Remember always that we are pattern-seeking primates who are especially adept at finding patterns with emotional meaning.

Skepticism is not a position that you stake out ahead of time and stick to no matter what.

So, of course, Gish's presentation was well received, which it would have been the case had he only gotten up and said "praise the Lord" and sat back down.

I am an atheist. There, I said it. Are you happy, all you atheists out there who have remonstrated with me for adopting the agnostic moniker? If "atheist" means someone who does not believe in God, then an atheist is what I am. But I detest all such labels. Call me what you like - humanist, secular humanist, agnostic, nonbeliever, nontheist, freethinker, heretic, or even bright. I prefer skeptic.

In the long run, it is better to understand the way the world really is rather than how we would like it to be.

A Hubble Space Telescope photograph of the universe evokes far more awe for creation than light streaming through a stained glass window in a cathedral.

Scientific prayer makes God a celestial lab rat, leading to bad science and worse religion.