Head lugejad, eriti need, kes meie seadustest üht-teist teavad ja/või mittetulundussektoriga lähemalt kokku on puutunud. Allpool on lugeda kiri, milles palutakse meie abi meie seaduste tutvustamisel. Osadele asjadele saan talle muidugi ise vastata, kuid osadest asjadest puudub mul täpsem ülevaade ja seepärast siin abi palun.

Kui võimalik, palun kirjuta inglise keeles, kui mitte, siis muidugi selles keeles, milles end mugavalt tunned ja ma pööran olulise info talle hiljem inglise keelde. Kirjutada võib siinsamas kommentaarides, aga kui soovid miskit sellist öelda, mida avalikult kommentaaris ei soovi väljendada, siis kirjuta mulle otse aadressile martinv[ät]skeptik.ee.

Good morning,

I am writing for some information about your organisations and the situation of atheist and humanist groups in Estonia. I’m a researcher in law and currently I am studying the issue of atheism and humanism in Europe (I’m going to write a scientific paper about this).

In particular, I’m trying to analyse the legal treatment of secularist organisations in European countries (for example, if they are treated as religious/non denominational organisations, or as non profit associations, NGOs, etc.; if they can benefit from tax exemptions etc.)

I’d be very grateful if you could give me some information about your country, such as:
– is your organisation a registered association? under which type of legislation? Is there any law regulating the recognition and registration of religious organisations and have you tried to register your organisation under this legislation? Do religious associations benefit of a particular legal treatment, and do you have any possibility to gain this type of special treatment as a philosophical/non-confessional organisation?
– Do you have a statute and is there a english/french version of this?
– Do you know if there is any judgement or specific legislation about atheism or humanism in Estonia, and if any relevant document has been translated in English or French? Or where I can search for this?

Thank you for your attention,
kind regards,

Stella Coglievina, Ph.D
Università dell’Insubria Como – Italy

Good news: Three of the contestants approached the Estonian Skeptics Society to have their abilities properly tested. No prizes, no media, just scientific testing.

The experiment began on a lovely summer evening. 19 different fairly common items had been brought together, all clearly distinguishable and from different areas of life. Inside a garden house sat a “transmitter” — a person whose job it would be to take a random item from the pile and to telepathically transmit information about the item to a test subject sitting outside. The telepathic transmitter was accompanied by a member of the skeptics who wrote down the objects that were being telepathically transmitted and communicated with another skeptic outside who was observing the test subject, about when the transmitter or the receiver was ready to proceed. Each of the three subjects tried to guess six items.

All mobile phones were far away and everyone participating in the experiment was searched with a metal detector to look for any electronic transmitters. None were found.

Guessing three out of six items was deemed to be evidence of paranormal abilities. Everyone participating in the test signed papers saying that they had understood and agreed to the rules.

Before the results were revealed the subjects testified that the experiment had been honest and that they were satisfied with the arrangements.

And the results were surprising for everyone. Out of all the eighteen tries the three psychics had managed to guess… zero.

With the psychic inside the garden house holding in her hands a small brush and trying to telepathically transmit its image, the receiving psychic instead described “a round smooth object, a ball”.

A small apple was received as “a bigger object, a toy, a teddy bear”.

A key was received as a drinking glass. A saw as a carrot. A training landmine as a leather wallet. A condom as a light bulb. A compass as a candle.

Though there was a small debate about the condom. It was argued that since spiritually sex has something to do with light, then perceiving a condom as a light bulb should count as a hit. Everyone else disagreed.

All in all, everyone agreed with the setup, everyone agreed with the results, everyone left on friendly terms, and stunning new evidence for telepathy was not discovered.

From left: psychic Teur, skeptics Raul and Martin, psychics Geit, Hannes, and Triin

Here’s the original blog post (in Estonian) about the test:
Selgeltnagijate tõeline tuleproov. Katseprotokoll ja pildid.

