Editing James Randi (section)

==Views==
=== Political views ===
Randi was a registered [[Democratic Party (United States)|Democrat]].<ref name="theesp.eu" /> <!-- The passage in question starts at 56:12 and ends at 59:51 in the podcast. --> In April 2009, he released a statement endorsing the [[Drug liberalization|legalization of most illegal drugs]].<ref name="following up">{{cite web|url=http://archive.randi.org/site/index.php/swift-blog/533-following-up.html|title=Following Up ...|author=James Randi|website=Randi.org|date=April 28, 2009|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170118062932/http://archive.randi.org/site/index.php/swift-blog/533-following-up.html|archive-date=January 18, 2017}}</ref>

Randi had been reported as a believer in [[Social Darwinism|Social Darwinist]] theories,<ref name="storr">{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hEItqk4-vrQC&pg=PT240|first=Will |last=Storr |author-link=Will Storr  |title=The Heretics: Adventures with the Enemies of Science|publisher=Pan Macmillan|year=2013 |isbn=978-1447204527}}</ref> although he denounced the ideologies and movements that formed around the theories in 2013.<ref name="4KvL3">{{cite web|url=http://doubtfulnews.com/2013/03/james-randi-responds-to-storrs-social-darwinism-quote|title=James Randi responds to Storr's 'Social Darwinism' quote|date=March 1, 2013|access-date=September 3, 2017|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170903211337/http://doubtfulnews.com/2013/03/james-randi-responds-to-storrs-social-darwinism-quote/|archive-date=September 3, 2017}}</ref>

===Views on religion===
Randi's parents were members of the [[Anglican Church of Canada|Anglican Church]] but rarely attended services.<ref name="MTS">{{cite web | url=http://meettheskeptics.libsyn.com/webpage/2010 | title=MTS: Meet James Randi | work=Meet the Skeptics! | date=September 13, 2010 | access-date=January 22, 2014 | author=Brown, Christopher | url-status=dead | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140908065521/http://meettheskeptics.libsyn.com/webpage/2010 | archive-date=September 8, 2014 | df=mdy-all}}</ref> He attended [[Sunday school]] at St. Cuthbert's Church in [[Toronto]] a few times as a child, but he independently decided to stop going after receiving no answer to his request for proof of the teachings of the Church.<ref name="CSICon" />{{rp|24:40}}{{efn| Regarding his separation from religious training, Randi said that his statements in Sunday school such as "That sounded very unlikely," regarding contradictory and dubious biblical claims, were met with unsatisfactory answers, such as "It's in the Bible. It's in the holy book of God." He was given a note for his parents stating "Your boy Randi ... is not welcome at St. Cuthberts as he asks too many questions and he interrupts the teachers."<ref name="CSICon" />{{rp|24:40}}}}<ref name="DKj3w">{{Citation|last=Holy Koolaid|title=The Magician James Randi on the Importance of Skepticism|date=August 31, 2017|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fZkfNc6TEAQ|access-date=September 2, 2017|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180705214436/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fZkfNc6TEAQ|archive-date=July 5, 2018}}</ref>

In his essay "Why I Deny Religion, How Silly and Fantastic It Is, and Why I'm a Dedicated and Vociferous [[Brights movement|Bright]]", Randi, who identified himself as an [[atheist]],<ref name="No Religion">{{cite journal |last=Randi |first=James |date=August 5, 2005 |title=Our Stance on Atheism |journal=Swift |type=Newsletter |access-date=January 27, 2011 |url=http://www.randi.org/jr/080505potential.html#14 |archive-url=http://arquivo.pt/wayback/20090710051137/http://www.randi.org/jr/080505potential.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=July 10, 2009}}</ref> opined that many accounts in religious texts, including the [[Virgin birth of Jesus|virgin birth]], the miracles of Jesus Christ, and the [[parting of the Red Sea]] by [[Moses]], are not believable. Randi refers to the [[Mary (mother of Jesus)|Virgin Mary]] as being "impregnated by a ghost of some sort, and as a result produced a son who could walk on water, raise the dead, turn water into wine, and multiply loaves of bread and fishes" and questions how [[Adam and Eve]]'s family "managed to populate the Earth without committing incest". He wrote that, compared to the Bible, "''[[The Wonderful Wizard Of Oz|The Wizard of Oz]]'' is more believable. And much more fun."<ref name="1SgLD">{{cite journal |last=Randi |first=James |date=July 25, 2003 |title=Why I Deny Religion, How Silly and Fantastic It Is, and Why I'm a Dedicated and Vociferous Bright |journal=Swift |type=Newsletter |access-date=October 9, 2013 |url=http://www.randi.org/jr/072503.html |archive-url=http://arquivo.pt/wayback/20091007191524/http://www.randi.org/jr/072503.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=October 7, 2009}}</ref>

