1. Where are our baloney detectors?
(Paranormal/General)

South Africans have been exposed to the psychic phenomenon over the past week – and we have clearly lost our baloney detectors.   First there was the visit of John Edward, t

2. Belief, God Genes, and the Findings of Science
(Religion/Atheism)

...ht? The great majority of scientists believe they are if we adhere to the principle of peer reviewed, testable and evidence-based science, and believe in the relevance of scientific expertise.   ...

3. Faith-healing parents charged in death of infant son
(Religion/Enforced religion)

...de because the boy could have been saved with basic medical care. Bacterial pneumonia "is very treatable," he said, but without care he "seriously" doubted if Kent improved at all...

4. Leading vaccine scaremonger debunked
(Medicine/General)

... the science he purports to have read, and in the way he downplays the true dangers of the vaccine-preventable diseases he discusses in his book. He then provides parents with what he views as rationa...

5. Public schools flout national laws on religious instruction
(Religion/Enforced religion)

... pupils may be excused on grounds of conscience from attending a religious observance component, and equitable arrangements must be made for these pupils (my emphasis). Stellenbosch Laerskool cont...

6. Origin of the Specious: Race, lies and stereotypes in Rudolf Steiner’s anthroposophy
(Religion/General)

...repeated as “true” simply because he said it. Some ‘truths’ though, are less palatable than others: “If the blonds and blue-eyed people die out, the human race will becom...

7. The religious find a friend in the law
(Religion/Atheism)

...Stephen Green of the extremist group Christian Voice. Even the revised version of the slogan is not acceptable to him, and he has complained to the ASA. "I believe," Mr Green said, "the...

8. Who Started the War on Christmas?
(Religion/Atheism)

....” VDare became the staging ground for the War on the War on Christmas. Unlike their more respectable counterparts, Brimelow’s writers dared to name the true anti-Christian Grinch: Jews...

9. "Child-witches" of Nigeria seek refuge
(Religion/General)

...led African mercury, a potion of pure alcohol and his own blood, into the eyes of a young boy lying on a table. "I want this poison destroyer to destroy the witch right now, in Jesus' name,&q...

10. Anger over Satanism lesson
(Religion/General)

...blem if a lesson refers to Satanism by way of explanation, but to discuss it in so much detail is unacceptable." The school principal, Gallie Maré, said the information was available to e...

11. 'He said Satan told him to'
(Religion/General)

In an apparent Satanic ritual, a Krugersdorp matriculant "with mad eyes" arrived at school on Monday with several Ninja swords and allegedly killed one boy before seriously injuring three mo

12. An Atheist Manifesto
(Religion/Atheism)

...t these pilgrims believed mightily in the God of the Koran: Their lives were organized around the indisputable fact of his existence; their women walked veiled before him; their men regularly murdered...

13. Lizards make adaptive change
(Science/General)

...ry. It's mainly rock with little shrubby plants sticking up out here and there. It looks very inhospitable," he said.They found on that visit and subsequent trips in 2005 and 2006 that the wa...

14. Goblins in the cupboard
(Paranormal/General)

...t easily dislodged, these ideas probably grew out of our floundering reach for explanation in an unpredictable world where disease and pestilence could blindside us. In the mid-1500s Earth was grippe...

15. Teenager faces prosecution for calling Scientology 'cult'
(Religion/General)

...London police came under fire two years ago when it emerged that more than 20 officers, ranging from constable to chief superintendent, had accepted gifts worth thousands of pounds from the Church of ...

16. Americans pray at the pump for cheaper petrol
(Religion/General)

...ur dollars for both a gallon of milk and a gallon of gas," and are substituting meats, fish and vegetables with cheaper pasta and canned foods, Maloney said. On the forecourt of the Washington ...

17. Churchgoing on its knees as Christianity falls out of favour
(Religion/General)

...t is 30 per cent higher [than the Sunday attendance figure used by Christian Research] and has remained stable since 2000. We have no reason to believe that this will drop significantly." &mdas...

18. Religion a figment of human imagination
(Religion/General)

... all wrong-doers. "Once you have these additions of the imagination, maybe theories of God are inevitable," he says. Journal reference: Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B, (DO...

19. Darwin's Nemesis by William Dembski
(Book reviews/Reviews)

...eudo-scientific movements. Ajala (2006: 90) points out “that the theory of evolution is not incompatable with belief in the existence of God and God’s presence in the workings of the unive...

20. Pope Benedict to test secular ground at UN
(Religion/General)

...d Nations world headquarters, where once-taboo discussions of religion and culture have become more acceptable but not yet widespread enough to make the horse-trading government delegations behave lik...

21. Old Tibet no Shangri-La
(Religion/General)

Pre-1950s state was a feudal theocracy short on peace, harmony but not oppression and torture. Recent uprisings in Tibet have raised international attention because of the spotlight on the Beijing Ol

22. Cult leader Pyotr Kuznetsov tries suicide after realising he was wrong about doomsday
(Religion/General)

...nd," said Oleg Melnichenko, deputy goveror of the Penza region. Doctors described his condition as stable after an emergency operation. The local prosecutor Grigori Zhitenev said that Mr Kuznetso...

23. Faith healing church parents charged over toddler's death
(Religion/Enforced religion)

...ling over conventional medicine are to be prosecuted for manslaughter after their daughter died of a treatable infection. Carl and Raylene Worthington were indicted by a grand jury in Oregon's C...

24. Girl Dies After Parents Pray for Healing Instead of Seeking Medical Help
(Religion/Enforced religion)

An 11-year-old girl died after her parents prayed for healing rather than seek medical help for a treatable form of diabetes, police said Tuesday. Everest Metro Police Chief Dan Vergin said Madeline

25. New Atheists Are Not Great
(Religion/General)

...iterates Aquinas's assertion that reason and faith complement each other. Yet science has insurmountable limits. It cannot answer empirical questions about the origins of the universe, for insta...

26. Religion 'linked to happy life'
(Religion/General)

...used meant that undetected factors, perhaps in the lifestyle or upbringing of religious people, such as stable family life and relationships, could be the cause of this increased satisfaction. The p...

27. Hatred and Ignorance on the Web
(Religion/General)

...ning a bottle of perfume, the particles rush out and dissolve. Instead of remaining closed, compact and stable they will tend to entropy (see matters concerning the singularity, conservation of mass a...

28. Dumb and Dumber: Are Americans Hostile to Knowledge?
(Science/General)

... is perennial in American history," adding that in periods "when political problems seem intractable or somehow frozen, there is a turn toward cultural issues." But now, Ms. Jacoby said...

29. Study: Religion colors Americans' views of nanotechnology
(Religion/General)

Is nanotechnology morally acceptable? For a significant percentage of Americans, the answer is no, according to a recent survey of Americans' attitudes about the science of the very small. Addre

30. Why multiculturalism must be abandoned
(Religion/General)

...t;, without looking at what that difference actually means. Yet many people feel instinctively uncomfortable when we talk about ditching multiculturalism – for a good reason. The only alternat...