-=- What follows was pulled off of the I_UFO forum; a forum dedicated towards the dissemin

-=-  What follows was pulled off of the I_UFO forum; a forum dedicated
towards the dissemination and perpetuation of paranormal beliefs no
matter how easilly they are debunked nor how often.

In this missive the authorship seeks to give scientists a religion and
to make scientific method religious dogma.  This is quite common as the
believer in the paranormal has been utterly incapable of rising their
beliefs to the level of scientific method and thus must attempt to drag
scientific method down to their level of unevidenced belief.

It is 285 lines long    - Fredric L. Rice

-=-

By: Glenda Stocks

From: user5911@aol.com (User5911)
Newsgroups: alt.alien.visitors
Subject: CSICOP as Religion
Date: 9 Jan 1995 13:01:17 -0500

Today, the U.S. government is publicly out of the UFO phenomena business.
Most of the debunking torch has been passed to a private group called the
Committee for the Scientific Investigation of Claims of the Paranormal
("CSICOP"). CSICOP boasts an impressive roster of scientific and technical
consultants, many of whom hold professorships at prestigious universities.
CSICOP has inspired the creation of local branches (parishes, churches,
what have you) usually known as "skeptical societies". CSICOP publishes a
quarterly journal called 'The Skeptical Inquirer' (Which is neither
skeptical, nor inquiring, but we will get to that in a moment) Note, that
the act of joining CSCICOP involves a profession of religious faith, that
the materialist reductionist paradigm is sufficient to explain all
phenomological occurances, that the entire breadth and depth of 'reality'
is already KNOWN, that the complete and utter limits to our concepts of
space and time, have become embedded in rock, since invoking the name of
the messiah Einstein, that all anomalies, or even the phenomena of human
consciousness is understood, and any aspect of human consciousness that
does not fit the reductionist paradigm is by definition, delusion,
illusion, and mental illness. That evolutionary theory, genetic theory, and
physics are complete, fixed, and completely known. Yet, given the recent
explosion of understanding in anomalies in quantum physics
(quantum-coherence), complexity theory, and artificial life research, it
becomes evident to even the casual observer that much yet remains that we
do not know. Still, admission to CSICOP requires that you abandon intellect
and free-thought at the door, to join the inqisitional style crusade
against heretics who dare ask questions which hound the fringes of
reductionism.

A basic premise upon which CSICOP operates is that UFOs are not proven to
be extraterrestrial craft (actually a true position, yet while there is no
proof they are extraterrestrial craft, overwhelming proof exists that some
sort of unknown phenomena does exist). CSICOP also debunks all other
phenomena that is considers phony or 'pseudoscientific', (regardless of the
status, quality, or rigor of the investigation done by the originating
scientists), such as clairvoyance, spiritualism (two phenomena embedded in
human consciousness, and therefore cannot be either proven, nor disproven,
merely observed), and claims of cryptozoologists. It brands any effort to
seriously study UFOs as 'pseudoscience' - a term it bandies about freely.
Since science is not a subject, but rather a method, it is completely
inaccurate to label the study of any phenomena as 'pseudo-science'. Still,
occasionally seeing the light of this logic flaw, CSICOP is more than
forthcoming at attacking any scientist who would dare to become interested
in any of these damnable subjects. Quickly leaping to character
assasination, and ridicule, neither of which are part of the scientific
method, last I checked. (Recently an epistimologist, Stan McDanial, wrote a
scathing report on how NASA has handled the research on anomalous
artificats found on Mars. The entire fiasco was almost laughable, because a
broad range of what I will loosely term 'scientists' appear to have
suffered a complete and total loss of curiousity, over what are
unquestionably some damn funny looking rocks (actually mountain sized
rocks) on another planet. The psychology of it is all so fascinating, and
we are reminded of Neitche's statement in "The Twilight of the Gods":

"With the unknown, one is confronted with danger, discomfort and worry; the
first instinct is to abolish these painful sensations. FIrst principle: ANY
EXPLANATION IS BETTER THAN NONE.... The search for causes is thus
conditioned by fear. The question "Why?" is not pursued for its own sake
but to find 'a certain kind of answer' -- an answer that is pacifying,
tranquilizing and soothing."

The influence of CSICOP today is quite strong. In addition to its presence
in universities through CSCICOP affiliated faculty, CSICOP has exerted
influence in the media. Celebrity astronomer Carl Sagan, for example, is
listed as a Fellow of CSICOP. Other Fellows have included Bernard Dixon,
European editor of 'Omni' Magazine (a bastion of scientific rigor); Paul
Edwards, editor of the Encyclopedia of Philosophy; Leon Jaroff, managing
editor of Discover magazine; Phillip Klass, senior avionics editor for
Aviation Wekk & Space Technology magazine; and the late B. F. Skinner (!),
author and famous behaviourist who dis so much to promote the
stimulus-response model of human behaviour in our own generation.

