits society. He also addresses the question of science's compatibility with religion, and explores social conflicts surrounding the teaching of evolution in the public schools.

The world's leading paranormal investigator, Joe Nickell is a regular contributor to Skeptical Inquiry science magazine. He is the author or editor of more than twenty books, including Inquest on the Shroud of Turin (1983, 1998) and most recently, The Relics of the Christ (2007). In this conversation with D.J. Grothe, Nickell debates "debunking" versus open-minded skepticism, and defends himself against the charge that he is a biased anti-paranormalist with an agenda. He also talks about his consulting role in the new Warner Brothers movie, The Reaping, which stars Oscar-winner Hilary Swank as a lapsed Christian dedicated to debunking claims of religious miracles and how her role depended heavily on his books, articles and investigations. Nickell also talks about the role of skepticism in Hollywood more generally.

Nica Lalli is an art educator working with the Metropolitan Museum of Art. She also writes a weekly column in the Brooklyn Paper. In this discussion with D.J. Grothe, Nica talks about her new and acclaimed memoir of growing up nonreligious, Nothing: Something to Believe In. She also explores how to relate to devout relatives, the need to "come out" as a nonbeliever, and what she does believe in, if she doesn't believe in God.

Susan Haack, formerly Fellow of New Hall, Cambridge, and then professor of Philosophy at the University of Warwick, is presently Cooper Senior Scholar in Arts and Sciences, Professor of Philosophy, and Professor of Law at the University of Miami. Her areas of interest include philosophy of logic and language, epistemology and metaphysics, philosophy of science, including issues of scientific testimony in court, Pragmatism, and feminism. Professor Haack is the author of several celebrated books, including Deviant Logic, Philosophy of Logics, Evidence and Inquiry: Towards Reconstruction in Epistemology, Deviant Logic, Fuzzy Logic: Beyond the Formalism, Manifesto of a Passionate Moderate: Unfashionable Essays, and Defending Science -- Within Reason: Between Scientism and Cynicism as well as of numerous articles. She has been widely reviewed and cited in general interest publications such as the Times Literary Supplement, the Wilson Quarterly, and the Chronicle of Higher Education, as well as in specialized journals. In this conversation with D.J. Grothe, Haack explores the values of science, and addresses its critics, both supernaturalists and post-modernists. She also defends science as being continuous with common sense, explores whether science and religion are compatible, and talks about whether or not science can ever have any relevance to ethics.

Tawfik Hamid, an expert on Islamic terrorism, joined the Islamic group Muslim GI in Egypt, while in medical school. His colleagues in the terror movement included Al Zawaherri, then a friend with whom Tawfik used to pray, and now the number 2 person of Al Qaeda. Eventually Dr. Hamid questioned the feelings of hatred and impulses to violence that his participation in extremist Islam was fomenting within him. He became a physician, and also a scholar of Islamic texts. When he began to preach in Mosques to promote a message of peace instead of violence and hatred, he himself became a target of the Islamic extremists who had previously been his friends. They threatened his life, forcing him and his family to flee Egypt , and then Saudi Arabia . His appearance on Fox TV in early 2006 and his testimony at the first major Intelligence Summit in Washington have further established him as a leading authority on global terror movements. He explains why extremist Islam is far more prevalent and poses a far more serious threat than most Americans appreciate to our economy, ecology, and national security. In this discussion with D.J. Grothe, Tawfik Hamid discusses his experiences with extremist Islam and the Al Quada affiliated organization he joined, the question of moderate Islam and moderate Muslim organizations such as the Council on Islamic American Relations. He also explores the dire need for Islam to be reformed, and the recent CFI-sponsored Secular Islam Summit in St. Petersburg, Florida. Also in this episode, Ibn Warraq reads the Declaration from the Secular Islam Summit, which has received worldwide press and grassroots attention.

Robert M. Price is professor of theology and scriptural studies at Coleman Theological Seminary and professor of Biblical Criticism at the Center for Inquiry Institute. He's a fellow of the Committee for the Scientific Examination of Religion and the Jesus Seminar. Dr. Price is the author of a number of books such as Deconstructing Jesus, Incredible Shrinking Son of Man, and The Da Vinci Fraud. He has appeared widely in the media, and was featured prominently in the movie The God Who Wasn't There. In this conversation with D.J. Grothe, Price discusses the uses of doubt in historical inquiry and especially in Biblical criticism, his doubts about the historical existence of Jesus of Nazareth, and many of the assertions in his forthcoming book The Paperback Apocalypse, which treats current religious, political and social movements motivated by belief in the return of Jesus and fulfilled prophecies in the Jewish and Christian Bibles.

Victor Stenger is Emeritus Professor of Physics at the University of Hawaii and Adjunct Professor of Philosophy at the University of Colorado. He is also founder and president of Colorado Citizens for Science. He's held visiting faculty positions at the University of Heidelberg in Germany, and at Oxford in the United Kingdom, and has been a visiting researcher at Rutherford Laboratory in England, the National Nuclear Physics Laboratory in Frascati, Italy, and the University of Florence in Italy. Stenger's search career has spanned the period of great progress in elementary particle physics that ultimately led to the current standard model. He participated in experiments that helped establish the properties of strange particles, quarks, gluons, and neutrinos and has also helped pioneer the emerging fields of very high energy gamma ray and neutrino astronomy. In his last project before retiring, Vic collaborated on the experiment in Japan which showed for the first time that the neutrino has mass. He is the author of many books, including Comprehensible Cosmos, The Unconscious Quantum, Not by Design, Has Science Found God, and the recent New York times best-seller God: The Failed Hypothesis: How Science Shows that God Does Not Exist. In this talk with D.J. Grothe, Stenger explores many of the topics treated in his book, including the scientific evidence against the belief in God, where the laws of physics come from if not from a divine lawgiver, what E.S.P. research may imply about God's existence, the morality of atheism, and whether science should even be treating the topic of God in the first place. Also in this episode, Austin Dacey, director of the Center for Inquiry in New York City details the upcoming Secular Islam Summit in Florida, and the growing grassroots movement of secular muslims working to advance rationalism, science, and the separation of mosque and state in the Islamic world.