Books to counter my brothers wish list

Hammer_of_Thor · 6th December 2007, 12:16 PM

All,

There are some very intelligent people on this forum. I dont always agree with everything but it seems that most of the posts are very well reasoned. If anybody can help me out it is this forum. (OK, enough of buttering everyone up)

My brother sent me and email containing some books that he wants for xmas. I plan to buy him one book off of his list and also get him one that I think he should read. I was thinking of a Shermer book because they are a little less aggressive than Dawkins or Hitchens. He is a very strong believing christian. He also told me that he is leaning toward voting for Romney(go figure). He said Huckabee is too religious.

The first two books are christian based, Nanny State is almost libertarian, and The Looming Tower is about Islam and 9/11.

Any other ideas would be appreciated.

The books he wants are:

Think a second time - Dennis Prager
What's so great about Christianity - D'Souza
Nanny State - David Harsayni
The Looming Tower - Lawrence Wright

grayman · 6th December 2007, 12:27 PM

Books by Carl Sagan are always a good gift.

Jeff Corey · 6th December 2007, 12:38 PM

Originally Posted by grayman

Books by Carl Sagan are always a good gift.

I'd suggest Sagan's Demon Haunted World. It's better written than Shermer's Weird Things, even if a little dated.

Tanstaafl · 6th December 2007, 12:39 PM

Specifically, I think the book Cosmos was great, and would probably be viewed as less confrontational than Demon Haunted World, where Sagan seemed to be getting a little impatient that so much of the world had still not accepted rationality.

Hammer_of_Thor · 6th December 2007, 12:52 PM

Originally Posted by grayman

Books by Carl Sagan are always a good gift.

I forgot about Sagan.

BTW-my brother also owns Darwin's Black Box.

TheDoLittle · 6th December 2007, 02:36 PM

Flim-Flam, By James Randi

tkingdoll · 6th December 2007, 05:11 PM

Originally Posted by Jeff Corey

I'd suggest Sagan's Demon Haunted World. It's better written than Shermer's Weird Things, even if a little dated.

Agreed. That book changed my life. Well...it made me a skeptic, which made me a lot of new friends, some of whom have changed my life in subtle ways.

T'ai Chi · 6th December 2007, 08:05 PM

Demon Haunted World is far superior to Flim-Flam, which is mediocre.

I think even better is How to Think About Weird Things: Critical Thinking for a New Age by Schick and Vaughn

Arkan_Wolfshade · 7th December 2007, 07:35 AM

Demon Haunted World is a no brainer. If you get Why People Believe Weird Things also pick up the two follow-ups How We Believe and The Science of Good and Evil as they further explain some of the concepts of evolutionary psychology and how humans have come to have the throught processes we have.

Beerina · 7th December 2007, 08:03 AM

Originally Posted by Jeff Corey

I'd suggest Sagan's Demon Haunted World.

I heartily agree.

If he's into UFOs and other "woo" like that, I would also suggest The Bermuda Triangle Mystery Solved, by Larry Kusche. It was written in the 1970s, but goes through all the major Bermuda Triangle stories and compares the sensationalized accounts UFO book sellers promote vs. actual investigation results, and shows how certain points are exaggerated if not outright falsified, while others are ignored.

Remember the 6 navy flight trainees who were lost without a trace? They thought they were over the Gulf of Mexico but were actually over the Atlantic. Hence heading northeast was...a poor choice. No mystery whatsoever.

Piscivore · 7th December 2007, 08:10 AM

Originally Posted by Hammer_of_Thor

...I think he should read.

He is a very strong believing christian.

Actually reading the whole bible (as opposed to selecting a verse at random out of context) sometimes cures that.

Hammer_of_Thor · 7th December 2007, 10:16 AM

I thank all of you for the suggestions. Demon Haunted World, I think, is an excellent choice. I have read it and it helped me out greatly with how to think critically about things. How We Believe and The Science of Good and Evil also may be coming his way.

Originally Posted by Piscivore

Actually reading the whole bible (as opposed to selecting a verse at random out of context) sometimes cures that.

Dont even get me started on this. I have asked him point blank "Is the Bible 100% true and the actual word of God?" He replied "Yes". He said that he tries to follow the bible the best he can. I asked him another question "When was the last time you stoned an adulterer to death? It says to do it in the bible."

He responded with something like "Well it is against the law."

I said "But the bible says to do it. Who do you follow?"

