About
Who are we?
Central Ohioans for Rational Inquiry (CORI) is a newly revived skeptic group in Columbus, Ohio. Our members come from a wide range of ages, religious backgrounds and philosophical beliefs, and we welcome both new and experienced skeptics alike.
What do we do?
We organize social meetups, speaking events and volunteering opportunities, as well as provide resources for the community to learn more about scientific skepticism and critical thinking. Our most regular social night is Drinking Skeptically, which happens every third Saturday of the month. We also hosted a SkeptiCamp in May of 2009 and are planning another one for 2010.
What is skepticism?
Skepticism is the method of using critical thinking and evidence-based examination to understand the world. As Carl Sagan said: “Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence.” This is the heart of skepticism.
For example, if someone claims she has a pet hamster, that claim does not require much proof; it seems reasonable, since many people have hamsters as pets. Now if that person were to claim that her pet hamster is able to speak French, and at night creeps down to the kitchen and cooks French toast, extraordinary evidence would be required. Anecdotal evidence would not be sufficient.
Subjects that skepticism investigates and questions include homeopathy, psychic powers, creationism, astrology, cryptozoology, dowsing, UFOs and many others.
Although there may be an overlap in philosophy with atheism and humanism, we do not make claims concerning the existence of a god. We deal with religion only when it makes testable claims, e.g. miracles, creationism, etc. God, by definition, is supernatural and is outside the scope of scientific inquiry.