Pope Benedict Attacks Government Over Equality Bill

The British taxpayer is to fork out an estimated £20m for this year’s upcoming visit from Pope Benedict, during which time he has indicated that he will be spewing anti-homosexual ramblings. In fear that a *gasp* gay person or *holy trans-phobia Batman* transsexual might one day take a high position within the catholic church, the Pope has recently attacked the UK’s Equality Bill, stating that it “violates the natural law upon which the equality of all human beings is grounded.” Huh?

Sign up to the ‘Make the Pope Pay’ petition here.

Vegetarianism is not for Sissies

It turns out that philosophy isn’t just for pretentious, pipe smoking students, who host dinner parties only to discuss whether or not the table they are sat at is really there. This week I stumbled across a discussion between Richard Dawkins and professional philosopher Peter Singer, who between them lay out the highly logical argument that if you ‘believe’ in the Theory of Evolution it is immoral for you to eat meat. Admittedly this is not a new interview, but if I who thought I had seen every online clip of Professor Dawkins had not seen it, I can only assume that neither have many others. It is well worth watching and highly thought provoking.

I Believe in Miracles

This week BBC3 brought us another uncompromising work of journalistic scrutiny, this time on the subject of alternative therapies and presented by the former model Jodie Kidd. In it, Jodie guides us through the world of woo, all the while relating back to her own positive experiences with crystal therapy. One of my personal favourite arguments spouted in the program is from a “NASA scientist and shaman” who explains that “everything is made of atoms, atoms are made of energy and energy is consciousness.” Sold! To that man in the tinfoil hat!

Watch the full program here. Unfortunately, this video is available to UK residents only.

Ask Oscar

I hope that title means something to someone out there. It was the name of a great children’s trilogy on water, light and air that I watched when I was a kid, and I’ve just found out that the scientist mole’s voice was in fact that of Bill Oddie.

But the Oscar who hit the headlines this week is no mole. He is in fact, a cat. A death detecting cat to be precise. Oscar has reportedly sniffed out 50 patients in their dying hours, and otherwise spends his time in solitude. The talented tortoiseshell has now become the subject of a new book by David Dosa, who in it claims that Oscar can smell ketones in the same way that dogs have reportedly been able to detect cancer. Dosa has also published an article in the New England Journal of Medicine, although it reads more like a short story than a scientific study.

[Via Discover Blogs]

Full Judgement on the GMC on Wakefield

Following the recent ethics investigation into MMR scaredoctor Andrew Wakefield, in which the panel concluded that he acted “dishonestly and irresponsibly” in his research, the medical journal the Lancet this week fully retracted his 1998 paper, ridding the published record of this false evidence. However, the question does remain, why did it take twelve years for this move when the scientific community had been in agreement over the issue for so long? An article posted this week by Science-Based Medicine critiques the peer review system and offers some answers to this question.

[Via Science-Based Medicine]

Voices in Your Head

Just when you thought FOX News couldn’t get any stupider, Father Jonathon Morris manages to give five laugh-out-loud answers all within seven minutes. The question’s he’s answering, by the way, are asked by robots. Don’t ask. They include ‘how do you know whether the voices in your head are God?’ and ‘is God rooting for the New Orleans Saints?’

Watch the clip here.

[Via Atheist Media Blog]

Why We’re Losing the News

As an aspiring journalist concerned about the frequently poor standard of science reporting, an article from Discover Blogs addressing this issue particularly resonated with me. The argument for why this is the case is lifted from Alex Jones’s book (not that Alex Jones!) and goes something like this: Proper reporting is costly, involving travel expenses, libel insurance and research budgets, and it is partially for this reason that the main bulk of many newspapers is taken up by opinion columns and fluff stories. The cause of the reported decline in the ‘real stuff’, is that newspaper budgets are necessarily being cut as the increasing availability of new media leads to the depletion of their profits, and let’s face it, who would bother reading The Times when you’ve got The Skeptic’s weekly roundup to keep you informed. That last bit was mine.

[Via Discover Blogs]

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Please feel free to leave a comment and I will do my best to reply as quickly as possible. Until next time, take care of yourself, and each other.

If you come across something that you think our readers would enjoy, send a tip my way at will [at] skeptic [dot] org [dot] uk.

Discovering that your child has an autism spectrum disorder is a frightful experience; it happened to one of my oldest friends. First you’re happily and optimistically watching your child develop like any other excited parent – and then you’re watching your child regress and the gap between him and normal kids his age inexorably widen. You wonder what’s going on inside his mind; you worry about his care should something happen to you; and as he gets older you worry about how people will react to him when he passes puberty and non-standard behaviour becomes more scary than cute. With the number of diagnoses growing – the US Centers for Disease Control puts the rate at about 1 in 150 children; the advocacy organisation Autism Speaks says 1 in 110 – small wonder that terrified parents grasp at anything that looks like it might be a cure or a preventive measure. The coincidence of timing – MMR is administered at roughly the same age at which children begin displaying the symptoms of autism disorder – means that vaccines seem an entirely plausible cause.

Wakefield’s paper, which studied a sample of only 12 children, provided a plausible and simple answer: vaccines. That was helpful for Wakefield, who had a second career as a plaintiff’s expert in autism litigation. You can see the temptation: vaccines, unlike genetics, have manufacturers who can be sued. as Forbes has a nice piece on this type of conflict of interest, and proposes that academic journals should include opposition-side expert witnesses in the peer review panel for any author who has acted as an expert witness in litigation.

In the more than ten years since its publication, Wakefield’s paper has spawned an entire movement of anti-vaccinists. Utterly predictably, once-vanishing “childhood” diseases are on the rise, bringing back all the dangerous complications doctors invented vaccines to eradicate in the first place. There are the inevitable celebrities, most notably Jenny McCarthy. And, since everyone loves a good conspiracy theory, the sad thing is that retracting the paper merely fuels the martyred conviction of anti-vaccine groups that Big Pharma has won again.

In this situation, no one has won. The Lancet’s reputation is damaged. Wakefield is likely to lose his licence to practise medicine. Children have died of diseases like whooping cough that were so long gone doctors don’t even recognise the symptoms. Despite lowered vaccination rates the number of autism cases continues to rise. And parents of autistic children are still desperate and frightened.

Tony Blair’s government must take some of the blame. The UK has sometimes backed invasive and expensive legislation on the basis that “If it saves the life of just one child…” But in this particular case, despite public loss of confidence after BSE, Blair basically told parents with concerns to shove it, take the vaccine, and shut up. He was, we now know, scientifically right, but he was culturally wrong. A more painstaking approach might have meant less rejection of the government’s backing of the MMR vaccine.

When I started The Skeptic the big topics we were concerned about tended to be psychic fraud. That stuff is small fry. It may be annoying that people believe in astrology or believe in the physical effects created by the occasional washed-up stage magician, but you don’t die of that kind of gullibility. The big stuff is science fraud, especially because while the scientific process can undo the damage and rebuild the truth, the consequences for innocent bystanders often can’t be undone.

Wendy M. Grossman, http://www.pelicancrossing.net

Christopher Hird is a leading figure in UK independent documentary making. He is chair of the Channel Four Britdoc Foundation; a trustee of the Grierson Trust, the Wincott Foundation and Index on Censorship. In January 2008 Christopher Hird started Dartmouth Films, and has produced such films as Cameron’s Money Men, Inside the Saudi Kingdom, Black Gold, and most recently, The End of The Line.

A former journalist working on The Economist, the New Statesman (of which he was deputy editor) and the Sunday Times, where he was editor of the investigative section, Insight. A casualty of the Murdoch regime, he moved into television starting as a reporter on Channel Four’s current affairs programme before co-founding Fulcrum TV, of which he was joint managing director for more than 20 years before it closed in 2007.

Join us at the usual time, 19.00 on Friday 5th February on Resonance 104.4FM in London or via the Resonance live web feed worldwide.

Payments will be calculated and donated to S.H.A.R.E. by February 20, and a copy of the check posted on the Playing Gods Web site. Just in case you need some encouragement, I will happily autograph each board game as well, and throw in a free Expansion Pack ($5 value).

Does the creator of this blasphemous indie board game need your money? Of course I do. But the people in Haiti need it more. I’m happy breaking even on the deal.

I don’t see heartless pikers at Milton Bradley, Hasbro, or Parker Bros. donating jack squat!

What do you say? If you donate money, I’ll donate my games and time. You get an autographed Playing Gods game and Haitians get desperately-needed money via a skeptic / humanist charity. Everybody wins.

You can order at http://www.playinggods.com. You don’t need any special code: all profits from anything you buy between now and Feb. 20 will be donated. If you’d like to inquire about bulk orders, you can contact me at balls@playinggods.com.

If you’re not interested in this awesome offer, please pass it along to someone who might be.

Thanks!

Ben Radford

Thanks to Dr Stephen Law of CFI UK for the footage

CFI also have an event on Saturday 6th March titled “Monsters vs Aliens”, featuring three experts on UFOs, the Loch Ness Monster and Sasquatch.

UPDATE: 1:12pm: Andy Lewis wrapping up and taking questions.
–
UPDATE: 12:37pm: Andy Lewis on stage. Live streaming audio. Apologies for the slight distortion, it’s not possible to rectify while Andy is talking.
–
UPDATE: 11.48am: Singh continuing to fight libel case because:
“I think I am right.
It is important (child health)
It is doubly impoitant (free speech).
I might win?!“
–
Also thankful for the support shown.
UPDATE: 11:43am: When the BCA filed suit against Singh, the Guardian was also apparently being sued by Matthias Rath, Tesco & Elton John. Guardian also apparently still £175,000 out-of-pocket from Rath case, despite Goldacre winning.
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UPDATE: 11:32am: Discussing chiropractic, and Daniel Palmer.
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UPDATE: 11.29am: Singh talking about a systematic review of acupuncture.
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UPDATE: 11:27am: Placebos in acupuncture — needles in wrong locations, needles not inserted deeply enough, even retracting needles which deceptively appear to penetrate the skin.
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UPDATE: 11:23am: Singh moving on to James Lind’s clinical trials on scurvy and controlled testing.
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UPDATE: 11:18am: Simon Singh currently on stage talking about acupuncture and its representation in the media.
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UPDATE: 10:54am: We have permission to stream Andy Lewis’ talk. Currently it looks to be audio only but I’ll try to find a way to stream video too. Andy is scheduled to talk at 12pm. The stream will be below.
–
UPDATE: 10:44am: Unfortunately we couldn’t find a stable internet connection through which we could stream the 10:23 event, though the event itself went smoothly (excepting a lone protest from a black car sporting large flags and loud music).