He is great at picking quotes from the bible.

Cactus Wren · 7th December 2007, 04:30 PM

Originally Posted by Jeff Corey

I'd suggest Sagan's Demon Haunted World. It's better written than Shermer's Weird Things, even if a little dated.

I've always liked to think of DHW as Sagan's announcement that he was as mad as hell and not going to take it any more.

kmortis · 7th December 2007, 05:08 PM

Has "Demon Haunted World" been mentioned yet? Oh, good.

If you're feeling brave, "Breaking the Spell" is the most gentle of the ardent atheist books.

"Misquoting Jesus" is quite good too.

Roboramma · 7th December 2007, 05:13 PM

Jon Krakauer's book about fundamentalist mormons:
Under the Banner of Heaven

In it he deals with the problem of religious truth - how do we tell the difference between someone who is truely hearing the voice of god and someone's who just crazy, or out for his own gain. The story centers around some brothers who killed their sister in law (and maybe their younger brother? I don't remember) and her child.

Without actually attacking what your brother believes it gets to the fundamental errors of reasoning, but in a way that he is free to agree with its conclusions. Once he agrees with them, it may lead him to start to question his own ideas.

Maybe. I know my sister had a major "crisis of faith" after I lent that book to her. Too bad her "new age therapist" set her back on track.

And to soften the blow and disguise your conversion attempt throw in Into Thin Air which is a great read and has nothing to do with skepticism.

Aside from that Sagan is awesome, and Demon Haunted World was one of the most influencial books I ever read. But if you can get him interested in Sagan first by giving him one of his others (Cosmos is a good choise, I liked Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors but if he's a creationist it won't go over so well... there are others that would be worth thinking about, but I can't think of titles off the top of my head.).

Isaac Asimov was always great, but it's hard to find his non-fiction nowadays.

CFLarsen · 8th December 2007, 05:50 AM

Originally Posted by T'ai Chi

Demon Haunted World is far superior to Flim-Flam, which is mediocre.

I think even better is How to Think About Weird Things: Critical Thinking for a New Age by Schick and Vaughn

Quote the first paragraph from chapter 2 from each book.

HarryKeogh · 8th December 2007, 06:06 AM

Originally Posted by Jeff Corey

I'd suggest Sagan's Demon Haunted World. It's better written than Shermer's Weird Things, even if a little dated.

Yeah...let me be the 50th person so far to say ditto to this. Sagan is a perfect choice because he never came across as saying what he said to be argumentative but because he cared about his fellow human beings.

How I miss him.

86kam · 8th December 2007, 07:47 PM

Sagan's "Demon Haunted World" seems to be a rite of passage, a good read to get someone started in questioning popular beliefs.

Quote:

I have asked him point blank "Is the Bible 100% true and the actual word of God?" He replied "Yes".

In regard to this, one book I would recommend is "The Bible Unearthed" by Israel Finkelstein and Neil Asher Silberman. It is a pretty good expose on how many of the biblical accounts are debunked by archeology.
My little blurb really doesn't do the book justice, so if you're interested, head on over to Amazon or Barnes and Noble and check it out. Can't post links yet.

tkingdoll · 9th December 2007, 07:49 AM

Originally Posted by Hammer_of_Thor

I thank all of you for the suggestions. Demon Haunted World, I think, is an excellent choice. I have read it and it helped me out greatly with how to think critically about things. How We Believe and The Science of Good and Evil also may be coming his way.

Dont even get me started on this. I have asked him point blank "Is the Bible 100% true and the actual word of God?" He replied "Yes". He said that he tries to follow the bible the best he can. I asked him another question "When was the last time you stoned an adulterer to death? It says to do it in the bible."

He responded with something like "Well it is against the law."

I said "But the bible says to do it. Who do you follow?"

He is great at picking quotes from the bible.

Oh, there's plenty of comeback for that!

Like...presumably he doesn't eat pork (or any other animal with a cloven hoof) or shellfish?

Or wear artificial fibres?

GreNME · 9th December 2007, 08:12 AM

I think proselytizing to him is the worst path you could take if you are genuinely concerned about his being overly fundementalist. Get him something like Constantine's Sword first, then maybe follow up with something like this or this DVD. Since he seems interested in 9/11 stuff, bring him back a bit further in history with books like this and this-- not directly related, but they might capture his interest. Then see if he's open to reading some Bart Ehrman... I suggest Lost Scriptures or Misquoting Jesus as good starting points.

