James Randi

James Randi (born Randall James Hamilton Zwinge 7 August 1928 in Toronto, Canada), often known as The Amazing Randi, is a stage magician, skeptic, and an opponent of pseudoscience. He also is editor and primary author of Swift, the James Randi Educational Foundation's weekly online publication.

[edit] Sourced

I suggest that we might want to depose this incumbent God and start dealing with The Real World. He's proven — time and again — to be cruel, capricious, and vindictive. He drowns, crushes, burns, and starves millions of us every day. He created cancer, viruses, and germs to invade and destroy our bodies as He sees fit, and uses them very effectively. In His wisdom, He directed those in charge to impede stem cell research so that such a powerful approach would not be available to us and He wouldn't have to strain the Divine Intellect to disarm that defense. We amuse Him as we flail about vainly trying to appease Him. I vote that we dump Him.
- Swift, 2 September 2005, "Off-Subject But Necessary"; in response to efforts to deflect Hurricane Katrina by prayer

… it's time for the opening lecture in Test Design 101: Consider: a woman claims to be a musician. You seat her at a piano and demand that she prove her claim. She cannot play the piano, and you conclude that her claim has been invalidated. Hardly. You see, the lady is a cellist….
You cannot challenge a claimant to do something they've never claimed they can do. That's why, at the JREF, we design a protocol only after the applicant has clearly stated (a) what they can do, (b) under what conditions, and (c) with what expected degree of success. And, the applicant must find the protocol appropriate, fair, agreeable, and adequate to prove their claim.
- Swift, 21 October 2005, "Good Intentions"; about testing paranormal claims

Uri Geller may have psychic powers by means of which he can bend spoons; if so, he appears to be doing it the hard way.
- An Encyclopedia of Claims, Frauds, and Hoaxes of the Occult and Supernatural

Sir, there is a distinct difference between having an open mind and having a hole in your head from which your brain leaks out.
- Swift, 30 December 2005, "McGill University Featuring Pseudoscience"
- http://www.fortwayne.com/mld/journalgazette/living/17126222.htm April 24, 2007

The conjuror or con man is a very good provider of information. He supplies lots of data, by inference or direct statement, but it's false data. Scientists aren't used to that scenario. An electron or a galaxy is not capricious, nor deceptive; but a human can be either or both.
- Swift, 2 September 2005, "Another New Fan"

"Concerning the challenge, I always have an 'out': I'm right!" (According to a personal communication with Randi, this is what he actually said, which was misquoted in Fate.)

"I do not expect that homeopathy will ever be established as a legitimate form of treatment, but I do expect that it will continue to be popular."
"Feeling better is not actually being better."
"Heroin also makes people feel better, but I wouldn't recommend using heroin."

"I regard Randi as a national treasure, and perhaps one of the remaining antidotes that may prevent the rotting of the American mind." -Arthur C. Clarke

"Paranormal phenomena have a habit of going away whenever they are tested under rigorous conditions. This is why the $1,000,000 reward of James Randi, offered to anyone who can demonstrate a paranormal effect under proper scientific controls, is safe." — Richard Dawkins

"We may disagree with Randi on certain points, but we ignore him at our peril." — Carl Sagan

Everyone who believes in telekinesis, raise my hand.
- Swift, 15 March 2002, closing line
- Randi has stated (in an email dated July 11, 2006) that he did not coin this phrase, and he doesn't know who did
- Earlier attribution: "All of you out there who believe in telepathy, raise your hand. All right. Now, everyone who believes in telekinesis...raise MY hand."
  - Dennis Owens, morning host of WGMS-FM radio, "Material from the one-liner file", USENET: rec.humor.funny, 17 September 1992

Atheism is a religion like not collecting stamps is a hobby.
- Swift, 13 January 2006.
- This quote is often attributed to Randi. While he quoted it with approval in Swift, the coinage is of an "anonymous reader".

Wikipedia has an article about:

James Randi