We are instead hoping to potentially stream talks from CFI UK’s alternative medicine event today, again below. Announcements will be made here and via our Twitter account if we can gain the appropriate permission.

This article will be posted online automatically at 9:45am on Saturday 30th while we are trying to engineer the feed. If successful, the video will go live at 10:23am when the event starts. If not, here’s a low-quality copy of a lecture given by Prof. Chris French on the myths and methodology of the placebo effect instead.

Streaming .TV shows by Ustream

The conduct, content, opinions and ideas provided in broadcast events neither represent nor are endorsed by The Skeptic Magazine, Skeptics in the Pub, or its affiliates.

Danny, Watch the Stars!

Danny Dyer, the pride of England, is best known for his hardman film characters and such ‘documentaries’ as ‘Danny Dyer’s Deadliest Men’. Having strayed from Bravo to the BBC, Danny is now seeking danger on the next level in his latest work ‘I Believe in UFOs’. In a shamefully biased investigation into claims of alien encounters, some of the only sane words come from our very own Chris French, who makes a brief appearance. If you however, like me, enjoy a cocktail of hilarity and fist biting rage, then this is the program for you.

Watch the full video here. Unfortunately, this video is available to UK viewers only.

Next week, the Jackson sisters present ‘I Believe in Miracles’, a study of alternative therapies. I can’t wait.

Dowsing Rod Bomb Detector

A hand-held ‘bomb detector’, until recently used by the armed forces of Iraq, has been banned after the recent finding that it simply does not work. The TNT detection chip inside is no more than an anti-theft tag of the kind that is used to prevent robbery from clothing stores, and costs around three pence. The inventor, Jim McCormick, who has now been arrested on suspicion of fraud, explained that “the theory behind dowsing and the theory behind how we actually detect explosives is very similar”. McCormick sold $85,000,000 worth of these life-threatening devices to the Iraqi government.

Watch and read the BBC coverage here.

The Journalist, the Tourist, the Claim and Their Lawyers: Libel Reform — Part 1

For a while now, I have been urging you to sign up to the Libel Reform Campaign. I still do. However, the first part of another excellent article from Lucifee has caused me to pause and give further consideration to the issue. In it she examines some of the claims made in the report “Freedom of Speech is Not for Sale” by English PEN and the Index on Censorship, revealing it to be perhaps a little oversimplified and demonising of our current laws.

[Via Jack of Kent]

Why David Cameron Wants a Boom in Faith Schools

David Cameron this week announced himself to be a supporter of faith based schools, both “politcally and personally”. The Tories reportedly advocate the “biggest expansion of church schools since the establishment of thousands of ‘national’ schools almost 200 years ago”.

For more on the debate, you can watch Richard Dawkins and others’ discussion of faith schools from 2008 here.

[Via Richard Dawkins]

MMR Scaremongerer ‘Acted Unethically’, Panel Finds

MMR Scaremongerer Dr. Andrew Wakefield is responsible for the misconception that the MMR vaccine leads to autism in children, the following significant reduction in the uptake of the vaccine and the correlating increase in the number of cases of measles. Now, at last, justice is being done. The General Medical Council have ruled that he acted “dishonestly and irresponsibly” in his research. Wakefield remains adamant of his claims and reassured parents that “the science will continue in earnest”

Read the BBC News coverage here.

Charles Darwin: The Movie

Based on Randal Keynes’ biography of his great-great-grandfather, Creation: The True Story of Charles Darwin secured itself a position in US theatres this week, after having initially being deemed “too controversial for religious America” in the view of the film’s Oscar-winning producer.

The film focuses chiefly on the period between Darwin’s marriage to Emma and the publication of his seminal work On the Origin of Species, through which time it deals with Darwin’s personal struggle with his faith in the light of his findings and the death of his daughter.

Reviews seem overwhelmingly positive, excluding those of creationists.

[Via Skepticblog]

Islam is Bullshit

For those of you who may not have read the preceding story, some Google user or other discovered that if you type into its search engine “Christianity is”, the suggested searches include “bullshit”, “a lie”, “fake” and more along this line. The same is true of all religions from Hinduism to Paganism, with one exception: Until recently, if you were to type in “Islam is” you would suspiciously receive zero suggestions. This has now been redeemed.

[Via Atheist Media Blog]

Vatican Bank Facing Money Laundering Investigation

The Vatican bank is under investigation for the alleged money laundering of €180million (£160million) through the accounts of the bank UniCredit. Movements of money being untraceable within the bank, it is reportedly the 8^th most popular destination in the world for laundered cash. In December 2009, The Telegraph reported that “Vatican lawyers are understood to be considering whether to argue that the bank is outside Italian legal jurisdiction”.

[Via Atheist Media Blog]

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Please feel free to leave a comment and I will do my best to reply as quickly as possible. Until next time, take care of yourself, and each other.

If you come across something that you think our readers would enjoy, send a tip my way at will [at] skeptic [dot] org [dot] uk.

Stewart Brand trained originally as an ecologist. His legendary Whole Earth Catalogue (1968–1985) won the US National Book Award in 1972. Brand, whose previous books include The Media Lab, How Buildings Learn, and The Clock of the Long Now, is president and co-founder of the Long Now Foundation and co-founder of the Global Business Network. Stewart’s Latest book is Whole Earth Discipline: An Ecopragmatist Manifesto, Published in January 2010 by Atlantic Books.

The first of our monthly guest hosts is Becky Hogge. Becky Hogge is a freelance writer and researcher. Formerly executive director of the Open Rights Group, and a former technology director of openDemocracy, she is currently a board member of the Open Knowledge Foundation. Becky writes and broadcasts on technology, civil rights and intellectual property in the digital age for publications such as the New Statesman, The Guardian and Index on Censorship. Read Becky’s New Statesman review of Whole Earth Discipline.

If you like the 2009 event, you may also like the DVD from the 2008 event, preview below.

A word of warning: this article does encroach on my first post, which was lifted in part from this one so as to deal more specifically with one small point made here. Any comments regarding the Facebook quiz idea that I propose here would probably be better directed towards that post. Apologies for the repetition. 

Preaching to the choir

As it stands, the Skeptic Movement is at risk of simply preaching to the choir. Excellent material is available, but will usually be found by those who actively search for it. These tend not to be the sorts of people in need of persuasion. This is not to say that their involvement is not needed. On the contrary, it is vital that such individuals are aware that there exists a community of like-minded people, who too are tired of the destructive power that pseudo-science and scientific illiteracy hold over so many. Only as a movement, rather than a group of individuals, can Skepticism develop and win its battles. It is for this reason also, that separatist branches of the Skeptic Movement, who for the most part will never have considered themselves in such terms, must come together as one voice. Such branches include the scientific community and perhaps most importantly, the Atheist Movement.

For those of us who not only wish to base our own understanding of the universe on rationality and evidence, but who wish to spread this way of thinking throughout the world, there is a need for a new, detailed plan of attack. Of course, this is not a new idea. Most, if not all, organisations dedicated to the cause have some guidelines regarding their own methodologies. The problem as it stands is that most of these fall somewhere along the wishy-washy lines of ‘We must strive to increase public awareness and understanding of such-and-such issues’. Now we skeptics are not fans of wishy-washy. What we need to address with no vagueness whatsoever is the ‘how?’ part of such objectives.

The overlying objective: recruitment

The most overlying objective of the Skeptic Movement must be to increase its arsenal by recruiting members, particularly those in positions of power. The most obvious way to accomplish this is to reach a wider audience, as is being continually and increasingly achieved most notably by the Atheist Movement. Fantastic and daring authors including Richard Dawkins and Sam Harris have accelerated this movement drastically, not least by successfully marketing bestselling books concerning a controversial subject. The all-encompassing issue of Skepticism however, unfortunately does not hold the controversial status that Atheism does. It is for this reason that fantastic books such as Ben Goldacre’s ‘Bad Science’, while reaching and affecting many, cannot hope to reach the sheer volume of potential Skeptics that Dawkins’ ‘The God Delusion’ managed through extensive news coverage. We must therefore find new ways in which to extend our reach. One useful act would be to more formally align ourselves with such movements as the Atheist Movement, perhaps through conversations with Professor Dawkins, who is not only an Atheist activist but a true Skeptic activist in every sense of the term, but at present does not use such semantics. Were he to commonly refer to himself publicly as a ‘Skeptic’, the number of Google searches for the term and the overall awareness of the cause would expand drastically overnight.

The hook

The first step in recruiting Skeptics must be a hook: an enticing glimpse of our stance that leads people to look further into our work. The hook must be positioned such that anybody might be caught by it, Skeptic or not. We must take full advantage of the far-reaching mediums available to us in the 21^st Century. The internet is a potential goldmine, but if we are to draw in members of the general public to our websites and literature we must take a leaf out of the advertising industry’s book and first entice them through the virtual areas that are common to all. Such areas include Wikipedia, YouTube and Facebook. It is of course recognised that because of its general non-profit nature, the Skeptic Movement does not have the available funding to throw money at advertising, which is why we must get creative. It should be noted that at no point does there arise a need to involve ‘dirty tactics’.

How naive are you?

To take Facebook as our first example, there are several ways in which we might go about casting our line. Spamming, although potentially far reaching, would be counterproductive, giving newcomers a reason to instantly associate the notion of Skepticism with annoyance. It is of the utmost importance that being termed a ‘Skeptic’ becomes a favourable label (an issue which, I fear, already lands the word on dangerous territory because of its connections in common parlance with the negatively charged word ‘cynic’). A more productive use of Facebook might be to create an application in which the user answers a series of questions regarding their beliefs in such phenomenon as the tooth fairy and homeopathy. At the end of the questionnaire the user is presented with their results in the form of a position along a sliding scale with ‘dangerously naive’ at one end and ‘well-informed Skeptic’ at the other. Below the result is a link to a Skeptic website where the user can ‘find out more’ about the answers they got wrong. This example has the added benefit of particularly attracting those who scored lowest on the test.

