A new Council resolution decries a “campaign of defamation of religions” in which “the media” and “extremist organizations” are “perpetuating stereotypes about certain religions and sacred persons,” and urges UN member states to provide redress “within their respective legal and constitutional systems.” Capitalizing on concerns about racial profiling and discrimination in the era of the war on terror, the language conflates criticism of Islam with anti-Muslim bigotry and seeks to stifle peaceful speech in the name of “dialogue” and “diversity.”

Similar resolutions have been passed at the Council since 1999 and by the General Assembly since 2005. The resolution passed with 23 in favor, 11 against, and 13 abstentions, gaining one additional no vote since the last time it was adopted by the Council.

“The concept of ‘defamation of religions’ is both absurd and dangerous.” said Ronald A. Lindsay, CFI’s president and chief executive officer. “Legally speaking, it’s gibberish, and any ban on so-called ‘defamation’ would effectively prevent any critique of religious beliefs or practices.”

In the opinion of a broad range of civil society organizations, these pronouncements do nothing but lend legitimacy to the repression of political and religious dissent around the world, particularly in Islamic countries. Pakistan’s blasphemy laws, for example, which carry mandatory sentences of death or life imprisonment, are frequently used against members of the Ahmaddiya community, a peaceful minority Muslim sect.

Through its UN representative, Dr. Austin Dacey, CFI participated in the negotiations over the resolution during the March session of the Council in Geneva, and delivered an oral statement before the plenary meeting on March 24. Most worrisome, according to CFI, is that the present language equates religiously insulting speech with “advocacy of religious hatred that constitutes incitement to discrimination, hostility, or violence,” a category of speech that is prohibited by existing treaties such as the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, which have the force of law.

“Now the argument becomes very awkward for Europe,” said Dacey, “since many European states have laws against hate speech, Holocaust denial, and even blasphemy (for example, in Austria) that have been upheld by their regional human rights courts. The Islamic states will say they simply want to extend the same protection to all beliefs.”

The Center for Inquiry has submitted a written briefing to the Tenth Session of the Human Rights Council detailing a reading of the case law that separates criticism, satire, and insult from incitement.

The Center for Inquiry/Transnational is a nonprofit, educational, advocacy, and scientific-research think tank based in Amherst, New York. Their research and educational projects focus on three broad areas: religion, ethics, and society; paranormal and fringe-science claims; and medicine and health. The Center’s Web site is www.centerforinquiry.net .

“It truly is a historic and remarkable achievement of significance that the President of the United States referred to non-believers in recognition of the growing number of Americans—now numbering tens of millions—who hold no religious affiliation. As far as we are aware, this is the first time this has happened,” said Paul Kurtz, chairman and founder of the Center for Inquiry. “It is also noteworthy that he called for the restoration of science to its rightful place and the application of technology to the improvement of human life. We applaud his courageous optimism in outlining an audacious program for the future,” said Kurtz.

Ronald A. Lindsay, president and CEO of the Center for Inquiry, emphasized the importance of President Obama’s acknowledgment. “For much of American history, agnostics and atheists were denied important civil rights, and in some states, until the early 1960’s, were explicitly forbidden from holding public office. Even after these legal constraints had been removed, nonbelievers were stigmatized or ignored by most politicians. We are encouraged that President Obama has unambiguously indicated he will be the president of all Americans.”

The Center for Inquiry/Transnational is a nonprofit, educational, advocacy, and scientific-research think tank based in Amherst, New York It is home to the Council for Secular Humanism, founded in 1980, the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry (formerly CSICOP), founded in 1976, and the Commission for Scientific Medicine and Mental Health. Their research and educational projects focus on three broad areas: religion, ethics, and society; paranormal and fringe-science claims; and medicine and health. The Center’s Web site is www.centerforinquiry.net .

