The Center for Inquiry Promotes Science and Critical Thinking

CFI defends society against religious ideology and pseudoscience. Founded and inspired by great minds, such as Carl Sagan, Isaac Asimov, James Randi, Paul Kurtz, and Richard Dawkins, CFI advocates for science, secularism, and critical thinking worldwide.

About CFI
Center for Inquiry HQ

Center for Inquiry Headquarters

Carl Sagan: Co-founder of CSICOP)

Carl Sagan, co-founder of CSICOP

Isaac Asimov, CSICOP Fellow

James Randi, co-founder of CSICOP

The Newest SI

The Newest FI

Paul Kurtz, founder of CFI and CSH

Tom Flynn: Former editor of Free Inquiry

Tom Flynn, former editor of Free Inquiry

Richard Dawkins

Richard Dawkins Foundation for Reason and Science

Office of Public Policy

TIES Alabama Workshop

The Supreme Court of the United States - CFI Legal

CFI Legal

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How We Make Our Impact

The Center for Inquiry's core mission is defending reason, science, and secular values. Here is how we carry out our vision.

ScienceSaves

ScienceSaves promotes science appreciation by highlighting the many ways science has greatly improved the lives of everyone.

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TIES First elementary group

Teacher Institute for Evolutionary Science

TIES gives middle school teachers the tools they need to effectively teach evolution and answer its critics based on new Next Generation Science Standards.

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zuck zee secular rescue

Secular Rescue

Secular Rescue provides emergency assistance to writers, bloggers, publishers, and activists who face threats due to their beliefs or expressions regarding religion.

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Latest In Skepticism

Critical Thinking for Curious Minds

Feature Article

Teaching Critical Thinking: An Introduction to the Special Section

David McRaney

I recently enjoyed the great honor of taking the stage at CSICon 2024 in Las Vegas, where I gave a lecture about how people do (and do not) change their minds and offered advice on how (and how not) to change them. I met Neil DeGrasse Tyson and Brian Cox, stole some candy from the …

Continue Reading in Skeptical Inquirer
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Latest In Secularism

Two Myths about the Role of Religion

Feature Article

The Ten Commandments Are Not the Foundation for American Law

Ronald A. Lindsay

One has to give the religious Right credit for persistence. For decades now, they have been pushing to have the Ten Commandments set up as monuments on public land, displayed in courthouses, and posted in classrooms. About the only public spaces left untouched by this relentless drive to place the Ten Commandments before our eyes …

Continue Reading in Free Inquiry
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Urge Your Representative

Washington: Urge Your Governor to Sign Bill Making Clergy Members Mandatory Reporters
 April 21, 2025

The Center for Inquiry (CFI) supports legislation in the state of Washington that would make members of the clergy mandatory reporters of suspected child abuse. Now, we need CFI supporters in Washington to contact the governor’s office and ask Governor Bob Ferguson to sign the bill into law. CFI’s Office of Public Policy (OPP) supports …

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CFI Freethinking Blogs

“The Conceptual Associations are Pervasive” – End Times Prophecy, Moral Bias, and Attacking Science Journals  
 April 28, 2025


Welcome to the Morning Heresy, CFI’s thrice-weekly roundup of news and headlines for the reality-based community. In his latest, Spanish-language “¡Paparruchas!” column, Luis Alfonso Gámez explores the so-called “prophecy of the popes” supposedly foretelling the destruction of Rome and the approach of the Last Judgment. It’s part of a long line of vague apocalyptic prophecies …

“I Have Done All I Can” – The Latest Skeptical Inquirer, Trump vs. Science, and Imaginary Friends  
 April 25, 2025


Ahoy-hoy! Welcome to the Morning Heresy, CFI’s roundup of news and headlines for the reality-based community. The May/June 2025 issue of Skeptical Inquirer is now available to read online. The new issue includes a special section, introduced by best-selling author (and CSICon 2024 presenter) David McRaney, on teaching critical thinking to people at every educational …

“The Dog That Caught The Car” – Cognitive Blind Spots, Blasphemy Gangs, and People-Pleasing AI
 April 23, 2025


Welcome to the midweek Morning Heresy, CFI’s regular roundup of news and headlines for the reality-based community. Skeptical Inquirer has posted a new video from CSICon 2024. In “Out of Focus: Seeing Through Deception,” Daniel Simons of the University of Illinois (and The Invisible Gorilla) talks about how the cognitive abilities that usually serve us …

News & Press

“Searching for Alien Earths” | Lisa Kaltenegger on Skeptical Inquirer Presents, Thurs., May 1
 April 21, 2025

News

The detection of thousands of exoplanets orbiting other stars has revolutionized our view of the cosmos. Even our closest star, Proxima Centauri, harbors a small planet in its habitable zone. With the James Webb Space Telescope, we have started to peer into the atmospheres of rocky planets and get a glimpse into other rocky worlds. …

Award-winning Teacher Institute for Evolutionary Science (TIES) Celebrates Its Tenth Anniversary
 April 10, 2025

Press Releases

Fittingly enough, it began with a chance combination of just the right elements and grew into something complex, impressive, and educationally impactful. The Center for Inquiry’s (CFI) award-winning Teacher Institute for Evolutionary Science (TIES) empowers educators across the United States with the knowledge, strategies, and free resources they need to teach evolution effectively. The program …

An “Ideological Attempt to Merge the Interests of Church and State”: CFI Urges U.S. Supreme Court to Reject Oklahoma Catholic Charter School
 April 8, 2025

Press Releases

The Center for Inquiry (CFI) joined American Atheists and other secular rights organizations to submit an amicus brief to the U.S. Supreme Court in the case of Oklahoma Statewide Charter School Board v. Drummond. The full brief can be found here. The case centers on an attempt to create the first publicly funded religious charter …