Some of those things won't challenge him or his assumptions about faith, and only the last two might challenge him to re-evaluate his faith. However, do you really think you should be the one to demand he challenge his faith if he's not open to the idea? These books can give him some topical reading on subjects he might be interested in that will allow him to determine if he wants to make that decision himself. Then you could offer him some reading that you feel is more in-line with your own beliefs, maybe under the pretense of discussing the book with each other or something.

Roboramma · 9th December 2007, 08:31 PM

I have to agree with Grenme. I remember once showing Demon Haunted World to a friend of mine. She's a very nice girl, but when she looked at it her only response was that scientists are evil and purposely misleading us and hiding the truth of the world from us.

With that sort of perspective, she was never going to be convinced by reading Demon Haunted World. The only way to convince someone like that (or your brother) is to establish common ground, and then get them to ask questions that are safe for their world view from within that common ground. If those questions can start to lead them to start to question their own world view, then great, but it's a long road. After all, you're asking him to rethink his entire picture of the world.

Hammer_of_Thor · 3rd January 2008, 02:21 PM

OK.

So I got him Demon Haunted World. He started reading it and says he enjoys it so far. He also said that he is skeptical of most things anyway. He is a big reader of snopes.com. He stated that he is pleased that Sagan says that science in not always right. This is one of the backbones of scientific theory. The testing and retesting of things. Scientists just dont believe things because they are tested once. The cold fusion experiment by Pons and Fleischmann is a great example of this.

If he is so skeptical of most things why is he such a strong believer in the x-ian god?

I may ask him this question after he has some time to soak up Demon Haunted World.

6th December 2007, 12:16 PM	#1
Hammer_of_Thor Thinker Join Date: Mar 2007 Location: Nunn Ya Posts: 166	Books to counter my brothers wish list All, There are some very intelligent people on this forum. I dont always agree with everything but it seems that most of the posts are very well reasoned. If anybody can help me out it is this forum. (OK, enough of buttering everyone up) My brother sent me and email containing some books that he wants for xmas. I plan to buy him one book off of his list and also get him one that I think he should read. I was thinking of a Shermer book because they are a little less aggressive than Dawkins or Hitchens. He is a very strong believing christian. He also told me that he is leaning toward voting for Romney(go figure). He said Huckabee is too religious. The first two books are christian based, Nanny State is almost libertarian, and The Looming Tower is about Islam and 9/11. Any other ideas would be appreciated. The books he wants are: Think a second time - Dennis Prager What's so great about Christianity - D'Souza Nanny State - David Harsayni The Looming Tower - Lawrence Wright
	__________________ Rational arguments don't usually work on religious people. Otherwise, there wouldn't be religious people. - Dr. Gregory House Last edited by Hammer_of_Thor; 6th December 2007 at 12:23 PM. Reason: More info

6th December 2007, 12:27 PM	#2
grayman Happy-go-lucky Heretic Join Date: Apr 2006 Location: Casa del Whacko Posts: 6,142	Books by Carl Sagan are always a good gift.
	__________________ Stupidity is a condition. Ignorance is a choice. - Wiley All great truths begin as blasphemies. - George Bernard Shaw God is evil. As soon as you accept that, it all makes sense. - Sledge

6th December 2007, 12:39 PM	#4
Tanstaafl Unindicted Co-conspirator Join Date: Jun 2006 Location: Mesa, AZ Posts: 5,622	Specifically, I think the book Cosmos was great, and would probably be viewed as less confrontational than Demon Haunted World, where Sagan seemed to be getting a little impatient that so much of the world had still not accepted rationality.
	__________________ To forgive is human, to condemn for eternity is divine. -- AudioFreak Truth is where evidence comes from, not where belief leads to. --yy2bggggs Expelled exposed! Sylvia Browne

6th December 2007, 12:52 PM	#5
Hammer_of_Thor Thinker Join Date: Mar 2007 Location: Nunn Ya Posts: 166	Originally Posted by grayman Books by Carl Sagan are always a good gift. I forgot about Sagan. BTW-my brother also owns Darwin's Black Box.
	__________________ Rational arguments don't usually work on religious people. Otherwise, there wouldn't be religious people. - Dr. Gregory House Last edited by Hammer_of_Thor; 6th December 2007 at 12:53 PM.

