Overwhelming support for Camp Quest UK

Some journalists may not be behind Camp Quest UK but the majority of the public seem to be.

As I write this blog, my children are away at the first ever Camp Quest UK. I’m still somewhat perplexed at the media storm the camp seems to have generated. Today for example we had this update from The Guardian, and this piece from The Daily Mail.

I spoke to Zoe Brenan, the author of the article in today’s Daily Mail, briefly whilst coming home on the train a few weeks ago. In order to try and stir up a bit of controversy or pander to what she perceives as the faithful majority, she's opted for the “Should we be worried what these atheists are up to?” angle.

It’s a fairly lengthy piece that includes a couple of quotes from this blog and the information presented seems pretty accurate, what I found somewhat irksome however was the fact the Zoe seemed to be trying to raise a rabble of Christian apologists against Camp Quest. Believers cages are notoriously easy to rattle and therefore an easy angle to court controversy, but I suspect that Zoe has misjudged the general British opinion.

Looking at the comments left by readers on the online version of the article, numerous people have left messages in support of the rational and scientific approach of Camp Quest. I know a snapshot of a small uncontrolled straw poll is not necessarily and accurate summary of the public perspective, but nonetheless I decided to analyse the comments to gain a quick summary of the overall opinions of the readers.

The comment facility on the Mail Online allows readers to rate all comments with a "thumbs up" agree, or a "thumbs down" disagree. This gives each comment a positive or negative score in support of, or disagreeing with the comment. I sorted all of the comments in a spreadsheet into 2 categories, those offering support and agreement with the Camp Quest philosophy, and those criticising or giving negative comments about the camp. I then added up the total positive and negative votes in each category to give an overall total of the votes cast in favour, or against each type of comment.

The graph below shows the results with a net 2,276 thumbs up in support of the positive comments for Camp Quest and a net result of 426 thumbs down disagreeing with the negative comments about Camp Quest.


I’m rather impressed with that.


In addition to the above articles in today's Guardian and the Mail, I have also spoken on the Radio a bit. Here’s some links

First here’s a link to myself and Samantha Stein talking on the Sunday programme on Radio 4.



And here’s a link to the news item on Radio 4 and Radio 5 live this week.

And here’s an article on the BBC website

And here’s a few previous posts linking to other media appearances:

Crispian Jago: Godless Media Slag
Atheist Summer Camps?
Thanks For Spelling My Name Correctly

Celebrity Quack Trumps

Following the immensely successful God Trumps featured in New Humanist, I was surprised that I couldn’t find a similar offering for alternative medicine quackery. As I was shocked by the amount of celebrities who are prepared to endorse dubious alternative medicines, I thought that perhaps some Celebrity Quack Trumps were called for. Here’s the first batch...



The following resources were used to gather the information on these cards.

Trick or Treatment by Simon Singh & Edzard Ernst
Bad Science by Ben Goldacre
Whatstheharm.net by Tim Farley
Skepdic.com by Robert T. Carroll


Postscript:
After talking to some people at Skeptics in the Pub last night, I realised that quite a few people don’t know how to play “Top Trumps”. I thought it was a global phenomenon, but according to Wikipedia it was more of a British Schoolboy 1970’s thing. Perhaps this is why US links have been referring to them as Collectors Cards, presumably more akin to collecting a set of cards given away with chewing gum. “Top Trumps” were always sold as a complete set to enable you to play the game, and in case you actually want to play top trumps with them, here are the rules.

Do You View Religion as a Crutch?

A crutch is a common and familiar metaphor used to describe the comfort and support that religion affords many people. If indeed we view religion as a crutch for these people then it would seem to be to be rather immoral to attempt to kick away the crutches of the needy, simply because we have the freedom to stand up on our own two feet. Surely we would be better employed making sure the next generation are not so crippled during their childhood that they too will require a crutch for the rest of their lives. So lets not make our children God fearing, lets make them life loving. Let’s not segregate their education in faith schools based on the arbitrary beliefs of their parents lets oppose religious apartheid. Let’s encourage our kids to think for themselves and grow up to stand tall without reliance on myth and superstition.

Connie Sonne, The Million Dollar Challenge & Skeptical Heresy?

Anyone who reads this blog should be familiar with James Randi’s $1 Million challenge. However, on the off chance that you’re new to this sort of thing…..

