Alien abduction, LHC devouring the earth, Scientology, homoeopathy, faith healing, ley lines, crop circles, big foot, Lock Ness monster, psychics, the Philadelphia experiment, spoon bending, face on Mars, Jesus on everything, seances, crystal dangling, ghost hunting, auras, chakras, chi, cheese rolling, cheescake, yogic flying, speaking in tongues, dousing with tongs, past life regression, astrology (how could I forget!), Nostadamus, numerology, phrenology, faked moon landings, vitamin C, face cream, abstinence, magnetotherapy, out of body experiences, celebrity reincarnation, herbal enemas, heaven, hell, holistics, iridology, Reiki (WTF is Reiki?), hollow earth, prayer batteries, David Ike, the rapture, MM bloody R - Oh God may the sun swallow us all.

What is your favourite topic for a good sceptical rant and why?

Views: 7

Replies to This Discussion

Theres just too many to choose from.
While being skeptical about all the ones I have previously heard of, Scientology could head the list because like Mormonism and Jehovah's Witnesses (not listed) it features among laughable but dangerous modern mass-movement religions or variations of false older ones that are blatantly obvious religious fictions initiated by out-and-out charlatans.

Most of the others can be as bad, but I do not know why cheese-rolling is there. In parts of Britain it is a traditional race downhill, chasing a round cheese. No lies, no preaching, no trickery, no swindling conversion of the gullible. Youths do it today for mad fun, although I would agree that the idea may have had a pagan religion origin
Cheese rolling is in the list because it's showing all the signs of a proto-religion. It has many similarities to the very early stages of the cargo-cults of pacific islands.

I confidently predict that in a few hundred years Coopers Hill will have become a site of pilgrimage. A consecrated cheese will be rolled down through the congregation where the faithful will battle to win it as they do now. The Chosen One will then be sacrificed in a cauldron of boiling fondue to cries of "Blessed are the Cheese Makers".

It's a far more plausible foundation for a religion than Scientology ever was and should be nipped in the bud now before lives are wasted.
You forgot to mention Cthulhu :D

I have a tendency to rant over Scientology. And what's wrong with cheesecakes?!
They're round, cheesy, you can roll them - it'll all end in tears. See my previous reply.
And yummy.
I'd have to go for Astrology myself. Apparently I'm a Capricorn and I've had people tell me my traits and compatibility with others by star sign - patently incorrectly.

Then there's all the horoscope nonsense with it's cliched vagueness.

I have occasionally asked believers to provide me something - anything - to back up their fervently delivered assertions, preferably something involving evidence, logic, astronomy or sanity - pick any two.

Needless to say I only got anecdotes or blank stares.

But thing about stars is that you can look up and see them, know what they are and how far away they are from us and each other. Yet somehow an arrangement of unrelated and disparate stars that looks like a goat (if you're high, and on earth) has some strange influence over a narrow aspect of our lives.

The only caveat I can think of is that if I were a werewolf or vampire then the positions of the sun and moon would have obvious implications for how I plan my time but I still wouldn't need a horoscope, just a calendar or a watch.
Ah, astrology. I remember my friend telling me she's a scorpio and all her friends are scorpios...I said "you know scorpios are supposed to hate each other? Also, they're sex maniacs" (she's a virgin)
Lately this whole LHC will destroy he world crap has been pissing me off. Other things I can understand. Creationism; these people are under the idea that evolution some how negates the idea of god (which is bullshit of course) Astrology; I can understand people wanting there to be some order in the world and astrology gives them a feeling of that. Homeopathy, herbalism and the other pseudo-medicines; these are symptoms of a larger problems.
Its all crap and no one should believe them but I can understand it. But the LHC end of the world crap. These people can't spend 2 minute to look up Hawking radiation? They can't spend 2 minute to look up what real scientists think about it? They get nothing out of believing the world will be sucked into a black hole.
ROTFLMFAO!!! Yer KILLIN' me here!!!
What is your favourite topic for a good sceptical rant and why?

Politics. How are we supposed to believe anything a politician says? A politician needs no credentials, no education and is never held accountable for what he (or she) promises. Government, therefore is just an extention of lack of accountablility .... hell, its nothing more than a bunch of money hungry politicians.

RT
My list has been thoroughly bested:

http://whatstheharm.net/

RSS

CONNECT WITH ATHEIST NEXUS

Latest Activity

Loren Miller replied to Loren Miller's discussion Latest Activity?
"Good point - I forgot about that.  You can display it for yourself in EDIT mode, but it doesn't show up on your profile.  Also a good point about videos ... need a display and handle for that."
5 minutes ago
G replied to Loren Miller's discussion Latest Activity?
"having problem about "Profile Information", where is that ?"
9 minutes ago
blue pashmina posted a blog post

Not believing in an afterlife does not mean i am a "sad' person.

I work in healthcare in a long term care facility and I deal with death on a regular basis. About a year ago the opportunity arose for me to take a palliative care course through my work.  I enjoyed it for the most part. It dealt with topics such as end of life care, pain relief and addressing the spiritual needs of different individuals based on their religious beliefs.There was one instance however that was decidedly unpleasant, and unfortunately really overshadowed the rest of my time in the…See More
19 minutes ago
Steph S. replied to Loren Miller's discussion Latest Activity?
"What Loren said and I don't see a place to add videos on your page like before. I will keep looking around the site and see if I think of anything else."
30 minutes ago
booklover commented on Ruth Anthony-Gardner's group Hang With Friends
"You always have a great perspective Joan! Thanks Steph, my daughter started her hardest class, math, yesterday. The other 2 have different start-dates."
35 minutes ago
Loren Miller replied to Loren Miller's discussion Latest Activity?
"About the only thing I don't see on my home page that was there originally is the MP3 player and playlist.  Not cosmic, by any stretch, but I thought I'd mention it."
38 minutes ago
Two Cult Survivor commented on Wyatt's blog post Theists, Cargo Cults, and Logic
"They mistake logic with internal consistency. If you show a theist that his views are internally inconsistent, you will have some measure of success. He will make a good faith (ha!) effort at modifying his views to make them more internally…"
48 minutes ago
Richard Haynes replied to Loren Miller's discussion Latest Activity?
"I believe we have almost everything complete. Does anyone notice any other problems?"
49 minutes ago

© 2013   Atheist Nexus. All rights reserved. Admin: Richard Haynes.

Badges  |  Report an Issue  |  Terms of Service