A Personal Challenge

This is a great meme started by @alex over on Twitter:

Quick, what fundamental idea of yours will you challenge today?

Mine: That natural medicine/remedies are generally snake oil.

While I still don't think they all do what they claim, and some claims just can't be substantiated, tens of thousands of years worth of ancestors got by without medicine born in a lab, and it all boils down to chemistry. I'm sure some plant compounds do have beneficial effects when ingested. The challenge is sorting the wheat from the chaff, so to speak. I will have to do some research over the next few days and try to find any examples that might support this theory.

What personal belief will you challenge today? Pass it on!

Occam's Razor

Had to share this :) (Via the Atheist Hit Squad)

Rational Atheism

I'm working on my first official post, most likely on handling questions about Santa Claus et. al., but in the meantime I wanted to link to a great editorial on rational atheism, which runs counter to militant atheism. It's essentially a call for all atheists to follow the golden rule and "do unto others...". It's a quick read, but chock full of some terrific advice.

Rational Atheism: An open letter to Messrs. Dawkins, Dennett, Harris and Hitchens From the September 2007 Scientific American Magazine