CSICOP has gained a following primarily because the organization
successfuly promotes an image of objectivity. In CSICOP's statement of
purpose, for example, we read the following words:

"The Committe for the Scientific Investigation of Claims of the Paranormal
attempts to encourage the critical investigation of paranormal and
fringe-science claims from a responsible, scientific point of view and to
disseminate factual information about the results of such inquiries to the
scientific community and the public ... The Committee is a nonprofit
scientific and educational organization."

The Committee sounds like a wonderful organization. The world can greatly
benefit from objective research into UFOs and paranormal claims. It is
especially important for serious researchers to sort out the legitimate
from the fraud, and that is not always easy to do. Sadly, CSICOP does not
provide the objectivity needed to accomplish that task. The result of a
CSICOP investigation has always been, to my knowledge, an utter debunking.
By committing lies of ommision, conducting open character assasination, and
failing to ever accept, or even consider, witness testimony, exactly as
stated. Usually witness testimony is simply 'concluded as being' something
other than that which witness testimony stated as being observed This has
puzzled those people who cannot understand how some evidencedcan possibly
be rejected if it is looked at objectively. The solution to this puzzle
comes by discovering who started CSICOP and why.

CSICOP was founded in 1976 under the sponsorship of the American Humanist
Association. The American Humanist Association is, of course, dedicated to
advancing the philosophy of 'humanism'. 'Humanism' itself is difficult to
define because it often means different things to different people.
Essentially, humanism is a school of thought concerned with human interests
and human values as opposed to religious interests and values. It deals
with questions of ethics and existance from the perspective of human beings
as physical entities on Earth. 'Religious humanists' will have spiritual
and theological concerns, but will approach them from a human-centered
focus as opposed to the God-centered or spirit-centered orientation of most
religions.

The best known form of organized humanism in the United States today is
called 'secular [non-religious] humanism'. Secular humanism admits only the
reality of physical existance and rejects spiritual or theological reality.
It is a philosophy of strict materialism. Many secular humanists adhere to
the stimulus-response model of human behaviour. (I, myself, have been a
strict materialist for the last decade, so imagine my surprise when I found
out the universe appears to be non-local, and composed more of a mental
stuff, than a physical thing.)

The founding and current chairman of CSICOP is Paul Kurtz, professor of
philosophy at the State University of New York at Buffalo. For many years,
Mr. Kurtz had served as the editor of 'The Humanist' magazine. He was one
of the drafters of the 'Humanist Manifesto II' and authored a book entitled
'In Defense of Secular Humanism'. (And even recent promotional literature
for CSICOP rings of a fundamentalist call to arms, and ideological
challenge, to rise up against the heretics and blasphemers against the
purely reductionist and materialist model of an alleged, assumed, 'out
there', Etic reality. More frightening yet, a cry against self-discovery,
or even acceptance of personal human consciousness. And, most frightening
of all, outright attacks against that group of society who suffers the most
unfortunate fate of all, that of actually having aspects of the
'paranormal' enter their personal lives. Now, those who have their psyche
assaulted by seeing a UFO are branded equally as witches at an inquisition.
These, all must be treated as afronts to secular humanism, which assumes
that any such occurances simply cannot occur, and are the signs of deranged
minds. Bring out the torchs now Paul, it's getting hot in here.)

Paul Kurtz's book is interesting because it expresses some of the doctrines
and goals of the organized secular humanist movement. Those doctrines and
goals are significant in light of the role that Professor Kurtz and other
secular humanists have played in founding CSICOP. On the subject of
spritual experience, Professor Kurtz wrote:

"Humanists reject the thesis that the soul is separable from the body or
that life persists in some form after the death of the body."

(Militant athieism at it's best. Actually, it's awesomely amusing at how
strongly secular-humanists defend their right to believe their entire
existance is meaningless. More to the point, existance of a human soul is
an open question in light of the fact that no reasonable explanation can
even begin to account for human consciousness, and anomalies abound worthy
of further research. Additionally, experiences such as OBE's, NDE's, or
mystical revelations, are labeled immediately as 'delusion' and 'illusion'
by secular humanists, which completely misses the point in the first place.
Exactly, what, is it about human consciousness which produces these
experiences. Fortunately there is now a new publication "The Journal for
Consciousness Studies" which is not afraid to ask these hard questions.)

According to the Humanist Manifesto II:

"Rather, science affirms that the human species is an emergence from
natural evolutionary forces. As far as we know, the total personality is a
function of the biological organism transacting in a social cultural
context."