Hitchens, Randi and ‘pop’

My second example is concerning YouTube, which is already overflowing with entertaining and informative videos on the subject of Skepticism. Again though, the problem with the current situation is that it is only those who were previously aware of the issues who tend to find these videos. Ensuring that Skeptic videos are found in the ‘related videos’ section adjacent to widely viewed clips could lead millions to stumble upon our message. The kinds of videos needed in such positions are those which possess what the creators of the World Wrestling Federation refer to as ‘pop’. These are those videos that give the viewer a buzz as though their football team had just scored the winning goal in the ninetieth minute. Such videos are already in existence and the magnitude of their effect is outstanding. Perhaps the two leading examples of videos that fall into this category are Christopher Hitchens’ debates with his religious proponents and James Randi’s scientific testing (he dislikes the term ‘debunking’) of supposedly supernatural claims. In both instances the ‘pop’ is provided by the annialation of the proponent. We might term such an approach the ‘Hitchens attack’. Such clips will reel in those who were Skeptics all along, but had never really given it much thought. As in the Facebook example, across the bottom of the video can read the web address of a Skeptic site to which the viewer is directed for further information.

[Citation needed]

The last example for increasing public awareness of our cause that shall be given here is regarding Wikipedia. Wikipedia is an incredible phenomenon and is, for the most part, a surprisingly good source of information. The US Skeptic magazine (not directly related to this organisation) suggests on its website that members of the public relentlessly edit pages on topics of pseudoscience in order to increase their accuracy. While this is a good suggestion, I would advocate taking it one step further and inserting relevant references that lead to Skeptic websites. The Wikipedia article on any subject is usually the most viewed and most easily found webpage regarding that topic.

To reiterate, it is these practical, creative and most importantly specific methods of approach that require our attention. Not only can such techniques be used to increase our numbers, but also to address the specific issues that are of greatest concern.      

The Dawkins approach

The aim of the Hitchens attack is to lead the public to the meat of the argument, or what we might term the ‘Dawkins approach’. For the most part, our Dawkins approach material is already out there in our websites and our literature. It should consist of concise, rational and impenetrable arguments detailing our position. Intertwined with this we must continue to place emphasis on the reasons for believing Skepticism to be a cause worthy of fighting for, as well as simply illustrating it to be a mindset that is suited to the individual. The arguments for this are numerous and convincing, and having read the Dawkins approach material many will agree. The next, perhaps the most important, stage is to give people a way in which they can be helpful.   

The issues arm

Although I have stated that the overlying aim of the Skeptic movement must be to recruit more members, this is only useful as a means to accomplishing more specific goals. We might think of our approach as being divided into two main arms: the ‘feedback loop arm’, which aims to recruit members as discussed, and the ‘issues arm’, which aims to tackle the very issues that create a need for Skepticism. Such issues include the Libel Reform Campaign, which incidentally is a fantastic initiative not only because it addresses an issue which has been seen especially recently to be pressing, but because absolutely anyone can get involved. A quick glance at the list of signatories reveals that it is not only professional scientists, but people from all walks of life who are concerned.

While I whole-heartedly back the Libel Reform Campaign, one positive that has arisen from Simon Singh’s struggle, which played a hugely catalectic role, is the media coverage that must inevitably address the question of ‘were Singh’s statements verified?’ The issues that are worthy of our attention are forever changing and so it will be difficult to give specific plans for tackling them here. One thing is universal however, and that is that if we can continue to get publicity by making challenging conflicts with pseudoscience and then proving legally that our claims were completely substantiated, more and more people will come to recognise that fact. An example shall be given here with reference to homeopathy, but could be tweaked to incorporate any issue imaginable: If ‘Yes Men’ style actors could infiltrate news stations posing as leading experts on (and advocates for) homeopathy, and could be heard to make such (shocking but accurate) statements as “it’s almost certainly nothing but water, just with a highly elevated price”, then this scandal would get major network coverage and again, the facts would have to be examined in the public sphere.

Conclusion: Let’s get creative

The opportunities for advancing the Skeptic Movement and making real headway are endless. What is important is that we do not simply preach to the choir and pat ourselves on the back at lectures, meeting only to confirm that we all agree. From a one on one debate at the pub to a worldwide scheme, every contribution helps. What is being advocated here is creativity, not for its own sake, but to raise the possibility of opening unexplored pathways. The days in which advertisers sold products on the basis of their efficiency are long gone and the reason is obvious: there are more intelligent methods of approach. It is time that we Skeptics used our slice of the pie to advance our worthy cause, the only difference being that we don’t have to lie.       

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Please feel free to leave a comment and I will do my best to reply as quickly as possible. Alternatively, you can drop me an email at will [at] skeptic [dot] org [dot] uk.

Secular Help for Haiti

The devastating earthquake suffered by the people of Haiti last week, has been described as the worst in decades. In response, the James Randi Educational Foundation and the Richard Dawkins Foundation, along with other skeptic and secular organisations, have teamed up to create a portal through which you can donate money to relief organisations with no religious angle. The two that have been selected in this case are International Red Cross and Doctors Without Borders (Médecins sans Frontières). 100% of the money you donate will be given to these organisations as Dawkins will personally donate the money to cover the PayPal fees.

Click here to donate.

[Via Richard Dawkins]

Earthquake Survivors Get Solar Powered Bibles

In case you are unconvinced of the virtues of separating relief work with religious affiliation, here is an example of the uselessness that can arise at the crazy end of the spectrum: Earthquake survivors in Haiti are being donated solar powered, audio-Bibles. According to the donating group, Faith Comes By Healing’s website, the devices are “self-powered and can play the Bible in the Jungle, desert or … even the moon!” I’m not sure how well the audio works there though.

[Via Derren Brown Blog]

Funniest Clips from Atheist Stand-Up Comedians

Wind down your week with some religion-mocking clips from some fine, and some not-so-fine, stand-up comedians. Needless to say, Ricky Gervais’ clip is the best, and the one that you should both start and end with.

[Via Common Sense Atheism]

BBC2 Horizon, ‘Pill Poppers’ (and the Medicalisation of Sex)

According to the program’s website, “over a person’s lifetime they are likely to be prescribed more than 14 000 pills”. The premise of this week’s Horizon was to ask how much we really know about the drugs that we consume. The program goes on to illustrate how “drug discovery often owes as much to serendipity [Ricky Gervais’ least favorite word] as to science”. Although it does suffer the same pitfalls as so many programs like it — dumbing-down the material and laboring the point — the program still manages to present the viewer with an interesting window into the pharmaceutical industry and features a short word from the excellent blogger Dr Petra Boyton.

Watch the full video here (Unfortunately this video is available to UK residents only).

[Via Dr Petra Boynton]

In Defence of Mr Justice Eady

Those who have been following the BCA v Singh case will be aware that Mr Justice Eady, the case’s ruling judge, has recently come under fire for his decision that Singh’s use of the word ‘bogus’ implied that the BCA knowingly promotes bogus treatments. Singh has been allowed to appeal, but if this decision sticks it will dramatically reduce the likelihood of his being found innocent of libel.

In an excellent article that manages to remain readable and enjoyable to the layperson despite its legal content, Lucifee defends Eady and concludes that the tabloids’ attack on him is rarely a result of their allegence with Singh, but rather their own agenda to be allowed to publish “any slimy little story they want”.

[Via Jack of Kent]

Sign up to the Libel Reform Campaign here.

Hate to iBurst Your Bubble but…

Residents of Craigavon have recently been fighting a battle against iBurst, demanding that they remove a monsterous [sic] mobile tower whose evil microwaves have been afflicting them with conditions including rashes, headaches and disrupted sleeping patterns. The protesters were sure of the causality, because some had claimed that upon leaving the area their ailments were quickly relieved, only to return as soon as they arrived back in town. What they didn’t know however, was that the tower had been switched off six weeks before the meeting at which they confirmed their continued ailments. Oops.

Also worth checking out is this pretty amazing case of a builder who experienced tremendous physical pain for purely psychological reasons. A builder!

[Via Derren Brown Blog]

U.S. Military Rifle Scopes Inscribed With Bible Verses

Despite the US’s intention and obligation to ensure that the military’s efforts in Iraq and Afghanistan are not perceived to be religious wars, it has been revealed that some gun sights supplied to the US army are inscribed, by the manufacturer Trijicon, with references to Bible passages. This irresponsibility has justifiably led soldiers to worry that their perceived proselytising will ignite hostility among the Muslims with whom they work as well as those they are fighting against.

Watch the MSNBC coverage of the story here.

[Via Discover Blogs]

I had originally included the following links because early reports of this story claimed that the inscriptions were cryptically coded. Now that it has been revealed that, for example, JN8:12 = John 8:12 (not too difficult to decipher if you ask me), they hardly seem relevant, but what the hell, they’re interesting in their own right.  

Watch Michael Shermer debunk the supposedly coded predictions wrapped up in the text of the Bible here, and if you find that interesting you can read Ben Goldacre’s post on a similar subject here.

Twitter Terrorist

The other day a friend of mine was questioned under suspicion of intentions to commit terrorism, for joking within earshot of a member of airport staff who had just finished searching him, “Good thing he didn’t check down the back of my leg.” Not the brightest of my friends I hasten to add. I would not think someone stupid however, for twittering amidst his concerns of the snow “Robin Hood airport is closed. You’ve got a week and a bit to get your shit together, otherwise I’m blowing the airport sky high!!” But that is exactly what one twitterer did, and it resulted in his arrest and seven hours of police questioning. I’ve heard of the YouTube spelling police, but that is ridiculous.

[Via Derren Brown Blog]

God is an Advert

Presumably as a rebuttal to the Atheist subway ads in New York and the Atheist bus campaign, the Times Square Church have branded around 1000 subway cars with the advert you see below. Let the battle commence.

[Via Friendly Atheist]

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Please feel free to leave a comment and I will do my best to reply as quickly as possible. Until next time, take care of yourself, and each other.

If you come across something that you think our readers would enjoy, send a tip my way at will [at] skeptic [dot] org [dot] uk.

