Sanal Edamaruku — a.k.a. “the Indian James Randi” — has debunked a lot of sacred cows in his life. Last year, after explaining how a statue of Christ could be dripping water seemingly on its own, he was charged with “hurting the religious sentiments of a particular community.” The “crime” could have resulted in a prison sentence of up to three years in addition to a fine, so Edamaruku fled from his home before he could be punished (or physically attacked).

For the past year, Edamaruku has been in Finland. And recently, from his base in Helsinki, he announced the launch of an international journal (published quarterly) aptly called Rationalist:

The idea behind Rationalist magazine is to create an open forum of intellectual honesty beyond different names that individual groups use for the broad movement — Rationalism, Freethought, Secularism, Humanism, Skepticism, Atheism, Scientific Temper and many others. These names are dear to us based on our history, tradition or culture, and our focus of activities. Rationalist magazine wishes to explore our common objectives and common lines. World-class articles, well known columnists, [in-depth] studies, reports from around the world, announcements and reports of conferences and activities of all major organizations.

It’s a print publication, with an online version going out to paid subscribers. The first issue goes to press on January 5.

If you’d like to subscribe, you can do so here!



