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Abracadabra!
Aug 4, 2021From the Richard Dawkins Foundation Newsletter. Subscribe here. Hello! Words can have incredible power. If we didn’t think so, we wouldn’t produce magazines, podcasts, or this newsletter! But their power comes from how they transmit information, how they make us feel, and how they move us to act. What words cannot do is cause things to …
Stuart Vyse on Superstitions: Good Luck with That
Aug 4, 2021Triskaidekaphobia, rabbits’ feet, horseshoes, throwing salt over your shoulder, and fear of black cats. Old and silly superstitions are remarkably common, with even some of the most skeptical among us feeling beholden to some ritual, trinket, or omen to determine our fortunes. On the latest Skeptical Inquirer Presents online event, psychologist Stuart Vyse explored the …
Water Witches? Seriously?
Aug 4, 2021 · 1You probably don’t need the Richard Dawkins Foundation for Reason & Science to tell you that underground water can not be detected by channeling psychic energy through a couple of sticks. While obvious to you, it is anathema to those who believe in the power of “dowsing,” in which a person holding two rods can …
The Return of Project Blitz
Aug 4, 2021You might have noticed that when a discriminatory, religion-privileging, science-denying bill gets introduced in one state’s legislature, the same kind of bill tends to start popping up in other legislatures as well. This is no accident. While Christian nationalists and religious-Right zealots have coordinated state-level lobbying for decades, in 2018 that coordination reached new levels …
The Devil’s in Your Cell Phone
Aug 4, 2021We would like to think of exorcisms as an ugly chapter in human history, from a time when backward, helplessly ignorant people, frightened by things they couldn’t understand, came to believe that literal demons could inhabit the bodies of victims, causing all manner of damage, sickness, and outrageous behavior. And then we remember that it …
Praying into the Void
Aug 4, 2021 · 1If prayer actually worked—that is, if praying actually had some power to affect anything in the real world—it stands to reason that those whose wellbeing is most prayed for would feel the effects. Outside of the sudden outpourings of “thoughts and prayers” in the wake of tragedies, the people who are perhaps the most frequent …
The Religious Freedom Force Field
Aug 4, 2021In the current political climate, it seems more and more like the terms religious freedom and religious liberty are magic words. They cast a powerful spell that defies all logic by cloaking one in an impenetrable shield, rendering one immune to any and all responsibility for one’s actions. As Robyn E. Blumner writes in an op-ed for the latest …
OPEN DISCUSSION AUGUST 2021
Aug 1, 2021 · 41This thread has been created for discussion on themes relevant to Reason and Science for which there are not currently any dedicated threads. Please note that our Comment Policy applies as usual. There is a link to this at the foot of the page. If you would like to refer back to previous open discussion …
After 3 minutes I was completely convinced God didn’t exist
Jul 31, 2021I was all my life a bit doubtful about the existence of God. However, for my Catholic background, I pushed myself and my family to attend church and follow the religion. One night I decided to watch on TV the Richard Dawkins series The Enemy of Reason. I can honestly say that after exactly 3 …
Those Glorious Small Victories
Jul 21, 2021From the Richard Dawkins Foundation Newsletter. Subscribe here. Hello! The goals of the Richard Dawkins Foundation—and its sibling organizations within the Center for Inquiry—are lofty, to say the least. Fostering a secular society that embraces science and humanism is an audacious undertaking. It’s helpful to remember that the path toward that better world is paved with …