Phil

The Skeptic is pleased to welcome author and Deputy Convenor of Westminster Skeptics, Deborah Hyde, as Managing Editor from Volume 23, Issue 2. Deborah...

Written by Adam Buick. Published for The Skeptic online on 22nd September 2010.

When the Pope visits Britain this year he will “beatify” Cardinal Newman who died in 1890. Beatification, which requires one miracle, is a step towards “canonisation” (becoming a “saint”) which requires two.

John Henry Newman was born in 1801 and became an Anglican clergyman in 1825, but in 1845 he converted to Roman Catholicism and eventually rose to become a Cardinal. He wrote two essays on miracles, one in 1826 (when he was still a Protestant), the other in 1843 (when he was well on the way to becoming a Roman Catholic). The full text of both can be found at http://www.newmanreader.org/works/miracles/index.html#contents.

The first essay expressed the orthodox Anglican/Protestant view on miracles: that the only true miracles are those described in the Bible (and that they are to be accepted as really having happened only because the Bible is the revealed word of God). This position implies that all miracles claimed outside the Bible and any since the first century of the Christian era - as by pagans, the Catholic Church and the Koran - are not miracles and that natural, non-miraculous explanations for them can be found.

Written by Alexander T. Lovcanski. Published for The Skeptic online on 30th August 2010.

This is the presentation given by Dr Cara Laney at the APRU on 06/10/2009. Details of Dr Laney's talk are below.

Title: "True vs. False Memories: Is There a Definitive Difference?"

This is the presentation given by Dr Sam Parnia at the APRU on 23/03/2010. Details of Dr Parnia's talk are below.

Title: "Near Death Experiences During Cardiac Arrest"

This is the presentation given by Prof. Richard Wiseman at the APRU on 16/03/2010. Details of Prof. Wiseman's talk are below.

Title: “Heads I Win, Tails You Lose”: How Parapsychologists Nullify Null Results

This is the presentation given by Dr Mark Vernon at the APRU on 24/11/2009. Details of Dr Vernon's talk are below.

Title: "Happiness: The Failure of a New Science"

Susan Blackmore interview: On parapsychology, rationalising negative results, memes, Zen and consciousness... Ray Hyman, Richard Wiseman, Caroline Watt and Chris Roe: An eleven page argument about The Demise of Parapsychology and whether it is still a worthwhile field for research Lewis Jones on Basava Premanand (1930-2009) Phil Plait, former President of the James Randi Educational Foundation: On The Amaz!ng Meeting: London and the future of international events.