This is your opportunity to ask nasty questions to cult apologists Gordon Melton and Eileen Barker. Both are people who support cults who have a long record of abusing their members. They probably think that the price of religious freedom is to accept that large religious corporations do criminal activities in the name of their "religion".

Also, the lecture by Randi (who is one of the good guys!) is expected to be great fun :-) If you ask a question to Melton and Barker, be careful. You are dealing with people who KNOW that they do dirty work. It ain't so that YOUR question will make them go nuts or similar. Prepare to ask an apparently harmless (i.e. no aggressive) question that has a relationship to the lecture they gave, and where the response is of interest to the audience.

===== Faith and Science Draws Nationally-Known Skeptics and Cult-Watchers to SCU; Author, Magician James Randi Investigates Myths of Science and Magic SANTA CLARA, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--April 23, 2001--Santa Clara University announced today a three-day conference in May that will probe the role of faith in science, the arts, and education -- "Jesuit Humanism: Faith, Justice, and Empiricism in the Liberal Arts." This event, sponsored by the College of Arts and Sciences at SCU, is part of the University's sesquicentennial celebration.

Some of the world's leading skeptics and cult-watchers will come to SCU May 3-5 to engage in conversations with faculty, staff, students, and the public. During the first two days of the conference, speakers will explore the use of religion to justify scientific beliefs, and the use of science to explain religious beliefs.

On May 3 at 7 p.m., James Randi, founder of the James Randi Educational Foundation, well-known magician, investigator of psychic, paranormal, and supernatural claims, and author of Flim-Flam!, the Mask of Nostradamus, and The Faith Healers, will talk about science's pursuit of magic and miracles in the 20th century and into the 21st century.

Randi is recognized for exposing popularly-accepted fakery by discussing with his audience everything from UFOs to the Bermuda Triangle, from the Von Daniken "Chariots of the Gods" claims of extraterrestrial archaeological finds to the notion of a lost continent named Atlantis.

Other notable conference speakers include:

-- Eileen Barker --professor of sociology at the London School of Economics, and author of New Religious Movements and The Making of a Moonie: Brainwashing or Choice?

Friday, May 4 at 10:15 a.m. -- "And the Angel said to the Ape, 'Behold' and the Ape Beheld"

-- J. Gordon Melton -- director of the Institute for the Study of American Religions, Methodist minister, and author of Why Cults Succeed Where the Church Fails; and The Vampire Book.

Thursday, May 3 at 11 a.m. -- "Science and the Search for Religious Authority"

-- Eugenie Scott -- executive director of the National Center for Science Education, Inc., and co-author of Teaching about Evolution and the Nature of Science.

Thursday, May 3 at 3:30 p.m. -- "Creationism Old and New"

-- Michael Shermer -- director of the Skeptics Society; author of Why People Believe Weird Things; How We Believe: The Search for God in the Age of Science; and Denying History.

Friday, May 4 at 3:30 p.m. -- "How We Believe: Pseudoscience and Transcendence in an Age of Science"

All sessions will be open to the public and free, with the exception of a $10 fee for Randi's presentation. Reservations are required for each event. For reservations, contact 408/554-4455 or hmatteucci@scu.edu.

On Friday, May 4 at 7 p.m. in Mayer Theatre, these guest speakers will come together for "Where the Terrestrial Meets the Transcendental," a symposium exploring the connection between claims of religious authority to support dubious scientific propositions and claims of scientific authority to support religious beliefs.

For a complete program schedule and conference registration information, visit www.scu.edu/cas/150.

Media: To arrange interviews with conference speakers, contact Kelly Shenefiel in SCU Media Relations at 408/554-5125 or kshenefiel@scu.edu.

The College of Arts and Sciences is the largest academic unit on the SCU campus, encompassing 65 percent of all students, and a comparable percentage of University faculty. Comprising 17 departments and offering 36 majors, the College also provides the liberal arts curriculum to all undergraduate students. For information, visit www.scu.edu/cas.

Santa Clara University, located in northern California's Silicon Valley, is a Jesuit university with 7,350 students. Recognized in 2001 by the American Association of Colleges and Universities for its undergraduate programs, and known nationally for its graduate and professional schools, SCU celebrates its 150th anniversary in the 2000-2001 academic year.

--
Tilman Hausherr [KoX, SP5.55] Entheta * Enturbulation * Entertainment
tilman@berlin.snafu.de http://www.xenu.de Resistance is futile. You will be enturbulated. Xenu always prevails.

Find broken links on your web site: http://www.snafu.de/~tilman/xenulink.html
The Xenu bookstore: http://www.snafu.de/~tilman/bookstore.html

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