(This article is based on a presentation the author gave to CFI Toronto in 2008.)
On December 10, 2007, 16-year-old Aqsa Parvez was found strangled, and succumbed to the assault within hours. Her father, Muhammad Parvez, and her brother Waqas were charged with her murder.
It’s that time of year again: there’s a chill in the air, malls are playing the same music over and over, and the whining about the alleged attempts to expunge Christmas has begun.
Every year since I’ve become politically cognizant it seems I’ve had to endure people bickering about the ‘controversy’ over Christmas. Is it a war on Christmas, as the American right-wing TV and radio hosts purport? Is it offensive to say “Happy Holidays” or “Season’s Greetings” as opposed to “Merry Christmas?” Is being inclusive and saying “Happy Hanukkah,” “Happy Kwanzaa,” etc. a slippery slope? Is it hypocritical at best, politically or ethically untenable at worst, for atheists to celebrate Christmas? Some non-theists don’t celebrate Christmas because of its religious connotations, and some theists think that non-Christians shouldn’t celebrate Christmas.
Premises regarding skepticism:
A skeptic bases belief upon evidence and reason. He or she uses critical inquiry—the scientific method—to examine claimed phenomena. A skeptic holds beliefs provisionally, rather than absolutely, accepting that new evidence and reason may be found to require a revision in beliefs.
The Lost Tomb of Jesus documentary has made a public sensation. A DVD of the film has also been released and a book adapted from the documentary (entitled The Jesus Family Tomb: The Discovery, the Investigation, and the Evidence That Could Change History, no less) is also available now. (more…)
Part of “Pseudoscience A to Z”, a series of articles in the Skeptics Canada newsletter.
Malachy O’Morgair is known today as Saint Malachy, and like many saints, he had humble beginnings.
Part of “Pseudoscience A to Z”, a series of articles in the Skeptics Canada newsletter about topics that have not been subjected to much critical thinking by their promoters.
US District Judge John E. Jones III issued his long-awaited ruling on the case of Kitzmiller et al. versus the Dover (Pennsylvania) Area School District on Dec. 20, 2005. The school board had required grade-nine biology teachers to read a statement calling evolution not a fact but a theory with gaps and pointing to Intelligent Design as alternative explanation for the origins of life.
Introduction
“In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth” (Genesis 1:1). The first book of the Bible, Genesis (1:1-31), describes the creation of the universe in six days, from out of cold nothingness, by a supernatural being to which Christianity, Judaism and Islam bid worship. As time progressed, people began to look more closely at the rocks which they trod upon, and noticed peculiarities which could not be accounted for by the Bible, and so required further explanation. Thus was born the scientific field of geology — the description of the earth’s rocks and how they came to be situated in their current locations.
Part of “Pseudoscience A to Z”, a series of brief articles in the OSSCI newsletter about topics that have not been subjected to much critical thinking by their promoters.