At 10:23am on Saturday 30th January, over 300 individuals from branches of Skeptics in the Pub will simultaneously consume an overdose of commercially available homeopathic medicines. The nationwide protest, organised by the 10:23 campaign from Merseyside Skeptics, will either unfold as one of the largest mass suicides since Jonestown, or will yet again confirm that science, evidence and rational thought actually do work.

The confirmed locations of the overdoses are as follows:

UK

Birmingham: High Street

Edinburgh: Secret Location

Glasgow: Tie Rack in Central Station

London: Conway Hall, Red Lion Square, Holborn

Leeds: Leeds Mainline Rail Station, main entrance at 9.30–10 am

Immediately after the protest, Dr Simon Singh, Prof. John Garrow and Andy Lewis will take to the stage of London’s Conway Hall for Trick or Treatment: Alternative Medicine on Trial, the first event in 2010 from CFI UK.

The protest, comes after a Boots representative, Paul Bennett, attracted ridicule from the national press after admitting to a parliamentary select committee last month that Boots knowingly sells homeopathic remedies to the public for which it has no evidence of effectiveness. The Science and Technology Select Committee are due to release their report on homeopathy around the time of the protest, at the end of January.

While dispensing sugar pills may seem harmless, in reality the endorsement of homeopathic potions by leading health providers can have grave consequences. As well as potentially undermining trust in medicine and medical advice, customers may be misled into believing that they are treating their illness – for example a Panorama investigation famously revealed that homeopaths were advising customers to take ineffective pills in place of Malaria prophylactics on holiday. In extreme cases, such as the ‘healing therapist’ Russell Jenkins, deaths may occur.

The 10:23 Campaign, so named in recognition of Avogadro’s Constant (the limit of dilution which is exceeded by homeopathic preparations) aims to raise awareness of homeopathy and its basis within long-discredited 18th century pseudoscience, selling remedies to the public which have no scientific basis and no credible evidence for its efficacy beyond the placebo effect.

As ever, this is an excellent opportunity to demonstrate JREF’s Law (namely “there is no topic of parapsychological discussion upon which James Randi has failed to comment”) by directing attention to Randi’s lecture at Princeton in 2001, which contained the following segment on homeopathy. Randi’s commentary in 2002 for the BBC is worth reading also.

Also, for handy links to upcoming psychology-related radio shows, TV, and public lectures, the Research Digest publishes Twitter updates from @researchdigest.

I deliberated over what should be the umbrella topic for this blog for some time; familiarising myself with many of the fantastic existing Skeptic blogs in the process; I concluded that the main gap in the regular discussion is an area that I think should be a primary focus of Skeptics everywhere: methods for advancing the Skeptic Movement. 

This blog will not attempt to map out a definitive blueprint for this advance, but rather, I will be addressing what I consider to be the obstacles that we face, as well as offering my own ideas for overcoming them and inviting you to share yours with the Skeptic community. 

As this is the blog’s first post, where better to start than the fundamentals? Since having become aware of the term ‘Skeptic’ as it is used on this website and others like it, I have been slightly concerned with the word itself. Although technically fit for purpose, I worry that in common parlance it has negative connotations. In everyday conversation it seems that the word ‘sceptic’ is strongly tied to or even synonymous with the word ‘cynic’.

This has been demonstrated recently in light of the Climate Gate ‘scandal’, where media outlets uniformly refer to those who doubt that Climate Change is significantly influenced by mankind as ‘Climate Change sceptics’. In actual fact, it is those who form the vast majority of scientists that makes up the general consensus regarding Climate Change who are most likely to be the sceptics. Surely the term ‘Climate Change deniers’ would be more fitting to the fringe group. I do not believe, as many I have spoken to do, that this is an unimportant case of mere semantics.

Richard Dawkins has expressed similar concerns with regards to the term ‘Atheist’; worrying that preconceived, negative notions may be partially responsible for some people’s unwillingness to identify themselves as such, even where technically the term is perfectly fitting to the individual. In Dawkins’ own words, “You can do two things: one is to try to rehabilitate the word ‘Atheist’… [The other is] to do some pneumatic engineering”. Dawkins empathises with some people’s concern that to attempt the former is to fight a losing battle, which influenced him to back the unveiling of a new noun: ‘bright’, to replace ‘Atheist’. Although this has been likened to the engineering of ‘gay’ as a noun to replace ‘homosexual’, it is clear that ‘bright’, first coined in 2006, has not caught on and is unlikely to. To coin a term that will be accepted by all is, in my mind, a far more difficult task than to rehabilitate a term that is at least already accepted by those within the community in question.

‘How best to achieve this?’ is a difficult question. One thing is for certain: We cannot be lazy and simply leave the goal at “we must strive to rehabilitate the term ‘Skeptic’ so that it becomes more favourably perceived”. This is a good umbrella goal, but it is important that specific sub-goals are devised to address the ‘how?’ part of the umbrella goal.

One central theme that I will advocate repeatedly is the use of creative solutions. I believe that it will often be useful to take a leaf out of the advertising industry’s book and think outside the box, not for its own sake, but so that we can explore avenues that would otherwise be left un-trodden. I will give one such suggestion here, and I invite you to leave your own in the comments section below, no matter how mundane or off-the-wall they might at first seem.

We create a Facebook application titled ‘How naive are you?’ in which the user answers questions regarding their beliefs in a range of supernatural phenomenon. An example question might be ‘Does the Loch Ness monster exist?’ At the end of the quiz the user is given a score that is shown along a sliding scale that reads ‘Dangerously naive’ at one end, and ‘Well-informed Skeptic’ at the other.

This application could reach and influence the perceptions of many. A link to ‘further information’ regarding the questions answered incorrectly will help to introduce newcomers (particularly those who scored worst) to our websites. I must admit that I do not know about the feasibility of this suggestion logistically.

This could clearly only ever be one weapon in an arsenal of steps that must be taken to address the issue, but I strongly believe that it is solutions like this, particularly those that utilise the virtual spaces capable of reaching a wide audience, that can help us to take progressive steps forward.

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I am hoping, I’m sure naively optimistically, that this blog can become a hotbed of useful discussion. I therefore encourage you to share your thoughts. Maybe you disagree that this is even a problem, or maybe you disagree with my suggestions for tackling it. Maybe you have suggestions of your own, or maybe you have expertise in a potentially useful area and would like to offer your assistance. Whatever your contribution to the discussion, I will do my best to reply as quickly as possible. Thank you.

Radical Islam Group Banned… Again

Islam4UK, a radical Islamic group that promotes the implementation of Sharia Law in Britain, has been formally banned in the UK. Leading figure of the organisation Anjem Choudary, who sponges £25,000 annually off the state with which he is so opposed, appeared yesterday on The Daily Politics.

Watch the video here. Unfortunately this video is only available for UK viewers.

Footballer Claims He Was Chased By Ghost

A Peruvian footballer, when found running naked through the streets, defended his actions by claiming to have been being chased by a ghost. When questioned, Carlos Flores explained ‘I didn’t want my wife to be suspicious about ladies, so I just told her it was a ghost. She failed to believe me.’

Jack of Kent and Podcasting

Allen Greene, also known as Jack of Kent, is one blogger who never fails to deliver the goods. Now he has appeared on his first podcast panel discussion, which is also well worth tuning in to. Topics discussed include the powers of the UK police force, the banning of Muslim extremist group Islam4UK and the resignation of Liberal Democrat PPC Greg Stone.

[Via Jack of Kent]

Groundbreaking Gay Marriage Trial Starts In California

Around 100 campaigners gathered this week to protest against the proposition approved in 2008, which bans same-sex marriage in the state of California. Several states have seen the legalisation of gay marriage in recent years, and this week a trial challenging the proposition opened and is expected to go all the way to the Supreme Court.

[Via Atheist Media Blog]

Pat Robertson and the Haitian Earthquake Crisis

In the most recent instance of religious nutcases attributing everything under the sun to their God, Evangelist Pat Robertson stated on his CBN newscast that it was Haiti’s ‘pact with the Devil’ that caused the recent disaster, which Robertson described as ‘a blessing in disguise’.

Watch the video here.

[Via Derren Brown Blog]

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Please feel free to leave a comment and I will do my best to reply as quickly as possible. Until next time, take care of yourself, and each other.

If you come across something that you think our readers would enjoy, send a tip my way at will [at] skeptic [dot] org [dot] uk.

WHAT ARE BLACK HOLES?

A black hole is a region of space from which nothing, including light, can escape.
It is all due to gravity — the force which pulls objects towards each other. It keeps the Earth moving around the Sun, instead of flying off into space, and holds us all down on the surface of the Earth.

A black hole’s gravity is so strong that not even light can escape its pull. Because the light is dragged towards a black hole, it cannot shine and so looks completely black.

Dr Marek Kukula, Royal Observatory

WHERE DOES WATER COME FROM?

Most scientists think the Earth’s water came from water-rich asteroids (really tiny planets) and comets raining down on the planet when it was young.

Others think the oceans were home-grown — they may have formed because the young Earth had a thick blanket of a gas called hydrogen, which reacted with chemicals in the Earth’s surface to form lakes and seas.

Roger Highfield, Editor, New Scientist

It does get a bit shaky when The Daily Mail tries to answer some of the trickier questions. The Mail’s own advise columnist Bel Mooney has a crack at dealing with the existential angst of “What happens when we die?”. Apparently it’s all about plants melting, and living on in each others memories, or some such. And I must admit her description of sex (in response to the question “Where do babies come from?”) has left me wondering if I’ve been doing it wrong. “They give each other a massive cuddle because they love each other so much, and that amazing big hug is like two pieces of a jigsaw fitting together, or two bits of Lego”. Hmmm…

So, all-in-all not a bad effort from the Mail, particularly considering some of the stuff they churn out. Well done them. Maybe their journalist should continue writing articles pitched at a 6 year old level, they seem to be good at it.

See, we can be nice to the media sometimes…

Scheduled for January 30th 2010, the first event will involve fellow EAB members Dr Simon Singh and Andy Lewis, joining Prof. John Garrow in a critical discussion of alternative medicine. The second event, scheduled for 6th March 2010 returns to the theme of the unexplained, with former Ministry of Defence project head Nick Pope speaking about UFOs, Adrian Shine speaking about the Loch Ness monster, and Paul Vella speaking about his work as Britain’s leading expert on Sasquatch.