Accepting Boy Scouts of America Offer Would Send Message That Bigotry is Acceptable

Amherst, New York (January 13, 2009)—The Center for Inquiry and the Council for Secular Humanism, in collaboration with the American Humanist Association and seventeen other nontheistic organizations, have banded together to call for President-elect Barack Obama to decline an invitation by the Boy Scouts of America to receive the honorary presidency of the group. The BSA makes no attempt to downplay the fact that it does not allow a substantial segment of the population to join—and ejects members in good standing—for the simple reason that they do not believe in a deity. What these nontheistic groups perhaps find most offensive is the Scouting bylaw that claims, “no member can grow into the best kind of citizen without recognizing an obligation to God.”

“That the Boy Scouts discriminate is not disputed, and that should be sufficient to reject their offer,” said Ronald A. Lindsay, Center for Inquiry president and CEO.  “But significantly, the Boy Scouts discriminate based on the unfounded suspicion and fear of tens of millions of normal, ethical American citizens, who through their exercise of freedom of conscience doubt the existence of God. The claim of the Boy Scouts that nonbelievers cannot be good citizens is starkly at odds with President-elect Obama’s message of inclusion.”

Noting the mandatory religious participation infused into every level of advancement in Scouting, both CFI and the Council expressed hope that Obama does not feel politically obligated to continue entangling the private religious organization with the religiously-neutral U.S. Government.

“The Boy Scouts enjoy many kinds of special treatment by the government, from the unusual Congressional charter that formed the organization to the free use of public lands for jamborees,” said Tom Flynn, executive director of the Council for Secular Humanism and editor of the Council’s flagship magazine, Free Inquiry. “The tradition that the President of the United States serves as honorary president of BSA is just the frosting on this towering cake of government support. If Barack Obama is going to be the kind of president his campaign rhetoric led us to expect, it is a tradition he should reject.”

The full text of the letter appears below:

January 13, 2009

Dear President-Elect Barack Obama:

In light of your campaign promise to bring the nation together in a spirit of change we need, we, the undersigned nontheist organizations, urge you to take this opportunity to signify that discrimination against atheists, agnostics, humanists, and other nontheists will not be condoned.

Thus we write to urge you to decline the title and role of honorary president of the Boy Scouts of America. The BSA has acted vigorously in recent years to expel atheist and agnostic members and employees. This policy expresses the Declaration of Religious Principle, Bylaws of Boy Scouts of America, art. IX, § 1, cl. 1:

The Boy Scouts of America maintains that no member can grow into the best kind of citizen without recognizing an obligation to God. In the first part of the Scout Oath or Promise the member declares, “On my honor I will do my best to do my duty to God and my country and to obey the Scout Law.” The recognition of God as the ruling and leading power in the universe and the grateful acknowledgment of His favors and blessings are necessary to the best type of citizenship and are wholesome precepts in the education of the growing members.

The BSA has elected to set itself apart as a private organization that may discriminate in ways contrary to the laws and practices required of local, state, and federal authorities. Accepting the title and role of honorary president of the Boy Scouts of America would thus send the message that institutional discrimination against people who don’t happen to believe in a god is acceptable.

Many presidents of the United States have taken on the title of honorary president of the Boy Scouts of America. However, this tradition was established when discrimination against nontheists was, unfortunately, socially acceptable. Given that nontheists now make up a sizeable minority of the American population-—having more numbers than Mormons, Buddhists, Hindus, and Jews combined-—the BSA is clearly out of touch with the spirit of pluralism, tolerance, and inclusiveness that compose today’s American values. By contrast, in 1993 the Girl Scouts of the United States of America adopted more inclusive policies.

Therefore, please decline the title and role of honorary president of the Boy Scouts of America until such time as the organization reforms its bylaws and practices to be non-discriminatory.

