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NMSR is a non-profit group with the goals of promoting science, the scientific method, rational thinking, and critical examination of dubious or extraordinary claims. NMSR meets at 7 PM on the second Wednesday of each month. NMSR Reports is its official newsletter.
Membership: $25/year, includes hardcopy newsletter, or $15/year, includes e-mail edition of newsletter. Make check payable to NMSR, send to NMSR Treasurer (Deborah Thomas), at 3205 Alcazar NE, Albuquerque, NM 87110
New Mexicans for Science and Reason (NMSR) consists of individuals, including scientists and non-professionals alike, who share the goals of promoting genuine science, the scientific method, and rational and critical thinking. We share a sense of wonder at both the marvels of the universe, and at the majestic scientific theories which describe these marvels so elegantly and accurately. We are often called a "Skeptics" group, although we aren't the kind of skeptics who refuse to believe anything, even in the light of compelling evidence. Rather, we tentatively accept those findings which are supported by the data. Though our eyes can't see electrons, for example, our instruments can detect them, our theories predict their behavior, and thus they are quite "real" to us. We are skeptical, however, of those groups who misuse and misrepresent science. We oppose the use of fabrication, flawed logic, distortion of facts, and pseudoscientific propaganda by any and all groups who twist science to suit their own ends, whether they are creationists, advocates of intelligent design, proponents of the idea that aliens crashed at Roswell, extreme academic cultural critics who deny objective reality, or promoters of unproved claims such as therapeutic touch, psychic "DNA Activation," telepathy, astrology, channeling, precognition, crystal healing, cold fusion, tapping of zero-point energy, and perpetual motion machines. NMSR is a science organization; it is not a civil liberties or an anti-religious organization. Several of our members, like scientists in general, belong to various religious groups. We see no inherent conflict between science and religion, in that science concerns the natural world (the one accessible to our senses and instruments), while religion concerns the possibility of a supernatural world accessible only through faith. While we respect and cherish religious freedom, we stand ready to challenge those who promote bad science to further their goals, religious or otherwise. In addition to monthly meetings and publication of NMSR Reports, NMSR members work with government officials, other science groups, and print and broadcast media in efforts to promote science and reason. NMSR also works with national groups including the Committee for the Scientific Investigation of Claims of the Paranormal (CSICOP), publisher of Skeptical Inquirer (Box 703, Amherst, NY, 14228-2743, (716) 636-1425), and the National Center for Science Education, a national pro-science organization (P.O. Box 9477, Berkeley, CA 94709, 1-800-290-6006). |