Translated by Elver Loho
—————————————-

Lugu ilmus ka James Randi Educational Foundation kodulehel:
Estonian Psychic Test Results
Written by James Randi

Randi kommentaarid ja märkused:

Esemete hulk oleks pidanud olema eelnevalt määratletud ja kõigile osalejatele enne testi teada antud. Sellisel juhul poleks tekkinud kahtlusi ega vaidlusi, kas pakkumine oli täpne või “peaaegu täpne”. Sellist testi nimetatakse “sunnitud valikuks” ning statistiline analüüs on lihtsalt ja kindlalt toimetatav. Kõik esemed on nimekirjas ja ainult täpne vastus läheb arvesse.

Loos polnud viidet sellele, kuidas saadetav ese “saatja” poolt välja valiti. Mõned esemed on silmatorkavamad ja on seetõttu sagedamini väljavalitavad. Peaks olema mingi meetod, näiteks sedelitega loos, et tagada tõeline juhuslikkus.

Kolmandaks oleks võinud olla rohkem kui üks “saatja”; võib ju tekkida vaidlus selle üle, et konkreetne saatja oli nõrk.

Contact:
Martin Vällik
Founder
Estonian Skeptics Society
MTÜ Eesti Skeptik
martin.vllk@gmail.com
https://skeptik.ee/

ESTONIAN SKEPTICS SOCIETY BEING SUED BY RELIGIOUS PRO-LIFE GROUP
Linking to and translating pro-choice expert opinions considered “a campaign of libel” by the group

The pro-life website abort.ee is claiming to be in the process of drafting a lawsuit against the Estonian Skeptics Society and its founder Martin Vällik for articles he published on the society’s website skeptik.ee. The articles in question criticized the display of graphic images of aborted fetuses on abort.ee and linked to and translated the opinions of several experts who claim that the graphic images displayed on pro-life websites have historically been fakes and/or misrepresentations. The lawsuit claim followed several cease & desist letters, which urged the Estonian Skeptics Society to take down “all articles on skeptik.ee accusing abort.ee with the display of non-authentic images”.

The websites which the Estonian Skeptics Society has referenced and partially translated for its articles in this matter include:
http://en.allexperts.com/q/Abortion-Pro-Choice-338/abortion-photos.htm
http://www.lifeandlibertyforwomen.org/truth_about_photos.html
http://www.pomegranatecollective.org/resources.php?articlePLT

The Estonian Skeptics Society is seeking help and advice from people who have faced similar lawsuits or could help with expert testimony in this matter. The lawsuit isn’t very likely to go ahead, because Estonian law does not explicitly address libel between two corporate bodies and because the people behind abort.ee are claiming to be suing us in the Tallinn City Court, which hasn’t existed since January 1st 2006.

BACKGROUND:

Abort.ee was created by the Christian groups Elukultuuri Instituut (Institute for the Culture of Life) and Miikaeli Ühendus. (Archangel Michael’s Union) It has ties with the pro-life group The Center for Bio-Ethical Reform, (http://www.abortionno.org/) which is in violation of 9 out of 20 Better Business Bureau’s standards for Charity Accountability. CBR has come under fire for comparing Holocaust victims to aborted fetuses and is well-known for displaying graphic images of abortions and aborted fetuses. Gregg Cunningham, the head of CBR, has personally guaranteed to abort.ee to produce certificates of authenticity for the photos used as well as expert testimony from medical doctor and lawyer Anthony P. Levatino and others.

The abort.ee project was partially funded by the Estonian government. Lately government officials have distanced themselves from the project. Estonian Minister of Social Affairs Maret Maripuu said to Postimees, Estonia’s largest daily newspaper: “Abort.ee does not contain objective nor balanced information about avoiding and terminating pregnancy. The website presents a one-sided view and does not live up to what we hoped when we approved funding for the project.” (http://www.postimees.ee/160408/esileht/
olulised_teemad/tarbija24/tervis/324368.php)

Eesti Naisteühenduste Ümarlaud (Estonian Women’s Associations Round Table) and its leader Siiri Oviir have condemned abort.ee as a website “promoting religious and political views”. (http://www.postimees.ee/180408/esileht/
olulised_teemad/tarbija24/tervis/324796.php)

Estonian Skeptics Society grew out of a skeptical mailing list hosted by the University of Tartu and was officially founded by Martin Vällik and Elver Loho in early 2007. Today it hosts skeptical meetings and an active blog at www.skeptik.ee.

FURTHER INFORMATION: Martin Vällik /martin.vllk@gmail.com/