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Group thrives on skepticism
More articles on this topic: SkepticsThe Cincinnati Skeptics Society is more than just a group that challenges claims of UFOs and psychic phenomena. The group also discusses political issues, literature and current events.
“We ran out of ghosts to investigate a long time ago,” said Bryan Sellers, the group’s secretary.
Instead the group prefers to focus on using critical thinking and scientific methods to investigate things that happen in all aspects of society.
“We are not closed-minded people who want to dismiss any unusual ideas,” said Skeptics President Rick Davis. “We simply think the scientific method is the best way to prove, or disprove, beliefs.”
On a recent evening, six members of the group sat in a coffee shop in Pleasant Ridge discussing a range of topics.
“Hardly anything is off-limits but we do try to stay away from religious issues,” said Clifton resident Gary Weiss. “About the closest we come is discussing the teaching of creationism in schools, which most of us oppose.”
Weiss, a professor of mathematics at the University of Cincinnati and a group member, compared teaching creationism to teaching a math class where the formulas do not result in a correct answer.
“I don’t think people should be able to teach what they want regardless of the truth,” he said. “The facts should support our teaching and that’s not the case with creationism.”
While the group discusses political issues it does not endorse candidates.
“We will occasionally have speakers with a political background, but only if they are pertinent to the topic we are discussing,” said Davis.
For example, the group’s guest speaker at its October meeting was former Cincinnati mayor Roxanne Qualls, who spoke on the subject of political advertising.
Davis said the group does not have any membership criteria, but admits some people are a better fit than others.
“We want to provoke open and honest discussion that looks at all points of view and some people are just too close-minded to participate in that type of discussion,” he said.
The group is made up of mostly middle-aged, college-educated men, according to Davis. Most members are from Greater Cincinnati but there are a few from outside the area.
The group organizes outings throughout the year and also has a science book club that meets once a month at the downtown library.
The Skeptics align themselves with people such as James Randi and Penn and Teller. Randi, known as the Amazing Randi, has offered a $1 million prize to anyone who can show proof of paranormal activity. The prize has never been claimed.
Penn and Teller, best known for their Las Vegas magic act, have a program on the Showtime network that focuses on debunking paranormal claims.
Recently the Skeptics have paired up with the University of Cincinnati Skeptics to try to broaden their appeal and recruit new members. “We would like to see more young people get involved in our discussions,” said Davis.
The group also participated in a debate at the Mercantile Library as part of a documentary for the BBC that focused on Charles Dickens’ 1842 visit to America.
“We chose the Cincinnati Skeptics because Dickens was such a fan of critical thinkers,” said Susie Samant of Lion TV, the company that produced the documentary.
Davis said the group is grateful for the exposure it will gain from the documentary, but it prefers more freewheeling discussions. That was obvious during the coffee shop meeting, as the discussion that started out about creationism floated through several topics, including education and politics.
“We generally just go where the topic takes us,” said Davis. “Sometimes its rational things like the way civilizations develop or it could be something way out there like the ghosts at the Golden Lamb Inn in Lebanon. That’s what makes the group so much fun.”
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