The Amazing Randi has a fund of $1 Million dollars that he is fully prepared to give away to anyone who can demonstrate paranormal or psychic abilities under agreed scientifically controlled conditions. Obviously no one has every succeeded or you’d have heard about it by now.

Anyway, on Sunday 12th July 2009 a preliminary test for the $1 Million challenge was held in front of a live audience in the Conference Room at the South Point Hotel Casino and Spa in Las Vegas Nevada as part of “The Amazing Meeting 7”.

The challenger, Connie Sonne, claims to have the ability to be able to find certain playing cards by dowsing for them. The test conditions that she signed up to consisted of dowsing for randomly selected playing cards between 1 (an Ace) and 10, three times for three different suits. The picture cards were discarded and the deck sorted into the 4 suits, the cards within each suit were shuffled and each card was placed separately inside 2 sealed envelopes and then all the envelopes containing the 10 cards of each suit where placed inside a larger envelope for that suit. Three suits were selected randomly, then a specific card within each suit was chosen using a ten sided die. For each of three selected suits the 10 envelopes containing each card were placed in-front of Connie in a semi circle. Connie then doused for the required cards. It was agreed that Connie would need to correctly locate all 3 cards to successfully pass the challenge.

Although I was not fortunate enough to be there, I was able to watch the challenge on a live video stream. As a grumpy, seasoned old skeptic, you may well have expected me to be eagerly hoping for Connie to fail the challenge so I could once again confirm my beliefs in the non existence of such silly stuff. However, much to my surprise, as my wife and I both watched events unfold; I was mentally cheering Connie on, actually hoping that she would succeed.

Connie looked confident and had a pleasant demeanour but unfortunately failed to correctly locate any of the 3 cards and so failed the Challenge. As with many challengers, I got the impression that she genuinely believed in her claimed abilities rather than being a simple fraudster.

A week or so after the challenge, I was delighted to hear Swoopy speaking on the Skepticality podcast saying that she too was hoping for Connie to succeed, which caused me to reflect on things.

I may indeed be a grumpy old skeptic, but as a supporter of the scientific method, I’m perfectly willing to accept that I might be wrong and that I may have to reconsider my beliefs in the light of any new valid and contrary evidence.


So what would happen if Connie, or someone else, did succeed in the preliminary challenge?

Well for a start we would have to take their claim seriously. More rigorous tests and experiments would be required. If success turned out to be unrepeatable and down to fraud or pure chance then that’s just more evidence against an irrational belief. But if the claims of the challengers turned out to be true, that would be completely amazing and I would be quite tizzy with excitement.

Science would be forced to investigate the phenomenon in more detail so the effect can be fully explained and understood. As a result scientific understanding would eventually leap forward and embrace this new knowledge with all of the benefits and advantages that scientific advancement brings. Of course this is pretty unlikely, and much money and resources have been wasted by governments and organisation chasing wild geese before. However, the beauty of the million dollar challenge, is that the critical thinking skills of those at the JREF make it less likely that we are duped into wasting valuable time and resources chasing rainbows. But if someone did get through, that would most definitely not be #JREF fail, it would be very existing stuff indeed.

So either way, the million dollar challenge can't lose, it either continues to support and provide further evidence for the current scientific consensus against the existence of paranormal phenomenon, or it opens the door to a whole new sphere of valid and worthwhile scientific research, and that’s worth 1 million of anyone’s dollars.

The Lunatic is on the Grass

What if no one else shared their delusion?
What if they interpreted the voice inside their head as Napoleon instead of God?


Special thanks to the most excellent New Humanist God Trumps, from where I stole the religious character images. Also I would like to apologise in advance to any religions I have failed to offend, hopefully I’ve covered most of the major ones.

What Should We Replace Gideon Bibles With?

I stuck a pointless little poll on this blog last month, for no particular reason other than the fact that I was fiddling with different blog widgets. Anyway, much to my surprise a total of 519 people took the poll, so I thought I’d best let you know how it went.

The poll was inspired by the Gideon’s Bible my daughter was given at school. She was given a lecture by the chap from the Gideon Society and told that this book contained all the answers she would ever need. I’m not actually too impressed that members of a religious group have access to state schools to give away books and attempt to sway the children’s thinking. How would we feel if religious fundamentalists were giving away propaganda at schools and attempting to indoctrinate our kids, or if political parties took over the class-rooms to attempt to recruit the kids to their particular policies? I deliberately chose a secular school so that my children would receive a balanced religious education and not influenced by anyone viewpoint.

