El sueño de la razón produce monstruos. Francisco de Goya, Los Caprichos, 1799 "The sleep of reason produces monsters."

FREE INQUIRY The Humanist and Skeptic Website of Steven Schafersman   Reason and free inquiry are the only effectual agents against error. Thomas Jefferson, Notes on the State of Virginia, 1787    Dedicated to Free Inquiry, Naturalistic Humanism, Freethought, and the Philosophies of Naturalism, Empiricism, Rationalism, and Skepticism: The Heritage of the Enlightenment that Produced Science and the Modern World.

Humanist and Skeptical Essays and Presentations on the Web:

• New! Why West Texas Really Needs the American Civil Liberties Union: An Issue of Constitutional Liberties • A PowerPoint presentation about the ACLU, Bill of Rights, and Church/State separation. Also discusses the "United States is a Christian Nation" myth. An audio recording of this talk synchronized to the PowerPoint slides is here.
• An Introduction to Science • Scientific thinking and the scientific method.
• A Guide to Critical Thinking • A practical guide for educators, explaining why and how to include critical thinking skills in a course curriculum.
• Naturalism Is an Essential Part of Science and Critical Inquiry • An investigation of naturalism, science, and scientists.
• The Challenge of the Fossil Record • My response to a creationist university student who challenged biologists and publicized typical creationist arguments and quotations on campus.
• Humanism and Freethought on the World Wide Web • Notes for an investigation of the opportunities and problems that humanists and freethinkers face as their literature and ideas become widely available on the World Wide Web.
• Unraveling the Shroud of Turin • A paper exposing the misunderstandings, misrepresentations, and falsehoods of individuals who promote the authenticity of the Shroud of Turin.
• A Skeptical Response to Ray Rogers Thermochimica Acta paper on the Shroud of Turin • An essay describing the many errors in a prominent paper by a well-known pro-authenticity proponent of the Shroud of Turin.
• The History and Philosophy of Humanism and Its Role in Unitarian-Universalism
• Teaching Morals and Values in the Public Schools: A Humanist Perspective
• Critical Thinking and Its Relation to Science and Humanism • Notes of an address on the topic of critical thinking and its relationship to humanism.
• How Do Humanists Find Meaning, Purpose, Values, and Morals in Life? In the absence of gods and the supernatural, how do secular humanists and freethinkers find human ideals?
• Michael Behe and Intelligent Design • A review of a Talk of the Nation program on NPR, later published in NCSE Review.
• A Skeptic's View of the Shroud of Turin: History, Iconography, Photography, Blood, Pigment, and Pollen • A PowerPoint presentation that discusses the Shroud of Turin from a skeptical point of view.
• The Evolution Wars: Modern Scientific Controversies About Evolution Among Scientists • A PowerPoint presentation that describes the current legitimate scientific controversies about the theory of evolution.
• The Pledge of Allegiance: America's Little Hypocrisy • An original contribution to the debate about the "under God" phrase in the Pledge.
• The Intelligent Design Argument: Its Origin, Death, and Resurrection • Analysis of the latest recycled creationist argument.
• An Introduction to Humanism • The history, philosophy, and meaning of naturalistic humanism.
• The History and Philosophy of Skepticism • A brief summary of skepticism.

Humanist and Skeptical Websites I currently administer:

• The Free Inquiry Website • You are here!
• The Skeptic World Site • Helps recover your lost sense of reality; promotes philosophic and pragmatic skepticism.
• The Bad Geology Site • Investigates flood geology, catastrophism, fossils and creationism, and other topics.
• The Skeptical Shroud of Turin Website • The only skeptical website for the Shroud of Turin.
• Approfondimento Sindone • The international journal of scholarship and science devoted to the Shroud of Turin.

I created nine Humanist/Skeptical/Freethought Websites during 1995-1997 for different organizations and administered them until late 2001. (These websites are now administered directly by their respective organizations.)

• American Humanist Association • Oldest humanist organization; publisher of The Humanist.
• Continuum of Humanist Education (part of the Institute for Humanist Studies) • Secular humanist education on the Web.
• The Humanist Institute • Oldest humanist educational institution.
• Humanism Today • The annual publication of the Humanist Institute.
• Humanist Society • Humanist celebrant organization within the AHA.
• Friends of Religious Humanism (now the HUUmanists) • Associated with both the AHA and UUA.
• The American Rationalist (now published by the Council for Secular Humanism) • Freethought publication.
• Camp Quest • The first secular humanist summer camp.
• The Free Inquiry Group of Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky • Prominent secular humanist chapter.

Vitruvian Man, 1492 Leonardo da Vinci

My Definition of Humanism: Humanism is a philosophy or world view based on naturalism--the conviction that nature or the universe is all that exists or is real. Naturalistic humanism serves for many humanists some of the intellectual, emotional, and social functions of religion, but without belief in transcendental realms and entities, deities, miracles, life after death, and the supernatural. Humanists seek to understand the universe by using science and its methods of critical inquiry--free inquiry, logical reasoning, empirical evidence, and the skeptical evaluation of conjectures and conclusions--to obtain reliable knowledge. Humanists affirm that humans have the freedom to give meaning, value, and purpose to their lives by their own independent thought, critical inquiry, and responsible, creative activity. Humanists stand for the building of a more humane, just, compassionate, and democratic society using a realistic ethics based upon human reason, experience, and reliable knowledge--an ethics that judges the consequences of human actions by the well-being of all life on Earth.