The Skeptics Society & Skeptic magazine

A book chapter written by Michael Shermer for The Palgrave Handbook of Philosophy and Public Policy (December 26, 2018), edited by David Boonin.

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

In this week’s eSkeptic, Donald R. Prothero reviews Ivan R. Schwab book, Evolution’s Witness: How Eyes Evolved (Oxford University Press, New York, 2012, ISBN 978-0-19-536974-8).

What is the origin of religion? Is it purely a cultural product or does it have deeper roots in our evolutionary past? Evolutionary biologist David Sloan Wilson argues in his book Darwin’s Cathedral that religion served as a social tool to unite groups into cohesive wholes by which they could out compete groups without religion, and thus the religious impulse was born. Biologist Peter Corning considers the pluses and minuses of this theory of religion in this review.

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

If Charles Darwin walked onto a 21st-century campus and wanted to know how his theory had fared, this is the lecture he would attend to find out! Based on his book The Greatest Show on Earth, Dawkins dispassionately demonstrates the truth of evolution beyond sane, informed, intelligent doubt.

William Jennings Bryan’s last speech (never delivered) for the Scopes’ Monkey Trial in 1925 was reprinted the next year as a pamphlet: a tool for believers to combat what they perceived to be a cultural threat — the theory of evolution. He deemed it “the most powerful argument against evolution ever made.” In this week’s eSkeptic, we present the speech which we also printed in Skeptic magazine volume 4, number 2 in 1996.

In this week’s eSkeptic, Dr. Donald. R Prothero reviews Darwin’s Universe: Evolution from A to Z by Richard Milner.

In this week’s eSkeptic, Jonathan Lowe reviews the film Darwin: The Voyage that Shook the World, produced by Creation Ministries International and Fathom Media, 2009.

In this week’s eSkeptic, Dr. Donald R. Prothero reviews What Darwin Got Wrong, by Jerry Fodor and Massimo Piatelli-Palmarini.

In this week’s eSkeptic, we present William Stansfield’s article from the archives of Skeptic magazine Volume 10, Number 4 in which he critiques the typing monkeys metaphor generated by Richard Hardison and Richard Dawkins as being too unlike the biological realities of natural selection.

In this week’s eSkeptic, Kenneth Grubbs reviews The Greatest Show on Earth: The Evidence for Evolution by Richard Dawkins as well as and The Case for God by Karen Armstrong. In this week’s Skepticality, Swoopy talks with Sean Faircloth (the new Executive Director of the Secular Coalition for America) about some troubling current events.

In this week’s eSkeptic, Dr Harriet Hall, MD, (aka the Skepdoc) reviews Render Unto Darwin: Philosophical Aspects of the Christian Right’s Crusade against Science, by James H. Fetzer.

In this week’s eSkeptic, Darryl E. Brock reviews Darwin Slept Here: Discovery, Adventure, and Swimming Iguanas in Charles Darwin’s South America, by Eric Simons.

In this week’s eSkeptic, Glenn Branch reviews But Is It Science? The Philosophical Question in the Creation/Evolution Controversy.

In this week’s eSkeptic, as we celebrate the 200th anniversary of Charles Darwin’s birthday and the 150th anniversary of the publication of On the Origin of Species, the Skeptics Society put together a list of 27 items from our catalogue to help you honor the Sage of Down with books, DVDs, CDs, and back issues of Skeptic magazine devoted to Darwin and evolution.

2009 marks the 200th anniversary of Charles Darwin’s birth on February 12, 1809 — the same day as Abraham Lincoln — and the 150th anniversary of the publication of On the Origin of Species on November 24, 1859. Come join us for a special celebration of the life and science of one of the greatest scientists in history.

In this week’s eSkeptic, Michael Shermer goes into the belly of the beast for creationists — Noah’s Ark — during his lecture tour of England during the Darwin celebrations the first two weeks of February, taking in Noah’s Ark Zoo Farm, a zoo dedicated to teaching the school children of England that the biblical story of creation is supported by science, or at least the science according to the zoo’s curator.

On this, the 200th anniversary week of Charles Darwin’s birthday (12 February, 1809), in an article for Forbes magazine, Shermer sets the record straight on whether Charles Darwin stole the idea of natural selection. PLUS, the first Junior Skeptic book is released to Portuguese School Kids!

In this week’s eSkeptic, Michael Shermer debunks the myth of deregulation as the cause of the current economic crisis; Skeptic.com offers rare Pyramid Power resources from Junior Skeptic # 23; and Michael Shermer and Karl Giberson debates how best to “save Darwin.”