(1) I'm happy to announce that The Reason Project was launched yesterday. According to their website, "The Reason Project is a 501(c)(3) charitable foundation devoted to spreading scientific knowledge and secular values in society. Drawing on the talents of some of the most prominent and creative thinkers across a wide range of disciplines, The Reason Project seeks to encourage critical thinking and wise public policy through a variety of interrelated projects — all with the purpose of eroding the influence of dogmatism, superstition, and bigotry in our world."
(2) I'm reading Alan Alda's excellent "Things I overheard while talking to myself". In chapter 6 ("A passion for reason"), he quotes Thomas Jefferson:
"I was bold in the pursuit of knowledge, never fearing to follow truth and reason to whatever results they led, and bearding every authority which stood in their way."
(3) And since Jefferson is one of my all-time heroes, why not another quote, found on a wall in the underground of the Jefferson Memorial in Washington, D.C.:
“Here, we are not afraid to follow truth wherever it may lead, nor tolerate any error so long as reason is left free to combat it.”
Thomas Jefferson, 1820
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