Ed Brayton has written an article about the Richard Sternberg controversy at the Smithsonian for Skeptic magazine, which will appear in the next issue. The article has been published online in advance, along with an article by Michael Shermer about his interaction with Ben Stein. UPDATE (April 18, 2008): Ed Brayton has responded to the Discovery Institute’s “non-response” on the Sternberg affair.
[UPDATE (April 15, 2008): See the NCSE’s “Expelled Exposed” website for a look at the deceptive tactics of the filmmakers and the real facts that they aren’t showing you.] [UPDATE (April 18, 2008): Further updates on “Expelled” theater counts, box office take, and ratings are here.] “Expelled” was originally claimed to be opening in February 2008, and I recall seeing claims that it would be on 4,000 screens. Its website has subsequently been claiming an April 18 opening date (“in theatres nationwide”), and somewhere I’ve seen an estimate of about 1,000 screens. (UPDATE: This was said by John Sullivan, an “Expelled” producer, on the Expelled blog in December 2007, as the estimated screen count for a February 2008 release.) But for some reason, the film is not listed on April 2008 distribution schedules: IMDB April 18 releasesRottentomatoes.com upcoming releases Launchingfilms.com April 2008 releasesFilm-releases.com upcoming 2008 releasesPopculturemadness.com April 2008 releases I only found it listed with an April 18 date at AOL’s MovieFone, with no photo or trailer. Movieweb.com lists it with “To Be Announced 2008” as the release date. (UPDATE: It’s also at movies.go.com with an April 18 release date, and a poll to grade the movie. It’s polling at 85% “F,” 11% “A,” 2% “D,” and 1% each for “B” and “C,” with 474 votes.) Is it really going to show in theaters at all on April 18? Or are they just going to continue with these “private screenings” and then go direct to DVD, suitable for church and homeschool distribution? The distributor for the film is Rocky Mountain Pictures (formerly R.S. Entertainment) of Salt Lake City, UT, distributor for the following films: Akira (1988, lots of distributors)Carman: The Champion (made 2001, released 2 March 2001, grossed $1,743,863, $769,080 opening weekend)Race to Space (2001, released 15 March 2001)Megiddo: The Omega Code 2 (made 2001, released 21 September 2001, grossed $5,974,653, $1,573,454 opening weekend)Manna from Heaven (made 2002, grossed $505,675, shown in 5 cities, made $5,340 opening weekend on 4 screens)Elvira’s Haunted Hills (made 2001, released 31 October 2002)Luther (made 2003, released 30 October 2003, grossed $5,791,328, $908,446 opening weekend)Unspeakable (made 2002, released 27 February 2004)End of the Spear (2005, released 20 January 2006, grossed $11,703,287, $4,281,388 opening weekend)These guys are clearly not a blockbuster powerhouse of distributors–their biggest film ever was back in 1988 when they were one of many distributors, they specialize in small independent films, mostly “family films” and often with an explicitly Christian theme, and they have rarely seen their films have an opening weekend of over $1,000,000. The two partners in Rocky Mountain Pictures are Ronald C. Rodgers and Randy Slaughter. Rodgers got his start in film with Sunn Classic Pictures in 1968, which made and distributed movies in the seventies and eighties