Full details are available from the CFI UK website (http://www.cfiuk.org) and from The Skeptic Magazine’s events pages (http://skeptic.org.uk/events)

CFI UK has also kindly extended free invitations for both events to Skeptic Magazine (UK) and New Humanist subscribers, Friends of CFI UK, GHLA, SPES, and BHA members. Booking in advance is recommended, however.

It will come as no surprise to regular readers of Ipso Factoid that in fact this study does not prove that the G-spot does not exist. The results are, in my humble opinion, far more interesting than the media would make out. The Times mentions some criticism of the results, quoting Prof. Emily Whipple, a rather big name in the world of female sexuality, as saying that “The biggest problem with their findings is that twins don’t generally have the same sexual partner”. In other words, just because a women hasn’t reported having a G-spot, it doesn’t mean it isn’t there.

Lead author of the paper, Andrea Burri of King’s College London is happy to admit that this may in fact be correct, and that maybe “partner differences do play a role”. The subtlety the media failed to pick up on, however, is that “that is exactly what we [the research team] are saying, basically that the G-Spot is almost entirely due to unique environmental influences, so partner differences or performance is taken into account”. Importantly “That still doesn’t mean that it is an anatomical phenomenon, it could be an entirely subjective thing”.

The article never claims to prove the non-existence of the G-spot, it simply shows the lack of heritability of the self-report of a G-spot. The authors go on to postulate that this may prove the G-spot is a social rather than a physiological construct, but they are clear that more research is much needed (Ms Burri herself said she found it fascinating that the existence of the G-spot was widely accepted based on a handful of very small studies). The BBC website gets closest to covering this study properly, but they still missed the subtleties.

To be fair, it’s not necessarily immediately obvious. I’ll happily admit to being no expert when it comes to female genitalia. But in the space of about 20 minutes, spread over an afternoon exchanging e-mails with the extremely helpful Ms Burri, I was able to get even my feeble mind around the general idea. Would it be so much to ask the towering intellects of our media masters to invest similar time themselves? Ms Burri summed it up nicely when she said “Never trust the media. As soon as they start cutting information down the true message gets blurred”. Wise words indeed.

This week’s roundup includes, as ever, a diversity of article and media posts from throughout the blogosphere. Read up on MPs’ responses to the Libel Reform Campaign, a collection of essays by and about the late, great Carl Sagan, and the scientific discoveries and controversies of 2009. Also, as usual I have included a handful of pithier articles that took my interest this week, which I suppose I have no real reason for thinking will take yours, but here’s to hoping.

Libel Reform: Which MPs Are Doing Their Jobs?

2010 will see the formal appeal hearing of the Singh v BCA case, which as most of you will know has been a catalyst for the Libel Reform campaign, which I strongly urge you to sign up to if you have not done so already. Rebecca of Skepchick has been busy writing to MPs and urging them to do the same. You can read their responses and find out how each political party is shaping up on the issue overall, here.

[Via Skepchick]

Dolphins Proven to be Smarter Than Chimps and Second to Humans in Intelligence

Dolphins have reportedly been found to be more intelligent than chimpanzees. Not only this, but according to one teacher of ethics at Loyola Marymount University, the extent of their intelligence is such that it is morally wrong for us to kill or captivate them. I am unsure of how he has distinguished the level of intelligence at which to draw the moral line, but it does remind me of an interesting point made by Professor Richard Dawkins that was something along the lines of ‘the evolution of human ethics has led us to give our differences ever-less reverence. It is perhaps a natural progression that this may one day extend to all animals, as we are after all, all related.’

[Via Derren Brown Blog]

Can An Atheist Unity Convention Happen?

Activist Margaret Downey recently suggested (not for the first time) at an annual meeting of atheist group leaders, that an Atheist Unity Convention, to which representatives of all Atheist organisations would be invited to attend, would be an invaluable instrument for furthering the movement; an area that is of great importance to me and which does not, I feel, get enough mention. Is Downey’s dream doable? Perhaps not. Professor Richard Dawkins can often be heard to say that organising Atheists is comparable to herding cats, and this is why.

[Via Friendly Atheist]

An Inspiring Collection of Carl Sagan Essays Now Online

The late, great Carl Sagan was and is an inspiration to so many. I was too young to watch ‘Cosmos’ when it was first aired, but although the special effects may be a little dated, the subject matter remains incredible. Now, an inspiring collection of articles by and about Sagan are available for all to read in one handy location.

[Via James Randi Educational Foundation]  

I Feel Sorry For This Kid

Unfortunately not an altogether unusual occurrence; the other day a child was pulled out of a school trip to a museum at the request of his creationist parents, who also explained in their letter to the school that their child’s ‘Rock and Minerals’ essay would conform to the teachings of the Bible rather than his textbooks, and so may not [need to be] five pages long.

[Via Pharyngula]

The Year in Science

Last year would have been an unbearable one for creationist, television-watching UK residents. As 2009 marked the anniversaries of Charles Darwin’s birth and best known publication (separate anniversaries; he was clever but come on!), you could hardly channel surf without retaining information on the theory of evolution. But 2009 brought about its own scientific breakthroughs and controversies too. Listen here, to an hour long discussion between Chris Mooney and Lawrence Krauss on the scientific discoveries and science policy issues to arise from the past year.   

[Via Richard Dawkins]

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Please feel free to leave a comment and I will do my best to reply as quickly as possible. Until next time, take care of yourself, and each other.

If you come across something that you think our readers would enjoy, send a tip my way at will [at] skeptic [dot] org [dot] uk.

In defense of the introduction of this law, the Minister for Justice Dermot Ahern said back in May that due to the fact blasphemy is an offence in the Irish Constitution (again highlighting the pervasive influence of the Catholic Church in the founding of the Republic of Ireland) he was obliged to include it in an update of the defamation laws. To remove blasphemy from the constitution would require a referendum of the people of Ireland, and Mr Ahern reckoned that the “current economic environment” was not conducive to this.

The law does include a fairly broad get-out-of-jail clause, specifying that “It shall be a defence to proceedings for an offence under this section for the defendant to prove that a reasonable person would find genuine literary, artistic, political, scientific, or academic value in the matter to which the offence relates”. However one could argue that the number of “reasonable persons” in a world that outlaws blasphemy is questionable…

I personally found point 4 of this new law to be particularly interesting, where they attempt to distinguish between “religion” and mere “cults”.

“In this section “ religion ” does not include an organisation or cult—

• the principal object of which is the making of profit, or

• that employs oppressive psychological manipulation—

• of its followers, or
• for the purpose of gaining new followers.”

I assume telling people they are going to live an eternity of torment and pain for not following your god counts as oppressive psychological manipulation, no?

Professor Brian Cox is a particle physicist, a Royal Society research fellow, and a professor at the University of Manchester. He is a member of the High Energy Physics group at the University of Manchester, and works on the ATLAS experiment at the Large Hadron Collider, CERN near Geneva, Switzerland. He is also working on the FP420 R&D project in an international collaboration to upgrade the ATLAS and the CMS experiment by installing additional, smaller detectors at a distance of 420 metres from the interaction points of the main experiments. He is best known to the public as the presenter of a number of science programmes for the BBC.

Join us on Friday 8th January at 19.00 on Resonance 104.4FM in London or via the live feed worldwide.

The Noughties Are Defined By Fakery

There has always been fakery, but over the past decade the world has made every effort to do things bigger and better. In an article in the Guardian, Hadley Freeman, amidst a forgivable rant about Sarah Palin, argues that fakery, and particularly fake science, is what best defines the ‘noughties’. Perhaps we can push for a global New Year’s resolution. On the plus side, spell check still doesn’t recognise the word ‘noughties’.

You can also check out Ben Goldacre’s more detailed description of some of the year’s fake science here.

Atheist Alliance International 2009 Videos

This year’s Atheist Alliance International Conference reportedly hosted around 700 attendees, a marked increase from last year’s 450. The impressive line-up of speakers included Richard Dawkins, Dan Dennett, PZ Myers and Lawrence Krauss. The full length videos, listed in “descending order of awesomeness”, features Dawkins’ talk in fifth position out of a possible seven. Need I endorse the event any further?

[Via Common Sense Atheism]

“Dad Dancing” May Be The Result Of Evolution, Scientists Claim

Dr Peter Lovatt, a psychologist from the University of Hertfordshire, has concluded that cringeworthy “dad dancing” is an evolutionally created turnoff towards younger females, with the effect of making way for males who are in their sexual prime. Just the latest of a whole host of reasons for young lads to go out on the pull with their dads.

[Via Derren Brown Blog]

The Diet Delusion

Looking to shift a few of those extra pounds that you’ve put on over the Christmas holidays? According to David Colquhoun’s article, which is essentially a glowing book review of Gary Taube’s ‘The Diet Delusion’, Taube claims that there is more to dieting than all of that simple advice that you’ve known and ignored for as long as you can remember. But he is not pushing a line of scientific sounding pills or any other voodoo. Rather, Colquhoun reports that Taube is advocating the use of randomised trials to establish causality between diet, weight and biology, with some surprising conclusions.

[Via DC’s Improbable Science]

For those of you who are interested in the truth behind nutritionists and the pills and advice that they push, I highly recommend Ben Goldacre’s book, ‘Bad Science’, which also examines a range of interesting pseudoscientific topics, scientifically.

Gallup Poll: Americans Are Becoming Less Religious

As we leave behind the turn of the decade I can’t help that notice that we haven’t all got flying cars, everything isn’t dominated by Velcro and religion hasn’t been wiped out. We are making headway though. It has been the case for a while now that the number of those who do not identify with a religion is increasing in both the UK and the US. A recent poll showed that only half of Britons identify with Christianity, and recent polls conducted by Gallup conclude that Americans are cottoning on too.

[Via Friendly Atheist and Derren Brown Blog]

Interestingly, if somewhat predictably, the majority of believers, no matter the sample group in question, are women. Read about the theories currently offered as an explanation for this phenomenon here.

