Paleolithic Politics
Has there ever been a time when the political process has been so bipartisan and divisive? Yes, actually, one has only to recall the rancorousness of the Bush-Gore or Bush-Kerry campaigns, harken back...
View ArticleE Pluribus Unum for all faiths and for none
Foreigners could be forgiven for thinking that America is fast becoming a theocracy. No fewer than three of the remaining Republican candidates (Rick Perry, Rick Santorum, and Michele Bachmann) have...
View ArticleShermer on God’s Existence
Dr. Michael Shermer gives his argument against the existence of God at the Oxford Union. Watch more at http://www.oxford-union.org/debates
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The Left’s War on Science
How politics distorts science on both ends of the spectrum Believe it or not—and I suspect most readers will not—there’s a liberal war on science. Say what? We are well aware of the Republican war on...
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When Science Doesn’t Support Beliefs
Then ideology needs to give way Ever since college I have been a libertarian—socially liberal and fiscally conservative. I believe in individual liberty and personal responsibility. I also believe in...
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Sovereign Insanity
How weird beliefs can land you in jail When I was in college, my friend and I attended a tax seminar in which we were told that paying taxes was unnecessary because the Sixteenth Amendment—empowering...
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Is God Dying?
The decline of religion and the rise of the “nones” Since the early 20th century, with the rise of mass secular education and the diffusion of scientific knowledge through popular media, predictions of...
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The Awe Delusion
What does the magnificence of the universe have to do with God? After 64-year-old Diana Nyad completed her 110-mile swim from Cuba to Florida in September 2013, she was interviewed by Oprah Winfrey on...
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Conspiracy Central
Who believes in conspiracy theories—and why President Barack Obama has been a busy man while in office: he concocted a fake birth certificate to hide his true identity as a foreigner, created “death...
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When Facts Backfire
Why worldview threats undermine evidence Have you ever noticed that when you present people with facts that are contrary to their deepest held beliefs they always change their minds? Me neither. In...
View ArticleMichael Shermer in Reasons to Believe
Reasons to Believe is a thought-provoking documentary by filmmaker Ben Fama Jr., that explores the psychology and science of belief and why we believe, sometimes falsely, in things that may not match...
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Sky Gods for Skeptics
Is belief in aliens a religious impulse? In Star Trek V: The Final Frontier, Captain James T. Kirk encounters a deity that lures him to its planet in order to abscond with the Enterprise. “What does...
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For the Love of Science
Combating science denial with science pleasure That conservatives doubt scientific findings and theories that conflict with their political and religious beliefs is evident from even a cursory scan of...
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Silent No More
The rise of the atheists In recent years much has been written about the rise of the “nones”—people who check the box for “none” on surveys of religious affiliation. A 2013 Harris Poll of 2,250...
View ArticleFrequent Infrequencies
Do anomalies prove the existence of God? This op-ed was originally published on Slate.com as part of a Big Ideas series on the question “What is the Future of Religion” in 2015. For a quarter century...
View ArticleConspiracies & Conspiracy Theories: What We Should and Shouldn’t Believe—and Why
Audible Inc., the world’s largest producer and provider of downloadable audiobooks and other spoken-word entertainment, in conjunction with The Great Courses, is creating audio-only, non-fiction...
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