{"id":3766,"date":"2008-04-21T12:00:00","date_gmt":"2008-04-21T12:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/2008\/04\/the-gullible-as-jury-for-the-scientific\/"},"modified":"2008-04-21T12:00:00","modified_gmt":"2008-04-21T12:00:00","slug":"the-gullible-as-jury-for-the-scientific","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/2008\/04\/the-gullible-as-jury-for-the-scientific.html","title":{"rendered":"The Gullible As Jury For The Scientific"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

It is no surprise that pseudoscience and rumor can lure in so many people in our time. How many people in our time cannot tell that the following two e-mails (reproduced below) are spam, and worse, attempts to get their personal information? We expect them to be able to distinguish between authentic scientific inquiry and pseudoscience marketed as the real thing? Is that realistic?<\/p>\n

___________<\/p>\n

Connection-Colonial Bank Renewal<\/p>\n

Certificate Renewal
Personal (Smartcard) e-Cert & Personal e-Cert
Certificate owner must renew the certificate before expiry date.
Your certificate expiration date \u2013 1may 2008.
The system will send email (Certificate Renewal Notice) to the certificate owner ten
days and 3 hours before the certificate is due to expire, if it has not been renewed.
Upon receiving the renewal notice, certificate owner is required to connect to
Colonial Bank Certificate Management System and present the client certificate.
Secure Server e-Cert & Developer e-Cert
Certificate owner has the responsibility to renew the certificate before expiry date.
Successful renewed application will receive an email notification from Colonial Bank.
Applicant can just browse to the URL stated in the email and then download the certificate.<\/p>\n

Download now>><\/p>\n

2003 Colonial Bank, N.A.<\/p>\n

___________<\/p>\n

Chris Mennoh
Koumassi \u2013 Abidjan,
Cote d\u2019Ivoire.<\/p>\n

I and my younger sister (Evelyn) are living in Ivory Coast (Cote d\u2019Ivoire), a West African country, but we want to come and live in your country. We need your help to receive us when we come but firstly, we need to transfer our inheritance fund and we need you to receive the money in your account for us. The money belonged to our late father, who was a Diamond dealer before his death.<\/p>\n

We are Liberians but came with our father to Cote d\u2019Ivoire when there was war in Liberia. Sadly, our father died from bullet wounds sustained when he was shot by criminals suspected to have been hired by his business associates while on business trip and he died in a hospital two days later. This sad event left us without parents because our mother died while delivering my younger sister in 1989. We hope you are in a good position to help us to receive this money and when we come, we will discuss how to invest it in your country.<\/p>\n

Please for security reasons, I cannot disclose much information to you now until we hear from you and you assure us that we can have your trust. When the money is transferred, my sister and I will come to live in your country and you can assist in investing the money. Please we hope to receive your reply to our request as soon as you read this email. God bless you.<\/p>\n