like bad documentaries about Bigfoot and the Loch Ness Monster, The Bermuda Triangle, psychics, space aliens, conspiracy theories, and Noah’s Ark, several of which were written by David W. Balsiger. Balsiger was the ghost author of several fabricated autobiographies, such as those of alleged Ark-finder Fernand Navarra, phony ex-Satanist Mike Warnke, and phony faith healer Morris Cerullo. (See my 1993 Skeptic magazine article on George Jammal’s Noah’s Ark hoax, which Balsiger helped foist upon the American public along with a whole slew of bogus claims.) Slaughter has had a more mainstream career with bigger studios and distributors and working for a Texas theater chain. “End of the Spear” was financed by Philip Anschutz, founder and former head of Qwest Communications who also funded “The Chronicles of Narnia” (and has also been a contributor to the Discovery Institute). “End of the Spear” received some extra publicity because lead actor Chad Allen, who plays the lead in the film, came out as gay. (He told the producers before his contract was signed in 2003, when he came out publicly, and they did the right thing and continued with him in the project anyway). I suspect “Expelled” will have trouble doing anywhere near as well as “End of the Spear,” which appears to be the best Rocky Mountain Pictures has done to date. I’ll offer five predictions for “Expelled”–if it opens in theaters at all on April 18, it will (1) be on fewer than 500 800 screens, (2) will have an initial weekend box office of less than $2 million, with (3) a per-screen take of less than $2,500, (4) won’t break the top ten despite it being a slow opening week, and (5) will make less than $10 million in box office take by the end of 2008 (though it may make more than that through DVD sales). Note that Philip Anschutz owns the Regal Entertainment Group, which Wikipedia says is “the largest theater chain in North America” with “6,423 screens in 529 locations in 41 U.S. states.” He may well push the film, but there’s no way he’s going to allow it to get in the way of making profit, but I’ll adjust my prediction (1) to be fewer than 800 screens on the assumption that Anschutz might put the film into each of his theaters. (UPDATE: Chez Jake has found and commented below that Anschutz is only showing “Expelled” in 141 of his 529 locations, which he suggests indicates a 27% level of confidence in the film by Anschutz.) (For my previous comments about a film’s opening weekend, see my blog post on the film “Untraceable." In the comments there, I offered this bet to the film’s insiders who showed up at my blog to defend the film: “How about a deal–if it gets a ‘cream of the crop’ freshness percentage above 70% at rottentomatoes.com (say, by a week after release, when there are at least a dozen or so reviews), I’ll agree to watch it, if you’ll agree on a percentage of below 30% to post here that you were wrong, and it really does suck. Anywhere in between, we can agree to disagree.” Needless to say, I didn’t have to see that movie, as it ended up with a “freshness” rating of 15%.) UPDATE (March 28, 2008): Using Reed Esau’s excellent suggestion of using the theater locator on the Expelled website, here’s the current number of theaters where it’s planned to be showing per state: AK: 1 AL: 15 AR: 10 AZ: 5 CA: 52 CO: 10 CT: 3 DC: 0 