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When people say they believe in astrology or homeopathy or natural healing or rave about mediums that proclaim, "I See Dead People", you should reply with, "I See Dumb People". When others say they talk to Jehovah or Allah or Jesus, you should ask them why these beings don't reply. For these silly beliefs and numerous others such as alien abductions, Bigfoot and healing crystals, we must learn to ask, 'Where is the evidence for this belief?'

We must apply critical thinking, reason, logic and science to the silly beliefs of the supernatural, the paranormal and pseudoscience. Blind faith in priests, natural therapists, New Age gurus or some smooth talking charlatan channelling aliens from another galaxy is foolhardy, making those who support these silly beliefs as superstitious, credulous and as ignorant as medieval peasants.

It's time to enter the 21st century and start thinking for yourself. Examine the evidence!

When a soldier kills, not a potential person, but a real person, we thank him and pay him and often give him a medal, but when an abortion ends, not a real life, but merely a potential life, some call it murder. Is this view rational? Does sex in fact destroy far more lives than it creates, and is God the most prolific abortionist of all time? Are souls even real if God isn't?

Should women be free to make their own reproductive choices or should their lives and their bodies return to being under the oppressive control of governments run by men and influenced by religions invented by men, and their choices be limited to whether to vacuum and then clean the bathroom or vice versa?

To find out the answers, based on reason,   

Is the universe watching your every move and analysing your every intention? Is your moral behaviour being judged and recorded somewhere, like in the cloud, a real cloud? Does a fundamental and mysterious part of the universe known as karma have the ability and desire to teach you how to be a better person, and have these lessons in morality been going on for eons?

But is there a cost to these lessons, is karma like the Mafia? If you fail to show improvement will it send some thugs around to your place to break your kneecaps, or worse, since it's said karma knows where you live, and never forgives a debt.

Is karma real or just superstitious nonsense? To find out,  

What causes more harm in society, weapons or naked bodies, boxing matches or nude beaches? What shocks people more if seen on TV, someone being beaten and shot, or someone walking into the room naked? Actually the matter has already been decided, society has spoken. Nudity is harmful and violence is harmless.

So is it right that our screens are awash with disturbing scenes of graphic violence, acts that are illegal in real life, while the depiction of innocent nudity and loving sex, which is perfectly natural, normal and legal in real life, is ... censored? Are we becoming a society of violence-loving prudes?

To find out if you're part of the problem,  

As natural therapies go, is Earthing (or Grounding) the most important health discovery ever? Can simply walking barefoot outside elevate your 'quality of life to a level that seems not otherwise possible'?

Have modern humans, with our rubber-soled shoes and plastic chairs, insulated ourselves from 'the healing energies from the Earth', and is this isolation the cause of most, if not all, of our chronic diseases? Or is it all a scam?

To find out why it's a scam,  

Are science and spirituality two different but complementary ways of understanding how our universe works and how we can live better lives? Perhaps you feel that there's an unseen realm out there that science is ignoring?

So is spirituality helping science solve all the big questions and making the world a better place, or has it done nothing but hinder and harm our progress?

To find out,  

Young children being read Bible stories, and being assured that they're true. You might think that this only happens in churches, on Sunday, but it could be happening in your local school. When you think your kids are learning real facts and useful information, they could be turning into children for Jesus.

The Christians grooming your kids insist that they're teaching them values, but do you really want them learning their morals from a god that raped a virgin and then had his own son murdered?

To find out more about those preying on children,  

Have you ever looked up and spied a chemtrail? Is our government deliberately poisoning us with apparently innocuous fluffy clouds? Did chemtrails in conjunction with the HAARP weapon cause the devastating Christchurch earthquakes? Are chemtrails created by aliens bent on our extinction? Or are they created by the secret Illuminati organisation seeking a new world order?

Are chemtrails real, and a real threat, or are they a creation of a paranoid mind? To find out,  

Does your religious leader claim to talk with God? Do you talk to God? Does he reply? Do you believe any of the claims that your religion makes are false? Does your religion believe it is in fact the one true path to God? Is your religious leader authoritarian and charismatic? Does he, like the Pope, believe everything he says is true and comes from God? Does your religion try and tell others what morals they should live by? Do you avoid associating with non-believers?

Could you be trapped in a cult and not even realise it?

To find out the answer,  

Have you ever seen a UFO? What about an alien? And what are these aliens actually doing when they visit Earth? Are they really abducting people from their beds, mutilating cattle and maybe even conspiring with our governments? Are extraterrestrials really trying to breed human-alien hybrids?

