Point of Inquiry

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Point of Inquiry is a podcast produced by the Center for Inquiry (CFI). Each episode features interviews and commentaries focused on CFI's mission of promoting science, reason, and freedom of inquiry in every field of human interest. Specific topics include:

Pseudoscience and the paranormal (bigfoot, UFOs, psychics, communication with the dead, cryptozoology, etc.)
Alternative medicine (faith healing, homeopathy, belief in "healing touch," the efficacy of prayer, etc.)
Religion and secularism (church-state separation, the effects and proper role of religion in society, the future of secularism and nonbelief, etc.)

D.J. Grothe hosts Point of Inquiry. An associate editor of Free Inquiry magazine, he lectures and debates frequently on topics surrounding science and central beliefs at colleges and universities throughout the United States.

The weekly show, which launched in December 2005, has featured Nobel Prize-winning scientists, public intellectuals, social critics and thinkers, and renowned entertainers. Past guests include Richard Dawkins, Daniel Dennett, Christopher Hitchens and Sam Harris (the four chief figures of "new atheism"), Chris Mooney, Eugenie Scott, Bill Nye, Max Maven, Ibn Warraq, Susan Jacoby, Derek and Swoopy of Skepticality, Joe Nickell, Paul Kurtz, Jamy Ian Swiss, Nobel Prize winner Herbert Hauptman, American skeptic James Randi, lawyer and activist Edward Tabash and Intelligent Design proponent Michael Behe among others. Recently Francis Collins, former head of the Human Genome Project known also for being an evangelical Christian, was interviewed on the show. The discussion, despite obvious disagreements between Collins and Grothe, proceeded amicably. Collins is one of the few non-skeptics interviewed on the show, and certainly the most prominent.

Produced by Thomas Donnelly, Point of Inquiry sometimes features commentaries from contributors such as Tom Flynn, Barry Karr, David Koepsell, Lauren Becker, Austin Dacey, Sarah Jordan, Ben Radford, and Debbie Goddard.

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