1996 Back Issues 
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Religious literacy, the topic of the Focus section for this issue, is a better knowledge of the character of the more influential religions of our culture. We lead off with an article, "Symbols," by our new Religion Editor, Jordan Maxwell. The sun is a unifying theme here. Tim Leedom provides an Easter retrospective, plus the biographies of several false Messiahs. Bill Edelen discusses the amazing survival of ancient cannibalistic rituals to modern times in disguised form. Bernard Katz gets to the heart of religious literacy by exposing the problems of treating a book as holy. Forum explores a little freethought history, including the Comstock Laws and DM Bennett. Forum closes with advice from CW Dalton for us atheists to loosen up when it comes to those pesky Christians. And that just covers half of this issue...click and enjoy.
Volume 123 Number 1
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This issue's Focus section treats the issues of liberty and political power. On the pages that follow there is an excerpt from Ingersoll, a re-discovered definition of "liberal," and clear exposition on how "liberal" has changed in the last two hundred years. There's two items on the Illuminati. Joseph Uphoff reviews a 1798 book condemning the Illuminati, and Freeland Chew brings out the grain of truth in today's political conspiracy theories: bad ideas which misread human nature and lead to tyranny. Four articles are frankly libertarian in nature, and two articles on religion and the temptations of political power. The issue closes with two offbeat strides toward freedom: Estar Holmes compares the Montana Freemen to Brazilian aborigines as fellow rebels against despotic government, Richard Cooper reviews Timothy Leary's book, which expresses hopes for freedom and human greatness in cyberspace
Volume 123 Number 2
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