Meritorious sites for skeptics

RELATED TO SKEPTICISM—8 headings on things to be skeptical about

ATHEISM—against religious belief

http://www.atheistalliance.org/index.html, another atheist organization with a useful library.

http://www.atheistfoundation.org.au/articles.htm:  A large collection of articles, most of them on topics I don’t (or barely) cover, such as atheism and humanism, Christian morality, Christmas myth, abortion, and such—from Australia.  

http://www.members.aol.com/ckbloomfld/index.html:  By the author of Biblical Errancy, Dennis McKinsey, a must reference work, published by Prometheus Press.  His magazine Biblical Errancy, all 190 plus issues is avail on line.  A good scholarly source.

http://www.positiveatheism.org/:  A library of materials of famous writers on religious topics, including Clarence Darrow, Albert Einstein, Emma Goldman, Robert Ingersol, Thomas Jefferson, Joseph Lewis, Joseph McCabe, H.L. Mencken, Thomas Paine, Bertrand Russell, Mark Twain, and Voltaire.  There are articles, links, quotes, forum, letters, and more.  This site is the efforts of Cliff Walker.

http://spot.colorado.edu/~vstenger: the site of professor of Physics and Astronomy at University of Hawaii, and Adjunct Professor of Philosophy at University of Colorado.  He has written several books and articles on the application of science to disprove divine design, and also to disprove the claim of healing spiritual energies, and that Quantum Mechanics supports mental manipulation of matter.

http://www.theatheistbible.com/:  A bulletin board site with a collection of topics, for those into discussion

DRUGS (recreational)

http://www.drugwarfacts.org/internat.htm:  a library of data by nations:  an excellent book on the net and resource.   

http://druglibrary.org/:  an excellent collection of links presented by drcnet.org at http://stopthedrugwar.org/index.shtml, an activist group.   

http://www.erowid.org/psychoactives/psychoactives.shtml is the best darn drug site by a long shot.  Contains accurate information of a technical nature (lets the evidence speak) free of the hype of our government.

http://hightimes.com/ht/home/:  the leading pot publication for 3 decades.

http://www.jackherer.com/chapters.html:  An excellent pro-pot book on the net, plus articles. 

http://users.lycaeum.org/ a directory to other sites on drugs.  A great resource.

http://www.natlnorml.org/index.cfm: the site of the leading organization for the legalization of marijuana with articles and links. 

ECONOMICS & POLITICAL

http://www.cato.org/:  a conservative Washington organization that has been issuing slanted, scholarly studies for decades. 

http://www.citizen.org/:   represents consumer interest in Congress and courts; advocacy and drug articles.

http://www.corporations.org/:  on how our government gives charity to the rich and business.  Great links and concise articles. 

http://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/index.htm:  the Karl Marx library. 

http://www.ratical.com/:   excellent collection of articles on economics and politics.  There one on NAFTA at Seven is eye-opening.

http://www.taxpayer.net/: news on government spending.

http://www.tompaine.com/:  an excellent liberal news source with daily updates plus current events articles.

http://hdr.undp.org/:  they do serious research on human development and publish it in books, there is a data section and some good links.

http://www.whitehouseforsale.org/: gets to the core problem of the marriage of politicians and big business via the purse.

LITERATURE

http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cache/perscoll_Greco-Roman.html, texts in translation of Greek in Roman philosophers, 483 texts and 59,000 images (down 9/4) (no Epicurus).

http://www.4literature.net/authorlist.html a huge collection of books on line.  It includes most of authors of fiction, poets, some scientists, and many philosophers, including from Henry Adams to William Butler Yeats; Aristophanes, Leibnitz, Adam Smith, Darwin and Thucydides.  1000s of books

http://classics.mit.edu/index.html, the MIT collection with links.  441 works of classical literature by 59 authors. 

MULTI-DISCIPLINES/ACADEMIC

http://www.bartleby.com/ a vast library of books on the web including The Harvard Classics, Columbia Encyclopedia, Oxford Shakespeare, and much, much, more.

http://earth-history.com/Greece/  On the ancient world from America to Sumer; India to Atlantis, Jewish and Arabia.  A great resource.

http://www.epicurus.net/index.html:  Extensive library of his works and other Greek Atomists. 

http://www.iep.utm.edu/:  Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy, hundreds of articles, very extensive on many related topics.

http://www.innvista.com/health/complement/touch.htm:  From the New Age, religious perspective.  At the innvista site is a collection of descriptions of various alternate therapies.  Articles on the origin of Christianity, translations of the OT & NT, and much more, much of it concise summations such as of the 22 amino acids, the Peloponnesian War, British history, and so on.  

NEW AGE

http://www.well.com/user/mick/newagept.html:  An excellent alphabetical listing of new age terms with humorous definitions.

