The IRS recently confirmed it will not investigate preachers who endorse political candidates from the pulpit—a major development in the Christian Right’s push to dismantle the wall between church and state. While intended to strengthen Christianity’s influence, this move may accelerate the very trend they hope to reverse: the steady growth of secularism in America.…

The development of the modern sciences often went together with a secular spirit of inquiry, reflecting growing relationships between humanist thought and empirical approaches to investigating the world. In the present, though, there are still challenges to face in pursuit of humanist aspirations to use science to serve the good of people and the planet.…