A merger
CFI sent out a press release today:
Richard Dawkins Foundation for Reason & Science to Merge with Center for Inquiry
The Richard Dawkins Foundation for Reason & Science and the Center for Inquiry, two of the world’s most respected freethought institutions, have announced their intent to merge. The new organization, which will be the largest secularist organization in the United States, will bear the name of the Center for Inquiry (CFI), with the Richard Dawkins Foundation for Reason & Science (RDFRS) becoming a division of CFI.
Robyn Blumner, currently president & CEO of RDFRS, will become CEO of the combined entity on January 25. Ronald A. Lindsay, currently president & CEO of CFI, will retain the title of president until the merger is complete, and will work closely with Blumner during the transition period. Previous to leading RDFRS, Blumner was a syndicated columnist for the Tampa Bay Times and led two statewide affiliates of the American Civil Liberties Union.
Richard Dawkins, founder and chair of RDFRS, will become a member of the CFI board of directors along with the other directors of RDFRS once the merger is complete.
CFI and RDFRS plan to begin unified operations immediately, although the merger will not become final until later this spring, after necessary legal filings and regulatory approval.
The merged organization will be the largest in the United States with a mission of promoting secularism and science, with an annual budget in excess of $6 million and a staff of about 45 employees.
I knew about the merger, but I didn’t know Blumner would be the CEO and I didn’t know Dawkins would be on the board.
I’m seeing a lot of hostile responses to the news on Facebook, and not many friendly ones.
I think the merger is unfortunate. Five years ago I wouldn’t have, but now I do. In the interim Dawkins discovered Twitter, and the result has been unpleasant. I think CFI is better than that, and it makes me sad that now CFI is linked to Dawkins and his daily outbursts on Twitter.
“I am very pleased that my foundation is about to join forces with the Center for Inquiry,” said Richard Dawkins. “CFI is the biggest player in the secular / non-religious / skeptical world, and I like to hope that RDFRS will have something to add to its already flourishing enterprise. In turn, among our projects which will benefit from a larger team of professionals are Openly Secular and the Teacher Institute for Evolutionary Science (TIES). I look forward to adding my voice to CFI’s focus on promoting secular humanism and fighting the proliferation of pseudoscience. I am also especially delighted that Robyn Blumner, the present CEO of RDFRS, is to become the President and CEO of the whole organisation. Ron Lindsay is truly (forgive the cliché) a hard act to follow. If anyone can do it, Robyn can.”
I don’t look forward to Dawkins’s adding his voice to CFI’s focus on promoting secular humanism, because I think he’s seriously and damagingly bad at the humanist part. To be specific, I think he’s way too quick to display his contempt for people who get things wrong, and all too often for people who simply say things he dislikes – especially feminists. I think that’s a bad look for CFI.
Maybe I’m wrong. Maybe it will work out well. But I’m not optimistic.
I lost confidence in CFI as an organization so long ago that I no longer quite remember why, and I never thought much of the RDFRS. I don’t think I’m even remotely alone in such sentiments. I suspect that a very large proportion of freethinkers will react to this news with either a shudder or a shrug. This suggests to me that two organizations of rapidly decreasing relevance just combined forces in a desperate attempt to remain relevant, which will almost certainly fail.
I was gobsmacked. Dawkins on the Board!?
Bye-bye, CFI.
Didn’t CFI just go through a merger late last year?
Yes but that was the two halves of itself, so it was just a matter of consolidating its own organization.
@ 1 G Felis
Hang on a sec. Just from reading this blog I know CFI quite possibly saved the life of Taslima Nasrin; they have a rep at the UN who fights for freedom of expression, particularly against punishments for “blasphemy” and “apostasy”; and they’re fighting for abortion rights in the Supreme Court.
I think “irrelevant” is a difficult charge to sustain.
Yes, I think Silentbob is right. There’s also Bill Cooke’s international work with humanists in Uganda and Kenya. I don’t think CFI is irrelevant. But I don’t think this was a good move.
I hope I’m wrong.
Rebecca Watson’s take: pretty funny in a *lolsob* way.
http://skepchick.org/2016/01/center-for-inquiry-merges-with-richard-dawkins-his-twitter-account/
Althea, that was funny. :)
It’s true, CFI does good things. I hope Dawkins doesn’t get in the way of that.
Self-Awareness Level: PZ Myers
You mean you think that I think that I never do that? Don’t be silly. Of course I know I do that.
But 1. I don’t do it every day on Twitter
2. I don’t do it to 14-year-olds from immigrant families
3. I don’t have anything like the reach that Dawkins has
4. I haven’t set up a foundation named after me
5. I don’t have a foundation named after me that just merged with the Center for Inquiry
It’s nice to hear an acknowledgement of that. I don’t think that would have happened if you were still enmeshed in the toxic culture of FtB. ☺
Well you’re wrong. I’ve never denied that I have that fault, and I have often copped to it.
An apology for your snide and inaccurate remark would be more welcome than a patronizing expression of gratitude for something you assume I haven’t done before.