The purpose of the Center for Inquiry is to promote and defend reason,
science, and freedom of inquiry in all areas of human endeavor.
The Center for Inquiry is a transnational nonprofit 501(c)(3)
organization that encourages evidence-based inquiry into science,
pseudoscience, medicine and health, religion, ethics, secularism,
and society.
Through education, research, publishing, and social services,
it seeks to present affirmative alternatives based on scientific
naturalism.
The Center is also interested in providing rational ethical
alternatives to the reigning paranormal and religious systems
of belief, and in developing communities where like-minded
individuals can meet and share experiences.
The Center for Inquiry is a Global Federation committed to science, reason, free inquiry, secularism, and planetary ethics
The term "Center for Inquiry" was first used in 1991, as a joint project
of the Committee for the Scientific Investigation of Claims of the Paranormal (CSICOP) and the Council for Secular Humanism (CSH), when both organizations shared
a new building in Amherst, N.Y., which was named the Center for Inquiry.
CSICOP, founded in 1976, is the publisher of the widely acclaimed magazine, the Skeptical Inquirer;
and the Council, established in 1980, is publisher of Free
Inquiry, the leading humanist magazine in the world. In
June 1995 their headquarters building was expanded and new
Libraries and other facilities were opened. Further expansion of Center for Inquiry International headquarters is currently in development.
Plans to build
Centers in other parts of the United States and the world
were announced in 1995. This transnational movement now includes Centers in Los Angeles
(Center for Inquiry West), New York City (Center for Inquiry Metro New York),
Tampa (Center for Inquiry-Florida), Russia (at Moscow State
University), Germany (Rossdorf), France (Nice), Perú (Lima),
Nigeria (Lagos), and elsewhere.
The Center for Inquiry International
in Amherst, New York, has been renamed to indicate that it
is the main headquarters of a growing transnational movement.
The newest division to be founded in 2003 dealing with medicine
and health is the Commission for Scientific Medicine and Mental
Health.
The Center for Inquiry is a daring new concept. Although
modern world civilization is based upon the achievements of
science and technology, until this time there has been no
authoritative and credible voice defending the scientific
outlook in examining religion, human values, and the borderlands
of science. If the naturalistic outlook is to supplant the
ancient mythological narratives of the past, it needs a new
institution devoted to its articulation and dramatization
to the public. The Center for Inquiry is that institution.
