Breaking the Spell of Religion (audio)

Exploration with Dr. Michio Kaku (Saturday, July 16, KPFK.org)
Breaking the Spell (skeptic.com)

Can science explain religion as a natural phenomenon -- or set of phenomena useful to human beings in spite of the absence of a "God" as conceived of in human cultures?

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Dr. Dennett, an atheist and liberal, takes a serious look at the possibility that religions may serve an important and beneficial evolutionary purpose. He is interviewed by theoretical physicist, cofounder of string field theory, and peace activist Dr. Kaku, City College of New York (CUNY). This is followed by a discussion with Steven Pinker, author of The Blank Slate: the Modern Denial of Human Nature.

In The Blank Slate, one of the world's leading experts on language and the mind explores the idea of human nature and its moral, emotional, and political colorings.

With characteristic wit, lucidity, and insight, Steven Pinker argues that the dogma that the mind has no innate traits -- a doctrine held by many intellectuals during the past century -- denies our common humanity.

It also denies our individual preferences, replaces objective analyses of social problems with feel-good slogans, and distorts our understanding of politics, violence, parenting, and the arts.

Injecting calm and rationality into debates that are notorious for ax-grinding and mud-slinging, Pinker shows the importance of an honest acknowledgment of human nature based on science and common sense.

Skeptic Society's Michael Shermer speaks on "strange beliefs" at TED

Do Americans believe in UFOs? (Poll)

UFO spotted over Indiana, USA in Jan. 2008 (ufoevidence.co) also at ufoevidence.org

Public Opinion Polls on UFOs
Compiled by ufoevidence.org

Numerous public opinion polls from the last 50 years, from the US and other countries, report very consistent and similar findings:

Fifty percent of the population believes in the reality of UFOs, and 5% of the population has seen a UFO.

Canadian UFO Poll: 3 million Canadians have seen UFOs
Ufology Research of Manitoba, 15 October 1997
A national survey by an independent research consortium has found that 9.6% of all Canadians believe they have seen UFOs. "This translates into nearly 3 million people who say they are UFO witnesses," notes Chris Rutkowski, project coordinator.

Condon Report: Public Attitudes Toward UFO Phenomena
Aldora Lee, The Condon Report, Sec. 3, Ch. 7
Reported in this chapter are the findings of four opinion surveys conducted during the spring of 1968. The major surveys were of 2,050 adults and 451 teenagers, representing a cross-section of the US population. The other two surveys concerned college students and UFO sighters. In this report, opinions regarding the proportion of sighters in the United States, opinions regarding the reporting of UFOs, and attitudes toward UFOs and related phenomena are considered.

NIDS Extraterrestrial Intelligence Online Survey Results
NIDS (National Institute for Discovery Science)

Poll Reveals UFO Belief
Sci Fi Wire (Sci Fi Channel), Oct. 17, 2002
A new national poll found that 72 percent of Americans believe the government is not telling the public everything it knows about UFO activity, and 68 percent think the government knows more about extraterrestrial life than it is letting on, the SCI FI Channel reported.

Poll: U.S. hiding knowledge of aliens
CNN, June 15, 1997
Nearly 50 years since an alleged UFO was sighted at Roswell, New Mexico, a CNN/Time poll shows that 80 percent of Americans think the government is hiding knowledge of the existence of extraterrestrial life forms.

Public Opinion Surveys and Unidentified Flying Objects: 50+ years of Sampling Public Opinions (PDF)
John F. Schuessler, International Director, MUFON (Mutual UFO Network)
Public opinion surveys fill an important need in business, politics, and advertising. For more than 50 years surveys of public opinions about Unidentified Flying Objects (UFOs) have been conducted to satisfy a variety of customers. While the numbers have fluctuated from time to time, the general results of these surveys showed the public is:

• very aware of UFO sightings
• interested in what may be causing them
• concerned that the government was not doing enough to resolve the mystery.
  

The purpose of this paper is to summarize a large number of surveys of public opinions about UFOs, starting in 1947 and continuing to the present.