In addition to churning out a book a year, Stenger maintained a breakneck pace as a speaker. Addressing a Center for Inquiry meeting in 2012, he said, "I want to urge those of you who are not scientists to try to convince those who are to stop pussyfooting around with religion and confront the reality of what it is and always has been a blight on humanity that has hindered our progress for millennia and now threatens our very existence."