Saturday, October 22, 2011

Faster than light story highlights the difference between science and religion

"Most physicists believe, as Einstein proposed, that nothing can travel faster than the speed of light in a vacuum. You might say that some, like Jim Al-Khalili who promised to eat his shorts if this was proved untrue, hold this belief religiously. But the recent fuss over the possible existence of faster-than-light neutrinos illustrates precisely how different science and religion are when it comes to questions of "belief" or "knowledge"."

Monday, October 10, 2011

Busting 9 Vaccination Myths, With Science! « Science-Based Life

"Thanks to the great work of our skeptical sympathizers in Australia, we have another science-based refutation of anti-vaccinationist claims by Dr. Rachael Dunlop. You can find the full story here, but allow me to summarize some excerpts of each myth and response below. Keep in mind that these are only summaries, and much more information on this “immunization cheat sheet” can be found at the source."

Thursday, October 6, 2011

Thinking Scientifically « Science-Based Life

"Why Do We Need Science?

Humans are poor data gathering machines. We have numerous biases, cognitive flaws, and psychological errors that prevent our unguided minds from grasping reality in any accurate way."
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Saturday, October 1, 2011

The Delusional Belief That God Is In Control

"Every time, without fail, when I read a news story about the untimely and senseless deaths of the innocent in some sort of horrible accident, the responses from the Christian community are ludicrous. What irks me to no end are those who believe that their god not only knew that these people were going to die these horrific deaths, but had actually planned it. They simply accept it as the will of God, not an accident, or an act of terrorism, or a murder, etc. There is absolutely nothing even remotely intelligent about this and you have to wonder how many times do you need to get your ass kicked before you realize that the person kicking your ass does not have your best interests in mind."

Reflections from the Other Side: Why Believers Think Prayer Works

"Christians believe that their pleas to God have a tangible effect on the real world. Why do they believe this if it isn't true (aside from the obvious answer of "their religion says so")? Even Christians themselves should be curious about the underlying reasons for belief in prayer—after all, people of other faiths think prayers to their gods are effective as well. In fact, there are quite a few reasons, all of which are quite fascinating."