Why do "skeptics" and the religious folks get so worked up or poke fun at psychic phenomenon?

Question

It's not a new trend, but why do some people seem to take personal offense with or feel they are superior and/or want to poke fun at those who have a serious curiosity and interest in the subject of psychic phenomenon?

Answer 1

I think there are 2 types of people out there:
1. People who want to know-These are the kind who tend to continue going to school, asking questions about everything and want to believe everythign is possible.
2. People who dont want to know- These are the kind who are perfectly content to know what little they already know have to interest in expanding their knowledge. They already know everything about everythign and cannot be compelled to think otherwise.
I think its because people tend to be afraid of what they do not know about. And when people get scared they get defensive.

Answer 2

Well, I'm neither a "skeptic" nor a religious person, but I think the answer is probably largely in the fact that so many people who believe in psychic phenomena are so hiliariously ignorant, and unaware of how ignorant their claims make them look. I wouldn't say that it's generally funny when people reveal their limitations, but let's face it, psychic believers are, as a whole, pretty funny to watch. It's hard not to enjoy poking fun of them.

I'm a bit surprised to see the indignation and accusations of satan worship from the religious folks in response to the psychic believers, though. That seems remarkably ironic, as from the outside (as it were), it looks for all the world like the astrologers and the Christian fundamentalists are pretty much the same thing. It's like finding out that people with one kind of boil all over their bodies think that they're okay as long as they don't have the other kind of boil all over their bodies.

Answer 3

As you know, most people who don't believe in psychic phenomenon are either skeptics or religious folk. Now I think most skeptics want to base things on scientific measurements. They want to explain things in a lab. If you can't recreate the event then it isn't real (maybe your psychic subjects are just loonies). Religious folk say that "if it aint in the bible (or other religious book), it aint true". Everyone likes to poke fun at ideas that are different than their own, especially when they don't have enough smarts to make logical arguments against it. My psychic abilities tell me that was the answer you were looking for and I will be greatly rewarded.

Answer 4

I can only speak for myself, a spiritualist and scientist. I am all for being open-minded as I can benefit from knowledge that can help me to grow. But I think that those who believe in psychic phenomena take the extreme sense of the term to heart and tend to rely on faith. That's what is astonishing about your assertion that religious folks are included with the skeptics.

You see, I need to feel that something is proven before I can believe in it. Like when someone would say to wrap up the bread when you are done because it will go stale if you don't. I can believe that because I have had enough experiences that show that to be true.

The human ability to deceive not withstanding, it is still a leap of faith to believe that we are visited by aliens, that Bigfoot or Yeti roam the most sparsely populated regions of North America and Asia, that we can communicate with the dead, and so on. The believers thrive in the fact that what they feel is true is untestable by the tools of science as they exist at the "cutting edge" of technological advancement.

As a scientist I'm also unable to completely throw out the possibility that those phenomena exist. But since I don't have the metaphoric loaf of bread to test them with, then I have to catalog them as very unlikely until proven otherwise.

Answer 5

First don't generalize.
Second, the definition of terms often defines the discussion.
For instance- if you tell certain people about "psychic abilities" they shut you down as evil or wrong. Yet, discuss with the same people how certain Saints could levitate, project themselves to different locations, or bleed from the Stigmata, and they accept it without question.

So define terms. For example- "Do certain people have abilities that cannot be readily be explained by currently known science?"

Certain people will answer yes others NO!

Change the question to "Can God grant certain abilities to people the he/she/it doesn't grant to others?" And the same people may change their answers.

I like to look at it this way- 5,000 yrs ago the gods or Nature controlled everything.

2,000 years ago a lot of people thought the earth was the universe and flat. (Some alas still do but I digress...)

1,000 years ago evil and good battled for the world.

500 years ago the natural sciences ruled.

100 years ago science was thought to explain everything.

Look at science as it developed with the huge changes- religion rarely changes yet more and more often things converge, even as they change.

The best example I ever heard was a priest/theologian who said why should anyone think God was forced to stop creating things after "7 days"? Why can't we simply accept that most of what happens around us still can't be seen, measured, or understood, wether for religious, scientific, metaphysical or other reasons.

I always apply both religious and scientific principles to psychic phenomena- not to force it to fit my own preconceptions of reality- but to look at it with as wide a lens as possible to try and understand it. (Of course that view point would have gotten me burned at the stake not too many years ago- and still will in the eyes of way too many people alive today.

But the terms you place on something usually defines how well others accept it or agree with you.

But I must ask, are you looking for agreement, vindication, or truth?

Since a basic truth is this- No matter how "right" you are, you'll always be "wrong" to someone who doesn't agree with you. So live with it....smile.

As with any GOOD question, any answer generates more questions then it answers.

Answer 6

As a skeptic, I'll tell you that my complaints are that those making grand claims refuse to submit them to objective evaluation, and that believers accept the claims even when the unreliability of the claims are amply shown. If you've got what you say you've got, you should be able to prove it in a way that defies any other explanation.
My skepticism extends to those who say such things are impossible; we don't know that with any real certainty. But healthy thinkers do not accept as fact what seems true, only what can be factually demonstrated.

Answer 7

good question. i guess since they believe in something absurd to other people it makes them feel better when they can make fun of a group too. kind of like kids. one gets teased for a while then another one dorkier then him coems along and he joins in the teasing now. even though he knows what it feels like. you think the religious folk wouldnt being as they SHOULD be mature about things. but not everyone can be i guess. phychic phenomenon always interested me though.

Answer 8

The very existance of psychic phenomenon counters their core beliefs. If it exists - they are wrong about some very important things.

Answer 9

because i think that Christians believe that "psychic phenomenon" are those who study to read minds of people and Christians think that that is demonic because that person has to have some kind of concussion on him/her to read the minds of people and Christians don't believe in mind readers

Answer 10

Tolerance. That is the simplest answer.

Point of View: How many different beliefs are there in the world? Untold numbers. And each one thinks theirs is right. (myself included) So many people like to make fun of those they think are inferior. A sad human trait. I think competitiveness has a lot to do with it...