6th December 2007, 02:36 PM	#6
TheDoLittle Disco King Discombobulator Join Date: Apr 2007 Location: Houston, Texas Posts: 1,658	Flim-Flam, By James Randi
	__________________ David O. Little -=The DoLittle 8-)=- America believes in education: the average professor earns more money in a year than a professional athlete earns in a whole week. - Evan Esar / No one can earn a million dollars honestly. - William Jennings Bryan (1860 - 1925) / If you make people think they're thinking, they'll love you; But if you really make them think, they'll hate you. - Don Marquis

6th December 2007, 12:38 PM	#3
Jeff Corey New York Skeptic Join Date: Aug 2001 Posts: 13,794	Originally Posted by grayman Books by Carl Sagan are always a good gift. I'd suggest Sagan's Demon Haunted World. It's better written than Shermer's Weird Things, even if a little dated.

6th December 2007, 05:11 PM	#7
tkingdoll AKA TEEK Join Date: Jul 2005 Location: Up Myself Posts: 12,471	Originally Posted by Jeff Corey I'd suggest Sagan's Demon Haunted World. It's better written than Shermer's Weird Things, even if a little dated. Agreed. That book changed my life. Well...it made me a skeptic, which made me a lot of new friends, some of whom have changed my life in subtle ways.
	__________________ www.stormmovie.net Official website of Tim Minchin's Storm Movie

6th December 2007, 08:05 PM	#8
T'ai Chi Penultimate Amazing Join Date: May 2003 Posts: 11,235	Demon Haunted World is far superior to Flim-Flam, which is mediocre. I think even better is How to Think About Weird Things: Critical Thinking for a New Age by Schick and Vaughn
	__________________ http://www.statisticool.com

7th December 2007, 07:35 AM	#9
Arkan_Wolfshade Philosopher Join Date: Jan 2006 Location: Making Mytheon come to life Posts: 7,158	Demon Haunted World is a no brainer. If you get Why People Believe Weird Things also pick up the two follow-ups How We Believe and The Science of Good and Evil as they further explain some of the concepts of evolutionary psychology and how humans have come to have the throught processes we have.
	__________________ Amy: You should try homeopathic medicine, Bender. Try some zinc. Bender: I am forty percent zinc. Amy: Then take some echinacea, or St. John's Wort. Professor: Or a big fat placebo. It's all the same crap.

7th December 2007, 08:03 AM	#10
Beerina Sarcastic Conqueror of Notions Join Date: Mar 2004 Location: A floating island above the clouds Posts: 23,835	Originally Posted by Jeff Corey I'd suggest Sagan's Demon Haunted World. I heartily agree. If he's into UFOs and other "woo" like that, I would also suggest The Bermuda Triangle Mystery Solved, by Larry Kusche. It was written in the 1970s, but goes through all the major Bermuda Triangle stories and compares the sensationalized accounts UFO book sellers promote vs. actual investigation results, and shows how certain points are exaggerated if not outright falsified, while others are ignored. Remember the 6 navy flight trainees who were lost without a trace? They thought they were over the Gulf of Mexico but were actually over the Atlantic. Hence heading northeast was...a poor choice. No mystery whatsoever.
	__________________ "Great innovations should not be forced [by way of] slender majorities." - Thomas Jefferson The government should nationalize it! Socialized, single-payer video game development and sales *now!* More, cheaper, better games, right? Right?

7th December 2007, 08:10 AM	#11
Piscivore Smelling fishy Join Date: May 2004 Location: Home is wherever I'm with you Posts: 26,476	Originally Posted by Hammer_of_Thor ...I think he should read. He is a very strong believing christian. Actually reading the whole bible (as opposed to selecting a verse at random out of context) sometimes cures that.
	__________________ Give a man a fish, feed him for a day. Take his fish away and tell him he's lucky just to be alive, and he'll figure out how to catch another one for you to take tomorrow. "...untrustworthy obnoxious twerp." - CFLarsen

