Talk:Tom Flynn (author)

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Rewrite of page

Just to let anyone know who might be interested. This page is being completely re-written "off-WP" It should take me a couple weeks to complete. Once done I will paste the changes unto WP all fresh and clean. So if you make any edits to the page between those weeks, they will not show up on the page when done. If there is something that really needs to be on the page, please post it here and I will add it in. Hope everyone is okay with this. Sgerbic (talk) 04:02, 8 March 2012 (UTC)[reply]

All done - enjoy! Sgerbic (talk) 03:17, 16 April 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Original research

The section "principal contentions" appears to consist entirely of original research, and the tone seems a bit odd for an encyclopedia. It reads sort of like a blog post of the article's subject rather than a report of the subject's views. Given his position, it really shouldn't be difficult to find verifiable sources reporting on the subject's views. Quoting directly from his own writings seems inappropriate. MezzoMezzo (talk) 07:23, 23 December 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Request for Comments

There is an RfC on the question of using "Religion: None" vs. "Religion: None (atheist)" in the infobox on this and other similar pages.

The RfC is at Template talk:Infobox person#RfC: Religion infobox entries for individuals that have no religion.

Please help us determine consensus on this issue. --Guy Macon (talk) 22:38, 25 April 2015 (UTC)[reply]

Center For Inquiry announces the death of Tom Flynn

Tom Flynn, Giant of American Freethought, Has Died at Age 66

The world has lost a towering figure of American freethought, a man who was both on the cutting edge of secular humanist thought, as well as the foremost caretaker of its rich history. The entire Center for Inquiry family is anguished by the sudden and unexpected death of our colleague, teacher, and friend Tom Flynn at age 66.

Tom held numerous leadership roles during his more than thirty years with the Center for Inquiry, most recently as editor of Free Inquiry magazine, director of the Robert Green Ingersoll Birthplace Museum and the Freethought Trail, and former executive director of the Council for Secular Humanism.

But this collection of titles does not nearly convey the plainer truth, which is that Tom Flynn was the beating heart of the Center for Inquiry and indeed the wider freethought movement.

A stark rationalist and staunch atheist if ever there was one, Tom was nonetheless brimming with enthusiasm, curiosity, bold ideas, and perhaps most of all, humor. He had a deep love and encyclopedic knowledge of freethought history and devoted himself to the preservation and rediscovery of American freethought’s great untold stories.

At the same time, he was a true visionary whose future-focused ideas about religion, atheism, equality, and the existential crises we face as a global civilization were once considered radical but now seem prescient. He was a virtuoso of the written word, penning not only countless articles and essays but also science fiction novels and the defiantly revelatory book The Trouble with Christmas.

Tom revelled in his various public personas, whether as a pugnacious stoker of controversy, a stubborn atheist curmudgeon (as with his infamous “Anti-Claus” alter-ego), or a wisecracking, avuncular coworker. But at his core, Tom was a man excited about big ideas, regardless of their popularity or public acceptance, and he was eager to share those ideas, bringing to them his unmatched combination of scholarship, eloquence, and humor.

“Tom didn’t believe in magic, but he was magical,” said Robyn E. Blumner, president and CEO of the Center for Inquiry. “How else to describe this unlikely combination of brilliance, charm, vision, and roll-up-your-sleeves accomplishment?”

“He saved the legacy of the Great Agnostic, Robert Green Ingersoll, from obscurity. He carried the torch for atheism, secular humanism, and clear-eyed rationality for decades with his powerful and copious writings and speeches—undoubtedly helping to cause the Rise of the Nones. All while cracking jokes and delighting everyone in his orbit,” said Blumner. “And how lucky we were to be part of it.”

“The death of Tom Flynn is a tragedy of epic proportions for everyone who cares about the equality of atheists anywhere in the world,” said Edward Tabash, veteran freethought activist and chair of the Center for Inquiry. “He was our conscience against religious bigotry. He was our conscience against irrational action and thought.”

“His razor sharp humor and wit were simply unmatched,” said Tabash. “The best way that we can honor Tom’s memory and all the magnificent work that he did is to continue to devote ourselves to ending religious bigotry anywhere and everywhere.”

To Tom’s wife, Sue, and to his family and friends, all of us at the Center for Inquiry join you in your grief. He was our family, too.

Tom’s hero, Robert Green Ingersoll, once wrote, “A great man does not seek applause or place; he seeks for truth; he seeks the road to happiness, and what he ascertains, he gives to others.” It will be a long time before there can ever be a full accounting of what Tom Flynn gave to all of us. Now Tom joins Ingersoll in what the Great Agnostic called “the perfect rest,” no longer as a mere admirer but as an equal.

We will have much more to say about Tom in the coming days and weeks, for there is indeed much more to be said. For now, explore Tom’s incredible body of work spanning four decades, including articles, videos, and interviews.

Archive of Tom’s articles for Free Inquiry. (1985–2021)

Archive of Tom’s Center for Inquiry blog “Advocatus Diaboli.” (2008–2017)

American Freethought: A documentary produced by, and featuring, Tom Flynn.

Selected interviews with Tom Flynn on the Center for Inquiry’s podcast Point of Inquiry:

Tom Flynn – Science Fiction And Atheism (2008) Tom Flynn – Secular Humanism versus . . . Atheism? (2009) Tom Flynn – In Like Flynn (2010) Spirituality: Friend Or Foe? – Adam Frank And Tom Flynn (2011) Christmas Extra: Tom Flynn’s 30th Year of Anti-Clausing (2014) Should Atheists Celebrate Christmas? Tom Flynn Debates Lindsay Beyerstein (2016) The Trouble with Christmas for Atheists with Tom Flynn (2020) Teaser trailer for Tom’s Anti-Claus Christmas-at-the-office livestream (2018)