DE: 0 FL: 51 GA: 11 HI: 3 IA: 6 ID: 6 IN: 19 IL: 21 KS: 4 KY: 6 LA: 2 MA: 0 MD: 0 ME: 0 MI: 11 MN: 7 MO: 6 MS: 3 MT: 5 NC: 4 ND: 1 NE: 1 NH: 1 NJ: 0 NM: 2 NV: 6 NY: 2 OH: 9 OK: 5 OR: 6 PA: 11 RI: 0 SC: 5 SD: 1 TN: 17 TX: 62 UT: 3 VA: 3 VT: 0 WA: 16 WI: 17 WV: 5 WY: 1 Total U.S. theaters: 435 UPDATE (March 28, 2008, 6:00 p.m.): The numbers have changed a bit: AK: 2 (up from 1) AL: 17 (up from 15) AR: 9 (down from 10) AZ: 7 (up from 5) CT: 2 (down from 3) DC: 1 (up from 0) FL: 50 (down from 51) GA: 17 (up from 11) IA: 7 (up from 6) IL: 18 (down from 21) KS: 7 (up from 4) KY: 7 (up from 6) LA: 6 (up from 2) MD: 7 (up from 0) MI: 10 (down from 11) MN: 10 (up from 7) MO: 16 (up from 6) MS: 4 (up from 3) MT: 3 (down from 5) NC: 17 (up from 4) NH: 0 (down from 1) NM: 1 (down from 2) NY: 1 (down from 2) OH: 13 (up from 9) OK: 8 (up from 5) OR: 7 (up from 6) PA: 6 (down from 11) SC: 10 (up from 5) TN: 16 (down from 17) TX: 61 (down from 62) VA: 16 (up from 3) WI: 14 (down from 17) WV: 1 (down from 5) All the others have remained the same. That’s a net increase of 55 theaters to a new total of 490. UPDATE (March 31, 2008, 2:45 p.m. PDT): AK: 1 AL: 20 AR: 12 AZ: 8 CA: 60 CO: 11 CT: 3 DC: 1 DE: 3 FL: 58 GA: 19 HI: 3 IA: 9 ID: 6 IN: 20 IL: 23 KS: 10 KY: 7 LA: 6 MA: 0 MD: 8 ME: 0 MI: 20 MN: 13 MO: 18 MS: 6 MT: 5 NC: 35 ND: 2 NE: 1 NH: 1 NJ: 3 NM: 5 NV: 6 NY: 12 OH: 19 OK: 9 OR: 7 PA: 27 RI: 0 SC: 16 SD: 1 TN: 23 TX: 63 UT: 3 VA: 24 VT: 0 WA: 19 WI: 19 WV: 5 WY: 1 New total: 651 theaters. UPDATE (April 4, 2008, 7:13 a.m. PDT): AK: 1 AL: 20 AR: 12 AZ: 17 (up from 8) CA: 65 (up from 60) CO: 11 CT: 5 (up from 3) DC: 1 DE: 3 FL: 60 (up from 58) GA: 29 (up from 19) HI: 3 IA: 9 ID: 7 (up from 6) IN: 22 (up from 20) IL: 29 (up from 23) KS: 11 (up from 10) KY: 10 (up from 7) LA: 12 (up from 6) MA: 2 (up from 0) MD: 11 (up from 8) ME: 1 (up from 0) MI: 27 (up from 20) MN: 23 (up from 13) MO: 20 (up from 18) MS: 8 (up from 6) MT: 5 NC: 38 (up from 35) ND: 2 NE: 4 (up from 1) NH: 2 (up from 1) NJ: 8 (up from 3) NM: 8 (up from 5) NV: 6 NY: 18 (up from 12) OH: 24 (up from 19) OK: 13 (up from 9) OR: 11 (up from 7) PA: 31 (up from 27) RI: 0 SC: 18 (up from 16) SD: 1 TN: 28 (up from 23) TX: 75 (up from 63) UT: 3 VA: 31 (up from 24) VT: 0 WA: 23 (up from 19) WI: 20 (up from 19) WV: 6 (up from 5) WY: 1 New total: 795 theaters (up 144 since March 31). UPDATE (April 6, 2008, 12:45 p.m. PDT): I checked again after seeing Kevin Miller claiming that the film is now set to open on 1,000 screens. There must be several theaters planning to show it on multiple screens, then. AK: 2 (up from 1) AL: 20 AR: 12 AZ: 17 CA: 64 (down from 65) CO: 11 CT: 5 DC: 1 DE: 3 FL: 60 GA: 29 HI: 3 IA: 9 ID: 7 IN: 22 IL: 29 KS: 11 KY: 10 LA: 12 MA: 2 MD: 11 ME: 1 MI: 27 MN: 23 MO: 20 MS: 8 MT: 5 NC: 38 ND: 2 NE: 4 NH: 2 NJ: 8 NM: 8 NV: 6 NY: 18 OH: 24 OK: 14 (up from 13) OR: 12 (up from 11) PA: 31 RI: 0 SC: 18 SD: 1 TN: 28 TX: 74 (down from 75) UT: 3 VA: 31 VT: 0 WA: 23 WI: 20 WV: 6 WY: 1 New total: 796 theaters (up by one theater since Friday). UPDATE (April 12, 2008, 8:16 a.m. MST): AK: 3 (up from 2) AL: 23 (up from 20) AR: 12 AZ: 18 (up from 17) CA: 105 (up from 64) CO: 19 (up from 11) CT: 7 (up from 5) DC: 1 DE: 3 FL: 79 (up from 60) GA: 38 (up from 29) HI: 4 (up from 3) IA: 12 (up from 9) ID: 7 IN: 28 (up from 22) IL: 46 (up from 29) KS: 12 (up from 11) KY: 13 (up from 10) LA: 14 (up from 12) MA: 12 (up from 2) MD: 14 (up from 11) ME: 1 MI: 36 (up from 27) MN: 25 (up from 23) MO: 20 MS: 8 MT: 5 NC: 45 (up from 38) ND: 2 NE: 4 NH: 3 (up from 2) NJ: 24 (up from 8) NM: 8 NV: 9 (up from 6) NY: 26 (up from 18) OH: 35 (up from 24) OK: 14 OR: 17 (up from 12) PA: 32 (up from 31) RI: 1 (up from 0) SC: 20 (up from 18) SD: 2 (up from 1) TN: 28 TX: 80 (up from 74) UT: 14 (up from 3) VA: 33 (up from 31) VT: 1 (up from 0) WA: 30 (up from 23) WI: 20 WV: 8 (up from 6) WY: 1 New total: 1022. They now have theaters in every state, and clearly have more than 1,000 screens, falsifying my prediction (1). At this point, I think my prediction (4) may also be falsified, but prediction (3) has probably become more likely since their audience will be diluted across a larger number of theaters and screens. UPDATE (April 14, 2008): “Expelled” has finally shown up in the “opening” category at Rotten Tomatoes (and was never listed as “upcoming”), with a 0% fresh (i.e., 100% rotten) rating. The only review counted at the moment is Variety’s review. UPDATE (April 16, 2008, 7:00 p.m. MST): AK: 2 (down from 3) AL: 23 AR: 12 AZ: 19 (up from 18) CA: 110 (up from 105) CO: 19 CT: 9 (up from 7) DC: 1 DE: 3 FL: 81 (up from 79) GA: 42 (up from 38) HI: 5 (up from 4) IA: 12 ID: 7 IN: 29 (up from 28) IL: 47 (up from 46) KS: 12 KY: 13 LA: 14 MA: 16 (up from 12) MD: 13 (down from 12) ME: 1 MI: 37 (up from 36) MN: 24 (down from 25) MO: 22 (up from 20) MS: 8 MT: 5 NC: 43 (down from 45) ND: 3 (up from 2) NE: 4 NH: 4 (up from 3) NJ: 26 (up from 24) NM: 8 NV: 9 NY: 27 (up from 26) OH: 36 (up from 35) OK: 14 OR: 16 (down from 17) PA: 34 (up from 32) RI: 1 SC: 20 SD: 2 TN: 28 TX: 81 (up from 80) UT: 14 VA: 33 VT: 1 WA: 31 (up from 30) WI: 19 (down from 20) WV: 8 WY: 1 New total: 1,049 theaters, up from 1,022 despite a few states losing a theater here and there. (The big drop will come next week.) Reviews are starting to show up at Rotten Tomatoes; it’s currently scoring one positive review and six negative, for a 14% freshness rating and an average rating of 2.8/10. UPDATE (April 18, 2008, 8:10 a.m. MST): It’s opening day, and further updates on theater counts, ratings, and box office will be posted here (and won’t include state-by-state breakdowns). The-Numbers.com reports that “Expelled”’s opening theater count is three more theaters than Wednesday’s total, 1,052. ...
I’m seriously considering attending the James Randi Educational Foundation’s “The Amazing Meeting” (TAM) #6 this June 19-22 at the Flamingo in Las Vegas. I’m really not a big fan of going to Vegas, but it is nearby and relatively cheap to get to, the list of speakers is impressive, and it sounds like a few people I’ve known for many years online but have never met in person will be there. Are any readers of this blog planning to attend this year? ...
It looks like Vancouver, British Columbia will become the second city to host a SkeptiCamp, which will be the third to occur. (Previously, previously.) Historical Comments Reed (2008-03-26): We're quite pleased that the first skepticamp outside Colorado is even outside the borders of the US. We've gone international!Its organizer tells me that BC is a hotbed of crankery which should make for an eclectic event that will make Colorado's look tame by comparison. ...
