Post Conference Thoughts
Brad MacClure - 25 November 2024
About a week ago (November 16th-17th 2024, for those reading way in the future) we held our annual NZ Skeptics conference, and for the first time the conference was a joint effort with the New Zealand Association of Rationalists and Humanists (NZARH).
Joining with the NZARH for a conference, it turns out, was a stroke of genius in multiple ways. We shared a broader cross section of speakers and topics, with a slightly broader cross section of attendees. For example, noticeable were references to religious harm. Several attendees, and indeed a couple of speakers at our conference, were fresh from the “Decult” conference held in Christchurch four weeks earlier.
Craig Hoyle, for example, spoke to us about his experience being excommunicated from the Exclusive Brethren church for being gay. It was a moving and informative talk; Craig spoke without looking at notes or a powerpoint, which to me made it feel all the more personal, and I learned a lot. A different perspective on being religious and also gay came from Michael (formerly Father Michael) Bancroft. Michael called his talk “Changing Collars - a journey out of the closet and the priesthood”.
Gavin Ellis kicked things off at the conference with an alarming and realistic discussion about the state of journalism in the world, and in particular New Zealand, today. Niki Harré spoke to us about “The role of emotions and values in social change”. We had an interesting talk from Tim Welch about traffic and transportation, showing us how our intuitions about that topic can be very wrong.
We had what can only be described as an impassioned talk about Havana Syndrome and mass psychogenic illness from Robert Bartholomew, and a very fascinating talk from Tarsha McKean on “CRISPR Gene Editing and Ethics”.
There were more speakers, too many to list. Suffice to say that if you’re reading this and you didn’t attend the conference, you should think about coming along in the future. The conferences are good value for money, and there’s always something for everyone. Lunch and coffee breaks are provided too.
On Saturday evening at the dinner we were entertained by Dr Joel Rindelaub (AKA “Dr Joel”), a senior lecturer at Auckland University who by night is a rapper and stand-up comedian, with whom the science education never stops it seems! He’s very good, and well worth a listen.
On Sunday afternoon we had a live recording of the “Yeah-Nah” podcast, the “official podcast of the New Zealand Skeptics” (still no word on the unofficial one).
During recording we also announced the skeptic’s award recipients. Here’s a summary of the awards:
NZ Skeptics Awards
Bent Spoon
As ‘runner-up’ to the Bent Spoon we have chosen the current NZ coalition government.
Their repeal of the Therapeutic Products Act, which in our opinion was at least moving in the right direction with regard to regulating alternative medicine, is a big disappointment. In place of the TGA, the coalition government now plans to work with natural health practitioners on creating a new Act for regulating natural health products. This will give undeserved, unearned credibility to practitioners of alternative treatments, is a step backward, and is very likely to cause harm.
However, our Bent Spoon for 2024 goes to someone with more authority in New Zealand than our government - King Charles. His dedication to promoting pseudoscientific alternative medicine has been ongoing for decades. We now know that for years he’s been involved in lobbying the UK government to support homeopathy through the NHS - as the Black Spider letters revealed when they were released. Sadly his elevation to King has not stopped his support of this, and more dangerous, nonsense. You only have to read the article Louise wrote for our newsletter earlier this year to see the long relationship he’s had with bad science.
After his coronation, it was revealed that King Charles had appointed a homeopathy-prescribing doctor as the head of the royal medical household. Dr Michael Dixon is also a keen advocate of Thought Field Therapy (a modality very similar to EFT - Emotional Freedom Technique - where “acupressure” points are tapped), herbal remedies, and faith healing as medical treatments.
In June this year, Charles confirmed that he will continue in his role as Patron of the “Faculty of Homeopathy” in the UK, a position he’s held since 2019. To many, this will be seen as official royal approval of homeopathy as a treatment, even though it’s never been proven to be effective for any medical condition. And, of course, homeopathy’s claims such as water having memory and “like curing like” are utterly scientifically implausible.
Just last week, after a visit to Australia, King Charles visited a controversial wellness centre in Bangalore, India - and this was not his, or Camilla’s, first visit. Soukya offers a long list of unproven treatments at high prices, including Ayurveda, Homeopathy, Naturopathy, Acupuncture and Reflexology, and claims that it can treat around 100 serious health conditions with these therapies. The very public reporting of the visit has doubtless raised the profile of this dubious business.
When Prince Charles became King Charles he failed to stop promoting harmful pseudoscience, instead choosing to use his new role to support the same causes he was criticised by medical experts for supporting while he was the Prince of Wales. And, for this, we award King Charles with this year’s New Zealand Skeptics Bent Spoon award.
Bravos
Each year the New Zealand Skeptics recognise a number of media professionals and those with a high public profile who have provided food for thought, critical analysis and important information on topics of relevance to our interests.The NZ Skeptics are pleased to recognise excellence where it occurs, with our annual Bravo Awards. This year, we are recognising the collective efforts of the team at The Press for an exceptional year of reporting on cults in the Canterbury region and their clear support of the DeCult conference and providing a platform for survivors to share their stories.
In particular, we want to knowledge the following reporters:
Martin Van Beynen for his April 6th expose, Bernie Prior: The Governors Bay guru
Sinead Gill for her articles on the Catholic sect, Sons of the Most Holy Redeemer and on the DeCult conference
Tatiana Gibbs and Philip Matthews for their work on DeCult
Skeptic of the Year
Our annual Skeptic of the Year award is given to someone in New Zealand who’s been working at the coal-face, fighting against the rising tide of pseudoscience and bad beliefs prevalent in our society. The award comes with a year’s free membership to the NZ Skeptics and a $250 cash prize.
This year’s Skeptic of the Year award goes to Anke Richter, who has shone a light on the murky world of cults, ensuring that New Zealanders are better informed and less likely to be sucked in by a guru, and that better support is available for those who are trying to leave. Her tireless work this year, preparing and running the recent Decult conference in Christchurch, was a labour of love. Anke has deep concern for those who have been abused by cult groups, something that sadly happens all too often in New Zealand to unwitting victims.
So that’s it! A great wee conference, excellent value for money, and if you didn’t attend this year we’d love to see you there next year.