Penn & Teller really captured with words what James Randi was all about in S.I. magazine. Here's an excerpt
Quote:Randi proved being a skeptic is fun. The skeptical community into which Randi came was full of serious scholars. Excellent scientists but not really showmen. Randi convinced the world that the skeptical approach is a blast. He wrote and performed with joyful, stinging, defiant wit. He gave skepticism all the fun and romance of a daredevil magic show. He showed how advocating science can be wicked fun, rebellious, full of high adventure, spy-movie derring-do, and laughs.
Randi proved you could be skeptical without ever being cynical. Randi never hypothesized the worst in people. He never gave up on humanity. He didn’t believe in evil. He trusted and he loved. He was always kind. Randi was the world’s most famous skeptic, but he was never skeptical of love. Randi knew it existed, and Randi’s whole being proved it. Love was in Randi’s eyes and his smile. Randi had love enough for everyone. [...] And there are many millions more whose world was made better by Randi in every medium. That won’t stop. His wisdom, genius, and love will live on for a good long time. Randi proved to us that we really can make the world better. He did it.
teachings of the Bible are so muddled and self-contradictory that it was possible for Christians to happily burn heretics alive for five long centuries. It was even possible for the most venerated patriarchs of the Church, like St. Augustine and St. Thomas Aquinas, to conclude that heretics should be tortured (Augustine) or killed outright (Aquinas). Martin Luther and John Calvin advocated the wholesale murder of heretics, apostates, Jews, and witches. - Sam Harris, "Letter To A Christian Nation"