QUACKERY

http://chirobase.org:  a skeptical guide to chiropractic theories and practices.  Nearly 200 articles on the magical back adjusters. 

http://www.cebm.net/index.asp:  an educational resource on evidence based medicine and a learning center.

http://www.citizen.org/congress/reform/drug_industry/ is there collection of articles on the financial aspects of drugs, pricing, and politics.

HomeoWatch:  Quackwatch's skeptical guide to homeopathic history, theories, and practices.

http://www.ncahf.org:  by NCAHF the National Council Against Health Fraud, a nonprofit, voluntary health agency that focuses upon health misinformation, fraud, and quackery as revealed through scientific analysis.  Excellent articles, limited collection.

http://www.quackwatch.org/:  Guide to health fraud, operated by Stephen Barrett, M.D., articles posted by medical doctors.  Quality articles for the educated audience.  An entire section is fittingly on Chiropractics.  Other sections on dentistry, nutrition, internet guide, quack watch, homeopath watch, multi level marketing watch, and section by the National Council Against Health Fraud with a section of excellent links

http://www.worstpills.org/:  One of 6 branches of Public Citizen.  The site warns of dangerous drugs, and documents how the FDA deliberately fails to protect the public. 

RELIGION—by those of faith, a resource

§ http://www.earlychristianwritings.com/  A collections of Christian & Jewish sacred works, possible the most extensive on the web. 

http://www.earlyjewishwritings.com/ Possibly the largest library of Tanakh, deuterocanon, pseudepigrapha, Dead Sea Scrolls, Philo of Alexandria, Josephus, and the Talmud.  Great resource, and user friendly.  

http://www.gnosis.org/library.html another extensive site that includes Gnostic Christian works, the Dead Sea Scrolls, Old Testament Pseudepigrapha, Cathar, Manichaean, Mandaean, Alchemical texts, and others.  Link to alchemical writings at http://www.levity.com/alchemy/index.html, and much more   (The first Christians writings were strikingly similar to certain Gnostic works.)

http://www.harvardhouse.com/:  lots of links, and material on the universe.  

http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/index.jsp  This website contains the complete contents of the 12-volume Jewish Encyclopedia, which was originally published between 1901-1906. The Jewish Encyclopedia, which recently became part of the public domain, contains over 15,000 articles and illustrations.

http://newadvent.org A major Catholic site containing the Catholic Encyclopedia, Summa Theologica, and links to the top 50 Catholic websites in the world (by traffic).

http://www.sacred-texts.com/index.htm a collection of religious publications from over 100 different traditions, from African to Zoroastrianism.  100s of books on line.  It includes the sacred texts, related ancient works such as the Gospel of Thomas, and those of a more literary nature such as The Divine Comedy, by Dante.  A huge valuable resource collection. 

RELIGION—by those without faith

http://home.inu.net/skeptic/:  Bible studies, authoritative, incredible complete.

http://www.nobeliefs.com/exist.htm:  a quality site, about 20 learned articles on religion, book review, political articles, comic’s corner.

http://skepticsannotatedbible.com/:  book by book bible in English with symbols to mark injustice, cruelty, sex, contradictions, and other not so good stuff in the bible supported by commentary and links to other passages.

http://st09.startlogic.com/~pendrago/questions-christians.html:  thorough & entertaining collection of bible contradictions and other stupid stuff.

SKEPTICISM—critical of spiritualism, new age beliefs including medical treatments

http://www.csicop.org/si/    The site of the Committee for the Scientific Investigation of Claims of the Paranormal, which publishes The Skeptical Inquire.  The leading society of skeptics in the world.  The site includes articles from their magazine, links, bibliography, international list of organizations.  I first subscribed to their publication around 1986.

http://ww.skeptic.com:  the Internet site for the Skeptic Magazine, Editor Michael Shermer.  Contains archives of articles.  I have subscribed since 1994. 

http://www.prometheusbooks.com:  the best skeptical book publishing company.  Their list of books with descriptions. 

http://skepdic.com:  Contains The Skeptic Dictionary by Robert Carroll, over 460 first rate articles on all the topics of interest to a skeptic—excellent.

https://webspace.utexas.edu/cokerwr/www/index.html/distinguish.htm: a professor explains why to be skeptical of various things

WAR, NUCLEAR ENERGY, ENVIRONMENT

www.abomb1.org,  Trinity Atomic Web Site.  The purpose of Trinity Atomic Web Site is to tell the story of nuclear weapons through historical documents, photos, and videos.

http://alsos.wlu.edu.  Alsos Digital Library for Nuclear Issues - Nuclear Pathways Member.  The Alsos digital library is a collection of annotated references to resources that offer a broad, balanced perspective of topics relating to the origins, functions, and legacies of the Manhattan Project. The critical task of the Alsos project is to integrate these references into a structured collection that allows users to examine this important period of history from many perspectives. The materials referenced includes books, articles, videos, images, and web sites.

