The Skeptics Society & Skeptic magazine

James “The Amazing” Randi ruminates on the reality of biological evolution.

How significant are we as humans within the universe? Could the universe have been fine-tuned for our existence? In this week’s eSkeptic, Jérémie Harris and Edouard Harris examine the nature and extent of universal fine-tuning.

How significant are we as humans within the universe? Could the universe have been fine-tuned for our existence? In this week’s eSkeptic, Jérémie Harris and Edouard Harris examine the nature and extent of universal fine-tuning.

Ever since Michael Shermer wrote Why People Believe Weird Things he has been asked to list the strangest beliefs he’s come across in his quarter century as a professional skeptic. We have compiled this list into The Top 10 Weirdest Things… DOWNLOAD the free PDF

Bob Schadewald was the leading skeptical authority on the history of flat-Earth advocacy. Now the book he left unfinished has been prepared and published online.

In this week’s eSkeptic: Ben Carson: Brain Surgeon—or Brain Addled? by Donald Prothero; Halloween Events Announcement: Skepticism and the Supernatural, and a Séance with Houdini; Michael Shermer on Scientific American: Discerning Science from Pseudoscience; Tribute: The Passing of a Critical Thinking Giant: Richard Paul (1937–2015); Announcement: CSI Names 10 New Scientists and Scholars as Fellows.

Neurosurgeon and Republican presidential candidate Ben Carson is skeptical of evolution and the big bang theory. In this article, Donald Prothero asks whether this is a reflection on education or religion.

Donald Prothero describes encouraging science-based developments on the California political stage.

Donald Prothero considers the Christians Against Dinosaurs website, and reflects on the problem described by "Poe’s Law": it is often impossible to tell the difference between parody and sincere extremism.

Donald Prothero considers the diverging fortunes of Bill Nye the Science Guy and creationist Ken Ham in the wake of their "Great Debate."

SPARKED BY A CONTROVERSIAL DEBATE in February 2014, Bill Nye has set off on an energetic campaign to spread awareness of evolution and the powerful way it shapes our lives. In Undeniable Evolution and the Science of Creation, he explains why race does not really exist; evaluates the true promise and peril of genetically modified food; reveals how new species are born, in a dog kennel and in a London subway; takes a stroll through 4.5 billion years of time;…

Donald Prothero visits Berlin to attend the 74th Annual Meeting of the Society of Vertebrate Paleontology, and reflects on differences he perceives in social and political trends and scientific understanding between Germany and the United States.

In this week’s eSkeptic, in celebration of Darwin Day, we present an excerpt from Michael Shermer’s book, Why Darwin Matters: The Case Against Intelligent Design, from Chapter 4: “Who the Designer Is.”

In this week’s eSkeptic, Donald R. Prothero reviews Among the Creationists: Dispatches from the Anti-Evolutionist Front Lines, by Jason Rosenhouse (Oxford University Press, 2012, 256 pages, ISBN-13: 978-0199744633). This post also appeared on Skepticblog.org.

In this week’s eSkeptic, Donald R. Prothero reviews Darwin’s Doubt: The Explosive Origin of Animal Life and the Case for Intelligent Design by Stephen Meyer (HarperCollins, 2013).

In this week’s eSkeptic, Glenn Branch reviews Brook Wilensky-Lanford’s book Paradise Lust: Searching for the Garden of Eden.

Scientist and science fiction writer David Brin carries Intelligent Design creationism to its logical conclusion by showing the numerous “other alternatives” to Darwinian evolution that creationists don’t want you to know about, such as the designer of the Intelligent Designer, Panspermia, and others.

This concise pamphlet provides answers to common objections to evolution, such as: If humans came from apes, why aren’t apes evolving into humans?; Only an intelligent designer could have made something as complex as an eye; The second law of thermo-dynamics proves that evolution is impossible; Evolution can’t account for morality; and more… DOWNLOAD the free PDF

On November 4, 2005, the first ever Evolution-Intelligent Design trial of the 21st century drew to a close in Federal court in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania: Kitzmiller et al v. Dover Area School District. On December 20th, 2005, a judgement was made against the teaching of Intelligent Design. (We reported on that important decision in eSkeptic that day.) In this week’s eSkeptic, two days after the fifth anniversary of that judgment, Andrew Williams discusses some of the details from the trial as…

In this week’s eSkeptic, Raymond A. Eve discusses an empirical study of the difference between the beliefs of wiccans versus those of creationists.