Here's a look at why the legal landscape is so bloody treacherous for the secular movement right now. Look who got to pick all the judges (in just one term).
The right is appointing judges who are young and with a particularly extremely Christian nationalist bent. Nick says they frankly don't think nonbelievers even have rights.
The secular movement is a victim of its own success, Nick says. The religious folks who are left as America secularizes are the extremists.
The way out? "It's gonna take time," says Nick. Maybe we need a SCOTUS justice who comes from a specifically secular perspective.
What can regular people do? Nick says the religious right has power because "they won that. ... They showed up, and we didn't." We need not to just vote, but RUN for office at every level. "You have so much more influence on a local level than you do on a presidential level."
The worst SCOTUS decisions are yet to come. "It's gonna be bad," says Nick. First up will probably the overturning of Roe v. Wade and outlawing abortion. Even if Roberts votes to keep abortion rights, you still need Gorsuch or Kavanaugh. "That should terrify everyone."
it does.
Roe v Wade was based on Griswold v Connecticut, so contraception could be next, says Nick.
Then there's death with dignity, LGBTQ rights, all fall under notions of privacy that this court doesn't recognize.
More: Religious monuments on state property, state funding of religious schools, end of civil rights protections for anyone employed by religious orgs, allowing gov't-subsidized religious orgs to refuse to offer services to LGBTQ folks. Etcetera etcetera.
Switching gears: Nick says CFI is well positioned to pivot to science/pseudoscience, protecting Americans from quackery.
Nick just blew his skeptic street cred by saying he loves lavender oil. (We kid.)
On homeopathy: Even putting aside badly regulated homeopathy that makes kids sick, the real problem is that it's sold to people as "real medicine," and people will rely on that instead of real medical treatments. And of course there's the outright fraud.
Nick wants to work on how we can do things like take on "grief vampire" psychics who victimize people who are grieving or traumatized, how we can help people harmed by fake medicine, etc. Not just pointing out that pseudoscience/paranormal is wrong or silly.
"Pseudoscience leads to global pandemics. Pseudoscience leads us to existential threats on global warming."
Nick assures us he is not getting the Big Pharma/George Soros shill checks. Melissa asks them to get in touch.
Why such an emphasis on litigation? Nick says we work many other angles, but sometimes "you need to hit people in the pocketbook" (meaning, say, the retailers/peddlers of pseudoscientific fake medicine)
This looks like real medicine, doesn't it? It's a homeopathic cold and flu treatment with literally no actual active ingredient in it, despite the diluted duck liver that is no longer in it. Yyyyyyep.
Here's what colloidal silver can do to you. Maybe we can do something about this being sold as a medicine for COVID.
Nick is firm on this: People who buy homeopathy, colloidal silver, etc., are not the problem. They are desperate, or don't know any better. It's the people who DO know better and are profiting off of their suffering. "This is an area where CFI can make a difference."
Nick says, "I'm always ready for questions." Be skeptical.
Q: Do folks in the judiciary think there's no such thing as church-state separation?
A: There is a narrow view of it, ie., the gov't can't "establish" any one religion. We take a broader view, of course.
One day, CFI's legal director Nick Little was scrolling through Facebook, which he totally doesn't spend too much time doing. He can quit any time. Anyway, he was scrolling and look what he found! An advertisement!
(Oh, this is a thread.)
Facebook is FULL of ads, of course, but this one was special. It was by a company called Modern Allergy Management (or "MAM"), and they offer an AMAZING service: they can tell you what you're allergic or intolerant to by analyzing a sample of your hair! WOWEE WOW WOW.
In fact, they say they can test you for intolerance for up to 750 foodstuffs and environmental items. They can even use hair that isn’t from your head—for bald customers—or diagnose your dog, cat, or horse! (For their own intolerances, not yours. We think.)
Nick Little, our legal director, saw an ad on Facebook promising to detect his “intolerance” to “GMOs.” This is obviously nonsense, so Nick sent them a letter and warned them as much. And, well, it looks like they backed down. Read all about it. centerforinquiry.org/blog/can-you-d…
(Perhaps after seeing Nick on CFI Insider, they were like, we are NOT messing with this guy.)
Before we get to today's Morning Heresy news roundup (titled "Costumed Adventurers"), let me just clear the air. I totally thought yesterday was Wednesday, and it totally was NOT. It was Tuesday. Today is Wednesday.
I was gently corrected on Twitter, I made corrections and mea culpas, and felt pretty dumb, especially since we’re supposed to be the facts-and-reality organization. Getting the day of the week right is table stakes. So, you know, sorry about that.
Okay, now to the Morning Heresy! Let’s start the day with a subject about which I care deeply: superheroes.
Happy Tuesday, heretics. Look upon these links, ye mighty, and despair!!! It’s time for The Morning Heresy news roundup. Today's episode, "Manifesting in My Biofield."
We’ll start with what your friendly neighborhood Center for Inquiry is up to. Perhaps most importantly, there’s a lot of news about COVID, the vaccines, and various scams that gets covered over at our Coronavirus Resource Center. Go see. centerforinquiry.org/coronavirus/?u…
On Thursday, you’ll recall, we’ve got @DrPaulOffit coming back to Skeptical Inquirer Presents to answer your questions about the new vaccines. Register now: centerforinquiry.org/news/paul-offi…
Good morning, heretics, and welcome to a the Morning Heresy news roundup for a new week, and yes, a new month, because, no, this is not the same “March” as when all this started. It’s actually one whole year later from *that* March! I KNOW! Thread time. centerforinquiry.org/blog/some-of-m…
“When the world breathes again, in 2022 if not before, the heroes of the hour will be the scientists: the men and – especially, as it happens – the women who rose to the occasion and developed at least three effective vaccines with astonishing speed.”
The big thing, which should appeal to us skeptic-secular types as well as normals, is that @NASAPersevere has persevered, landing safely on Mars and snapping photos. LOOK HOW HAPPY THESE PEOPLE ARE. cnn.com/2021/02/18/wor…
.@SusanGerbic has a new takedown of a fake psychic at @SkeptInquirer. One James Higgins, part of a kind of lineage of phony mediums.