Chris Mennoh.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/div>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It is no surprise that pseudoscience and rumor can lure in so many people in our time. How many people in our time cannot tell that the following two e-mails (reproduced below) are spam, and worse, attempts to get their personal information? We expect them to be able to distinguish between authentic scientific inquiry and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":136,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3766","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nThe Gullible As Jury For The Scientific<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"It is no surprise that pseudoscience and rumor can lure in so many people in our time. How many people in our time cannot tell that the following two\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/2008\/04\/the-gullible-as-jury-for-the-scientific.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Gullible As Jury For The Scientific\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"It is no surprise that pseudoscience and rumor can lure in so many people in our time. How many people in our time cannot tell that the following two\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/2008\/04\/the-gullible-as-jury-for-the-scientific.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Religion Prof: The Blog of James F. McGrath\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:author\" content=\"http:\/\/www.facebook.com\/religionprof\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2008-04-21T12:00:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/blogger.googleusercontent.com\/tracker\/7622297540113836091-3110167922723050783?l=exploringourmatrix.blogspot.com\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"James F. McGrath\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@ReligionProf\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"James F. McGrath\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/2008\/04\/the-gullible-as-jury-for-the-scientific.html\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/2008\/04\/the-gullible-as-jury-for-the-scientific.html\",\"name\":\"The Gullible As Jury For The Scientific\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2008-04-21T12:00:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2008-04-21T12:00:00+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/#\/schema\/person\/78342576667b872e3d259c153ce4c5bf\"},\"description\":\"It is no surprise that pseudoscience and rumor can lure in so many people in our time. How many people in our time cannot tell that the following two\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/2008\/04\/the-gullible-as-jury-for-the-scientific.html#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/2008\/04\/the-gullible-as-jury-for-the-scientific.html\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/2008\/04\/the-gullible-as-jury-for-the-scientific.html#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"The Gullible As Jury For The Scientific\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/\",\"name\":\"Religion Prof: The Blog of James F. McGrath\",\"description\":\"The Blog of Dr. James F. McGrath, Clarence L. Goodwin Chair in New Testament Language and Literature at Butler University, Indianapolis\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/#\/schema\/person\/78342576667b872e3d259c153ce4c5bf\",\"name\":\"James F. McGrath\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/88ca096942acd474313f7ef4227a49da?s=96&d=identicon&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/88ca096942acd474313f7ef4227a49da?s=96&d=identicon&r=g\",\"caption\":\"James F. McGrath\"},\"description\":\"Clarence L. Goodwin Chair in New Testament Language and Literature at Butler University in Indianapolis, Indiana, USA. BD University of London, PhD Durham University. Author of John's Apologetic Christology, The Only True God, Theology and Science Fiction, and The Burial of Jesus, as well as (with Charles Haberl of Rutgers University) the two-volume Mandaean Book of John critical edition, translation, and commentary. Also author of numerous articles (and a few science fiction short stories) and the editor or co-editor of several volumes.\",\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/amzn.to\/3Ge8ul5\",\"http:\/\/www.facebook.com\/religionprof\/\",\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/jamesfmcgrath\/\",\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/jfmcgrat\/\",\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/ReligionProf\",\"http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/religionprof\",\"https:\/\/soundcloud.com\/religionprof\",\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/James_F._McGrath\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/author\/james-f-mcgrath\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"The Gullible As Jury For The Scientific","description":"It is no surprise that pseudoscience and rumor can lure in so many people in our time. How many people in our time cannot tell that the following two","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/2008\/04\/the-gullible-as-jury-for-the-scientific.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"The Gullible As Jury For The Scientific","og_description":"It is no surprise that pseudoscience and rumor can lure in so many people in our time. How many people in our time cannot tell that the following two","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/2008\/04\/the-gullible-as-jury-for-the-scientific.html","og_site_name":"Religion Prof: The Blog of James F. McGrath","article_author":"http:\/\/www.facebook.com\/religionprof\/","article_published_time":"2008-04-21T12:00:00+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"https:\/\/blogger.googleusercontent.com\/tracker\/7622297540113836091-3110167922723050783?l=exploringourmatrix.blogspot.com"}],"author":"James F. McGrath","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@ReligionProf","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"James F. McGrath","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/2008\/04\/the-gullible-as-jury-for-the-scientific.html","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/2008\/04\/the-gullible-as-jury-for-the-scientific.html","name":"The Gullible As Jury For The Scientific","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/#website"},"datePublished":"2008-04-21T12:00:00+00:00","dateModified":"2008-04-21T12:00:00+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/#\/schema\/person\/78342576667b872e3d259c153ce4c5bf"},"description":"It is no surprise that pseudoscience and rumor can lure in so many people in our time. How many people in our time cannot tell that the following two","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/2008\/04\/the-gullible-as-jury-for-the-scientific.html#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/2008\/04\/the-gullible-as-jury-for-the-scientific.html"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/2008\/04\/the-gullible-as-jury-for-the-scientific.html#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"The Gullible As Jury For The Scientific"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/","name":"Religion Prof: The Blog of James F. McGrath","description":"The Blog of Dr. James F. McGrath, Clarence L. Goodwin Chair in New Testament Language and Literature at Butler University, Indianapolis","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/#\/schema\/person\/78342576667b872e3d259c153ce4c5bf","name":"James F. McGrath","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/88ca096942acd474313f7ef4227a49da?s=96&d=identicon&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/88ca096942acd474313f7ef4227a49da?s=96&d=identicon&r=g","caption":"James F. McGrath"},"description":"Clarence L. Goodwin Chair in New Testament Language and Literature at Butler University in Indianapolis, Indiana, USA. BD University of London, PhD Durham University. Author of John's Apologetic Christology, The Only True God, Theology and Science Fiction, and The Burial of Jesus, as well as (with Charles Haberl of Rutgers University) the two-volume Mandaean Book of John critical edition, translation, and commentary. Also author of numerous articles (and a few science fiction short stories) and the editor or co-editor of several volumes.","sameAs":["https:\/\/amzn.to\/3Ge8ul5","http:\/\/www.facebook.com\/religionprof\/","https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/jamesfmcgrath\/","https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/jfmcgrat\/","https:\/\/twitter.com\/ReligionProf","http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/religionprof","https:\/\/soundcloud.com\/religionprof","https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/James_F._McGrath"],"url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/author\/james-f-mcgrath"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3766","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/136"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3766"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3766\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3766"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3766"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3766"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}