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Skeptic Magazine, Volume 23 Number 4
Table of Contents

Skeptic magazine, vol 23, no 4 (cover)

Special Section: Tactics for Discussing Contentious Issues

Personhood and Abortion Rights
How Science Might Inform this Contentious Issue
by Gary Whittenberger
How to Teach Evolution to Religious Students
by Surat Parvatam
The Arguments for Creationism and the Arguments for Evolution
A Study in Contrasts
by Ralph M. Barnes
Meeting Our “Enemies” Where They Are
The Advantage of Understanding Your Adversary’s Arguments
by Andrew Cooper-Sansone

Junior Skeptic

Secrets of the Ouija Board

Today we will dim the lights and gather around an object of mystery: the ouija (pronounced “wee-ja” or “wee-gee”). With a little pointer, these simple but spooky devices spell out answers that appear to come from some invisible source. Some people believe ouija boards release secrets from our subconscious minds. Others claim ouija boards harness supernatural forces to predict the future or contact spirits of the dead. Ouija boards have been used to write entire books, and praised as a source of cosmic wisdom. They have also been blamed for madness, mayhem, and murder. Some even fear that ouija boards are gateways for evil demons. Are any of these claims true? Let’s find out!

by Daniel Loxton

Columns

The SkepDoc
Health Freedom, Right to Try, and Informed Consent
by Harriet Hall, M.D.
The Gadfly
Do You Have Traits or Are You a Type?
by Carol Tavris

Articles

The Grandest of Questions
Why is There Something Rather Than Nothing?
by Michael Shermer
Reports of Mysterious Attacks on U.S. Diplomats Continue
Separating Fact from Fiction
by Robert E. Bartholomew
The God Damners
The Now Not-so-New Atheism
by Michael Cohen
Quackery in America
An Inglorious and Ongoing History
by Morton Tavel, M.D.
What Is It like to Be a Human?
by Colin McGinn

Reviews

A Dark World Gets Pinker
A review of Enlightenment Now: The Case for Reason, Science, Humanism, and Progress, by Steven Pinker.
reviewed by Jim Davies
The Inevitability of Intelligent Life
Reviews of The Equations of Life: How Physics Shapes Evolution, by Charles S. Cockell, and The Human Instinct: How We Evolved to Have Reason, Consciousness, and Free Will, by Kenneth R. Miller.
reviewed by Nathan H. Lents
Calling SCAM a Scam
A review of SCAM: So-Called Alternative Medicine, by Edzard Ernst.
reviewed by Harriet Hall, M.D.
Dead Weight
A review of Skin in the Game: Hidden Asymmetries in Daily Life, by Nassim Nicholas.
reviewed by Chris Edwards
Who Are You?
A review of The Biological Mind: How Brain, Body, and Environment Collaborate to Make Us Who We Are, by Alan Jasonoff.
reviewed by Peter Kassan
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