Mysterious and Unexplained

As its name indicates, this site is dedicated to the investigation of mysterious and unexplained phenomena. Individual articles cover subjects such as ancient structures, UFOs, ESP, weird animals, legendary creatures, lost treasures, alien life forms, and prophesy. There are also large sections devoted to Atlantis, Stonehenge, Nostradamus, and the Loch Ness monster.

The section on Atlantis is quite extensive. It includes complete texts of Plato’s original descriptions, a history of past investigations and speculations, and discussions of the best-known modern theories. (Here I will interject that in my own opinion the most plausible modern theory is that Atlantis is a vague memory of the bronze age Minoan civilization centered on the Aegean islands of Thera and Crete. There is strong evidence that this civilization was destroyed by an earthquake.)

The section on Stonehenge includes some very nice photos of the famous ancient monument.

To visit this site, go to The Mysterious and Unexplained.

You can also sign up for a free email newsletter called Enigma.

Institute for Biblical and Scientific Studies

This is the website of the Institute for Biblical and Scientific Studies, which is a non-profit organization dedicated to researching the connections between the bible and science, and to educating the public about new discoveries in this area. According to its mission statement, the members of the institute accept the basic tenets of Christianity, but don’t necessarily subscribe to a literal interpretation of the bible. In perusing the site, I got the impression that one of the main goals is to bring about a reconciliation between science and Christianity. But the authors are not afraid to go against some fundamentalist Christian beliefs and views. For example, an article about the age of the earth comes out in favor of the geological evidence which indicates that the earth is probably billions of years old, rather than just a few thousand years old as many Fundamentalist Christians believe.

The scope of the site is indicated by the titles of its major sections: The Bible and Science, Biblical Archaeology, Legends and Mysteries, and History. Articles in the Biblical Archaeology section cover such subjects as the garden of Eden, the ark of the covenant, the Dead Sea scrolls, the date of the exodus, ancient temples, the location of Mount Sinai, and the shroud of Turin. The Legends and Mysteries section contains articles about Atlantis, Bigfoot, crystal skulls, the pyramids of Egypt, dragons, UFOs, and psychic powers. An “Other Views” section allows for dissenting opinions by scholars, skeptics, and even atheists.

One valuable area of the site is its coverage of recent discoveries in biblical archaeology. At the time of my visit, these included the discovery of a 3000 year old Hebrew text, the finding of fragments of early Christian manuscript found in Egyptian monastery, an update on the Codex Sinaiticus Project , and the discovery of the ruins of a massive copper smelting plant from the time of King Solomon.

To visit this website, go to Institute for Biblical and Scientific Studies.

Other Voices Website

Many historic reform movements have begun with the protests of a small group of people, or even a single person. Such protests often stem from of an inequity within the structure of the existing society. When the affected person or group speaks out about the problem, the ruling authorities often see it as a threat to their own power, and they react accordingly. For this reason, the upstart movement is usually suppressed within a short time. But sometimes the dissenting view attracts attention and begins to gain support. If it gets enough supporterss, an initially small movement can ultimately bring about a major reform.

As the Other Voices website points out, the world-wide expansion of the internet has made it practical for people or small groups with dissenting views to reach a large audience without having to spend large sums of money. As a result, modern protest movements may have a better chance to succeed than those of the past. This website is intended to serve as a guide to the different kinds of dissent currently present on the web. It is organized into a directory format with categories such as social causes, alternative news sources, corporate corruption, personal freedom, religious dissent, environmental causes, and alternative healthcare.

One interesting page in the category of religious dissent is a guide to atheism on the web. It lists a number of websites and articles which promote atheistic views, with a brief description of what can be found at each link. Many of the linked items descuss subjects such as errors in the bible, religious violence, forced conversions, tortures of heretics and witches, Christian wealth, and church scandals.

Another page pertaining to religion contains descriptions of various weird beliefs and strange practices. These include the grim reaper, sacred mushrooms, Christian snake handlers, dervishes, religious relics, weeping statues, and demonic possession. There are also some interesting images on this page.

Snopes Urban Legends

Snopes.com is probably the best-known and most comprehensive website relating to American Urban Legends. In addition to serving as a repository for established or classic urban legends, the site also tries to validate and/or debunk newly reported urban legends, internet rumors, e-mail forwards, and other recent stories of uncertain origin. The founders of the site have even invented fake urban legends to test whether the general public would be gullible enough to accept them as real (which in at least one case it apparently did).

According to its Frequently Asked Questions page, the site also analyses common fallacies, political misinformation, old wives’ tales, unusual news stories, celebrity gossip, and similar types of items. It also points out that an urban legend may or may not be based on a real event, but that what really matters is whether large numbers of people believe it to be true.

When I looked over the Religion section of the site, I found stories about such subjects as a phone call from God, California students being forced to pray to Allah, lightning striking a church during a sermon about the wrath of God, a purported attempt to make a clone of Jesus, and scientists drilling a hole almost all the way down to hell and hearing the screams of the damned as they were being tortured down below.

To visit this website, go to Snopes Urban Legends. In addition to the legends, there is also a glossary and a page of odd news stories.

Jesus Police Website

According to its home page, the mission of this site is to rectify commonly-made errors in much of the information put forward about Jesus and his life. However, the page also states that “nothing on this website is intended to prove or disprove whether or not Jesus is God or the Son of God.” In other words, the site claims to take an objective and unbiased approach to the subject.

Many of the articles on the site are listed under the heading of “most common errors”. Subjects include Jesus’ date of birth, his place of birth, the star of Bethlehem, the virginity of Mary, makeup of his family, length of his ministry, his disciples, when he died, how he was crucified, and the empty tomb.

The article on the crucifixion begins by quoting a passage from Cicero which gives some details about the process. The passage states that the victim normally survived on the cross for at least two days, although sometimes the Roman soldiers would hasten the death by breaking the legs, thus preventing the victim from holding himself up in a free-breathing position. The article then presents evidence to show that most victims were tied to the cross, or in cases where nails were used, these were driven through the wrists rather than the hands. The article then discusses various differences between the gospel accounts of Jesus’ crucifixion. Because of these differences, the article concludes that it isn’t possible to determine the exact details of how he was attached to the cross, or the final medical cause of his death.

To visit this site, go to http://www.jesuspolice.com

Committee for Skeptical Inquiry

This website is the online home for the well-known Skeptical Inquirer magazine, which has been continuously published since 1976. However, the site contains many articles and other features not found in the print publication.

Most of the investigated topics fall into the categories of fringe science, paranormal phenomena, ancient mysteries, and claimed supernatural or miraculous religious occurrences. Examples include mythical creatures, ghosts, religious miracles, alternative medicine, relics, fortune telling, foo dogs, ouija boards, voodoo spells, aromatherapy, alien visitors to earth, and homeopathic remedies.

I read an article entitled “The Stigmata of Lilian Bernas”, which tells the story of a modern Canadian woman who has publicly displayed bleeding stigmata wounds on several occasions. According to her, these bleedings always occur on the first Friday of a month. The author of the article, who attended one of her public bleedings, made observations which convinced him that the victim had secretly wounded herself before she appeared before the audience, and therefore concluded that her stigmata were fake.

Other features of this site include short articles called “Skeptical Briefs”, a section named the “Intelligent Design Watch”, an archive of back issues of the magazine, book reviews, and a gallery. To visit this website, go to The Skeptical Inquirer

My impression is that the authors of the site (and the magazine) tend to use a fairly strict scientific approach to the subjects they investigate. As they state on their “About Us” page, they “do not reject claims on a priori grounds, antecedent to inquiry, but examine them objectively and carefully.”