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Skeptic Summary #82
By The Staff
Posted on: 3/11/2006
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An overreaction, a bunch of semantic nonsense, unthinking proponents, probing Saturn, Daniel Dennett, TAM4 and more!
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Week ending March 11, 2006 (Vol 3, #9)
Welcome to the Skeptic Summary, a quick week-in-review guide to the Skeptic Friends Network and the rest of the skeptical world.
Forum Highlights:Danger to Humanity - A slam on Hillary turns into a discussion on libertarianism.
Free for All, Part II - Dave W. is still pounding his head on his desk.
South Dakota Abortion Law - Strawmen, lies and misunderstandings galore!
Editor’s Choice: That pesky Saturn probe… - For all you bigbrain fans. Kil’s Evil Pick:Point of Inquiry: Daniel Dennett - Highly recommended… New Articles this Week:TAM4 - Flying, Foolish Behavior, Smart People, Food and Coffee. Chat Highlights:Sunday: The SFN introduces a chat client upgrade. Much fuss with new features, like more smileys, colours, sounds, and avatars. Major skiing event in Sweden, the Vasa Race; what’s wrong with general Christian bashing; feuding members; Michael Moore; politics and possible Presidential candidates; heartaches at the ICU; more play with the new chat-client features.
Wednesday: Ricky gets an edit, and then everyone played with the new chat features. Ghost hunters were discussed, and then everyone played with the new chat features. @tomic joined us, geeked out and then everyone played with the new chat features. Dave slapped down a possible fight, using the new chat features. Carl Sagan, book reviews, creationism and Roe V. Wade were also discussed, and then there were those new chat features…
Come chat with us. New Members these last two weeks:GUELLI
wershel
Lockhear
ascott
Fiord
101
(Not a member? Become one today!)
Elsewhere in the World:Bad Science
Cause Celebre
Mars probe enters orbit after risky move (Mission Homepage)
Separation of Man and Ape Down to Gene Expression
What’s New by Bob Park
Got some skeptic news items? Send them to us, and we’ll think about adding them. Book of the Week:Our Endangered Values: America’s Moral Crisis, by Jimmy Carter
“Evangelical Christians in this country are familiar with the jeremiad, a sermon rousing the devout to renewed effort by highlighting how far they have wandered from the true and only faith. These days, jeremiads invariably attribute the abysmal crisis in which America allegedly finds itself to liberals and secular humanists. Teenage pregnancy, abortion, drug addiction, homosexuality — these, we are told, are indications of our fallen state, the product of our mistaken belief that we can get by without the teachings of a just God.
Jimmy Carter’s natural affinity is with the jeremiad. But Our Endangered Values, the prolific ex-president’s latest book, finds fault not with secular humanists but with Christians, particularly those of the fundamentalist persuasion. Huge gaps between rich and poor, disrespect for human rights, cruel and unusual treatment of prisoners, a despoiled environment and a dangerous foreign policy — these, for him, are the true indications of how far we have fallen. We used to believe that America stood as a moral beacon to the world. Because of the influence wielded by fundamentalists over our policies, Carter argues, we no longer can…”
— The Washington Post’s Book World
More issues of the Skeptic Summary can be found in our archive.
The Skeptic Summary is produced by the staff of the Skeptic Friends Network, copyright 2006, all rights reserved.
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