SkeptiSphere

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CONFERENCES
CSICon Las Vegas
European Skeptics Congress
NECSS New York City
New Zealand Skeptics Conference
Skepkon Germany
SkeptiCal California
Skepticon Australia
WeCanReason Canada

PODCASTS & BLOGS
Back to the Vax – Lydia Greene & Heather Simpson
Bad Psychics
Be Reasonable – Michael Marshall
Big Picture Science – Seth Shostak & Molly Bentley
Debunk the Funk – Dan Wilson
Logically Critical – (archived)
Oh No – Ross & Carrie – Ross Blocher & Carrie Poppy
Point of Inquiry – Jim Underdown
Rationally Speaking – Julia Galef
Science Vs – Wendy Zukerman
Skeptically Yours – Emery Emery & Heather Henderson
Skeptics Guide to the Universe – Steven Novella et al.
Skeptics with a K – Hayley Stevens, Michael Marshall, et al.
Skeptoid – Brian Dunning
Squaring the Strange – Ben Radford, Pascual Romero, & Celestia Ward
The Conspiracy Skeptic – Karl Mamer
The Geologic Podcast – George Hrab
The Infidel Guy Show – Reginald Finley (archived)
The Michael Shermer Show
The Reality Check – Producer Pat, Christina Roach, et al.
The Skeptic Zone – Richard Saunders

ORGANIZATIONS
Association for Skeptical Enquiry United Kingdom
Atlanta Skeptics GA
Australian Skeptics
Backyard Skeptics Orange County CA
Baltimore Secular Humanists
Bedford Skeptics in the Pub England
Belfast Skeptics Ireland
Belgian Committee for the Critical Analysis of Parasciences
Black Skeptics Los Angeles
Blair’s Society of Skeptics NJ
Brussels Skeptics in the Pub Belgium
Cambridge Skeptics England
Center For Inquiry Argentina
Center For Inquiry Austin Texas
Center For Inquiry France Nice
Center For Inquiry Indiana Indianapolis
Center For Inquiry Kenya Makadara
Center For Inquiry Long Island New York
Center For Inquiry West Los Angeles, California
Center For Inquiry New York City Brooklyn
Center For Inquiry Ottawa Canada
Center For Inquiry Peru Lima
Center For Inquiry Poland Warsaw
Center For Inquiry Portland Oregon
Center For Inquiry San Francisco California
Center For Inquiry Spain Madrid
Center For Inquiry Tampa Bay Florida
Center For Inquiry Washington D.C.
Center For Inquiry Western New York Amherst
Círculo Escéptico Spain
Colorado Skeptics Denver CO
Committee for Skeptical Inquiry International
Critical Thinking for Concerned Citizens Boulder, CO
Czech Skeptics Club Sisyfos
Escèptics al Pub Barcelona Spain
Essex Skeptics in the Pub England
European Council of Skeptical Organisations
Glasgow Skeptics Scotland
Good Thinking Society England
Gravesend Skeptics in the Pub England
Greater Manchester Skeptics Society England
Greenwich Skeptics in the Pub England
Hampshire Skeptics Society England
Hampshire Skeptics Society Winchester NH
Hong Kong Skeptics in the Pub China
Hungarian Skeptic Society
Idaho Skeptics & Atheists ID
Indian Sceptic India
Italian Committee for the Control of Claims on Pseudosciences Padova Italy
Kansas City Skeptics MO
Leeds Skeptics in the Pub England
Les Sceptiques du Québec Canada
Madison Skeptics WI
Maharashtra Superstition Eradication Committee India
Merseyside Skeptics Society Liverpool England
Michigan Skeptics Association
Minnesota Skeptics
Monterey County Skeptics CA
National Capital Area Skeptics DC
New England Skeptical Society
New Mexicans for Science and Reason
New York City Skeptics
North Bay Skeptics Santa Rosa CA
North Texas Skeptics
Nottingham Skeptics in the Pub England
NZ Skeptics New Zealand
Oklahoma Skeptics Society
Oregonians for Science & Reason OR
Organization Against Quackery The Netherlands
Peruvian Rationalist Humanist Institute Lima Peru
Philadelphia Association for Critical Thinking
Philadelphia Skeptics in the Pub
Phoenix Area Skeptics Society AZ
Polish Society of Scientific Skeptics
Portuguese Skeptic Community Portugal
R.E.A.S.O.N. Nebraska
Rationalists of East Tennessee
Rationalists Union France
Rhode Island Skeptics
Romania Rationalist Society
Sacramento Area Skeptics CA
Salt City Skeptics Salt Lake City UT
San Diego Skeptic Society CA
Santa Cruz County Skeptics CA
Science and Public Education Sweden
Seattle Skeptics & Science Enthusiasts WA
S.E.V.A.S.H. Hampton VA
Sheffield Skeptics in the Pub England
Silicon Valley Skeptics San Jose CA
SKEPP Belgium
Skepsis Finland
Skepsis Netherlands
Skepsis Norway
Skeptic Research Center International
Skeptic.EE Estonia
Skeptics Canada Toronto Canada
Skeptics Society of Bangladesh
Skeptics Society Russia
Society for the Advancement of Critical Thinking Spain
Society for the Scientific Study of Pseudoscience Germany
South African Skeptics Johannesburg, South Africa
Springfield Skeptics MO
Suncoast Skeptics Sarasota FL
Swedish Skeptics Association
Tampa Bay Skeptics FL
Triangle Skeptics Raleigh NC
Wellington Skeptics in the Pub NZ
West Virginia Skeptics Society

