THE FUTURE OF SKEPTICISM AND HUMANISM IN SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA

By Elizabeth A. Olsen and James A. Murray

The Center for Inquiry West (CFIW) is the first branch office of those
planned by the Center for Inquiry International in Amherst, New York.
Southern California has been offered this distinction because of its
strong base of Free Inquiry/Skeptical Inquirer readership and the rise
of religious activism in this area.  Edward Tabash spoke at this first
CFIW meeting on January 10, 1997, at the LAX Airport Hilton to the
audience of 100, outlining some of the goals of the organization.
Mr. Tabash, the Outreach Chairman at CFIW, emphasized that he wants to
invite a broad range of people into the organization.  The Center will
provide a courteous, civil, safe environment for free thought and
exploration of doubts on pseudoscience and religion; no facet of the
human condition is off-limits for free thought and exploration.  His
ideas for outreach include a "Campus Crusade for Rationalism."

Tom Flynn of the Center for Inquiry International (Amherst) explained
that the CIFW (now located in rented space in Los Angeles) is the
first of several Centers.  Other cities targeted for new Centers
include Kansas City, Boulder, and Oxford.  The idea behind these
expansions is to develop a sense of community among free thinkers, and
move the organization beyond just advocacy and publishing.  CFIW is
engaged in a capital campaign to raise $1 million for a permanent
facility.

Barry Karr (executive director of Committee for the Scientific
Investigation of Claims of the Paranormal) explained that the
organization should be a resource for media, scientist, and the public
at large.  A new program has been created called the Council for Media
Integrity.  This service critiques shows on television (and now owns
voting stock in several broadcasters).  Last year, the Council gave
two awards: the "Candle in the Dark" award went to Bill Nye for his
kids' science show; the "Snuffed Candle" award went to Dan Akyroyd for
his unskeptical show The Psi Factor.  Another program, Skeptical
Inquiry News Service (SINS) distributes Skeptical Inquiry articles to
daily papers with permission to reprint.  They get 500-600 media calls
per year.

Tim Madigan, the Executive Editor of Free Inquiry, expressed the need
to reach out to young people.  Joe Nickell explained that Dan Akyroyd
considers his The Psi Factor show to be educational.  Considering the
popularity of this show, we in the free thought/rational inquiry
movement need to take responsibility for the education of the public
instead of serving only those already involved in free thinking.  The
Center for Inquiry is creating a science/magic kit for kids to help
foster an appreciation for science and a skepticism of apparent magic,
and has supported the newly-formed Campus Freethought Alliance.

Fritz Stevens, the new Executive Director of CFIW indicated that he
wants the Center for Inquiry West to be "our place," a center for the
free thought community in Southern California.  He said the CFIW will
encourage the growth of local southern California groups.

Tom Hill indicated that a list will be made available of the CFIW
lecture series, and Jim Christopher described his organization SOS -
Secular Organization for sobriety (or Sobriety without Superstition) -
which helps alcoholics without the religious influence characteristic
of Alcoholics Anonymous.

James Kimberly quoted several disappointing statistics describing the
American public.  The United States ranked 13th in scientific literacy
out of the 14 most developed countries of the world 10 years ago.  It
is now 7th, but should be higher.  Ninety-two percent of Americans
believe in prayer.  The good news is that at least 20 million
Americans should be receptive to our organization.  The organization
is currently trying to raise money for an endowment for the CFIW.
Currently 52% of charitable donations made in the U.S. go to churches,
more than for any other type of organization.  One of the difficulties
in raising money for an organization like ours is that we are
generally not well liked by the public.  As Mr. Kimberly said: "the
rationalist is the skunk at the garden party."  However, many other
groups have dealt with worse public relations problems.  For example,
anti-Semites comprise merely 6% of the population.  Homosexuals now
have an acceptance rating of 65%, up from 35% just a few years ago.

We can help this effort in a number of ways.  We shouldn't be
apologists.  We should be proud of who we are and what we believe, and
should "trumpet the good news loudly."  In addition, Mr. Kimberly
recommended avoiding terms that are "loaded," such as atheist and
skeptic, and using more neutral terms such as humanitarian and
scientific realist.  He concluded by describing a 10-year fund-raising
effort for a $120 million endowment, a drive for $1 million in capital
by July 1997, and plans for the permanent facility.  The Johnson Trust
has challenged us with a matching grant to raise $275,000.

The question and answer period was dominated by issues of outreach.
Audience members noted that all panel members were white males, and
the audience was mostly white.  The question was posed: how do we
reach rational/free thinking people in other demographic groups? It
was suggested that copies of Free Inquiry and Skeptical Inquirer be
donated to inner city public libraries.  The panelists indicated that
by reaching out to youth in general, racial and socioeconomic
boundaries will be crossed.  One panelist commented that we are
essentially at war with the radical religious right, and that we need
to communicate first with those who already understand the issues and
are our natural allies.  Some members of the audience, however, were
not sure that this is the way to win the war.  Reaching people who are
not likely to join us of their own volition might be a better
strategy.  Needless to say, the debate was left unresolved.

The Center for Inquiry West will be a great resource and partner for
SDARI.  We share many of the same outreach problems and may try to
help each other.

---------------

Elizabeth A. Olsen and James A. Murray are members of SDARI.

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