This week, my special guest is author, linguist, and podcaster Karen Stollznow. On the show, we discuss the dangers of faith healing and other dangerous pseudoscience, her upcoming books, and some of the more hilarious bunk beliefs. Come and get your fix, people. Notes for the show: - Tam Talk: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=woViCFeDFcU - Website: http://www.karenstollznow.com - Monster Talk podcast: http:/ ...

Firstly, I'd just like to point out my general dislike of news programs. I hate the way they present the news. At the beginning of this particular broadcast, I practically turned it off once I heard their ridiculous "let's ask a question so we can pretend to be objective" routine" "Is it possible that potentially fatal diseases can be stopped in their tracks by allowing a healer to channel thought and praye ...

Oregon has finally started coming to its senses, and all it took was a bunch of kids dying of highly preventable deaths. The State is introducing a bill that would end religious immunity for parents who rely solely on "faith" to heal their children. I've written about the "Followers of Christ" on many occasions; it's a church that so far has an appalling death toll, all from illnesses that were extremely tr ...

Imagine you fall down a ravine, and as you lay unconscious, slowly dying, your companions decide that instead of calling for medical help, they need to pray you back to health. If you're anything like me, you'd will yourself out of your coma and strangle them with your own entrails. Of course if that doesn't work, you could always try suing them (it's less messy anyways). As it turns out, this actually happ ...

The aspect I find the most disturbing of the Catholic faith (and there are many things, let me assure you) is their singular obsession with sin. Since Jesus is supposedly commissioned with forgiving us and, in ritual consumption of his flesh and blood, absorb these supposed sins, it's a cottage industry of suffering and redemption. Their obsession with salvation is like a giant set of blinders that makes ev ...

For the first time in the history of unbelief, atheists are starting to have a voice. Recently, a coalition of secularists and atheists met with the Obama Administration to talk about three pressing issues: the death of kids due to "faith healing", the increased presence of religion in the military, and faith based initiatives. Although details of what was discussed are piecemeal at best, that didn't stop r ...

It's not enough religious wackos like Pat Robertson claim Haiti is suffering because the country made a pact with the devil; now other morons are coming out and saying similarly insensitive and terrible shit. The latest scumbag is Dr. Wesley Stafford, who had this to say: Haiti ... has been a disaster in almost every way long before this ever struck. And it is a nation, between you and me, I guess, that Sat ...

Faith Healing is an oxymoron; you might as well combine other contradictory words together for fun, like "tall midget" or "logical religion". To heal someone, you actually need to do something; anything really other than praying to your invisible friend. If I told you my kid was really sick and my imaginary buddy was her only doctor, you'd toss me in jail and take my child away from me forever. Unfortunatel ...

A few months ago I wrote a post about Kara Newman, an 11 year old girl who died because her parents refused to seek medical help to treat her Type 1 diabetes. The parents were on trial for reckless homicide, and I had hoped some justice would be found in light of the suffering this poor little girl went through before her untimely death. With another neglectful family being aquitted of the death of their ba ...

Well, it looks like we've just lost some ground in the whole 'faith-healing' debate. Remember the Worthingtons? Their 15 month old baby died because they refused to bring her to a doctor when she developed pneumonia. Today, a jury has now found the couple not-guilty of manslaughter, although they did find them guilty of the lesser charge of criminal mistreatment, which carries a rather anemic maximum senten ...