Anyway, I suggested perhaps that there are some better books that we could give away to kids, and listed the following four:

The Origin of Species by Charles Darwin
The God Delusion by Richard Dawkins
The Demon Haunted World by Carl Sagan
The Hitch Hikers Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams

The results were as follows:

The order you voted in, is incidentally the order I would have chosen myself. The Hitch Hikers Guide was the only one of the 4 books that I read as child, and I suspect I would not have got so much out of the other three if I had not read them as an adult. “Origin of Species” while being easily the most significant and groundbreaking, is, I hate to admit, a rather dry read, and it would not have inspired me as a child. The Hitch Hikers Guide to The Galaxy however covers all sorts of scientific and philosophical ideas that totally engrossed me as a child and I suspect may have impacted me without me realising.

So how do we go about giving a free copy of the Hitch Hikers Guide to the Galaxy to every school child?

Anyway, time for a new poll. I’ve been blogging about allsorts of irrationality lately, all of which seem absurd to me, however, some are more silly that others. So what do you think is the Wackiest Woo? Take the new poll.

iWoo

The irrational may be a little, well, irrational, but that doesn’t mean that they’re not tech savvy. I was looking for some new applications on the Apple App Store to download to my iPhone this afternoon, when I came across numerous pieces of iWoo. There are applications to give you horoscope readings, bible quotes, alternative medicine advice, in fact all areas of irrationality seem to be covered.

Just to give you an idea of how much iWoo there is, here are the numbers of applications available today for each of the following categories.

NB I haven’t examined each application in detail, so they may not necessarily be woo apps, also I have no doubt missed a few apps as well, however the numbers given should still be a fairly decent ball park figure.

Paranormal Woo
Astrology – 65 Apps
Tarot Cards – 61 Apps
Psychic - 60 Apps
Fortune Telling – 41 Apps
Voodoo – 41 Apps
Numerology – 32 Apps
Palm Reading – 28 Apps
Ouija – 15 Apps
Dowsing -1 App

Religious Woo
Bibles – 479 Apps
Prayer – 230 Apps
Jewish -193 Apps
General Religion - 216 Apps
Christianity – 119 Apps
Islam – 91 Apps
Witchcraft – 7 Apps
Faith Healing – 5 Apps

Alternative Medicine Woo
Acupuncture - 21 Apps
Homeopathy – 13 Apps
Chiropractic - 12 Apps
Reiki – 12 Aps
Herbal Remedies – 6 Apps

General Woo
Feng Shui – 24 Apps
Conspiracy Theories – 5 Apps


To give you a few examples, here are some screen shots of a few choice apps that look especially silly.

Finally, On a more positive note, whilst looking around the App Store I also came across the CounterKnowledge app. Highly recomended for all iPhone users.

T-Shirts for Science, Reason & Critical Thinking

I mentioned in previous posts that I’m a bit of an evangelical rationalist, so in addition to buying my T-Shirts at gigs, I’ve also been buying a few T-Shirts to promote science and rationalism over superstition and religion. To my pleasant surprise, I have been getting numerous positive comments from strangers and passers-by. Last week for example, a waiter in a Chinese restaurant complimented me on my blue atheist T-Shirt and the curator in the museum called out to me across the room to register his approval for the brown atheism one.

In fact I have now lost count on the amount of support and approval I have received for all of the following T-Shirts:














There really is a lot of rationalism out there, so there's no need to be shy.

Superstitious Homeopathy Blues

After reading up quite a bit recently on a number of alternative medicines, it seems to me that homeopathy must be quiet the silliest. I have therefore attempted to rewrite Bob Dylan’s “Subterranean Homesick Blues” in recognition of the absurdity of this treatment. I also thought I’d have a go at singing it, which my wife reliably informs me was a big mistake, but hear it is anyway.



Hahnemann’s in the basement.
Mixing up the Medicine.
I’m on my iMac.
Blogging ‘bout the daft quack.
The man in the lab coat.
Looking for the essence.
Says there is no evidence.
It has any potence.
Look out woo.
We’re coming after you.
God Knows Why.
You peddle such a lie.
You better prove your efficacy.
To be taken seriously.
The man in the drug store.
Doesn’t look too sure.
He may be unwell.
And doesn’t need a water spell.