[Via 3quarksdaily]

Brand Skeptic

A recent article by Steve Cuno particularly resonated with me. The article addresses the negative connotations that are typically associated with the term ‘sceptic’ in common parlance. This was/is to be the subject of my first personal blog post (coming soon!). Cuno and I are in agreement that to abandon the term would be impractical, and so instead both of our articles suggest methods for rehabilitating the word. His however, focuses on what the individual can do to this end; while mine will discuss the steps that can be taken by the movement as a whole. Cuno’s suggestions are excellent, and seem to be perfectly fitted to become a personal list of New Year’s resolutions for any skeptic.

[Via James Randi Educational Foundation]

Official Vatican Newspaper Under Fire For Endorsing ‘The Simpsons’

I wouldn’t be so cruel as to deprive you of your weekly fix of FOX now would I? What monumental feat of journalistic brilliance have they accomplished this week, I hear you ask. Well they’ve managed to dig up some baby-faced Pope wannabe to tell us that one of his guilty pleasures, ‘The Simpsons’, is essentially “not good for American culture”. I’d argue that it’s actually one of the best things that American culture has come up with so far.

Watch the video here.

[Via Atheist Media Blog]

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Well that’s the last Weekly Roundup of the decade. I hope you enjoyed it. Here’s wishing you a happy New Year from everyone at Skeptic. Don’t do anything Jesus wouldn’t do.

Please feel free to leave a comment and I will do my best to reply as quickly as possible. Until next time, take care of yourself, and each other.

If you come across something that you think our readers would enjoy, send a tip my way at will [at] skeptic [dot] org [dot] uk.

Episode one:

Episode two:

The Santa Situation

Christmas can be a confusing time for some sceptic parents. While some are happy to participate with the festivities, others are understandably reluctant. The latest Skepticality podcast addresses ‘the Santa situation’. Should parents tell their kids the truth or is that robbing them of the magic? Hear what a seven-year-old sceptic and his mother have to say on the matter.  

[Via Skeptic]

The Ladybird Book of Chiropractic Treatment and English Libel Law

The Simon Singh/British Chiropractic Association case is the hot topic of the moment, but for those of you who might have missed out on its unfolding development, Crispian Jago has created a wonderful summary that is suitable for all ages.  

[Via Science, Reason and Critical Thinking]

War on Christmas, Continued

It never gets old. The war on Christmas is of course, back, and once again Bill O’reilly is angry and unafraid to show it. This year he is not alone in publicly expressing his disgust for those with no religious inclination. Illinois comptroller candidate William Kelly took it upon himself to vandalise an Atheist sign that stated that “Religion is but myth and superstition”. Fortunately his ‘what would Jesus do?’ shirt was in the wash that day.

 [Via Friendly Atheist]

Pope Knocked Down by Woman at Christmas Mass

A woman, described as “mentally unstable”, this morning knocked over Pope Benedict on his way to Christmas mass at the Vatican. The Pope is reported to be unharmed, if a little shaken. The woman, who attempted a similar stunt last year, was detained by security staff and later arrested.

Read the BBC’s coverage of the story here.

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I’m afraid that’s all we’ve got for you this week. I’m sure there’s something more important going on today. So what are you still doing here? Go and spend time with your loved ones.

Merry Christmas!

If you come across something that you think our readers would enjoy, send a tip my way at will [at] skeptic [dot] org [dot] uk.

Jesus Would Buy the Acer Notebook

Are you stuck for Christmas present ideas? Well you need look no further. Forget Jamie Oliver, Mr. T and all those other has-beens; the Acer Notebook comes with an extra special endorsement this Christmas.

[Via Friendly Atheist]

BCA vs. Singh: Making Legal History

Last week saw the formal launch of the Libel Reform Campaign. Now the case of British Chiropractic Association against Simon Singh looks set to become a landmark case, with the panel confirmed to consist of England’s two most senior appeal judges. Jack of Kent explains that this development can give no indication of the eventual outcome, but will increase its historic significance. Why not pop to Ladbrookes now and then do your bit to sway the odds in your favour by signing up to the campaign?

[Via Jack of Kent]

Genetic Breakthrough Hails New Cancer Research Era

According to an article in the Telegraph, scientists from a world leading research centre in Cambridge are describing their latest findings as a “transforming moment” in the search for preventions, treatments and cures for lung and skin cancer. It is always difficult for the layperson to gauge the extent to which a story like this may have been overhyped, but one thing is for sure: this can only be good news.

[Via Richard Dawkins]

Atheists Banned From Public Office in Seven State Constitutions

Would you Adam and Eve it? It is against the state constitutions of seven of the United States for a non-believer to hold public office. Fortunately, a little-known document called the US Constitution, clearly states that “No religious test shall ever be required as a qualification to any office or public trust under the United States. So there.” Still, Cecil Bothwell’s critics are targeting his Atheism in an attempt to remove him from his position as City Counsellor of Asheville, North Carolina.   

Watch The Rachel Maddow Show’s coverage of the story here.

[Via Atheist Media Blog]

Say it ain’t so, Randi

It appears that even Gods are fallible. James Randi has recently written, rather uncharacteristically, that “the Petition Project [denying man-made climate change] may be valid.” It is not his conclusion that is disappointing, so much as his reasoning towards it. His view that “I believe we simply cannot formulate an equation into which we enter variables and come up with an answer,” seems to give credence to common sense above scientific evidence in a way that is analogous to the argument commonly spouted by creationists that “the human eye is so complicated that I just can’t believe that it happened by coincidence.” In all fairness to Randi, he was careful to express his limited understanding of the relevant scientific theory and has since written a follow-up blog article. Nonetheless, PZ Myers was not impressed. We still love you Randi.

[Via Pharyngula]

Pokémon Pastor

As the Harry Potter series has come to an end, one pastor has decided that he needs another irrelevant craze to frighten children out of. Try to keep a straight face when Jigglypuff makes an appearance.

Watch the video here.

[Via Friendly Atheist]  

Twiggy’s Olay Ad Banned Over Airbrushing

Over 700 complaints have been issued against an Olay advert that featured Twiggy alongside her testimonial “Olay is my secret for drop dead gorgeous eyes”, due to the allegation that the model’s image had been airbrushed. The Advertising Standards Authority has upheld the complaint, forcing Proctor & Gamble to replace the image with one that had not been doctored.

The Advertising Standards Authority examines every case for which even a single complaint is registered, so if you see a company making claims that you do not believe can be substantiated by evidence, let them know.

The Perpetual Motion Machine: Genuine or Hoax?

Hold the front page! Every construction project ever built is liable to collapse; every engine is at risk of explosion; and the very laws of thermodynamics are open to ridicule. Either that or some company you’ve never heard of has just unveiled its latest hoax. Steorn, the company in question, claims to have found a loophole in the way magnetic fields work, which they have used to make a machine that they claim produces more energy than it takes in. Were this to be the case it would violate the First Law of Thermodynamics and turn science on its head, which I’m sure is why you’re hearing about it here rather than on any of the major news channels. Clearly the government has been repressing this research and that of the car that can be powered by dreams, because they want your carbon taxes.

Watch the official promotional video here.

[Via Derren Brown Blog]

Uganda Bans Female Genital Mutilation

Ugandan politics has had a mixed bag recently. On the one hand, MPs have voted to outlaw female circumcision, with anyone found conducting such an atrocity to face a ten year, or life sentence, depending on whether or not the victim should die. On the other, the “Anti-Homosexuality Bill”, if passed, will imprison homosexuals for life and subject HIV positive homosexuals to the death penalty. It is difficult to ignore the role that religion has played in both instances.

[Via Derren Brown Blog]

The True Story of Christmas

No, it’s not all about Ruldoph’s ostracism and Santa’s chimney escapades. It turns out that Christmas has a far deeper story behind it, but you might find that your local church is only telling the abridged version. This website explains some of the fascinating origins of the rituals through which we now rejoice. Beware though; some of it is post watershed material.  

[Via Friendly Atheist]

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Well that’s it for another week. Please feel free to leave a comment and I will do my best to reply as quickly as possible. Until next time, take care of yourself, and each other.

If you come across something through the week that you think our readers would enjoy, send a tip my way at will [at] skeptic [dot] org [dot] uk.

There will be a normal length radio edit of the show broadcast on Resonance 104.4FM at 19.00 on Friday 18th December, and a much longer downloadable/podcast version to follow with added bad language and AGW denial.

As it’s the opening week for this blog (sound the trumpets!), we’ll get the ball rolling with something a little light-hearted.

Michelle Malkin: Atheists Should Be Treated Like “Trolls”

If Atheists are the Ebenezer Scrooge of the holiday season, then who other than FOX News could fill the buckled boots of the fat, bearded old man. News reporter Michelle Malkin advocates that when it comes to dealing with Atheists, good citizens of America should “treat these people like trolls”. Happy holidays!

Watch the video here.

(Note: This video was from 2008, last Christmas)

[Via Richard Dawkins]

Jesus On An Iron

Speaking of Jesus, who could ever grow tired of the endless sightings of the divine in such forms as the burned bits on a cheese toasty, the oily residue on a crisp, and now, in the charred stains on a household iron.

Watch the video here.

If you’re interested in the psychology behind our perceptions of such ambiguous images as these, Michael Shermer sheds light on the subject in a highly entertaining video that can be viewed here.

[Via Atheist Media Blog]

Sarah Palin Spins Out On “Climate Gate”

With the Climate Gate ‘scandal’ being so focused in the media’s headlights, there have inevitably been a wide range of interesting posts on the topic this week: An article in Discover, details the nonsensical ramblings of Sarah Palin, who has written that “the President’s decision to attend the international climate conference in Copenhagen needs to be reconsidered.” The article also includes a link to Adam Siegel’s thorough debunking of Palin’s latest scientific fail.

The Year’s Most Amazing Scientific Images

A brilliant slide show of 62 amazing images ranging from the volcanic lightning display of an explosion “1000 times as powerful as the atomic bomb that was dropped on Nagasaki” (pictured below), to the computer images of the Large Hadron Collider’s first collision. Each picture is accompanied by a description and many include links to further reading.

[Via Derren Brown]

Rift Flares After US Episcopal Church Elects Gay Bishop

Handbags and feather dusters lined the streets of America this past Sunday morning; the remnants left behind by Conservative Americans expressing their opposition to the election of the second openly gay bishop of the Anglican Church. One onlooker was reported to have mused, “We’re here, we’re queer,” and most poignantly, “get over it”.  We couldn’t agree more.