This, my dear reader, is a blantant expression of RELIGIOUS FAITH!
Anomalies in human consciousness and evolution ABOUND. And are being
researched. But this mindset denies any inquiry, which is, by definition
anti-science!

Such ideas are fine for those who choose to believe them (your religion, is
your religion afterall). The point I am making is this: individuals and
organizations which actively promote such ideas will find it difficult to
be genuinely objective when they investigate evidence which flatly
contradicts their established view (religious faith). They have declared, a
priori to any evidence, what they will believe and what they will reject. I
hardly need point out again how unscientific this is. (At the end of this
little thesis I will list a few books you can read, wherein the authors
actually deign to THINK).

Objectivity is even more difficult when those same people actively seek to
SPREAD THEIR WAY OF THINKING AS A SOCIAL GOAL. According to the 'Humanist
Manifesto II':

"We affirm a set of common principles that can serve as a basis for united
action -- positive principles relevant to the present human condition. They
are a design for a secular society on a planetary scale."

 GS> Watch that! They may be wanting to proselytize others. I tried to warn
 GS> folks about their efforts at mind control. Imagine the effect of
 GS> someone like this on discussions in a UFO echo, or a religion echo, or
 GS> a science echo, or a politics echo. They actively seek to persuade
 GS> others to think like them. Watch out!

(Now, I ask the reader. What are you going to do, after CSICOP has spread
it's religion over the entire world, if you have the terrible misfortune of
actually seeing a damned UFO?, or have an OBE?, or an NDE?, or a mystical
experience which transends all other experience you have had in your entire
life? Simple, you check yourself into the mental hospital, for
secular-humanist reconditioning, probably some sort of mind numbing therapy
which will wash these violent illusions, and delusions from your head. But,
*IF* you persist in daring to accept any portion of your personal
experience into your own personal emic reality tunnel, WATCH OUT! You will
be branded and hunted down like the damnable witch you must be. Thrown out
of all professional organizations, never to work again. But, hey, wait a
minute, isn't that a pretty fair description of how things work today?)

 GS> aha! This explains why, when some skeptics (note some), take a fit
 GS> when anyone expresses an understanding about paranormal stuff. It is
 GS> received as an insult to the skeptic's _religion_. Imagine the
 GS> response you would get if you insulted someone's religion? That
 GS> explains the vehement attacks and ridicule! That also explains why
 GS> message areas that allow views contrary to theirs _must_ be stopped at
 GS> all costs! I get it now! And they call some of us Foaming True
 GS> Believers (FTB's)! They should look at themselves in a mirror, because
 GS> a true skeptic has an open mind.

We see in the above quote that there exists a united intention among many
secular humanists to create a worldwide secular society. The founding
chaiman of CSICOP, Professor Kurtz, helped draft the document which
announces that intention. There is nothing wrong per se with having such a
goal. It is common for activist religions and philosophies to try to shape
the world in their own images. There is, however, a price to be paid for
such activism: CSICOP and its affiliated skeptic groups (parishes) lose
their credibility. They have to be viewed as advocates for a certain point
of view, not as disinterested investigators. They are prosecutors in the
courts of inquiry, not the judges and juries.

Now, I promised at the end of this thesis I would give you a book list.
These are books, written by objective scientists, who are grappling with
basic fundamental questions of the deep structure of reality itself, and
how consciousness may interact with it.

I encourage those fundamental materialists who have allowed theirs senses
to delude them into thinking in such rigid narrow boundaries, to take some
time to explore some new and fresh ideals. I consider myself a complete
agnostic in the absolute best use of that word. I neither accept, nor
reject, entire data sets, but form tentative hypothesis for a model of the
universe that may account for the richness of our experience within it. I
certainly reject dogmatic absolutes, and since this appears to be all that
CSICOP has to offer, I look for my investigative materials elsewhere.

"Quantum Reality" by Nick Herbert

"Elemental Mind" by Nick Herbert

"Shadows of the Mind : A Search for the Missing Science of Consciousness"
by Roger Penrose

"Not in our Genes : Biology, Ideology, and Human Nature" R.C. Lewontin,
Steven Rose, and Leon J. Kamin

"Mind, Matter, and Quantum Mechanics" by Henry P. Stapp

"The Holographic Paradigm and other paradoxes : Exploring the leading edge
of science" edited by Ken Wilber

"Thinking Allowed" edited by Jeffrey Mishlove

"The Rediscovery of the Mind" by John R. Searle

"The Dreaming Universe" by Fred Alan Wolfe

and

"The New Inquisition" by Robert Anton Wilson