By: Autopost
Re: Frequently debunked claimes list - DEBUNKFQ.0

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³Frequently debunked fundi claims list                       ³
³Created and maintained by C. J. Henshaw of Fidonet#1:250/820³
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³A list of common fundi babblings and responces              ³
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===Humism/atheism/Satanism misinformation===

Fundi:  Secular Humanists are out to kill our children!

Reply:  Can you find anything in the humanist credo that states that?
        Didn't think so.

Reply from Marilyn Burge:

I just found this on the back cover of my latest copy of "The Humanist,"
the quarterly magazine for the membership of the American Humanist
Association.  Thought you might be interested in seeing what we REALLY
stand for, as opposed to what you THOUGHT we stood for.

                        The Affirmations of Humanism:
                          A Statement of Principles

-  We are committed to the application of reason and science to the
understanding of the universe and to the solving of human problems.

-  We deplore efforts to denigrate human intelligence, to seek to
explain the world in supernatural terms, and to look outside nature for
salvation.

-  We believe that scientific discovery and technology can contribute to
the betterment of human life.

-  We believe in an open and pluralistic society and that democracy is
the best guarantee of protecting human rights from authoritarian elites
and repressive majorities.

-  We are committed to the principle of the separation of church and
state.

-  We cultivate the arts of negotiation and compromise as a means of
resolving differences and achieving mutual understanding.

-  We are concerned with securing justice and fiarness in society and
with eliminating discrimination and intolerance.

-  We believe in supporting the disadvantaged and the handicapped so
that they will be able to help themselves.

-  We attempt to transcend divisive parochial loyalties based on race,
religion, gender, nationality, creed, class, sexual orientation, or
ethnicity, and strive to work toegether for the common good of humanity.

-  We want to protect and ehnance the earth, to preserve it for future
generations, and to avoid inflicting needless suffering on other
species.

-  We believe in enjoying life here and now and in developing our
creative talents to their fullest.

-  We believe in the cultivation of moral excellence.

-  We respect the right to privacy.  Mature adults should be allowed to
fulfill their aspirations, to express their sexual preferences, to
exercise reproductive freedom, to have access to comprehensive and
informed health-care, and to die with dignity.

-  We ebelieve in the common moral decencies:  altruism, integrity,
honesty, truthfulness, responsibility.  Humanist ethics is amenable to
critical, rational guidance.  There are normative standards that we
discover together.  Moral principles are tested by their consequences.

-  We are deeply concerned with the moral education of our children.  We
want to nourish reason and compassion.

-  We are engaged by the arts no less than by the sciences.

-  We are citizens of the universe and are excited by discoveries still
to be made in the cosmos.

-  We are skeptical of untested claims to knowledge, andwe are open to
novel ideas and seek new departures in our thinking.

-  We affirm humanism as a realistic alternative to theologies of
despair and ideologies of violence and as a source of rich personal
significance and genuine satisfaction in the service of others.

-  We believe in optimism rather than pessimism, hope rather than
despair, learning in the place of dogma, truth instead of ignorance, joy
rather than guilt or sin, tolerance in the place of fear, love instead
of hatred, compassion over selfishness, beauty instead of ugliness, and
reason rather than blind faith or irrationality.

-  We believe in the fullest realization of the best and noblest that we
are capable of as human beings.


===General lack of scietific know how===

Fundi: Evolution is ONLY A theory

or

Fundi: But [subject] is only a theory!

Reply from Simon Ewins [copy-edited]:

    I realize that you appear to have almost no scientific education at all
    but I am posting this and the next message in the hope that you may gain
    an understanding of what a scientific theory is. All of these are used in
    an attempt to explain a fact. The theory of evolution is used, according
    to these criteria, to describe the fact of evolution. The theory of
    gravity uses these criteria to describe the fact of gravity. When Einstein
    proposed a new theory to explain gravity apples did not hang in mid-air
    while waiting to see who was right, Einstein or Newton. The improvement or
    alteration of the theory did not have any effect on the fact of gravity.
    So it is with the fact of evolution. Please read on and discover what a
    theory is...

    A survey of the literature on the history, philosophy and sociology of
    science reveals that there are at least four fundamental categories of
    criteria by which theories are judged:
        (1) logical criteria
        (2) empirical criteria
        (3) sociological criteria
        (4) historical criteria.

    There are four primary logical criteria for a theory. It must be:
        (1.a) a simple, unifying idea that postulates nothing unnecessary
            ("Occam's Razor")
        (1.b) logically consistent internally
        (1.c) logically falsifiable (i.e., cases must exist in which the
            theory could be imagined to be invalid)

        (1.d) clearly limited by explicit stated boundary conditions so that
            it is clear whether or not any particular data are or are not
            relevant to the verification or falsification of the theory.

    The need for these four criteria should be obvious upon reflection.  An
    idea that is too complex or deals with observations piecemeal can have no
    practical explanatory value for a scientist. Theories must make clear
    patterns of things and relationships between things. These patterns and
    relationships must be internally logical and consistent since these are
    required attributes of all sound explanations. The explanation must be
    falsifiable, at least logically if not by actual experiment, or else
    tautologies or other logically sterile constructions might be admissible
    as theories.  Finally, a theory must be limited by boundary conditions or