Yours in unity,

American Atheists
American Ethical Union
American Humanist Association
Atheist Alliance International
Atheist Nexus
Camp Quest
Center for Atheism
Center for Inquiry
Center for Naturalism
Council for Secular Humanism
Freedom From Religion Foundation
FreeThoughtAction
HUUmanists
Institute for Humanist Studies
International Federation for Secular & Humanistic Judaism
Military Association of Atheists and Freethinkers
Secular Coalition for America
Secular Student Alliance
Society for Humanistic Judaism

“I regret the renewed effort by the Vatican to censor—indeed prohibit—research in reproductive science,” said Paul Kurtz, chairman and founder of the Center for Inquiry. “Do we have to wage the Galileo battle again? The Vatican claims that their objections are “moral,” but they are based on a theological doctrine that a formless fertilized egg is a full human being, a position which most scientists reject.” Kurtz says there is a need to defend freedom of scientific research and the positive good that can ensue for countless numbers of infertile couples. “The effort to curtail stem cell research is especially disturbing in the view of the possible beneficent results for improving human health,” he said.

The Vatican has focused on commonplace scientific technologies used in the United States and elsewhere, which the Church believes demean human “dignity,” and bring humans perilously close to “playing God.” The Church continues to hold steadfast to its key theological proclamation that “life begins at conception,” thereby rendering as “illicit” the use of embryos or fertilized eggs in research or otherwise, including IVF for married Catholic couples wishing to conceive.

Dr. Ronald A. Lindsay, president and CEO of the Center for Inquiry (and author of the book Future Bioethics: Overcoming Taboos, Myths, and Dogmas) said that “the Vatican has once again manifested its regrettable preference for religious doctrine over science. Until roughly fourteen days after conception, one cannot even meaningfully refer to the embryo as an individual, let alone the equivalent of an adult human, since both twinning and fusion are possible until that point.” Lindsay added that the Vatican’s rejection of IVF on the ground that it results in the discarding of embryos is especially ironic since from 60 to 80 percent of embryos conceived “naturally” are spontaneously aborted. “If the Vatican wants to prevent embryos from ‘dying,’ then they will have to instruct couples to avoid sex completely.”

“The bottom line,” says Lindsay, “is that the Vatican is telling those who need medical assistance to seek help from theology, not therapy.”

The Center for Inquiry/Transnational is a nonprofit, educational, advocacy, and scientific-research think tank based in Amherst, New York. Their research and educational projects focus on three broad areas: religion, ethics, and society; paranormal and fringe-science claims; and medicine and health. The Center’s Web site is www.centerforinquiry.net .

At the United Nations General Assembly meeting in Paris in December 1948 at which the Declaration was adopted, Eleanor Roosevelt told the assembled delegates: “As we bring to fruition our labors on this Declaration of Human Rights, we must at the same time rededicate ourselves to the unfinished task which lies before us.” That task was to make the Declaration “a common standard of achievement” for humanity, and it remains unfinished.

Combating “blasphemy” prohibitions at the United Nations

The Center for Inquiry is appalled that at its current session the U.N. General Assembly is adopting a resolution to combat the “defamation of religions,” which urges member states to curtail freedom of expression out of respect for religious belief, particularly Islamic belief. Since 2005, such declarations have been pushed by the Organization of the Islamic Conference.

In a forthcoming editorial, the editors of Free Inquiry magazine write, “The U.N. should be doing everything in its power to stamp out criminal prohibitions of blasphemy and apostasy in Islamic states, not lending them its moral authority.”

At the Human Rights Council’s ninth session in October, CFI participated in the debate over “defamation of religions” and released a position paper titled, “Islam and Human Rights: Defending Universality at the United Nations.” On December 12-15, CFI’s Representative to the U.N., Dr. Austin Dacey, will be in the Netherlands for public discussions on the future of freedom of expression in Europe, which are already making news in the Dutch press.

Campaigning for one law for all in Britain

On December 10, CFI senior research fellow Ibn Warraq will be at the British House of Lords to participate in the launch of a campaign concerning the operation of Islamic Sharia courts in the United Kingdom.

