Paul Kurtz dead at 86

TedW — Tue, 23 Oct 2012 11:22:35 -0800

Paul Kurtz, noted secular humanist, has died. Kurtz was a philosophy professor who was instrumental in the founding of a number of skeptical and humanist organizations. These include the Committee for Scientific investigation of Claims of the Paranormal (publisher of Skeptical Inquiry), the Council for Secular Humanism (publisher of Free Inquiry magazine), and the Center for Inquiry. He promoted secular humanism as an alternative to the more vocal atheism practiced by people such as Madalyn Murray O'Hair. In recent years this approach was criticized by the neo-atheists, eventually leading to a divide among atheists. (Commentary on previous link) Although this resulted in Kurtz leaving the organizations he had helped found, he remained an important figure until his death. Kurtz previously on MeFi here; Wikipedia page here.

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