Charlie makes a tincture.
Cornish water, so pure.
Mummy is so cock sure.
It provides the best cure.
Duchy cures at a guess.
Are completely useless.
Remedies have no success.
Complete and utter BS.
Look out woo.
You haven’t got a clue.
Logic must take a hit.
If you want to market it.
Evidence, not a bit.
Clinical trials, omit.
Don’t trust, this fuckwit.
His remedies, are unfit.
You don’t need scientist.
To tell you that he’s full of shit.

Dilute, shake well.
Active ingredients, expel.
Always say its natural.
If you potion’s gonna sell.
Wolfsbane, insane.
Wont cure migraine.
Rather have, chow-mein.
C’mon guys, use your brain.
Look out woo.
Truth is your taboo.
And if like cures like.
I will take a hike.
Now we know it’s utter shite.
Girl on the treadmill.
Looking for a new pill.
Don’t follow health quacks.
Charlatans with phony plaques.

Try hard, to believe.
Trusting, and naïve.
If you manage to decieve.
Placebo effect you’ll receive.
You’ll never, treat me.
Even for, a modest fee.
It’s all just a fantasy.
Bad science clearly.
You don’t have a remedy.
Look out woo.
Your principles untrue.
Debate, ignite.
Don’t treat snakebite.
Skeptics, unite.
Reason takes flight.
The anecdotes you recite.
As evidence its pretty slight.
You can’t bottle sunlight.
Thunderstorms or starry night.


Comments are most welcome as always, but you needn’t bother commenting just to tell me that I can’t sing, I’m well aware of that. I was asked to leave the school choir.

Oh and thanks to these guys who provided the great instrumental version for me to ruin

Exclusive photograph of the BCA compiling its evidence in Support of Chiropractic Treatment

How to dismantle a Church

I’ve been reading a lot of articles recently that are hinting at the fact that the new atheism is taking on some of the tendencies that it rallies against. I even read a criticism in this months “Skeptic” by David Sloan Wilson, who suggested that the new atheism is becoming a stealth religion.

Personally I can’t see how atheism can be a religion any more than not collecting stamps is a hobby. So why do I need to identify myself as an Atheist, but not as an Aphilatelic? Should I just shut up about religion and ignore it like the overwhelming majority of the British people for whom religion plays no active part in their lives?

It was quite refreshing to read a senior member of the clergy in the Telegraph this week, who was prepared to face up to evidenced decline of the Church of England. I’m not so sure that we will see the disestablishment of the Church (as suggested in the article), and I don’t think I’d want to either. However, I strongly support the separation of Church and State and oppose the privileges afforded to the Churches.

I’ve no desire to witness the cataclysmic decline of the Church. Partly because of the fine role it plays in our culture and history, and partly because I fear that in ignorance, we may simply exchange one set of irrational beliefs for another. Swapping religious creeds and doctrines for new age nonsense and crystals is not a step forward. Therefore those who chip away at the foundations of the Church must bear in mind what sort of gap will be left in society and what is most likely to fill that gap. Hence my desire to promote rationality and science rather than simply bear my capacious buttocks at religious insanity.

So my beef is not with religion, it is with irrational beliefs in society in general, I therefore declare myself as an atheist, a skeptic, a free thinker, a science enthusiast not in opposition to religion but in support of science, reason and logic.

The rise of secular Judaism looks to me like a good model to try and emulate. Jews who wish to celebrate their Jewish culture and history but can no longer accept the accompanying supernatural beliefs are succeeding in retaining their identity, divorced from their myths, through secular Judaism

Perhaps a celebration of the scientific method and the abolishment of faith schools promoting segregation and indoctrination will gradually make the supernatural claims of the churches less tenable.

A more open Church allowing us to all share in our culture and ceremonies without having to profess disingenuous beliefs in order to participate would be more progressive than attempting to cling on to pre enlightened dogmas.

So let’s simply hoe out the weeds of fanaticism and nurture the shoots of enlightenment that grow in the cracks of the Church rather than swinging a demolition ball at it

Congratulations Sid & Rebecca

Science, Reason & Critical thinking would like to Congratulate Sid & Rebecca on their recent wedding at TAM7,Las Vegas, and wish them all the best. Well done guys.