The courts, which arbitrate civil matters such as divorce, financial disputes, and even domestic violence, now operate in five major cities. The courts are voluntary, but powerful tradition and lack of information conspire to leave no real choice for many, particularly young people and women. The purpose of the campaign is to lobby for legislation outlawing the use of religious courts to determine family law and inheritance matters, and to undertake an information campaign informing Muslim women of their family law rights under UK law.

The One Law for All Campaign against Sharia law in Britain has already received widespread support from AC Grayling; Ayaan Hirsi Ali; Bahram Soroush; Baroness Caroline Cox; Caspar Melville; Deeyah; Fariborz Pooya; Gina Khan; Houzan Mahmoud; Homa Arjomand; Ibn Warraq; Joan Smith; Johann Hari; Keith Porteous Wood; Mina Ahadi; Naser Khader; Nick Cohen; Richard Dawkins; Shakeb Isaar; Sonja Eggerickx; Stephen Law; Tarek Fatah; Tauriq Moosa; Taslima Nasrin and others.

The Center for Inquiry, which recently opened a branch in London, is among the many organizational supporters.

To get involved in the campaign, please visit the campaign website, email onelawforall@gmail.com, or call 07719166731.

An earlier inquiry, “The Jesus Seminar,” founded by Professor Robert Funk in 1985, concerned itself primarily with the sayings attributed to Jesus in the Gospels and related sources. Dr. R. Joseph Hoffmann, chair of the Project and CSER, said that the “The Jesus Seminar had difficulty separating itself from the faith commitments of its members. Its agenda was not exclusively, but in large measure theologically driven. Its conclusions and methods raised more questions than they answered.”

The project has drawn together a diverse and rich group of scholars, including, among others Gerd Lüdemann, Paul Kurtz, Robert Price, James Tabor, Robert Eisenman, David Trobisch, Bruce Chilton, Dennis MacDonald, and R. Joseph Hoffmann. 

At the session this past weekend, participants agreed that a rigorous scientific inquiry was needed, and that the Project would be committed to a position of neutrality towards the sources used as “evidence” for the Jesus tradition. Participants represent a wide variety of perspectives, ranging from Tabor’s argument that there is substantial evidence that the tomb of the family of Jesus has been located, to the view that the evidence for the existence of Jesus as an historical figure is not persuasive. “Jesus remains after 2,000 years the most fascinating figure of Western civilization,” said James Tabor, author of The Jesus Dynasty: A New Historical Investigation of Jesus, His Royal Family, and the Birth of Christianity. ”Scholars now at the beginning of the twenty-first century are able to take advantage of a plethora of new texts, sources, and methods, including the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls, various lost Gospels that are not in our New Testament, and a rich archaeological record.” Tabor says that scholars today find themselves uniquely positioned to examine the issue of who Jesus was in new and challenging ways. During the closing conference round-table, Tabor was quick to emphasize that “the Jesus Project repudiates any theological agendas, special pleading, or dogmatic presuppositions.” All members of the project share a common commitment to the importance of applying scientific methodologies to the sources used to construct the Jesus tradition.

The Project has outlined a set of priorities for its next meetings, including a “consistent” translation of the Gospels, an inquiry into the causes of the canonization of the existing New Testament documents, parallels between Islam and early Christianity in delineating its sacred books, and the need to carve a middle path between what Hoffmann describes as “Da Vinci Code sensationalism and the truly fascinating story that underlies the history of Christianity.”

Papers delivered at the conference will be published under the title “Sources of the Jesus Tradition: An Inquiry,” by Prometheus Books in 2009. The Project’s next conference is scheduled tentatively for May 2009 in Chicago.

*Listen to Robert Price interview about The Jesus Project on WBFO, Buffalo’s NPR affiliate. 

CSER was founded in 1983 and is now a research committee of the Religion and Science division of the Center for Inquiry in Amherst, New York. It encourages the use of the historical and applied sciences in the study of religion and provides educational programs for the public as part of its religious-literacy initiatives. The Center for Inquiry/Transnational is a nonprofit, educational, advocacy, and scientific-research think tank based in Amherst, New York. Their research and educational projects focus on three broad areas: religion, ethics, and society; paranormal and fringe-science claims; and medicine and health. The Center’s Web site is www.centerforinquiry.net .

