Skeptic's CornerWelcome to my little corner of skeptical (a.k.a "critical" or "rational") thinking! A skeptic doesn't deny the possibility of extravagant claims such as psychic powers, ghosts, alien visitations, homeopathy, healing crystals, acupuncture, chiropractic "medicine" or, well, God. A skeptic is simply somebody who refuses to accept such claims unless backed by solid, verifiable and reproducible evidence. In other words, a skeptic is somebody who believes in the power of the scientific method and seeks to apply it to all aspects of life (and death, as it were).Click on any of the designs shown below to see that design on a wide variety of apparel and other merchandise, such a t-shirts, mugs, calendars, hats, etc. |
Atheist Moral Compass We atheists have a "moral compass" that lets us determine "right" from "wrong" based on our own innate empathy and our understanding of what things keep society running smoothly -- no gods required! |
Anthropic Principle The Strong Anthropic principle claims that the entire universe must have been specially designed for intelligent life. Why stop there? Obviously, the entire universe was designed for ME! |
Common Sense Atheism Eugene is a fundamentalist religious apologist who thinks he knows everything, but his much smarter wife Maude can't resist putting him in his place. |
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Extraordinary Claims A skeptic doesn't deny the possibility of extravagant claims -- he or she simply requires solid evidence before accepting them. And extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence. |
Believing Is Seeing When faced with an unknown phenomenon, many people interpret it according to whatever they happen to believe in, whether it be aliens, ghosts, angels or what have you. Believing is seeing! |
I Want to Believe I actually want to believe in ghosts, psychic powers, alien visitations, healing crystals, acupuncture, chiropractic, etc. I'm just waiting for some, you know, credible evidence... |
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Evolution Is a Theory Some people think that Evolution is not an established fact because it is just a "theory." In fact, a theory is "a verified or established explanation accounting for known phenomena." |
Anecdotal Evidence As any good skeptic knows, anecdotal evidence is not the same as proof unless it can be repeated under controlled circumstances. |
"M" or "J" Person Ever notice that "psychics" never just say, "I'm getting a message from your uncle Frank"? Instead, they always seem to "sense an M or a J person" related to somebody in the audience... |
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Why Believe? Ever wonder why so many people find it so easy to believe so much nonsense? Here are some of the main reasons, and knowing why is the first step to overcoming and avoiding those beliefs. |
"Alternative" Medicine Some think that "alternative" medicine is just a different "type" of medicine than that practiced by reputable doctors. Actually, since it doesn't work, it's just an alternative to medicine. |
How to Be a Psychic Ever wonder how so-called psychics read minds or talk to the dead? It's easy and now you, too, can be a psychic by following these five easy steps! |
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Definition of Atheist Atheism is the arrogant belief that the entire, unimaginably vast, universe was not actually created just for our benefit. |
Rational Thinker The word "atheist" has always carried a lot of negative baggage. So, from now on, I'm going to tell people that, instead of calling me an atheist, they can just call me a "rational thinker"... |
Definition of Religion Religion is the arrogant and unshakable belief that only a tiny fraction of humanity really understand the word of God and will be granted eternal salvation as a result. |
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Unidentified There are plenty of things in the sky I can't identify. Just because I don't know what something is, though, doesn't mean it must be an alien spacecraft... |
Where Is Heaven? The whole concept of a heaven to which we ascend after death and from which angels descend to visit us really only makes any sense if you happen to believe that the Earth is flat and doesn't revolve. |
Unexplained Are there questions that science can't answer? Perhaps, but that doesn't somehow prove the existence of God. Maybe aliens or magical pixies are responsible... |
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Flawed Design If the complexity of nature proves the existence of an intelligent designer (a.k.a. God), the many flaws in nature must prove that God is either lazy, cruel or just plain incompetent. |
God's Plan Believers like to say that God has a plan for every one of us. Sadly, that plan often involves pain and torture due to disease, natural disasters or other things beyond our control. Way to go, God! |
Christian Nation? Despite what many Christians would like to believe, the Treaty of Tripoli explicitly stated in 1797 that the government of the United States is NOT founded on the Christian Religion. |
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Placebo! Numerous studies have shown that most alternative or complementary treatments perform no better than a placebo. So either these treatments are totally useless, or that placebo is a very powerful drug! |
Argument from Ignorance Much of the arguments against things like the theory of evolution boil down to "I don't understand it, so it must not be true." Sadly, an argument from ignorance is never a valid argument. |
Logical Fallacies When considering arguments offered to prove or disprove a point, it's important to always be aware of common logical fallacies that may completely invalidate the argument. |
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Nonexistence of God Since theist apologists love to twist logic in order to "prove" the existence of their personal concept of God, it's only fair to disprove the existence of God in the same manner. |
Religious Discrimination Ever notice how the people who scream the loudest about religious discrimination are the ones who most want to discriminate against other people based on their religious beliefs? |
Religious Freedom Ever notice how people who cry the loudest about religious freedom only care about the freedom to express their own particular religious beliefs? |
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Climate Change Denial Ever notice how those with a vested interest in polluting the planet will keep making new excuses as to why they don't have to make changes? |
Apologetics Religious apologists offer arguments that they claim logically prove the existence of God. In reality, they are just trying to justify beliefs that they hold for completely irrational reasons. |
Cosmological Argument If apologists from different religions can use the exact same argument to prove the existence of their religion's god, maybe there's something wrong with the argument. |
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Iron Chariots My vote for funniest Bible verse. GOD is all-powerful and with Him on your side nothing can stop you! Except... Oh No! They have iron chariots! Run away! |
