Richmond Area Free Thinkers Society

We Americans are blessed in that we are participants in the greatest experiment in democratic living ever to exist on planet earth.  Citizenship in this marvelous venture comes with a cost.  That cost is that we are periodically obligated to take part in our democracy by voting.  Beyond simply voting, however, we have a duty to think critically about the issues on which we vote.  In our world of instant communication, where media are motivated by the bottom line rather than objectivity, and where political candidates are managed by experts with Machiavellian motivations, critical thinking is no easy task.

Critical thinking is the process of analyzing claims while maintaining intellectual humility and fair-mindedness.  This can be done in three steps:

Step one

Make sure the claim is clear and unambiguous.  One of the tricks of propagandists and political persuaders is to design a claim which cannot be pinned down.  When this happens, critical thinkers must determine just what claim is being made.  Exactly what is the candidate claiming?  Without a specific claim, no critical analysis can be made. (Read More »)

One essential element of a democracy is that when people honestly disagree on how to deal with the political and social issues they face, they feel free to openly express their disagreement. In order to make a democracy work, people must be both willing and able to argue their views in a market place of ideas and allow citizens to sort the good ideas from the poor ones.

In our contemporary culture, however, the idea of argument has taken on negative connotations. We think of it as an unpleasant activity. We are admonished not to bring up the topics of politics or religion, because these subjects often produce unpleasantness. We believe that arguments are toxic and destructive of relationships. We view arguments in military terms, where one side is vanquished. Arguments are seen as damaging to the self-esteem of the “loser.” Losers of arguments may feel hurt and angry, because they perceive their loss as a personal humiliation. (Read More »)

This story has been all over the news for the past two days. A young girl, 11 years old, has died because her parents chose to pray rather than take her to the hospital. She ultimately died of ketoacidosis (diabetes), and her death would have easily been prevented by a treatment of insulin and basic medical care. The girl’s family “believe in the Bible and that healing comes from God, but that they do not belong to an organized religion or faith, are not fanatics and have nothing against doctors.”

The controversy comes from their choices once they noticed something was wrong:

“We just noticed a tiredness within the past two weeks,” she said Wednesday. “And then just the day before and that day (she died), it suddenly just went to a more serious situation. We stayed fast in prayer then. We believed that she would recover. We saw signs that to us, it looked like she was recovering.”

The question, then, is whether or not it is bad parenting to deny / avoid medical care when something is clearly not right.

(More discussion after the jump) (Read More »)

The Haggis-On-Whey World of Unbelievable Brilliance volumes 1-3 are sheer, glorious nonsense. Done in the style of retro textbooks that echo the art of the trustworthy school books such as the How and Why series of the fifties and sixties, but without a leg of fact to stand on. (Read More »)

Peter Sis, the same author/illustrator who inspired us with the history of Galileo in Starry Messenger has done it again. This time he has made the life of Darwin come alive in the pages of The Tree of Life. Sis continues with his cherished theme of nonconformity for kids (and grown-ups too!). (Read More »)

Peter Sis’ superbly illustrated Starry Messenger takes its title from the published observations of the famous Galileo Galilei. Sis relates the story of Galileo’s life in sixteenth century Italy in child friendly faery tale prose. Italic factoids dance around the pages noting important accomplishments or milestones in Galileo’s life. (Read More »)

Bryson is neither Scientist nor Historian, which gives him a perspective on both topics to which most of us can relate. In this book, he takes us on a journey starting at the inception of the universe (the inaccurately named “big bang”), and on through to the 20th and 21st centuries. He covers many of the natural sciences, such as Geology, Astronomy, Biology, and Chemistry, but does so in a way that makes sense to someone who is an expert in none of them, peppering it with candid humor. (Read More »)