[Via Richard Dawkins]

Parliamentary Science and Technology Select Committee on Homeopathy

Dr. Ben Goldacre, author of the Bad Science column in the Guardian, recently took part in a government panel discussion that aimed to evaluate the evidence behind homeopathy and its implications for government policy. His blog post on the subject presents his thoughts on the event. The full video of which can be seen here.

And it’s not all grey stuff wrapped in legal terms. In fact, within the first two minutes you can expect to hear a bold admission from Paul Bennett, professional standards director for Boots, that neither he nor his company believe in the efficacy of their own medicines! Merseyside Skeptics have penned a great letter to Boots calling for the removal of homeopathic remedies from their shelves.

Switzerland Bans Minarets

Switzerland, commonly regarded through conventional wisdom as being one of the world’s most non-confrontational countries, has recently banned the building of minarets: the towers on the outsides of mosques, from which Imam’s would traditionally call on Muslims to pray, due to their being a sign of ‘Islamisation’. This certainly appears to be an odd area with which to take issue. Perhaps the Islamophobes are worried that these towers are used to house large, cartoon-rocket-shaped missiles. Friendly Atheist has posted a level-headed article on the subject, in which Hemant Mehta argues that “while we fight for our right to have freedom from religion, we can’t forget how important it is to also support freedom of religion”.

Women Who Stare at Kidneys

Does anyone remember the woman who accepted James Randi’s $1m challenge, claiming to have the power to cause involuntary urination in others using only the power of the mind? Well perhaps she was channeling similar energies to those used by Anita Ikonen, who claims to be able to determine whether or not a person is missing a kidney using similarly intangible methods. A detailed account of the experiment testing her claim, conducted by IIG, along with a commentary from a very skeptical Mark Edward, can be found here. If you, like Mark, suspect some foul play on Anita’s part (she did fail, don’t worry) and have some time to spare, you can scrupulously watch the whole proceeding here.

Christians Upset Over Government Funding of Medical Research

President Obama has given the go-ahead for the first batch of government funded experiments using embryonic stem cells. Many Christians, of course, are crying over the losses of potential lives and presumed souls, while failing to comprehend the real benefits that could result from research into this area. This video, posted by Atheist Media Blog, is worth your attention not only for your information, but because it is a rare opportunity for you to witness a reasonable discussion on the FOX news channel.

Woo Begins in the Womb

A recent study has found a negative correlation between the level of exposure to testosterone in the womb and the likelihood of embracing supernatural beliefs as an adult. In 2001, actress and feminist Sandra Bernhard, speaking on Bill Maher’s Politically Incorrect, made the ridiculous claim that “women come into this world more spiritually evolved than men”. It now appears that she may have had a point, but it is probably not the one that she was trying to make.

[Via Supersense]

STORY OF THE WEEK: Formal Libel Reform Campaign Launched

Many of you will be aware of the Keep Libel Laws Out of Science campaign, which was ignited after the British Chiropractic Association sued author Simon Singh for expressing his thoughts on their work in writing. We should be deeply concerned that our freedom of speech in the UK is being stifled, and that professionals need fear to articulate their views when they are in dissonance with large corporations.

This week saw the formal launch of the Libel Reform Campaign, which is excellently summarised and advocated by Jack of Kent. We too, strongly urge you to sign the petition online which will automatically send a letter to your local MP.

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Well that’s about all for this week.  Please feel free to leave a comment and I will do my best to reply as quickly as possible. Until next time, take care of yourself, and each other.

*If you come across something through the week that you think our readers would enjoy please send a tip my way at will [at] skeptic [dot] org [dot] uk.

Mr Henninger comes to his conclusion on the basis of this year’s most terribly named news phenomena: “Climategate”. Due to the fact that the private e-mails of the people at East Anglia Climate Research Unit have raised some interesting questions about their research methods (or not), our friend at The Journal thinks that “hard science has become just another faction, as politicized and “messy” as, say, gender studies.” First off, and at the risk of offending any climate researchers amongst our readers (been a tough year guys, stick in there), climatology is far from a hard science. We don’t know exactly what the weather is going to do tomorrow in London, never mind globally on a time-scale of decades. Yes we can measure it, and observe trends, and build predictive models. But a hard science? I think not.

And secondly, any person who honestly thinks that science is not politicized and messy has never spent any time with people who do science for a living! Academic conferences can get plain nasty.

Mr Henninger also writes: “The public was told repeatedly that something called “the scientific community” had affirmed the science beneath this inquiry [global warming]”. Indeed, and who exactly was it that kept telling us what the “scientific community” was thinking? Could it have possibly been the media Mr Henninger? The media who label anyone who does basic research a scientist (or a boffin, if it’s The Sun)? It is this over-simplified presentation of science as a single unified entity where all researchers are stuck with a single label, which has mislead the public into thinking that science is a series of well defined truths that are released to the press on a regular schedule. It’s for this very reason that people understandably get exasperated when the press report that “scientists” claim substance X cures cancer, only to have “scientists” a few weeks later announce substance X in fact causes cancer.

Science is not a thing, it’s a process. The sooner the media understand this, and more importantly begin to educate their readers, the sooner we’ll be done with stupid claims that science is dying.

Recently I was stopped in the street by man dressed in a suit who I assumed was about to ask for directions.  He asked me if I would mind answering a question for him, and I said that depending on the question I would of course be happy to oblige.  The question was this: Do you believe in God? It occurred to me that this was a little unusual, to stop someone in the street in the morning to ask them a question about their personal beliefs.  However, I told him that I do not believe in God.  He gave me a wry smile and told me that he had expected I would answer in the negative, since in the present day in Britain there are very few people, especially in the younger generation, who believe in God.  I didn’t have any statistical information about my person but I didn’t entirely agree with him.  Figures from the 2001 census show that 76.8% of people reported themselves as belonging to a particular religion, whilst 23.2% reported no religion or did not state their religion.  Of course it’s true that many people will write down a religion whilst not practising or engaging in any sort of religious activity.  Nevertheless I don’t think it’s unreasonable to assume that if you consider yourself to belong to a religion, the chances are that you accept the existence of a higher power.  Obviously the census was taken almost 9 years ago, but it seems unlikely the figures would have swung dramatically the other way.  In any case this man seemed eager to continue the conversation.

He proceeded to ask me for my opinion on evolution; I said I consider it to be an accurate scientific theory.  He said he thought evolution was an interesting theory, and refused to rule it out, although he argued that if evolution was true it would surely have to have been instigated by God and tweaked a little throughout history so as to explain certain aspects of it.  I wasn’t in the mood for an argument, so I muttered something about having to leave, but he pressed me further.  He said that surely it is vitally important for us to discover whether or not there is, in fact, a God, which was again a little odd since I had by now ascertained that he must be a believer himself.  I pointed out that surely providing a definitive answer to that question is somewhat difficult.  He countered by saying that if I was on a tight rope would I prefer to be up there with or without a safety net, which was an anomalous metaphor that didn’t really add anything to the conversation.  If I was on a tight rope you can be sure that I’d have the best safety net money can buy, but if you’re asking me whether or not I’d prefer to have an eternal life after death or accept that once you die that’s it, I’d have to say that I’d prefer the latter, but that’s just me.  In any case I said I was in a hurry and would have to leave, at which point he delved into his bag and produced a book which he offered to me.

The book is called “Life: How did it get here? By evolution or creation?”  After leafing through a few pages it was evident that this book already had the answer: creation.  It begins in an almost rational (I use this term loosely) way. It sets out some of the theories of evolution and argues that evolution can’t explain things such as the complicated nature of the human brain; maintains that the fossil evidence does not demonstrate species evolving, but supports clearly different species created by God who never interbreed; uses analogies of houses having architects therefore the natural world must do; says that we have no way of explaining the emergence of life in the first place; claims that Genesis is scientifically sound; and so on.

It attempts to explain that the first humans had eternal life, but when they “pulled away from their creator’s direction, what happened to them is similar to what happens when you pull the plug out of an electric fan”. It finishes with the declaration that those who believe in God will be saved when Armageddon and the rapture occur, and the saved will live in paradise free from illness and in harmony with the animals (there is even a drawing of a girl hugging a tiger).  Admittedly the latter parts of the book aren’t really about evolution at all.

It’s clear that a lot of effort went into making and publishing this book however poorly conceived, badly researched, and ludicrous it is.  But it did make me think.  How can people read something like this, and believe it?  How is it that educated and intelligent people can’t and won’t accept something that is considered to be factually accurate?

Perhaps people don’t believe it because they don’t understand it?  Although there’s lots of things we believe to be true but don’t necessarily understand: you may not understand the physics behind why a plane stays in the air, but you surely wouldn’t just assume it was down to pixie dust.  Evolution and religion need to be disentangled from each other.  Teaching evolution does not mean you are teaching atheism.  It is sad that there are so many people clamouring to prevent evolution from being taught in schools, and in some extreme cases it is under threat of being taken out entirely.

The idea that if you teach evolutionary theory in a science class you should have to teach creationism as another viable theory is preposterous.  You wouldn’t say that the pixie dust theory should be taught as an alternative when teaching the physics of flight.  I am not against learning about religion in school, and think that if taught for the interest of learning about history and sociological aspects of a diverse population, then it is educational and perhaps useful in facilitating tolerance and understanding within society.  But if creationism is going to be taught at all it should be taught as part of understanding how our ancestors explained how they came to be in a religious studies class.  It does not belong in the science classroom.

Teaching the theory of evolution does not mean teachers are encouraging children not to believe in God, children are free (in school at least) to decide that one for themselves.  They are trying to teach scientific fact, something which will finally take up its rightful place in the classrooms of primary schools in the UK.

Jim Baggott has been studying and writing about the history of physics for nearly 20 years and has won awards for his scientific research and his science writing. His previous books have been widely acclaimed and include A Beginner’s Guide to Reality (Penguin, 2005 – ‘… like having an informal, intimate conversation with an informed – and informative – thinker’) and Beyond Measure: Modern Physics, Philosophy and the Meaning of Quantum Theory (OUP, 2004 – … does for quantum theory what Hawking’s A Brief History of Time did for astronomy and cosmology’). Jim’s latest book is Atomic: The First War of Physics and the Secret History of the Atom Bomb, 1939–1949.

