James Randi - Why Skepticism Matters | For Good Reason

In this discussion with D.J. Grothe, James Randi explores the meaning and worth of "skepticism," and explains why skepticism is not the same as cynicism. He talks about the focus of the JREF's mission, and to what extent social issues such as GLBT rights, civil rights, economic equality, church-state separation, feminism and environmentalism are within skepticism's purview. He debates whether God's existence should be a skeptic topic, and reveals why he is an "atheist of the second kind." And he details recent activities at the JREF to challenge charlatans and educate the public about harmful paranormal claims, and how listeners can get directly involved with this important and unique work.

Category:

Nonprofits & Activism

Tags:

• James Randi
• Skepticism
• Skeptic
• DJ Grothe
• JREF
• paranormal
• supernatural
• psychic

[surgeyX]

Watch any Ray Comfort or Kirk Cameron video -- they just KNOW god exists because they feel it in their hearts....awwwwwwwwwww........­.......THAT'S NOT EVIDENCE!

[clray123]

Maybe he wasn't "such an intellectual" after all.

[dkthg]

true idiocy below me. have fun

[Mogley52]

ALTHOUGH I'M A CONSERVATIVE CHRISTIAN (Baptist), I no longer believe that the Bible teaches eternal torment or suffering. The Bible teaches eternal punishment, but it's not eternal torment. In my popular Internet article, TRADITIONAL DOCTRINE OF HELL EVOLVED FROM GREEK ROOTS, I explain how and why teaching of eternal torment entered early into Christianity and how Scriptures have been misinterpreted and taken out of context to support that teaching. ~Babu G. Ranganathan (B.A. theology/biology)

[Mogley52]

GENESIS VS. MACRO-EVOLUTION: God began with a perfect creation. Even all the animals in the beginning were herbivorous (not meat-eating and killing each other, Genesis 1:30). Evolution doesn't begin with a perfect and harmonious creation. God says in Genesis1 ten times that all life must reproduce after its own "kind." Macro-evolution teaches that life can change across "kinds." The Bible and science teach that only evolution within "kinds" (i.e. varieties of dogs, cats, etc.) is possible.

[Mogley52]

WHAT IS SCIENCE? Science simply is knowledge based on observation. No one observed the universe coming by chance or by design, by creation or by evolution. These are positions of faith. The issue is which faith the scientific evidence best supports. Natural laws can explain how an airplane or living cell works, but it's irrational to believe that an airplane or cell originated by undirected natural laws. Read my Internet article: HOW FORENSIC SCIENCE REFUTES ATHEISM

[Mogley52]

EXPLAINING HOW AN AIRPLANE WORKS doesn't mean no one made the airplane. Explaining how life or the universe works doesn't mean there was no Maker behind them. Natural laws explain how the order in the universe works, but mere undirected natural laws can't explain the origin of that order. Once you have a complete, living cell then the genetic code/mechanisms exist to direct the formation of more cells, but how did the cell naturally originate when no directing code/mechanisms existed in nature?

[Mogley52]

HOW DID MY DNA MAKE ME? When you divide a cake, the parts are smaller than the original cake and the cake never gets bigger. When we were a cell and that cell divided, the new cells were the same size as the original cell and we got bigger. New material had to come from somewhere. That new material came from food. The sequence in our DNA directed our mother's food we received in the womb to become new cells forming all the tissues and organs of our body. Read my article: HOW DID MY DNA MAKE ME?

[Mogley52]

SCIENCE SHOWS THE UNIVERSE couldn't sustain itself eternally because of entropy (energy decay, even in an open system). Einstein confirmed that space, matter, time had a beginning! That beginning had to be supernatural because natural laws have no ability to bring the universe into existence from nothing. The supernatural cannot be proved by science but science points to a supernatural intelligence for the origin and order of the universe ~ HOW FORENSIC SCIENCE REFUTES ATHEISM (Article)