Should we consult UFO support group UFOCUS NZ for answers to these questions? Should we be worried about what aliens are up to or is it all a scam?

It's a SCAM. To read why,  

Why do Catholics ask the Pope, an elderly virgin in a frock and silly hat, about sex? Why do they look to priests and nuns, familiar only with relationships that their God considers an abomination, to counsel them on marriage, relationships and even how they should perform sex?

Do devout Catholics understand why it is a lesser sin to rape a woman than to masturbate? Or why it is OK to condemn a woman to death rather than permit her to use contraception? Do Catholic women understand why they are inferior to men, filthy and untrustworthy? Do Christians know that their church sold innocent women into slavery solely to prevent the chance that their priests might want to have sex with them?

To learn more about monsters in our midst,  

When you attempt to debate or criticise some religious claim, many believers these days will ask you to desist, demanding that you 'Respect their religion'.

Is this a legitimate and fair request or is it just a scam, a smokescreen to keep the flaws of their religion hidden?

It's a SCAM. To read why,  

Can actor Rebecca Gibney and her team of psychics provide new leads on unsolved real-life murder cases? Is there a connection with the 'spirit world' or is it all a scam?

Has die-hard skeptic Nigel Latta really monitored the filming of a 'Sensing Murder' episode and failed to detect any trickery, or is it all a scam?
And then we have NZ Police Detective Ross Levy inviting the psychics to help him out. Has he also been scammed?

It's a SCAM. To read why,  

Ian Wishart says we should believe every word in the Bible. That Adam and Eve — the first humans — were created by God, that Noah really built his Ark, and that Jesus rose from the dead.

Can Ian really provide good evidence that the Bible is true, and that atheists are evil killers, or is it all a scam?

It's a SCAM. To read why,  

Can Jeanette Wilson see and hear your dead Granny? Can she pass on messages from 'the other side'? Or is what she does nothing more than a trick designed to take advantage of the gullible, the desperate and the lonely?

Can Jeanette really see dead people or is it all a scam?

It's a SCAM. To read why,  

Do agnostics speak the truth when they say they have no opinion on God, or are they just hiding their real views? Do they do this so as not to offend either believers or non-believers? Is it a valid stance, wedged between believers and atheists, or is it all a scam?

It's a SCAM. To read why,  

Can Ken Ring really predict the weather 20 years ahead merely by observing the Moon? Should you be wasting money on his 'Weather Almanac'? Can he predict earthquakes and even volcanic eruptions based on his astrological theory, and should you pay him to forecast the weather on your wedding day?

Is his theory scientific or is it all a scam? What's our opinion?

It's a SCAM. To read why,  

Does sleeping on a magnetic underlay or drinking magnetised water have health benefits? Do magnets reduce pain or merely the contents of your wallet? Is Magnetic Therapy a medical wonder, discovered by the ancients, or is it just a scam, a waste of money?

It's a SCAM. To read why,  

Is the Shroud of Turin really the burial cloth of Jesus Christ? Did he leave it behind when he took out his communicator and said, "Beam me up Dad"? Did the transporter energy imprint his body image onto the cloth? Or like hundreds of others, is it just a medieval religious fake, designed to fool the gullible and superstitious followers of a long dead carpenter?

Can Father Laisney really discredit the 1988 carbon-dating of the Shroud of Turin and provide new evidence, or is it all a scam?

It's a SCAM. To read why,  

Does 'cellular memory' cause organ transplant recipients to receive the memories, sexual preferences, personality traits etc of the organ donor? Is there even such a thing as 'cellular memory' or is it all a scam by film company 'Natural History New Zealand'?

It's a SCAM. To read why,  

Has "Honest to God" columnist Ian Harris found a new way to describe how we can all live our lives without religion? Has he devised a legitimate way that God-fearing Christians can reject God and Christ and yet still be Christians, or is it all a scam?

It's a SCAM. To read why,  

Do hidden signs in your handwriting reveal the "real" you? Can a graphologist such as Malcolm McLeod interpret these signs? Can you alter the style of your signature to improve your destiny or is it all a scam?

It's a SCAM. To read why,  

The 'Silly Beliefs' blog. This is a forum where we can make occasional comments on the many silly beliefs that we come across, often from the media. Comments, criticisms and debate are welcome.

To read it,  

Does Coley really have the power to heal people of almost any disease? Can he heal people anywhere in the world using telepathy or is it all a scam?

It's a SCAM. To read why,