The management group of my company had a Christmas Party yesterday. The 12 of us were having a good time with good food and drinks. A couple of hours in one of my colleagues said that one of our universities have started to teach water divining (dowsing) as part of one of their subjects (Swinburne for my aussie friends - and I will look into this!). He said that one of his skeptical staff witnessed one of the "teachers" and was convinced.
Normally I would have just let this go, but I did have a few drinks. I spoke about the MDC and how dowsing was nothing but BS. After a few minutes of supporting dowsing, one of my colleagues, who I would have thought was very sensible, then said "anyway, I can dream of things which happen in the future". "Tell me more" I asked and she told me a story of how she dreamed that one of her staff (50 plus) was pregnant. She went to her and asked if her daughter in law was pregnant. No was the answer, but a few days later she was pregnant, so the dream came true!
Ok, I saw the lie of the land and was about to drop the subject when my boss started to talk about the "healing hands" of her cousin. BS was my response.
Finally another manager, who I thought was the most sensible of all then asked "Well how can you explain the miracles of Jesus Christ?". I started to talk about the lack of primary source evidence of the actual existence of the man, but said "Well I have no problems with your faith" only to be told that I was wrong about everything. I will not go into the abysmal lack of knowlegde of the gospels of this person.
Anyway, in my attempt to maintain a skeptical stance that night, I was treated as a pain in the ass. I know I should have shut up and let the party go on, but, probably because of my involvement in the JREF couldn't let it go.
So how do you all respond to such ignorant superstition in a social environment, particularly with work colleagues?
Normally I would have just let this go, but I did have a few drinks. I spoke about the MDC and how dowsing was nothing but BS. After a few minutes of supporting dowsing, one of my colleagues, who I would have thought was very sensible, then said "anyway, I can dream of things which happen in the future". "Tell me more" I asked and she told me a story of how she dreamed that one of her staff (50 plus) was pregnant. She went to her and asked if her daughter in law was pregnant. No was the answer, but a few days later she was pregnant, so the dream came true!
Ok, I saw the lie of the land and was about to drop the subject when my boss started to talk about the "healing hands" of her cousin. BS was my response.
Finally another manager, who I thought was the most sensible of all then asked "Well how can you explain the miracles of Jesus Christ?". I started to talk about the lack of primary source evidence of the actual existence of the man, but said "Well I have no problems with your faith" only to be told that I was wrong about everything. I will not go into the abysmal lack of knowlegde of the gospels of this person.
Anyway, in my attempt to maintain a skeptical stance that night, I was treated as a pain in the ass. I know I should have shut up and let the party go on, but, probably because of my involvement in the JREF couldn't let it go.
So how do you all respond to such ignorant superstition in a social environment, particularly with work colleagues?
Is this the inevitable lot of the skeptic? If so is it worth it?
Was it you that didn't want to go with them aymore, or did they actually not invite you out because of what you said?