PERIODICALS / WEBZINES
Pensar Argentina
Skepter Belgium
Skeptic U.S.A.
Skeptica Denmark
Skeptical Inquirer U.S.A.
Skeptiker (in German)
Skeptikko Finland
The Skeptic United Kingdom

4 May – NCAS Lecture Series
9 May – SkepTalk: The Trollingers
22 May – Virtual Skeptics in the Pub

NCAS Lecture Series

Zelda Gilbert, PhD

WHAT: The Psychology of Conspiracy Theories

Dr. Gilbert will discuss how the tools of modern psychology can be used to explore the prevalence, motivations, and content of historical and contemporary conspiracy theories. This will include conspiracy theories concerning such things as Lincoln’s assassination, chemtrails, the destruction of the battleship Maine, election fraud, and space lasers from orbit. Concepts such as existential, epistemic and socio-psychological motivations will be defined and applied to various theories, providing the audience with the tools to do their own analyses. Finally, audience members will be invited to create and evaluate their own conspiracy theories.

WHO: Dr. Zelda Gilbert is a retired professor of psychology with over 40 years experience in higher education. She currently lectures on political psychology, conspiracy theories, and other topics, mostly for the continuing education Silver Frogs program at Texas Christian University in Fort Worth. She completed a doctorate in counseling psychology at the University of Kentucky and studied political psychology at UCLA.

WHEN: Saturday 4 May @ 10:30 AM Pacific (GMT-7)

WHERE: Online. Click HERE

May SkepTalk

Susan & William Trollinger

WHAT: From Creationism to QAnon: Answers in Genesis and the Culture War

Our book, Righting America at the Creation Museum, came out in 2016. In the intervening years, the creationist organization Answers in Genesis has opened Ark Encounter, remodeled the Creation Museum (in some places as a response to our book), opened a K-12 school, and dramatically expanded its online presence. At the same time, AiG has doubled down on the culture war rhetoric, dismissing climate change (or, as AiG CEO Ken Ham refers to it, “the climate cult”) as a hoax, rejecting the reality of a COVID-19 pandemic (in the process attacking vaccination mandates as oppressive), and working hard to appeal to QAnon devotees (to the point of opening the Ark to the filming of a QAnon video).

To expand on what we said in the “Introduction” to our book, all of us have a stake in understanding what is happening in the world of AiG – including the museum and the Ark – and its role in preparing and arming crusaders for the ongoing culture war that polarizes and poisons U.S. religion and politics. As bizarre as the world of AiG may seem to many Americans, what happens there matters to all of us.

WHO: Susan Trollinger is Professor of English at the University of Dayton. She earned her Ph.D. in Rhetoric from the University of Pittsburgh, and is the author of Selling the Amish: The Tourism of Nostalgia (Johns Hopkins, 2012).

William Trollinger is Professor of History and Religious Studies at the University of Dayton. He earned his Ph.D. in History from the University of
Wisconsin-Madison, and is the author of God’s Empire: William Bell Riley and the Making of American Fundamentalism (2nd ed., Tennessee, 2025).

The Trollingers have co-written, among other publications:

Righting America at the Creation Museum (Johns Hopkins, 2016)

“Creationism,” Oxford Handbook of Christian Fundamentalism (Oxford, 2023)

“The Bible and Creationism,” Oxford Handbook of the Bible (Oxford, 2017)

and

“From Creationism to QAnon: The Culture War Conspiracism of Answers in Genesis,” which will appear in Isis in the summer of 2025, and from which this talk is taken.

WHEN: Thursday 9 May @ 7:00 PM Pacific (GMT-7)

WHERE: Online. Click HERE