random quotes ... to amuse, inspire, enrage:
  I would love to believe that when I die I will live again, that some thinking, feeling, remembering part of me will continue. But much as I want to believe that, and despite the ancient and worldwide cultural traditions that assert an afterlife, I know of nothing to suggest that it is more than wishful thinking...there is no reason to deceive ourselves with pretty stories for which there's little good evidence.

tagged: religion, soul, afterlife
  —Carl Sagan, Parade Magazine, March 1996.

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stupid religious tricks

Tuesday, March 4th, 2008 1:12 pm

Full Moon Investigations, a Scottish “paranormal group”, is trying to get their government to “pardon” people convicted under Scotland’s anti-witchcraft laws. These include Helen Duncan, a Scottish woman imprisoned in 1944 for conducting a séance in which she revealed information about the progress of the war (a sunken battleship) that the government had decided to keep secret.

I’m all in favor of eliminating state imprisonment for fake crimes, like practicing religion or pretending to practice religion. But what is a “paranormal group”? Do they investigate paranormal phenomena? This is very curious.

Also, how did the Scottish medium know that the battleship was sunk? Did she continue to claim that she knew it through her paranormal practice? Did she have a contact with the Scottish military? Did she happen to have personal experience? Or did she just guess it, getting it right through the law of averages?

BBC 2/28; Scott Horton at Harper’s, 2/29; and BoingBoing 3/3

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» Honorable military service in Viet Nam, 2004-08-14 (score:15)
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» what does it mean to hold a religious “belief”?, 2005-07-03 (score:11)

This entry was posted on Tuesday, March 4th, 2008 at 1:12 pm and is tagged blinks, religion , , . You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed. 778 views.

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