Phoenix Skeptics Executive Director Michael Stackpole now has an asteroid named after him: On March 23, 2001, David Healy and Jeff Medkeff discovered an asteroid about a mile in diameter, in the asteroid belt on the Mars side of the solar system. It was designated 165612. Until today. Now that asteroid is officially known as Stackpole. The International Astronomical Union approved the designation on March 21. Also getting asteroids named after them: Rebecca Watson (Skepchick), Phil Plait (Bad Astronomy), and P.Z. Myers (Pharyngula). Very cool! UPDATE: And Mike Stackpole posts his reaction to learning the news.
The March 2008 issue of Fortean Times has an interesting article by Rupert Sheldrake titled “Richard Dawkins calls.” In it, he describes his meeting with Dawkins for the filming of a segment originally planned to be part of Enemies of Reason, broadcast in August 2007. Apparently very little was filmed and nothing was used of the meeting. Sheldrake was to be interviewed as a defender of scientific evidence for telepathy, which Sheldrake has studied with empirical research, and written and published papers about. (Sheldrake is perhaps best known for his theory of morphogenetic fields, which he wrote about in his book A New Science of Life, which a reviewer for Nature called “the best candidate for burning there has been in years.” He believes that the more an idea is used, the easier it becomes for others to think of–along the lines of the “hundredth monkey” phenomenon which was a myth originated by Lyall Watson and promulgated by Ken Keyes, Jr., and debunked by philosopher Ron Amundson.) According to Sheldrake, he was promised that “this documentary, at Channel 4’s insistence, will be an entirely more balanced affair than The Root of All Evil? was” and that “We are very keen for it to be a discussion between two scientists, about scientific modes of enquiry." But when the meeting occurred, it quickly came to an end because, according to Sheldrake, Dawkins said “I don’t want to discuss evidence. … There isn’t time. … It’s too complicated. And that’s not what this programme is about.” (A charitable and likely accurate reading of what “that” refers to is specifically evidence for telepathy, though Sheldrake seems to suggest Dawkins means evidence of any kind.) Sheldrake reports that Russell Barnes, the director, also “confirmed that he was not interested in evidence either.” (Again, probably referring specifically to evidence for telepathy, rather than evidence in general.) Sheldrake responded that “If you’re treating telepathy as an irrational belief, surely evidence about whether it exists or not is essential for the discussion. If telepathy occurs, it’s not irrational to believe in it. I thought that’s what we were going to talk about. I made it clear from the outset that I wasn’t interested in taking part in another low-grade debunking exercise.” To which he reports that Dawkins responded, “It’s not a low-grade debunking exercise. It’s a high-grade debunking exercise.” I don’t see how anyone can reasonably disagree with Sheldrake’s statement. Sheldrake told them he had received assurances that this would be “a balanced scientific discussion about the evidence,” and when Barnes asked to see the emails in question, he showed them. Sheldrake writes, “He read them with obvious dismay, and said the assurances she had given me were wrong. The team packed up and left." UPDATE (April 25, 2008): Rupert Sheldrake has posted “Richard Dawkins comes to call” on his website, which looks to be more-or-less the same as the FT article. William Dembski has pointed to this article as evidence that Richard Dawkins has done the same kind of duping that he has complained about when the producers of “Expelled” did it to him, but I don’t think they’re quite the same in a number of respects. While Dawkins was (to his discredit) uninterested in the scientific evidence underlying telepathy that Sheldrake wanted to discuss, footage from Sheldrake wasn’t used in the final documentary. The case would have been parallel if Dawkins had pretended to be interested in the scientific evidence, completed the interview, and then used the footage in such a way as to criticize and ridicule Sheldrake. And it would have been parallel to how P.Z. Myers’ footage was used in “Expelled” only if Dawkins had conversed with Sheldrake about the scientific evidence for telepathy and then used excerpts from it in a film on another topic that hadn’t been mentioned. (Myers wasn’t asked questions about intelligent design, only about the relationship between religion and science.) UPDATE (June 8, 2008): P.Z. Myers has weighed in on this controversy at Pharyngula, arguing that Sheldrake’s evidence (which hasn’t been discussed, so far as I can see) doesn’t count as evidence because of a lack of a plausible mechanism. I disagree that lack of a mechanism means that anomalous data doesn’t count as evidence–it is reason to reject a proposed explanation, but it’s not a reason to deny that there is anomalous data. UPDATE (June 15, 2008): Sheldrake responds to Myers: [W]ith such a farrago of prejudice, ignorance and arrogance, it’s hard to know where to begin. It doesn’t really seem worth replying to people who aren’t interested in the facts but simply in venting their rage. ...