7th December 2007, 10:16 AM	#12
Hammer_of_Thor Thinker Join Date: Mar 2007 Location: Nunn Ya Posts: 166	I thank all of you for the suggestions. Demon Haunted World, I think, is an excellent choice. I have read it and it helped me out greatly with how to think critically about things. How We Believe and The Science of Good and Evil also may be coming his way. Originally Posted by Piscivore Actually reading the whole bible (as opposed to selecting a verse at random out of context) sometimes cures that. Dont even get me started on this. I have asked him point blank "Is the Bible 100% true and the actual word of God?" He replied "Yes". He said that he tries to follow the bible the best he can. I asked him another question "When was the last time you stoned an adulterer to death? It says to do it in the bible." He responded with something like "Well it is against the law." I said "But the bible says to do it. Who do you follow?" He is great at picking quotes from the bible.
	__________________ Rational arguments don't usually work on religious people. Otherwise, there wouldn't be religious people. - Dr. Gregory House

7th December 2007, 04:30 PM	#13
Cactus Wren Muse Join Date: Apr 2006 Location: West of Superstition Posts: 897	Originally Posted by Jeff Corey I'd suggest Sagan's Demon Haunted World. It's better written than Shermer's Weird Things, even if a little dated. I've always liked to think of DHW as Sagan's announcement that he was as mad as hell and not going to take it any more.

7th December 2007, 05:08 PM	#14
kmortis Biomechanoid Director of IDIOCY (Region 13) Moderator Join Date: Jul 2005 Location: New Texas Posts: 24,624	Has "Demon Haunted World" been mentioned yet? Oh, good. If you're feeling brave, "Breaking the Spell" is the most gentle of the ardent atheist books. "Misquoting Jesus" is quite good too.
	__________________ -Aberhaten did it - "Which gives us an answer to our question. What’s the worst thing that can happen in a pressure cooker?" Randall Monroe -Director of Independent Determining Inquisitor Of Crazy Yapping - Aberhaten's Apothegm™ - An Internet law that states that optimism is indistinguishable from sarcasm

7th December 2007, 05:13 PM	#15
Roboramma Philosopher Join Date: Feb 2005 Location: Shanghai Posts: 7,096	Jon Krakauer's book about fundamentalist mormons: Under the Banner of Heaven In it he deals with the problem of religious truth - how do we tell the difference between someone who is truely hearing the voice of god and someone's who just crazy, or out for his own gain. The story centers around some brothers who killed their sister in law (and maybe their younger brother? I don't remember) and her child. Without actually attacking what your brother believes it gets to the fundamental errors of reasoning, but in a way that he is free to agree with its conclusions. Once he agrees with them, it may lead him to start to question his own ideas. Maybe. I know my sister had a major "crisis of faith" after I lent that book to her. Too bad her "new age therapist" set her back on track. And to soften the blow and disguise your conversion attempt throw in Into Thin Air which is a great read and has nothing to do with skepticism. Aside from that Sagan is awesome, and Demon Haunted World was one of the most influencial books I ever read. But if you can get him interested in Sagan first by giving him one of his others (Cosmos is a good choise, I liked Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors but if he's a creationist it won't go over so well... there are others that would be worth thinking about, but I can't think of titles off the top of my head.). Isaac Asimov was always great, but it's hard to find his non-fiction nowadays.
	__________________ "... when people thought the Earth was flat, they were wrong. When people thought the Earth was spherical they were wrong. But if you think that thinking the Earth is spherical is just as wrong as thinking the Earth is flat, then your view is wronger than both of them put together." Isaac Asimov

8th December 2007, 05:50 AM	#16
CFLarsen Penultimate Amazing Join Date: Aug 2001 Posts: 42,804	Originally Posted by T'ai Chi Demon Haunted World is far superior to Flim-Flam, which is mediocre. I think even better is How to Think About Weird Things: Critical Thinking for a New Age by Schick and Vaughn Quote the first paragraph from chapter 2 from each book.
	__________________ SkepticReport.com

8th December 2007, 06:06 AM	#17
HarryKeogh Catholic School Survivor Join Date: Jan 2003 Location: New York, NY Posts: 11,342	Originally Posted by Jeff Corey I'd suggest Sagan's Demon Haunted World. It's better written than Shermer's Weird Things, even if a little dated. Yeah...let me be the 50th person so far to say ditto to this. Sagan is a perfect choice because he never came across as saying what he said to be argumentative but because he cared about his fellow human beings. How I miss him.

