Forty-eight prominent skeptics (real ones!) from the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry have signed a statement calling on the media to stop using the term “skeptic” to describe those who deny scientific reality. The list includes our very own Richard Saunders and Dick Smith as well as such notables as Daniel Dennett, James Randi and Edzard Ernst.

As Fellows of the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry, we are concerned that the words “skeptic” and “denier” have been conflated by the popular media. Proper skepticism promotes scientific inquiry, critical investigation, and the use of reason in examining controversial and extraordinary claims. It is foundational to the scientific method. Denial, on the other hand, is the a priori rejection of ideas without objective consideration.

Read the rest of the statement here: Deniers are not Skeptics.

The Climate Change Denier cartoon is from Cakeburger.