Exclusive video footage from the Irish High Courts

Ireland is leading the way in the 21st Century with its highly liberal and reasonable new blasphemy laws. Scientists and critical thinkers see the new laws as a highly progressive step forward as we enter a new dawn of scientific enlightenment.

I can also exclusively reveal that the “Science, Reason and Critical Thinking” blog has acquired exclusive undercover video footage from the Irish High Courts of the first person to be prosecuted under these new laws.



For Christ’s sake Ireland, get a fucking grip.

A “Bob Dylan” styled Alternative Medicine Protest Song

I was on the train, coming home from work last night listening to Bob Dylan’s “Masters of War” and reading Simon Singh & Edzard Ernst’s “Trick or Treatment”, when the words of the song started to transform.

Hopefully you're familiar with the 1963 masterpiece “Masters of War” taken from “The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan”, otherwise the following song probably wont work.

Anyway in honour of the multitude of purveyors of alternative medicine woo, I have taken the liberty of rewriting Dylan’s song……..


Come you masters of woo
You that believe in reiki
You that believe in crystals
You that believe in feng shui
Your aromatherapy
Is such an unlikely thing
I just don't want you to know
I have read Simon Singh

You that never healed no one
‘cept placebo effect
Your pills are just sugar
That’s what I suspect
You crack my poor spine
And stick pins in my smile
Then choose to ignore
A controlled clinical trial

Your homeopaths
Who delude and deceive
Distilled water has memory
They want me to believe
There’s no active ingredient
Not one single bit
But if water has memory
Your cures full of shit

You spread misinformation
And don’t vaccinate
With herd immunity lost
Children suffer your fate
You preach from your platform
On Oprah Winfrey
You might as well go
On a mad killing spree

Spine wizards can sue
If they don’t like my song
Your plethora of evidence
Has been proved to be wrong
You’ll regret the exposure
Of this I am sure
For colic and asthma
You don’t have a cure

You won't find my Ch’i
It doesn’t exist
Stop stabbing your pins
Please don’t persist
I have no meridian
To poke with a needle
Please try and see why
Your science is so feeble

Herbal remedies sound natural
What harm could they do?
Untested, unproven
They’re trialling on you
If they turn out to work
Then you’ll have to forgive
They can no longer be classed
As alternative

Crystals and reiki
You’re having a laugh
Not any more likely
Than a flying giraffe
If you believe in that crap
Then you have to admit
You’re lacking in reason
You credulous tit


Kudos must also been given to Dale Williams who’s mastery of the musical parody technique also served as inspiration.

Definitive Photographic Evidence That Einstein Was Wrong

Physics text books across the globe will have to be re-written after an undercover photographer recently scooped this earth shattering snap at a famous Las Vegas Casino.


A number of major deities including Yahweh, Thor and Zeus were thought to be attending this years Amazing Meeting (TAM 7) at Las Vegas with the express purpose of disproving the existence of the mythical James Randi. Event Organiser, and notorious Richard Wiseman impersonator Phil Plait refused to comment on the incident, but it is hoped that he will put a link up on his blog.

Much to amazement of many scientists, the photograph of Gods playing dice clearly disproves Einstein’s famous prediction on the gambling preferences of deities. This of course means that all of his other theories are now in doubt. This is likely to cause severe problems for the Satellite Navigation industry who up till now have relied on Einstein’s reworking of Newton’s gravitational laws in his general theory of relativity. Uncle Albert’s General Theory of Relativity has made it possible to pinpoint exact geographical coordinates from orbiting satellites by taking into account the curvature of space-time. If Einstein is now proved wrong, as suspected by many media halfwits, millions of drivers may discover that they are not actually where they thought they were after all. Interviewed shortly after the photograph went global, physics professor Brian Cox admitted that “Things might not necessarily get better after all”.

Christians of all denominations, especially Methodists, are once again refuting the evidence right before their eyes and claiming that the photograph is in fact photo-shopped by a lone IT consultant who should really know better, working from his study in Basingstoke. A spokesperson for the local Methodists Chapel in Basingstoke, the right reverend Ben Goldacre, told a pub full of sycophants that “It’s probably a bit more complicated than that”.