That’s entirely true, _but_ the religious mode of thought has a great deal in common with pseudoscience and conspiracy hypotheses. (No, I won’t use the word “theory” to describe them.)

In all three, the conclusion comes before the premises, whether that conclusion is that god exists, that arranging your furniture a certain way will make you rich, or that little green men crashed in the New Mexico desert. The mode of thought and the methods of denying reality are all the same.

*ahem*

Congratulations, Linda! I wish you and your newly minted skeptic many happy years together. =)

“Magic Doesn’t Work.”

I find this statement tends to make people stop and think about what they are claiming, because they think they agree with it already. I have seen some of them realize a need to examine their own beliefs on the subject when faced with it. Otherwise how could I be calling it magic?

Steve “From Homeo, meaning expensive, and pathic, meaning ‘doesn’t work’.” James

Nicely put, Doc! You said it much more clearly than I could have.

Barton Paul Levenson, I read That Guy’s post the same way Doc apparently did: that he was saying skepticism led him away from pseudoscience and also from religion, not that it led him away from religion because it is a pseudoscience.

In fact, religion is not a pseudoscience. It’s a non-science, like ethics, morality, esthetics. The basic tenets are generally things that can’t be tested empirically, and so just aren’t there, scientifically, to be proved or not.

Heck, I’ve got such a warm fuzzy that I’m not even going to point out that religion is, indeed, a pseudo science, what with divine intervention being akin to psychic powers, with zero evidence of either.

Nope, just gonna let that one drop!

Granted, I did have one or two bizarre incidents that I simply cannot explain, however, at this point I cannot prove one way or the other if they were the result of the hand of God, as they were personal, and I have no concrete proof. And no, praying for a parking spot in front of the place you need to be, and finding one does not count. I cannot tell you how many times I heard that one during “Sunday Night Testimony Time!” What, God can give you a parking spot, but can’t restore a missing limb, or feed the hungry, or stop the genocide in Darfur?

What happens when we draw our last breath? Some here, like Barton would probably say, “Well if you believe in Christ, you go to heaven. if you don’t, you go to hell.” Others would say, “You are dead. Your existence is over. Your body disintegrates and that is it.” Still others might say, “I simply don’t know.” At this time in my life, that is where if fit.

Religion in itself does not equate with pseudoscience. That being said, holding to some religious beliefs (e.g. biblical inerrancy) indicate either a lack of critical thinking ability, a tendency to assert something that hasn’t been critically examined, or an unwillingness to examine beliefs when doing so might cause discomfort. None of those traits are desireable when engaging in scientific thought.

I too am religious, but I hesitate to call myself Christian (though that was my upbringing) and would certainly not call myself “born-again”. I routinely question my religious beliefs, discarding any that can be disproven. The very few I have left are irrational in that I have no basis in rational thought to support them, but there is nothing in reality that contradicts them, and they provide me with a small amount of emotional comfort in dealing with my mortality. More importantly, I am well aware that my beliefs are irrational.

[[You’re the one that lead to my conversion from Christian to Atheist. I’m not sure whether that’s a good thing or too much of a taboo on this site, but it’s true. You introduced me to skepticism, and that was a life saver. I questioned my beliefs and found truth. ]]

*sigh*

I wish people would stop conflating religion with pseudoscience. There is no pseudoscience I believe in, but that doesn’t stop me from being a born-again Christian. Nor does my Christianity stop me from doing science, as much as I am able.

Well, at least you got one right.

BTW the only palm reading I’ve ever done was in High School when I wrote cheat notes on my palm. Unfortunately they were the wrong notes… Moral: Palm Reading does not work.

I have a new dating intro, Phil if it will help:

Man with 8 inch Dob seeks Starry eyed woman. It could be Heavenly… No?

Then there’s today’s Dear Abby. Her answer to the woman leery of marriage because of what a “so accurate” plam reader told her, unfortunately, wasn’t up to Phil’s standards. Abby even says some woo-woo artists are “remarkabley accurate.” Then rather than exposing the lunacy of palm reading she spins the reading into something she considers as positive rather than negative. A good illustration of how vague these “remarkably accurate” predictions really are.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ucda/20071220/lf_ucda/womanfretsthatherfutureinlovemaybeallinthecards;_ylt=A0WTUdGhEWtH5UQBvjLNbbUC

That being said, isn’t this another example of a person (man or woman) trying to change their significant other/spouse into something they’re not? Of course, its a good thing in this case. Nothing like changing a person’s ways with a constant barrage of gentle nagging.

Don’t worry, he hasn’t quit asking questions or reevaluating ideas. He doesn’t believe all the conspiracy theories out there, just some of the older ones that his grandmother taught him.

And Ken, although Roswell isn’t on his list, Area 51 has becoming an on-going joke with us because I was stationed at Nellis for a bit. He says I’m just keeping the alien secrets from him. Thank goodness he’s joking on that one.

I’m glad I could brighten some days with the story. I’m so proud of him, thankful to Phil and hopeful about our future.

(And way to go, Phil!)

* Kennedy was killed by one homicidal loony, acting alone.
* The moon landing happened, driven by the American fear that if they didn’t get there first the Soviets would.
* Evolution isn’t a “theory”, except in the strict scientific sense of the word; in day-to-day parlance it’s most accurately described as a fact.
* The Nazis killed millions of Jews, Gypsies, homosexuals and other people because they were a fairly efficient bunch of bigoted thugs.
* The Loch Ness Monster is a local running gag blown up into something big by the yearning for tourism income.
* The Iraq war was a panicked attempt to gain a foothold in a difficult political region, run by well-meaning but mediocre politicians who just got out of their depth really quickly.
* John Kerry was a Thirulean shape-shifter whose voidship crashed in up-state NY in 1948, and he lost the election because his gengineered psionic coercive ability was cancelled out by a pocket-sized anti-psi generator produced by a branch of the secret service set up during the Nixon administration to protect the president using reverse-engineered Roswell technology.

I hope that helps.

All you’ve ever done for me, Phil, is show me that looking up is just as important as looking down when it comes to where we are going.

I’ll admit, the neck was a little “crunchy” at first, but after a while, it seems those stiff and stuck vertebrae move a little easier. So, good job, and keep up the good work.

Congratulations, Linda!

Phil Plait: Astronomer and… Matchmaker?