[escepticos] El escepticismo organizado yanqui sigue creciendo

[Luis Alfonso Gámez <LAGAMEZ@...>]

A New Year's Message from Paul Kurtz

The year 2002 proved to be a year of unprecedented growth for CSICOP, the
SKEPTICAL INQUIRER, the Council for Secular Humanism, FREE INQUIRY, and the
Center for Inquiry. The ten magazines that we publish at the Center have hit
an all-time high in circulation. Moreover, our activities have accelerated,
with the sheer number of speaking engagements, meetings, seminars, media
interviews of our staff, not only in North America, but worldwide. Our aim
is
to provide a dissenting voice in the present world of irrational claims. We
are committed to science, reason, freedom of inquiry, and the examination of
affirmative ethical alternatives. And we have attempted very hard to defend
this outlook with vigor and courage.
Some of the high points of the year 2002 and some of the prospects for 2003
are as follows:

    The Center for Inquiry has appointed Dr. William Cooke to Executive
Director of the Center for Inquiry's new Commission for Transnational
Cooperation. Dr. Cooke (and his wife Bobbie) come to us from New Zealand,
where he edited the New Zealand Rationalist (now renamed Open Society). Born
in Kenya, he has traveled worldwide and is familiar with skepticism,
freethought, rationalism, and secular humanism. Among our international
Centers are those in Germany, France, Russia, Nepal, India, Peru, Mexico,
and
Africa. The Center for Inquiry and its affiliated organizations have
provided
substantial funds to support these Centers worldwide and will continue to do
so in the future. We look forward to vigorous growth and development of new
Centers, whether humanist or skeptical or both, in other countries of the
world.

    The Center for Inquiry Institute hosted its first expanded summer school
in July 2002. It provided, for the first time, college credit, in
cooperation
with the State University of New York (Empire State College). Students from
Malaysia, Uganda, Australia, and Russia attended the conference. A similar
program will be held July 6-20, 2003. The faculty will include noted
skeptics
Professor Richard Wiseman from the United Kingdom and Professor Barry
Beyerstein from Vancouver, Canada. The course will be "The Psychology of
Belief." The second course, "Reason and Ethics," will be taught by Austin
Dacey with other faculty. An exchange program with Moscow State University
will bring students from Russia. Students and Research Fellows from Latin
America, Asia, Africa, and other parts of the world are expected to
participate. Again, course credit is offered for those wishing to avail
themselves of it.

    In August 2002 a popular course for skeptics was conducted at the
University of Oregon by Professor Ray Hyman and colleagues. This will again
be offered at University of Oregon August 14-17, 2003.

    CSICOP hosted a World Skeptics Congress in June 2002 in Burbank,
California, attended by 500 participants from twenty-three countries,
including a large delegation from China (headed by Dr. Lin Zixin), India
(Sanal Edamaruku), and skeptics from Latin America (Mario Mendez Acosta from
México, Manuel Paz y Miño from Per), etc.

    A special Congress in Washington, D.C., will be convened April 11-13,
2003, coordinated by Dr. Edward Buckner, on the topic "One Nation Without
God: Secularism, Society and Justice." Among the speakers will be
Christopher
Hitchens, Michael Newdow, Peter Beinart (Editor of The New Republic), Julia
Sweeney (of Saturday Night Live), Ibn Warraq, Eugenie Scott, Rob Tielman
(Commissioner of Education of the Netherlands), Eddie Tabash, and others.

    The Campus Freethought Alliance hosted over 100 debates and seminars on
college campuses. The debates drew thousands and thousands of students.
There
are now 137 groups on various campuses in North America and throughout the
world. and new ones are being added every month.

    CSH also cosponsored a special program commemorating the hundredth
anniversary of the birth of Sidney Hook at the City University of New York
in
October 2002, which received widespread press attention in The New York
Times
and The New Yorker to The Chronicle of Higher Education, and other media.
Among those who participated were Nathan Glazer, Arthur Schlessinger Jr.,
and
Cornell West. The proceedings will be published in 2003 by Prometheus Books
in a special collection to be edited by Matthew Cotter, Robert Talisse, and
Robert Tempio.

    CSH also sponsored a meeting of the Society of Humanist Philosophers at
the American Philosophical Association, December 29th, in Philadelphia. The
topic under discussion was the writings of Professor Richard Gale, a
naturalistic philosopher from Pittsburgh, with criticisms by four theists. A
similar meeting will be held in December 2003 at the American Philosophical
Association.

    A new Center for Inquiry was launched in Tampa, Florida, at the end of
2002. Its first major conference will be held February, 7-9, 2003. A
distinguished list of speakers will participate.

    The Center for Inquiry-MetroNY announced its decision to expand into new
offices in the city of Manhattan.

    The media impact of the Center continues very strong, especially noted
are the interviews by Joe Nickell in the December New Yorker and Paul Kurtz
in The New York Times. TV. Several hundred radio shows and press interviews
featured members of the staff, including Ed Buckner, Tom Flynn, Joe Nickell,
Paul Kurtz, Katherine Bourdonnay, Jim Underdown, Barry Seidman, Norm Allen,
Ben Radford, Kevin Christopher, DJ Grothe.

    CSH sponsored the TV series Humanist Perspective, moderated by Joe Beck.
This continues to play in cities coast to coast.

    CSICOP participated in the TV series on Discovery in late 2002 called
Critical Eye, hosted by moderator William B. Davis of The X-Files. These
programs will continue in early 2003.

    The National Media Center is expected to be completed in Hollywood,
California in early 2003 and will be a showcase not only for the media, but
also for people in Southern California.

    The Religious Right continues its attack on science, reason, and
especially secular humanism. Skepticism is constantly engulfed by paranormal
programs in the mass media. Thus we strive mightily to respond.

    The worsening economy has had a serious impact on nonprofit
organizations
such as those affiliated with the Center for Inquiry. The conflict with
terrorism, an impending new war in the Middle East, and the possible decline
of civil liberties in the United States are indeed worrisome. In spite of
this, we have managed to survive, and we look forward with great
anticipation
to continue our efforts as virtually the lone voice in the cacophonic din.
Our mission is to burn bright the candle in the dark-and to keep alive the
light of reason and freedom.

Paul Kurtz
Chairman,  CSICOP, CSH, CFI>