On Saturday, March 22, the second SkeptiCamp will take place, in Castle Rock, Colorado. Reed Esau, one of the organizers presenters (also known as the originator of the celebrity atheist list), reports that the James Randi Educational Foundation will be sponsoring the event this time, and the list of likely speakers looks quite interesting: Some of those who plan to present have posted their intentions: writerdd on ‘How I Became a Skepchick’, Gary on pareidolia, R. G. on the Family Tomb of Jesus, Abel on Weapons of Mass Deception, Linda Rosa on Therapeutic Touch, Larry Sarner with a legislative update (on naturopath licensing), Crystal on a the new Fund for Thought initiative, Joe (a pediatrician) dispelling myths about vaccines and autism, Rocky Mountain Paranormal Society makes another appearance, Amy on why women need to be active in the skeptic movement, Jeanette on denialism, Rusty on the reproduction of JFK ballistics test, Paul on the scientific understanding of mystical, psychic, and occult experiences, Marlowe on a Gemini-1 mission UFO cover-up (?!) and/or how scammers victimize seniors, Pete on the Scientific Method and me on the basics of Modern Skepticism.Check it out. (Previously.) UPDATE (March 24, 2008): Reed has written a summary of the event. ...
Octavia, a New Zealand atheist who was formerly an administrator at IIDB until the recent controversies there, has followed through with her proposed creation of a community newsletter for participants of the proliferating atheist and freethought message boards, called Nexus and hosted at the Nontheist Nexus. I’ve just started looking at the first issue, and I went directly to the article “Atheist Cop,” which was a fascinating read. There’s also an excerpt from Thomas Paine’s “Age of Reason,” some nicely done artwork, some stills from a film being made by one of the board members, an account of a scientist who spent eight months at McMurdo Station in Antarctica, “Sarpedon’s Weird Science” with links to interesting recent articles about undersea life, a couple of reviews of “The Golden Compass,” a few holiday recipes, and more. It looks like a great start, and I look forward to reading the rest of this issue and more in the future. ...
Last night while looking for something else, I came across my copy of the September 1996 issue of Internet Underground, a short-lived glossy magazine promoting interesting things on the Internet. This issue featured an article I wrote for them about skepticism on the Internet, which I present for your enjoyment below. If I had to update it today, I’d need to add information about blogs (like Science Blogs), podcasts, and various online forums that have come into existence in the last eleven and a half years or so (including IIDB, its offshoots like Freethought Forum and Heathen Hangout, and skeptical forums like those of the James Randi Educational Foundation and Richard Dawkins), but everything I described below is still around, despite some name and domain changes (I’ve updated the links) and diminishing significance of Usenet. I’m not sure how I missed the Skeptics Dictionary or Snopes.com, which were both around at the time. You can see a PDF of the article in its original format here. 403 Forbidden: Skeptics Seek the Cold Hard Truth By Jim LippardThe Internet is a place where world views collide. Christianity meets atheist, conventional wisdom meets conspiracy theory, fringe belief meets orthodox science. While most Usenet newsgroups promote particular views and are populated mostly by their purveyors, the critics make up the majority on sci.skeptic. These critics who refer to themselves as “skeptics” have only a tenuous connection to the skepticism of the ancient Greeks, such as Pyrrho, who denied the possibility of knowledge of any kind. Instead, they tend to hold that while knowledge is quite possible, it must be grounded in scientific inquiry and rational investigation. Doubt is valued as a means to reliable knowledge rather than an end in itself. Skeptics often share an interest in the unusual, bizarre, and the seemingly impossible with the denizens of newsgroups such as alt.paranormal, alt.astrology, alt.alien.visitors, and alt.forteana.misc. There are plenty of fans of The X-Files to be found among skeptics. Where skeptics differ from “believers” is with regard to what are acceptable standards of evidence and what constitutes reasonable methods of investigation. A commonly touted skeptical aphorism is “Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence,” and testimonials, feelings and handwaving are not considered extraordinary enough to carry the weight. ...