http://www.atomicarchive.com/librarymenu.shtml  Atomicarchives.com, a great resource with library holding on history, science, arms control treaties, educational resources, and more. 

www.bullatomsci.org, the leading organization against nuclear weapons.  They’ve published Bulletin of the Atomic Scientist since 1947.  They have a number of articles from this magazine on line.

http://www.nuclearfiles.org/ A project of the nuclear age peace foundation. An excellent library of materials related to the danger posed, including a photo gallery. 

http://nuclearweaponarchive.org, The Nuclear Weapons Archive.  An excellent and extensive site for learning more about nuclear weapons. This website offers extensive information on the history and status of nuclear weapons. The site is organized chronologically, with a section on the physics that led up to the Fat Man and Little Boy atomic bombs, a section on atomic and nuclear weapons since the atomic bombing of Hiroshima, and a section on the current state of nuclear weapons in the world.

www.chemcases.com/nuclear/.  Nuclear Chemistry and the Community - Nuclear Pathways Member, part of the ChemCases website, this unit covers the basic concepts of nuclear chemistry. This site explores the legacy of radiation: the fear of contamination, the problems in the generation of nuclear power, the widespread medical uses of radioisotopes, and the worldwide question, as yet unsolved, of what should be done with nuclear byproducts.

Atheism:  The Case Against God, George H. Smith, Prometheus Books, Buffalo, 1979.  An excellent, balanced, understandable collection of rebuttals to all the sophistries done in the service of faith:  the best of its kind. 

The Bible According to Mark Twain, Edited by Howard Baetzhold & Joseph McCullough, Simon & Schuster, New York, 1995.  A collection of delightful stories that satirize the Bible and Christian belief.  Letters from the Earth is Twain’s last and best work.  No work better exposes the contradictions of Christianity. 

A Consumer’s Guide to “Alternative Medicine”, Kurt Butler, an encyclopedic expose of nutrition gimmicks, health hoaxes, and medical quackery in all their forms.  Prometheus Books (a guarantee of quality).

Did Jesus Exist, G.A. Wells, Prometheus Books, Buffalo, NY.  A few works are so good, that reading anything else on the topic is disappointing.  However, there is Helms (below) and Wells’ The Historical Evidence for Jesus, 1988.  A thoroughly researched study that demonstrates that there is no historical Jesus.  Concise, complete, authorities, and logically sound.  The culmination of 3 centuries of scholarly analysis:  the final word, almost.  There are here 4 articles by Wells.

Euthyphro, Plato.  The Socratic method at its best.  The dialogue shows that the gods could not be authors of the moral code, but rather followers.  What is moral right exists independent of divine proclamation.  Thus there is no need to turn to Jehovah to find out what is morally right and morally wrong.

Gospel Fictions, Randel Helms, Prometheus Books, Buffalo, NY, 1988.  The best biblical study by a Christian, and much, much better than his other book (flight of religious thinking, Who Wrote the Gospels).  He convincingly shows how the Gospels were written not as history, but as books of faith; thus the Helms’ title.  As books of faith, the Gospels had Jesus do miracles greater than those in the Old Testament and had Jesus fulfill Old Testament prophecies.  Biblical exegeses at its best.

The Other Bible, Edited by Willis Barnstone, Harper & Row, Publishers, New York, 1984.  A long overdue gathering of the extra biblical works (the previous one in the 1920s, by Oxford).  If one is to understand the Bible, one must understand its audience and the issues being addressed and its competing related doctrines.  Many of the works are similar to those found in the Bible.

Philosophically Thinking, Elizabeth and Monroe Beardsley, Harcourt, Bruce & World, New York, 1965.  Excellent 120 pages on religion:  clear, convincing, balanced.  A must read is Direct Experience of God, in Chapter 2.  In Socratic style it is shown that the argument from personal religious experience to a proof of religious matters is not compelling.  An excellent introduction to philosophy.  I took Elizabeth Beadsley’s 4^th year ethics course. 

Writings on Religion, David Hume, edited by Anthony Flew, Open Court, La Salle, Illinois, 1992.  Of historical interest and intellectual exercise.  Hume is the best philosopher—as measured by how much above the shoulders he stood—since the ancient Greeks.  His On Miracles is definitive for his period.  For those with the appropriate background, very enjoyable.

 #101 LINKS, a special site which links you to the best on the web, with comments on each link and also a collection of quotations

http://www.ratical.org/co-globalize/NAFTA@7/us.html, paste for article (with graphs). 

http://www.haiweb.org/  check out on medicine, pricing, news releases, etc.