Reason Project

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The Reason Project has launched their website. For those of you unfamiliar with the Reason Project:The Reason Project is a 501©(3) nonprofit foundation devoted to spreading scientific knowledge and secular values in society. Drawing on the talents of the most prominent and creative thinkers across a wide range of disciplines, The Reason Project seeks to encourage critical thinking and wise public policy through a variety of interrelated projects. The foundation will convene conferences, produce films, sponsor scientific studies and opinion polls, publish original research, award grants to other charitable organizations, and offer material support to religious dissidents and public intellectuals — all with the purpose of eroding the influence of dogmatism, superstition, and bigotry in our world.While the foundation is devoted to fostering critical thinking generally, we believe that religious ideas require a special focus. Both science and the arts are built upon cultures of vigorous self-criticism; religious discourse is not. As a result, unwarranted religious beliefs still reign unchallenged in almost every society on earth—dividing humanity from itself, inflaming conflict, preventing wise public policy, and diverting scarce resources. One of the primary goals of The Reason Project is to change this increasingly unhealthy status quo.One of the great resources is the scripture project which is an annotated database of the Bible, the Qur'an and the Book of Mormon that catalogs the absurdities, contradictions, and some other interesting categories in each of the texts. They are also running a video contest with a $10K prize. You can also read a teaser regarding some ongoing research into the neurobiology of religious belief being conducted by some of the *very best* neuroscientists in southern california.