James Randi responds to a Letter from a Priest

I came across an article on the JREF site that was posted yesterday and is all about a letter that Randi received from a Catholic Priest along with some cheap religious trinkets. Published also for us to all enjoy is Randi’s brilliant reply. The letter from this Priest is everything one would expect. It contains lots of … Read more

Silly Claim of the week: Creationism is compatible with Science

A Mr Saletan has written an article in Slate within which he makes the rather odd claim that you can be a good scientist and also believe in young-Earth creationism at the same time. This claim is rather at odds with the concept of science, and is perhaps akin to perhaps claiming that you have a … Read more

Interview with James Randi : “Homeopathy: trickery or treatment?” Yesterday 22nd Feb

In the context of the question Homeopathy: trickery or treatment? – you know the right answer, or at least I do hope that you do, and so what is of more interest to us here is that Jonathan McCrea speaks to the world’s most famous skeptic, James Randi who is now 85, on his Irish NewsTalk radio … Read more

How can I effectively communicate with a Believer?

So the Opening Post within a Facebook group starts out with this … Now, if you happen to be familiar with islamic Apologetics, then you should instantly recognise this, because it is a rather old argument. In fact there is a very old story concerning Imam Abu Hanifah having a debate with an atheist. He turns … Read more

Ethics, Morality and Gods

A rather common claim made by different belief systems is that they not only hold the high moral ground but that they also have the ultimate incarnation of ethics. Associated with this is usually the seconds claim that beyond the boundary of their specific belief resides a wasteland of no ethics or morality but instead … Read more

The Anti-vaccine movement – one picture is all you really need

Michael Hiltzik, the prize winning journalist and columnist, has a fabulous article in the LA Times entitled … “The toll of the anti-vaccination movement, in one devastating graphic“, you should check it out. He starts off with … Aaron Carroll today offers a graphic depiction of the toll of the anti-vaccination movement. (H/t: Kevin Drum.) It comes from a Council … Read more