Skeptic: Promoting Science and Critical Thinking

In this week’s eSkeptic, Skeptic magazine’s religion editor demonstrates how the Christian apologetic argument of creation ex nihilo (that God created the universe out of nothing), is not dissimilar to earlier creation myths.

A review of Richard Dawkins’ The God Delusion (Bantam Books, 2006, ISBN 0618680004). This review was originally published in Science, January 26, 2007.

In this week’s eSkeptic, we announce the release of Michael Shermer’s latest book, The Believing Brain: From Ghosts, Gods, and Aliens to Conspiracies, Economics, and Politics—How the Brain Constructs Beliefs and Reinforces Them as Truths. Synthesizing 30 years of research, Shermer presents his comprehensive theory on how beliefs are born, formed, nourished, reinforced, challenged, changed, and extinguished.

In this book review Joe Cuchiara considers the validity of the new theories of emergence and complexity and how complex systems arise naturally from the bottom up through the natural forces of nature as emergent properties, instead of the traditional top down explanation of divine design. Herald Morowitz’s book The Theory of Everything is an all encompassing theory to explain the cosmos.

In this week’s eSkeptic, Raymond A. Eve discusses an empirical study of the difference between the beliefs of wiccans versus those of creationists.

On April 8, 2010, the British philosopher Antony Flew (one of the world’s most outspoken and prominent atheists) passed away after a long life in academic philosophy. Flew changed his mind in the closing years of his life, apparently impressed by the arguments from Intelligent Design creationists. In this week’s eSkeptic, we present an article by Kenneth Grubbs, which was written before Antony Flew died and aims to get at the truth of his conversion.

In this week’s eSkeptic, Kenneth Grubbs reviews The Reason for God: Belief in an Age of Skepticism by Timothy Keller.

In this week’s eSkeptic, Dr. Jeremy E.C. Genovese examines an educational urban legend that suggests a willingness to accept assertions about instructional strategies without empirical support. This article appeared in a SOLD OUT issue of Skeptic magazine Volume 10 Number 4 (2004). PLUS, Michael Shermer and Sam Harris debate Deepak Chopra and Jean Houston on the question: Does God Have a Future? This debate was filmed as an ABC Nightline Faceoff.

In this week’s eSkeptic, Kenneth Grubbs reviews The Greatest Show on Earth: The Evidence for Evolution by Richard Dawkins as well as and The Case for God by Karen Armstrong. In this week’s Skepticality, Swoopy talks with Sean Faircloth (the new Executive Director of the Secular Coalition for America) about some troubling current events.

Does God Have a Future? Deepak Chopra and Jean Houston debate the question with Michael Shermer and Sam Harris.