woo

[dreamer_easy]

Discovered the term "woo" at a particularly smug militant atheist blog this morning. Can't quite work out if it refers to falsifiable superstition and/or divisive OTWism, or to all forms of spirituality. These things are always confusing when you're a naturalist freethinker up to your elbows in gods. Require advice.

(Also need advice on an alternative term for "militant atheists" so as not to piss off majority of atheists who are not ignorant evangelising twerps. In the meantime here's something we can both enjoy: Fred Nile nosedives after distributing Islamophobic "survey". OWAG.)

ETA: By a circuitous route, however, that annoying blog did lead me to Dr. Scudder's Tales for Little Readers About the Heathen.

Comments

[zombie-buddha.livejournal.com]

I first heard 'woo' at Phil Plait's Bad Astronomy Blog, and he's usually pretty good about seperating religion (personal matter) from falsifiable superstition, so I'm pretty sure it's intended to refer to homeopathy, astrology, mayan calender/2012 nonsense, interventionist prayer, antivaxxing, psychic powers etc. People being what they are, it's pretty likely that someone out there is using it to refer to religion, though.

[kateorman.livejournal.com]

Ta for this! I'm a great believer in Stephen Jay Gould's "Non-Overlapping Magisteria", the equivalent of the imaginary line down the middle of a car separating the siblings in the back seat. When snake oil merchants make testable but untested claims, and when evangelical atheists make untestable claims, they're over the line. Don't make me turn this car around! :D