Posts tagged: Skepticism
Merry Christmas
And Remember…
Nell McCafferty gives the church a piece of her mind
Nell McCafferty lashes out at the catholic church, questioning their continued use of titles like “Father”, “Your Grace” and “Lordship” in response to the Vatican’s cover-up of sexual abuse of children by catholic priests and how the reputation of the church was deemed more important than the welfare of children.
I love when she goes off on “What’s holy about the Vatican?” and “What’s holy about the Pope in this context?”
Via: Pharyngula
Surrounded by ignorance
Just watch this… as the video progresses, try to NOT let your mouth hang open in disbelief.
Oh… My… God! Now, I know many people are genuinely ignorant of things that don’t really affect them in their day-to-day lives. But really, America? This level of ignorance is just absurd. Apparently there are people living among us who don’t know how many sides a triangle has and don’t see something wrong on a map where the entire country of Australia is labeled “Iran” or “North Korea”.We also seem to have had THREE world wars and Hiroshima and Nagasaki are only famous for sumo wrestling.
Wow.
Via: Unrelated TechCrunch post.
Happy Freethought Day!
From FreethoughtDay.org:
Over 300 years ago, on October 12, 1692, Governor William Phipps of the Colony of Massachusetts made a decision that brought to an end the horrendous Salem Witch trials.
A Christian, nevertheless he declared that spectral evidence (supernaturalism) would no longer be admissible in court, and so the trials, due to lack of appropriate evidence, came to an end. The governor’s decision was a distinct departure from the general community’s extant thinking and a giant step on the path toward the principle of legal neutrality that would, when the United States incorporated into its brand new Constitution a Bill of Rights, assure each U.S. citizen the freedom to follow his/her conscience regarding matters of ultimate belief.
Spread the joy of being a freethinker and support these fine organizations that fight to uphold these American secular rights we all enjoy.
American Humanist Association
Secular Coalition for America
Live LHC Webca…
As funny as this is, bad things can happen when people don’t have the critical thinking skills to weed out silly arguments and understand the truth.
Via: The Bad Astronomer
How does the Bible explain suffering?
Bart Ehrman has done extensive research into the historical roots of Christianity as well as written several books on the subject. His latest book is ‘God’s Problem: How the Bible Fails to Answer Our Most Important Question–Why We Suffer‘ dealing with, as you might guess, how the Bible tries to explain suffering in a world ruled by an all-loving and all-powerful benefactor. He recently gave this lecture at UC Berkley on the same subject and I think its worth watching.
Although I agree with pretty much everything Ehrman has to say regarding the lecture’s topic, one of his answers at the end struck me as odd. Ehrman seems to think Sam Harris blames religion for ‘all’ the evils in the world. I think he may have mixed up some of the ‘New Atheist’ authors since Harris, if any of them, pleas for more scientific study of all things spiritual. Christopher Hitchens’s book ‘God is not Great’ carries the subtitle ‘How Religion Poisons Everything’ and Richard Dawkins created the BBC series ‘Root of all Evils’ (though he disagreed with the BBC’s title choice) but Sam Harris’s main argument is that an evidence-based reality trumps a faith-based one.
My other main problem is Ehrman’s apologetic claim of a fundemental divide between science and religion. He belives in a point where the questions must be handed off to theologians to answer. But the supernatural beliefs at the core’s of religions are scientific claims. The question of the existence of a supernatural creator being in the universe is a scientific question with a yes or no answer. There is no philosophical, historical or theological way around that statement. The supernatural being that a large percentage of the world believes in either exists within reality or it doesn’t.
Aside from those small observations I highly recommend Ehrman’s previous books and his Teaching Company lectures. I’ll be picking up God’s Problem soon.
The Lost Gospels
Originally Aired: March 15, 2008 on BBC 2
Anglican priest Peter Owen Jones explores the huge number of ancient Christian texts that didn’t make it into the New Testament. Shocking and challenging, these were works in which Jesus didn’t die, took revenge on his enemies and kissed Mary Magdalene on the mouth. Pete travels through Egypt and the former Roman Empire looking at the evidence of a Christian world very different to the one we know, and finds over seventy gospels, acts, letters and apocalypses all circulating in the early Church.
Watch at Google Video
Via: Atheist Media Blog
Scholarly opinion
Scholarly opinion – even highly informed scholarly opinion – is not evidence. – Bart D. Ehrman
Complimentary & Alternative Computer Repair
What’s next… a homeopathic podcast?