In 1901, Bible college students at Charles Fox Parham’s Bethel Bible School in Topeka, Kansas prayed to be baptized by the Holy Spirit. At a New Year’s Eve service that year, as Parham preached, Agnes Ozman began to speak in tongues, and Pentecostalism was born. William J. Seymour, a one-eyed black minister, attended Parham’s college in Houston, Texas, though he had to sit in another room across the hall and listen in, due to Texas race laws of the time. Seymour moved to Los Angeles, where he sparked the Azusa Street Revival in 1906. Today there are over 400 million Pentecostals in the world, and it is the world’s fastest-growing religious sect. The Mormons are lightweights by comparison, having only reached 13 million followers worldwide after nearly twice as long an existence. In Guatemala, Pentecostals have built a 12,000 seat church; in Lagos, one church supposedly has 2 million followers; and South Korea is home to five of the world’s ten largest megachurches. What makes Pentecostalism successful? It’s not intellectual argument. Pentecostalism is what The Economist’s recent special report on “The new wars of religion” refers to as a “hot” religion. It’s not particularly concerned about doctrinal details (which is not to say it doesn’t have them), but about religious experience and personal interaction and participation. The Yoido Full Gospel Church, the largest megachurch in South Korea, has 830,000 members (one in 20 Seoul residents is a member), holds seven Sunday services each of which has 12,000 people in the main auditorium and 20,000 watching on television in chapels in neighboring buildings. While you wait (and you will wait, especially if you want to attend one of the two services led by founder David Cho), you can listen to choirs sing, and sing along with the help of karaoke-style captions on TV screens. Translation is supplied to provide the services in English, Japanese, Chinese, Spanish, French, Indonesian, Malay, and Arabic. The Yoido church, like many U.S. megachurches, works by organizing around many small groups. For Yoido, these are “home cells” of around a dozen people that meet in people’s homes. Yoido has 68,000 female deacons and half as many male deacons, who may make 35 visits a week to parishioners. There’s little hierarchy, and an emphasis on evangelizing, sending out missionaries, and producing more and more “home cells.” And it’s a methodology that appears to be winning the religious competition. An earlier Economist story (from 2005, pay content) on the business practices of U.S. megachurches, likewise observed that they function by providing a diverse variety of services to lots of small niches, with groups for hikers, skateboarders, mountain bikers, book readers, and so forth, creating many small communities out of which a larger one is formed. The lesson I take from this for the nonreligious is that a diversity of groups that cooperate with each other on common causes is far more likely to grow and have influence than individual groups that take a hard line on admissions requirements and require conformity to a narrow notion of what it is to be a freethinker or a skeptic, such as an adherence to scientism or atheism. The late Clark Adams of the Internet Infidels and Las Vegas Freethought Society was a strong proponent of cooperation between a broad set of secular groups as a way of strengthening their influence and being able to create organizations like the Secular Coalition for America. He was also a supporter of groups that engaged in social activities rather than intellectual navel-gazing, and promoted his views with humor and popular culture references more than with step-by-step argument. If you’ve thought about starting a secular, freethought, or skeptical group around some interest of your own that’s not currently served by an existing group, go for it. Meetup.com is a great way to get started or to find an existing group–you can find atheist groups, agnostic groups, deism groups, ex-Christian groups, Discordian groups, humanist groups, secular humanist groups, brights groups, skeptics’ groups, separation of church and state groups, and many more. ...