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| title | chunk | source | category | tags | date_saved | instance |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Center for Inquiry | 2/4 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Center_for_Inquiry | reference | science, encyclopedia | 2026-05-05T10:20:13.315459+00:00 | kb-cron |
=== Office of Public Policy === The Office of Public Policy (OPP) is the Washington, D.C., political arm of the Center for Inquiry. The OPP's mandate is to lobby Congress and the Administration on issues related to science and secularism. This includes defending the separation of church and state, promoting science and reason as the basis of public policy, and advancing secular values. The OPP publishes position statements on its subjects of interest. Examples have included acupuncture, climate change, contraception and intelligent design. The Office is an active participant in legal matters, providing experts for Congress testimony and amicus briefs in Supreme Court cases. It publishes a list of bills it considers of interest as they pass through the U.S. legislative process.
=== "Science and the Public" Master of Education program === In partnership with the Graduate School of Education at the State University of New York at Buffalo, CFI offers an accredited Master of Education program in Science and the Public, available entirely online. Aimed at students preparing for careers in research, science education, public policy, science journalism, or further study in sociology, history, and philosophy of science, science communication, education, or public administration, the program explores the methods and outlook of science as they intersect with public culture, scientific literacy, and public policy.
=== Quackwatch === In February 2020, Quackwatch, founded by Stephen Barrett, became part of CFI, which announced it plans to maintain its various websites and to receive Barrett's library later in the year.
=== ScienceSaves === ScienceSaves is a nationwide pro-science campaign to generate an appreciation for the role of science. National Science Appreciation Day started in 2022 and is part of the ScienceSaves initiative and happens annually on March 26. In 2022, CFI got proclamations declaring March 26 as National Science Appreciation Day from more than a dozen states.
=== Teacher Institute for Evolutionary Science ===
This program provides teachers with tools to teach evolution.
== Richard Dawkins Award ==
The Richard Dawkins Award is an annual award that was presented by the Atheist Alliance of America up until July 2019, when it moved to the Center for Inquiry (CFI). According to the CFI press release, "The recipient will be a distinguished individual from the worlds of science, scholarship, education or entertainment, who publicly proclaims the values of secularism and rationalism, upholding scientific truth wherever it may lead". The award has been presented since 2003, and is named after Richard Dawkins, an English evolutionary biologist who was named the world's top thinker in a 2013 reader's poll of Prospect magazine.
== Past projects and programs == The following projects and programs are no longer active.
=== Camp Inquiry === The Center for Inquiry organized an annual summer camp for children called Camp Inquiry, focusing on scientific literacy, critical thinking, naturalism, the arts, humanities, and humanist ethical development. Camp Inquiry has been described as "a summer camp for kids with questions" where spooky stories were followed by "reverse engineering sessions" as the participants were encouraged to determine the cause of an apparently supernatural experience. Camp Inquiry has been criticised as "Jesus Camp in reverse"; its organisers countered that the camp is not exclusive to atheist children and that campers are encouraged to draw their own conclusions based on empirical and critical thinking.
=== CFI Institute === The Center for Inquiry Institute offered undergraduate level online courses, seminars, and workshops in critical thinking and the scientific outlook and its implications for religion, human values, and the borderlands of science. In addition to transferable undergraduate credit through the University at Buffalo system, CFI offered a thirty-credit-hour Certificate of Proficiency in Critical Inquiry. The three-year curriculum plan offered summer sessions at the main campus at the University at Buffalo in Amherst, New York.
=== Medicine and health === The Commission for Scientific Medicine and Mental Health (CSMMH) stimulated critical scientific scrutiny of New Age medicine and the schools of psychotherapy. It supported naturalistic addiction recovery practices through Secular Organizations for Sobriety. CFI challenges the claims of alternative medicine and advocates a scientific basis for healthcare. CSMMH papers have covered topics such as pseudoscience in autism treatments and in psychiatry.
=== Naturalism Research Project === CFI also ran the Naturalism Research Project, a major effort to develop the theoretical and practical applications of philosophical naturalism. As part of this project, CFI's libraries, research facilities, and conference areas were available to scientists and scholars to advance the understanding of science's methodologies and conclusions about naturalism. Activities of the Naturalism Research Project included lectures and seminars by visiting fellows and scholars; academic conferences; and support CFI publications of important research. Among the central issues of naturalism include the exploration of varieties of naturalism; problems in philosophy of science; the methodologies of scientific inquiry; naturalism and humanism; naturalistic ethics; planetary ethics; and naturalism and the biosciences.
== Organization and locations ==
CFI is a nonprofit body registered as a charity in the United States. It has 17 locations in the U.S., and has 16 international branches or affiliated organizations. The organization has Centers For Inquiry in Amherst, New York (its headquarters), Los Angeles, The Steve Allen Theater, New York City, Tampa Bay, Washington, D.C., Indiana, Austin, Chicago, San Francisco and Michigan.
=== International activities === CFI has branches, representation or affiliated organizations in countries around the world. It organizes its international activities under the banner Center For Inquiry Transnational. In addition, CFI holds consultative status to the United Nations as an NGO under the UN Economic and Social Council. The center participates in UN Human Rights Council debates, for example a debate on the subject of female genital mutilation during 2014.
=== University exchange programs === International programs exist in Germany (Rossdorf), France (Nice), Spain (Bilbao), Poland (Warsaw), Nigeria (Ibadan), Uganda (Kampala), Kenya (Nairobi), Nepal (Kathmandu), India (Pune and Hyderabad), Egypt (Cairo), China (Beijing), New Zealand (Auckland), Peru (Lima), Argentina (Buenos Aires), Senegal (Dakar), Zambia (Lusaka), and Bangladesh (Dhaka).
=== Centre for Inquiry Canada ===