ريتشارد دوكنز's Blog, page 18

A Skeptic’s Guide to Reporting on UFOs

Any day now, the Pentagon is expected to release a report disclosing what it knows about the unidentified aerial phenomena (UAP) documented and reported by U.S. military personnel, and indeed, some news outlets have already reported on some of its contents. The long and the short of it is more or less what you’d expect: …

RFRA’s Cognitive Dissonance

In the 1990s, the Center for Inquiry was one of the very few secular-progressive organizations to oppose the Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA). A powerful analysis by Marci A. Hamilton in the latest Free Inquiry proves how prescient we were. Hamilton, who had been clerking for Justice Sandra Day O’Connor when the RFRA ball got …

A History of Humanism

The evolution of the American freethought movement, the story of humanism’s coming-of-age in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries, is now the subject of a major independent scholarly history by Stephen P. Weldon, The Scientific Spirit of American Humanism. In the latest issue of Free Inquiry magazine, Editor Tom Flynn brings his own deep knowledge of …

What the UFO Report Really Means

Not surprisingly, Scientific American already knows how to report on things such as UFOs in a way that is grounded in reality. Leonard David rounded reactions to what is known so far (remember, the report hasn’t even been released yet) from actual astronomers, astrophysicists, and scholars.  Among them are two fellows of the Committee for …

The Abnormalization of Atheists

Did you know that right now, in the year 2021, seven states still have laws on their books barring atheists from holding public office? We can take some comfort in the fact that the U.S. Constitution renders these outdated and truly offensive laws unenforceable. But what does it say about atheists’ place in American society …

Before, I loved my invisible friend with all my heart

Dear Professor Dawkins, In my previous life, I was deeply religious. I was the guy you would find playing the guitar at church, talking to strangers in the streets, or meditating with monks in a monastery. I experienced miracles and loved my invisible friend with all my heart. Then, one day, I read a piece …

OPEN DISCUSSION JUNE 2021

This thread has been created for discussion on themes relevant to Reason and Science for which there are not currently any dedicated threads. Please note that our Comment Policy applies as usual. There is a link to this at the foot of the page. If you would like to refer back to previous open discussion …

Taking the Bull by the Horns

From the Richard Dawkins Foundation Newsletter. Subscribe here. Misinformation overload has become a tragic reality of our current age, and in recent years its growth has been accelerated by several major factors, not least of which include four years under a presidency that was overtly hostile to facts and a global pandemic that fostered confusion, fear, …

How America Dropped the Ball on the Pandemic

The latest Skeptical Inquirer Presents featured journalist Nina Burleigh discussing the topic of her new book, Virus: Vaccinations, the CDC, and the Hijacking of America’s Response to the Pandemic. In a conversation with host Leighann Lord, Burleigh explains how the previous administration ignored the pandemic response framework it had been handed by its predecessors, preferring instead …

The Price of (Other People’s) Fame

The six nominees for the Full of Bull award are just the tip of a very big iceberg when it comes to celebrities promoting pseudoscience and misinformation. At Skeptical Inquirer, Stuart Vyse explores how the anti-vaccine movement has ebbed and flowed in celebrity culture since the time of Jenny McCarthy’s false claims about vaccines and autism. …