Join us on Friday 11th December at 19.00–19.30 on Resonance 104.4FM in London or via the www.resonancefm.com live feed elsewhere.

Meanwhile, the video below is from the New Scientist, briefly examining the case of BCA v Singh which helped to create the current attention and pressure for reform.

The press release from Sense About Science:

Academics and editors to tell MPs what the public doesn’t get to hear

Academics, medical editors, scientists and human rights activists will tell today MPs what the public does not get to hear because of chilling libel laws. In a briefing hosted by a cross party group of MPs, they will join calls for urgent political commitment to reform the libel laws[2]. This follows the report last month by Index on Censorship and English PEN that led to a widespread clamour at home and abroad for changes to English libel law.

MPs and peers will hear from Fiona Godlee, Editor, BMJ; writer Dr Ben Goldacre; John Micklethwait, Editor, The Economist; Lisa Appignanesei, President, English PEN; and Prof. Malcolm Grant, Provost, UCL.

They will tell MPs that the fear of being sued means that journal editors don’t publish articles even though they are in the public interest, that journals sometimes don’t withdraw fraudulent papers for fear of libel action, that universities are forced to curtail academic freedom and that material — including investigations into companies, human rights issues and the financial activities of the powerful — goes unpublished. The costs of this litigious environment are also high — journal editors often have to consult a lawyer before every publication. For advance comments and cases, see the following pages.

Science is full of surprises: the peculiar peepshow beginnings of baby incubators; the unexpected positive fallout from the H-bomb; the dinosaurs that caused sonic booms; the irrational nature of the number pi; the fifth taste sensation lurking in everyone’s taste buds which nobody knew about (except for the Japanese).Whilst shedding light on these conundrums, Karl Sabbagh shows that seemingly trivial queries or assumptions lead to a deeper understanding of how science works. Who would have thought that scientists would turn to the hypothesis ‘All swans are white’ to determine the stability of the entire universe? Or that if we choose to spend our hard-earned money on other people it might make us happier than if we spend it on ourselves?

If you’ve ever been amazed by what scientific discovery has shown us about the world (like why the hair of the dog really works!), you could win a signed copy of this book from Karl Sabbagh and The Skeptic. To enter, simply tell us your favourite ‘Scientific Surprise’ in the comment section below or email competition[at]skeptic.org.uk.

There’s no right answer for this one, just awesome science.  The contest closes Friday the 18th at 5pm GMT.

The accolade is called the ‘Pigasus Award’ and in 2007 one of its recipients was Rupert Sheldrake for his work on telephone telepathy through morphic resonance.

After the interview was published, Rupert wrote a letter to The Skeptic asking why Chris French did not challenge Randi on Rupert’s Pigasus Award, when, in fact, Chris has and is working on research with Rupert on this very phenomena.  Rupert’s letter also contained criticism levelled at Randi for a document that was used in a TAM3 workshop, which stated that becoming an expert media sceptic was as easy as “tell[ing] people you’re an expert. After you do that, all you have to do is maintain appearances and not give them a reason to believe you’re not.”

In the spirit of fostering open debate and discourse, we’ve given Randi the opportunity to reply to Rupert’s letter.  Chris French has also written a reply to the original letter.  All three letters can be viewed here.

It has been reported that a number of players including players from Arsenal, Liverpool, Manchester City, and a host of other clubs have been visiting a Serbian healer by the name of Mariana Kovacevic.  Apparently her unique technique is to perform massage using a cream that has been infused with horse placenta, and a number of players are convinced that this is the secret to recovering quickly from injury.  Footballers aren’t known as the clevereople in the world, but you’d think that having spent the majority of their careers around professional medical staff, and considering injury is part and parcel of playing the sport they play, they would have some understanding of treatment on sports related injuries.  You wouldn’t think they could be taken in by a woman claiming special healing abilities, particularly when their doctors have told them it’s a load of rubbish.  Most reports have said that the actual methods used are a closely guarded secret, but all seem to agree that there is a placenta involved.  Most have said it’s a horse placenta, although The Sun went one further and claimed that a human placenta was being used.  Liverpool football club in particular have been very impressed with the treatment, having sent 4 players to Serbia recently who all mysteriously got better after having the placenta treatment in addition to their usual treatment with club physios.  Of course the only logical conclusion is that the horse placenta was the answer, nothing to do with the excellent medical care provided by club doctors.  Liverpool manager Rafa Benitez is very complimentary towards this alternative treatment saying “Many top players have been going for seven years, it has been successful and I believe it is safe”.  I suspect that the success he is describing is largely anecdotal, and the fact it is safe is frankly a relief as I’d be somewhat worried if someone administering a massage with some harmless fluid was unsafe.

Most reports haven’t tried to speculate as to how a treatment which involves rubbing placenta fluid on the skin can have a healing effect although the majority of newspapers have kindly pointed out facts about the placenta in the middle of their reports such as in the BBC “The placenta connects the foetus to the uterine wall in mammals. And fresh samples of the organ are rich in stem cells, which can develop into different types of tissue like muscle and bone.”  That’s good to know but it doesn’t explain how rubbing it into the skin could help.  Giles Smith of the Times writes “But what’s everybody’s problem with placenta anyway? It’s widely accepted that the placenta is a valuable source of stem cells and iron.”  Absolutely, and babies in the womb benefit greatly from this, but that still doesn’t explain how applying it to the skin helps footballers with damaged ankle ligaments.   The fact of the matter is that there is no evidence that this placenta method speeds up recovery time.  It is amazing that people who have the best medicine available on offer are still prepared to put their faith in something that has not been proven.   Hopefully this lack of evidence won’t mean politicians start advocating its use within the NHS anytime soon.

The HMV Hammersmith Apollo, London   20th December

An Extra Date Added due to Popular Demand

Tickets are available for the return of 2008’s sold out show of science, song and some interpretative dance.

This is not an attack on religion, but a family friendly celebration of science and the rational world.

Last year saw Jarvis Cocker singing I Believe in Father Christmas with a 25 piece orchestra before Richard Dawkins took to the stage to talk of cobwebs followed by a Top of the Pops dance to Harry Nilsson’s Can’t Live if Living is Without You.

This year promises to be even more eclectic. It will see Mock the Week host Dara O’Briain,  Al Murray The Pub Landlord breaking into song,  Prof Richard Dawkins reading out his hate mail, Mark Steel being shouty and left-wing, physicist and code breaker Simon Singh, Bad Science author Ben Goldacre, CERN scientist and former popstar Prof Brian Cox, I’m Sorry I Haven’t a Clue Legend Barry Cryer with Ronnie Golden, acclaimed singer songwriter Robyn Hitchcock, multi award winning comedians Josie Long and Richard Herring, Thick of It star Chris Addison, and Martin White’s Mini Mystery Fax Machine Orchestra along with some very special guests.

Tickets available here — http://www.ticketmaster.co.uk/Nine-Lessons-and-Carols-for-Godless-People-tickets/

I’ve made no secrets of my feelings towards the Catholic Church, in particular when it comes to its dealings with child abuse. Thus, it was with a certain amount of resignation that I awaited the release last week of a report detailing the Church’s efforts to cover up incidents of clerical sexual child abuse in the dioceses of Dublin over a 30 year period (media coverage here and here).The Commission of Investigation into Dublin’s Catholic Archdiocese examined complaints against 46 priests in relation to over 320 children.

The report found that rather than actually deal with the allegations of abuse, or show concern for the welfare of the children brutally molested, the Church:

focus[ed] on the avoidance of scandal and the preservation of the good name, status and assets of the institution and of what the institution regarded as its most important members – the priests.

This self-serving protectionism lives on strong to this day, with the Vatican refusing to engage with the Commission because of cowardly complaints that the Commission didn’t go through the proper “diplomatic channels”. The levels of corruption and deceit have even extended to State authorities, including the police, highlighting the deplorable level of malevolent influence the Catholic Church has in Ireland.

I think people outside of Ireland don’t truly grasp how much a part of the fabric of day-to-day society the Catholic Church was, and still is today. The majority of schools are Church run, the Angelus is played on our national television and radio stations, and pubs are closed on Good Friday. So despite seeing report after report detailing a litany of emotional, physical and sexual abuse carried out upon thousands of children over a period of decades, and despite that fact that this abuse has been actively covered up at the highest levels, the Church survives. The Irish people shake their heads and mutter their disgust before heading back to mass on Sundays — like good Catholics.

Will the Church ride out this latest scandal? Certainly the uproar it has created is considerable. I want to believe that people will see the Church for the self-serving hierarchy that it is and remove themselves from it’s diseased shadow. I’m led to believe that Christianity is a way of life, not a building you go to every week. The cynic in me isn’t so hopeful.

However those of us who were brought up in a Catholic environment and were baptised before we had a chance to develop our own views on the world can register our disgust with the Church by hitting them where it hurts: their membership. As a “lapsed” (to put it mildly) Catholic I still gets counted as a member of the Church. To make the separation official, one has to defect. The genius’s at Count Me Out have compiled all the information you’ll need to complete this easy process on one website. Not Irish but still want to defect? No problem, the form is universal, so just fill this out and send it to the parochial house or bishop’s office of the diocese in which you were baptised. If you haven’t defected yet, then the church is using your membership to show that they have support. Not a Catholic? Then do what you can to spread this campaign.  Don’t let the Catholic church get away with this any longer. Check out the Intelligence Squared debate over at Atheist Media if you are somehow still unsure.

Any other organisation would have been torn down after the first evidence of child abuse came to light. How many more horror stories do we need before the Church is put out of its evil misery?

http://skeptic.org.uk/pub
http://www.gold.ac.uk/apru/speakers
http://www.meetup.com/Central-London-Humanists
http://www.skepchick.org
http://www.ncse.com
http://www.epjournal.net/filestore/EP07398441_c.pdf
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Maybe-Yes-No-Guide-Skeptics/dp/0879756071/
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Magic-Detectives-Solving-Strange-mysteries/dp/0879755474/ref=sr_1_10/1
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Infidel-Ayaan-Hirsi-Ali/dp/1416526242/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1259679989&sr=1–1/