Phil

Written by Gerard Phillips. Published by The Skeptic online on 25th October 2011.
Gerard is Vice President of the National Secular Society.

What do the following have in common: Joseph Lister, Robert Adam, Adam Smith, David Hume, James Hutton, Charles Darwin...well you’ve probably got the answer already - Edinburgh. (Hutton by the way is credited as the founder of modern geology.) James Buchan lauded the city’s contribution to Enlightenment thought: “In just 50 years Edinburgh had more impact on our ideas than any town of its size since the Athens of Socrates.” (Capital of the Mind, 2004.) More surprising then, given this heritage, that “Skeptics on the Fringe” has only been put on at the Edinburgh Festival since 2010.

This is the presentation given by David Barrett at the APRU on 18/11/2011. Details of David's talk are below.David Barrett Title: "The Church of Scientology – a Scientific or an Esoteric Religion?" The Church of Scientology claims to be based on scientific principles but actually bears a considerable resemblance to esoteric, Hermetic and Gnostic religious movements. David Barrett will explore these similarities, while also examining Dianetics as a form of psychotherapy, and looking into why people join and stay in “cults”, touching on the myth of “brainwashing”.

Simon Singh & Edzard Ernst on The First Quackbusters Edzard Ernst on The New College of Medicine Andy Wilson on How to Take an Overdose Mahlon Wagner on Therapeutic Touch Luke Mason on Eye Movement Desensitisation and Reprocessing Alan Henness on The Nightingale Collaboration Richard Wiseman on the first experiment into eyewitness testimony Jason Braithwaite on Magnetic fields, hallucinations and anomalous experiences Klaus Schmeh on hidden messages in the bible An anonymous author on claims of recovered memories of childhood sexual abuse George Wells on Christianity and evolution Chris French interviews Richard Wiseman about magic, parapsychology and scepticism Benjamin Radford on spotting faulty reasoning Nathalie Nahai reviews TAM London 2010

Even without a Grayling grilling, the first BHA Conference in a decade is a success.

Written by Richard Godbehere. Published for The Skeptic online on 13th July 2011.

On the weekend of Friday 17th June, the great and the good of the British Humanist Association gathered in Manchester for the first annual conference in a decade. Boasting talks from some of the most prominent humanist thinkers, the weekend promised to be a carnival of rational thinking and Godless morality focusing on the search for the meaning of life, with talks from such luminaries as likes of A.C.Grayling, Peter Atkins, Chris French, Philip Pullman, Natalie Haynes and Stephen Law. It was a weekend I couldn’t possibly miss but, being an impoverished student at Goldsmiths College, not one I could afford. Thankfully, through a little eyelash fluttering and help from one of the speakers, namely Professor Chris French, I managed to blag my way in as volunteer. Here are my thoughts of the weekend.

These materials accompany the short article of the same title, published in the Hits and Misses column, in Volumes 22.4-23.1 of The Skeptic. ...

Listen/Download This is the presentation given by Daniela Rufloff at the APRU on 23/11/2010. Details of Daniela's talk are below. Title: "Mental 'Short-Cuts' - The Good, the...

Listen/Download [mp3 42.2MB]

This is the presentation given by Deborah Hyde at the APRU on 26/10/2010. Details of Deborah's talk are below.

Title: “Demons and Nightmares: Why do People Believe in the Malign Supernatural?"

In Volume 22, Issue 3: Features: Jon Wainwright on GodRobert Eagle's tribute to PremanandRyan Shaefer on blasphemyKylie Sturgess interviews...