8th December 2007, 07:47 PM	#18
86kam Student Join Date: Dec 2007 Posts: 30	Sagan's "Demon Haunted World" seems to be a rite of passage, a good read to get someone started in questioning popular beliefs. Quote: I have asked him point blank "Is the Bible 100% true and the actual word of God?" He replied "Yes". In regard to this, one book I would recommend is "The Bible Unearthed" by Israel Finkelstein and Neil Asher Silberman. It is a pretty good expose on how many of the biblical accounts are debunked by archeology. My little blurb really doesn't do the book justice, so if you're interested, head on over to Amazon or Barnes and Noble and check it out. Can't post links yet.
86kam Student Join Date: Dec 2007 Posts: 30	Last edited by 86kam; 8th December 2007 at 07:48 PM. Reason: misspelling

9th December 2007, 07:49 AM	#19
tkingdoll AKA TEEK Join Date: Jul 2005 Location: Up Myself Posts: 12,471	Originally Posted by Hammer_of_Thor I thank all of you for the suggestions. Demon Haunted World, I think, is an excellent choice. I have read it and it helped me out greatly with how to think critically about things. How We Believe and The Science of Good and Evil also may be coming his way. Dont even get me started on this. I have asked him point blank "Is the Bible 100% true and the actual word of God?" He replied "Yes". He said that he tries to follow the bible the best he can. I asked him another question "When was the last time you stoned an adulterer to death? It says to do it in the bible." He responded with something like "Well it is against the law." I said "But the bible says to do it. Who do you follow?" He is great at picking quotes from the bible. Oh, there's plenty of comeback for that! Like...presumably he doesn't eat pork (or any other animal with a cloven hoof) or shellfish? Or wear artificial fibres?
	__________________ www.stormmovie.net Official website of Tim Minchin's Storm Movie

9th December 2007, 08:12 AM	#20
GreNME Philosopher Join Date: Sep 2007 Location: Folsom Prison Posts: 8,283	I think proselytizing to him is the worst path you could take if you are genuinely concerned about his being overly fundementalist. Get him something like Constantine's Sword first, then maybe follow up with something like this or this DVD. Since he seems interested in 9/11 stuff, bring him back a bit further in history with books like this and this-- not directly related, but they might capture his interest. Then see if he's open to reading some Bart Ehrman... I suggest Lost Scriptures or Misquoting Jesus as good starting points. Some of those things won't challenge him or his assumptions about faith, and only the last two might challenge him to re-evaluate his faith. However, do you really think you should be the one to demand he challenge his faith if he's not open to the idea? These books can give him some topical reading on subjects he might be interested in that will allow him to determine if he wants to make that decision himself. Then you could offer him some reading that you feel is more in-line with your own beliefs, maybe under the pretense of discussing the book with each other or something.
	__________________ _{Like love, criminals will always find a way. -- foxholeatheist The kind of pacifism I endorse is brought about by eliminating one enemy combatant at a time.-- JoeyDonuts} Last edited by GreNME; 9th December 2007 at 08:12 AM.

9th December 2007, 08:31 PM	#21
Roboramma Philosopher Join Date: Feb 2005 Location: Shanghai Posts: 7,096	I have to agree with Grenme. I remember once showing Demon Haunted World to a friend of mine. She's a very nice girl, but when she looked at it her only response was that scientists are evil and purposely misleading us and hiding the truth of the world from us. With that sort of perspective, she was never going to be convinced by reading Demon Haunted World. The only way to convince someone like that (or your brother) is to establish common ground, and then get them to ask questions that are safe for their world view from within that common ground. If those questions can start to lead them to start to question their own world view, then great, but it's a long road. After all, you're asking him to rethink his entire picture of the world.
	__________________ "... when people thought the Earth was flat, they were wrong. When people thought the Earth was spherical they were wrong. But if you think that thinking the Earth is spherical is just as wrong as thinking the Earth is flat, then your view is wronger than both of them put together." Isaac Asimov

3rd January 2008, 02:21 PM	#22
Hammer_of_Thor Thinker Join Date: Mar 2007 Location: Nunn Ya Posts: 166	OK. So I got him Demon Haunted World. He started reading it and says he enjoys it so far. He also said that he is skeptical of most things anyway. He is a big reader of snopes.com. He stated that he is pleased that Sagan says that science in not always right. This is one of the backbones of scientific theory. The testing and retesting of things. Scientists just dont believe things because they are tested once. The cold fusion experiment by Pons and Fleischmann is a great example of this. If he is so skeptical of most things why is he such a strong believer in the x-ian god? I may ask him this question after he has some time to soak up Demon Haunted World.
	__________________ Rational arguments don't usually work on religious people. Otherwise, there wouldn't be religious people. - Dr. Gregory House