Ferdinand Waldo Demara was a real life con man the movie, The Great Imposter, was based on.During Demara’s “careers,” he was, among other things, a surgeon, mental health professional who used applied psychology principles to resolve issues in other psychological disciplines, cancer researcher, hospital orderly, child care expert and lawyer. Imagine being one of his patients or clients! Why be the victim of people in the paranormal field? There is documentation of emotional stress caused by paranormal frauds.

Debunking Imposters Posing as Paranormal Investigators and Exposing Paranormal Hoaxes

Warning signals:

• Websites featuring their self-created false definitions. Cross reference their definitions using the American Society for Psychic Research’s and the Parapsychological Association’s glossaries. Some definitions may differ because parapsychology is a primarily theoretical science.
• Feature their investigations that are to incredible to be true, like the debunked Amityville: Scamityville!
• Answers to valid questions. What makes you qualified to investigate? “I’m psychic,” “I like ghost hunting” and “Ghosts are interesting.” If there are other credentials such as doing for research, experience and the desire to prevent people from being scammed coupled with the listed answers, no problem. Be very wary of those who claim to have ghost hunting certifications. Google search websites they claim they got their certificates from. There appears to be no accredited paranormal organizations offering these.
• Question “Why do you offer free investigations?” “For the experience, as part of our research and to help people avoid hoaxes” are the answers to look for.
• Members of paranormal groups who claim to have accredited ghost hunting certificates. A Google search for “accredited ghost hunting certification” lists approximately 58,700 websites. There none on the first fifty sites, some of which don’t even mention ghost hunting.
• Base their “claim to fame” on involvement with sites featuring ”cases” debunked as hoaxes and/or scams.

Con Artist Writers and Lecturers Unmasked

Red flare and warning siren:

Writers and lecturers who admitted to changing significant details and embellish on them to make the hauntings more interesting and scarier. One scamster wrote an article that appears on a legitimate website admitting he was a story teller who wrote books and gave lectures because he “likes to scare people.” Didn’t he realize he was debuning himself by such a confession?

“Psychic” Scamsters Debunked

These scamsters have their tricks:

Miss Cleo, née Youree Dell Harris, is the perfect “poster child” for con artist psychics, as Ted Bundy is for serial killers. She performed on “infomercials” for several psychic lines, cheating innocent people for money by offering free readings, then keeping them on the line as long as the scammers could, past the “free time”, to make $5 a minute! Another trick they used was to give callers an 809 area code number to call. While other Caribbean Islands share the area code, the Bahama-based one are “pay per call,” like 900 numbers. Many people aren’t aware of this, so they call and pay dearly. Miss Cleo and her co-conspirators were sued by the FTC and some states for fraud and other crimes. The defendants lost. All were banned from having websites and paid damages. They no longer exist, so innocent people are safe from this “psychic” and her partners in crime unless they opened other lines under new fictitious names and the Contact had a different name….

Source

One of the most fascinating mysteries to have taken the New Age movement by storm has to be that of the ancient crystal skulls.

Only recently I attended a crystal skull conference in my hometown of Glastonbury, UK. As an energy healer and crystal therapist, I can verify that a great deal of excitement is generated whenever crystal skulls are mentioned.

And, yes, this all happened well before Indiana Jones.

Mayan legend has it that thirteen life-sized crystal skulls were gifted to humankind at the time of the fall of Atlantis. These amazing objects supposedly worked together like sophisticated crystalline computers, encoding all the knowledge and wisdom of the universe.

Some believe that the skulls and their wisdom were of extraterrestrial origin. The Mayans thought that, at the time of the Great Flood, when Atlantis was lost to the ocean, the thirteen crystal skulls dematerialised and would only reappear when humanity is on the brink of destruction and is spiritually evolved enough to be able to work with their consciousness.

Keep reading at this source’s Web site