Via: Bad Astronomy
The Genius of Charles Darwin by Richard Dawkins
Another excellent documentary by Richard Dawkins on the elegant simplicity of Darwin’s theory of evolution by natural selection. Within just the first 10 minutes, Dawkins creates an excellent metaphor for the body of evidence supporting evolution.
Nobody’s actually seen evolution take place over a long period but they’ve seen the after-effects and the after-effects are massively supported. Its like a case in a court of law where nobody can actually stand up and say, “I saw the murder happen.” But yet you’ve got millions and millions of pieces of evidence which no reasonable person could possibly dispute.
Here Be Dragons
Brian Dunning has created a 40-minute video introduction to critical thinking called Here Be Dragons based on his excellent Skeptoid podcast.
Most people fully accept paranormal and pseudoscientific claims without critique as they are promoted by the mass media. Here Be Dragons offers a toolbox for recognizing and understanding the dangers of pseudoscience, and appreciation for the reality-based benefits offered by real science.
Here Be Dragons is suitable for general audiences and is licensed for free distribution and public display. Go download your own copy or purchase a DVD at the Here Be Dragons website.
The Great Desecration Is Over
Well, PZ has finally done the deed. The Great Desecration of 2008 has ended and no one was struck down by almighty lightning.
If you haven’t kept up with the story, A parishioner in a Florida Catholic church accepted the holy Eucharist but did not ingest it. Apparently, he was planning to leave service with the holy Eucharist still in his possession. Some local church groups threw a big fit and the local news covered it. Then PZ Myers of Pharyngula noticed the story and posted a scathing rebuttal to the notion that everyone should hold these wafers sacred. This caught the attention of Bill Donohue who, as head of the Catholic league, organized mass efforts to get PZ fired from the University of Minnesota, Morris, as well as many other Christian crazies who began filling PZ’s inbox with various threats ranging from his job to his life.
So what was the horrid act of desecration? …A nail. A dull rusty nail. To keep it fair however, PZ ran the nail through the Eucharist as well as torn pages from the Qur’an and The God Delusion.
And then he threw it all into the garbage.
Nothing must be held sacred. Question everything. God is not great, Jesus is not your lord, you are not disciples of any charismatic prophet. You are all human beings who must make your way through your life by thinking and learning, and you have the job of advancing humanities’ knowledge by winnowing out the errors of past generations and finding deeper understanding of reality. You will not find wisdom in rituals and sacraments and dogma, which build only self-satisfied ignorance, but you can find truth by looking at your world with fresh eyes and a questioning mind.
Well said, PZ. Well said.
I’m Afraid Of Never Having Lived
PZ pointed me to an interesting essay about the craziness that was ‘World Youth Day’ in Sydney, Australia. One particular passage stuck out at me while I read.
It’s been a revelation to me a year since my “epiphany”. I feel as if I’m walking through life with the blinkers off. Suddenly all the religious mumbo-jumbo jumps out as so bonkers. Wearing certain things, eating certain things, mumbling certain things at certain times so some imaginary friend will let you into a club in the sky when you die. I want to do my living now, thanks. I’m not afraid of dying. I’m afraid of never having lived.
A somewhat simple but acurate description of what it feels like to view the world anew without the blindfold of religion over your eyes or as Julia Sweeney put it in her show ‘Letting Go of God’, “Taking off the God glasses.” When you believe in religion, you have to live a double life. One where all your judgments are based on evidence and rational thought and another where you allow supernatural explanations to creep into existence and faith trumps evidence. Since faith is basically a lack of evidence – if you have ample evidence, you don’t need faith – this presents two conflicting world views coexisting within the same mind. It’s no wonder why religious people are always having to reaffirm their beliefs and attend prepared revivals. When every other aspect of your life is driven by evidence, reason and critical thinking, the challenge in reconciling irrational beliefs becomes that much harder.
Via: Pharyngula
Going Skeptical
For the 91st time in a row, someone with much more wit and style than myself has collected all the wonderfully skeptical news from around the internet and combined them all into a fun and informative article with linkage galore. It’s your 91st Skeptic’s Circle hosted at Sorting Out Science.
Get Skeptical… Again
Pull yourself out from underneath the cool shade of that igneous and bask in the eye-opening light of your 85th Skeptic’s Circle, hosted by Andrea’s Buzzing About. There tons to keep you reading all weekend long.
