Over at Debunking Christianity, John Loftus answers a question. Specifically, the question of “what would it take for you, an atheist, to believe in god?”, and the objection that in reality, our answers are all lip service, that we are closed-minded and unwilling to budge. You can go take a look at his answer, but …
Category Archive: skepticism
Oct 27 2011
Headline Muse, 10/27
See, I don’t want my prices to rise But it’s worthless if nobody buys As I calculate cost, I’m admitting—I’m lost! What’s the right rate to charge to tell lies? Headline: This Way to the Séance A strange story in the Wall Street Journal. Just another profile of a small business owner… in this case, …
Oct 21 2011
I Got My Wish!
Wrong-again Harold had made a prediction Wrong-again Harold was once again wrong Wrong-again Harold believed in a fiction, But wrong-again Harold kept chugging along. Wrong-again Harold had plenty of money So wrong-again Harold bought billboards and such People who saw them all thought they were funny But wrong-again Harold, he didn’t care much Wrong-again Harold …
Oct 17 2011
Prayer ‘Cure’ Kills Three
Throw away your medicines! God alone can cure! Trust in Him, repent your sins Make sure your thoughts are pure! God can cure your HIV With love that never fades Trust in Him, and you will see He’ll cure you of your AIDS God’s healing is omnipotent And infinite in worth It brings an end …
Oct 15 2011
Prime Time Superstition
Swingingly, blingingly Overpaid superstars Buy their placebos to Wear round their necks Cause and effect here are Counterintuitive— X may cause Y, but then Y may cause X NPR’s Scott Simon reports on the expensive and worthless Phiten necklaces worn by so many major league baseball players. One sentence in his report notes that “[i]t’s …
Sep 20 2011
The Unknowable and the Unknown
I ponder the unknowable I do it all the time I introspect and navel-gaze And most of it in rhyme It gives me job security— A niche to call my own— Unknowables are permanent, Unlike the mere unknown. Unsolvable conundrums Are my favorite sorts of stuff Impossibly attractive, I Just cannot get enough They have …
Sep 10 2011
9/11 Conspiracy Theorists Eat Their Own
If you look at all the evidence There’s only one conclusion: A government conspiracy And not just mass confusion. The seeming contradictions are Quite easy to condemn; You say that they’re convincing? Why, You must be one of them. Podblack just sent me a link to a series of stories on Slate on 9/11 conspiracy …
Aug 17 2011
Keep An Open Mind!
I’m playing channel roulette, watching two shows and trying to see which one is more annoying. One, of course, is ABC’s Primetime: Nightline show on psychics; the other is National Geographic’s documentary on “pint-sized preachers”. Between the two of them, I am reminded often of how important it is to keep an open mind. Important, …
Aug 14 2011
Alien Invasion
Watching “Curiosity: Alien Invasion”; it occurs to me that we really don’t know how aliens will react toward us–different “experts” will justify their own hunches–but we have a pretty decent guess as to how we would act toward aliens. This was from the old blog, a couple of years back: ***** Daringly, erringly, Children in …
Aug 09 2011
Good News, Bad News
The flip of a coin Tells which group you will join; There is no more investment than that. It’s a “minimal group” But you’re one of the troop And you’ve taken up arms in the spat. If the star-bellied sneetches Are best on the beaches Then what would the plain-bellies say? The most trivial stuff …
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