Clarifying his view of atheism, Randi wrote "I've said it before: there are two sorts of atheists. One sort claims that there is no deity, the other claims that there is no evidence that proves the existence of a deity; I belong to the latter group, because if I were to claim that no god exists, I would have to produce evidence to establish that claim, and I cannot. Religious persons have by far the easier position; they say they believe in a deity because that's their preference, and they've read it in a book. That's their right."<ref name="No Religion" />

In ''An Encyclopedia of Claims, Frauds, and Hoaxes of the Occult and Supernatural'' (1995), he examines various spiritual practices skeptically. Of the meditation techniques of [[Prem Rawat|Guru Maharaj Ji]], he writes "Only the very naive were convinced that they had been let in on some sort of celestial secret."<ref name="icZXA">[[#Randi 1995|Randi 1995]], [http://www.randi.org/encyclopedia/Maharaj%20Ji.html "Maharaj Ji"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121024040458/http://www.randi.org/encyclopedia/Maharaj%20Ji.html |date=October 24, 2012 }}</ref> In 2003, he was one of the signers of the [[Humanism and Its Aspirations|Humanist Manifesto]].<ref name="vnKMs">{{cite web|url=http://www.americanhumanist.org/Humanism/Humanist_Manifesto_III/Notable_Signers |title=Notable Signers |work=Humanism and Its Aspirations |publisher=[[American Humanist Association]] |location=Washington, D.C. |access-date=September 28, 2012 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121005105825/http://www.americanhumanist.org/Humanism/Humanist_Manifesto_III/Notable_Signers |archive-date=October 5, 2012}}</ref>

Regarding his 2006 coronary artery bypass surgery, Randi  was asked if he was tempted by religious ideas about an afterlife or if he went through it any differently than if he had been religious. Randi replied "I allowed [[Daniel Dennett]] to speak for me" referring to Dennett's essay "Thank Goodness", which Dennett wrote after a serious surgery. Summing up the essay, Randi continued:<ref>{{cite web |last=French |first=Chris|author-link=Chris French|title=James Randi in 2011, on mortality, Project Alpha, Peter Popoff and so much more… |url=https://www.skeptic.org.uk/2011/01/james-randi-in-2011-on-mortality-project-alpha-peter-popoff-and-so-much-more/ |website=The Skeptic |date=January 5, 2011 |access-date=January 4, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240104032132/https://www.skeptic.org.uk/2011/01/james-randi-in-2011-on-mortality-project-alpha-peter-popoff-and-so-much-more/ |archive-date=January 4, 2024}}</ref>
{{blockquote|text=(...) when he was recovering in the hospital he had people coming in and saying "Oh, thank God, you're doing this, that and the other", and he wrote this little essay, he said "No, never mind 'thank god' but I'll accept thank goodness. Thank the goodness of the anaesthesiologist. Thank the goodness of the nurses who empty my bedpan. Thank the goodness of the intern who sweeps the floor regularly so that I don't have to breathe too much dust. Thank the designers and makers of Dacron."
All of these things, he said, "Yes, thank their goodness but don't thank a mythical being." 
And, essentially that's a contraction of it, rather severely, but that's the way I feel, yes.}}

In a discussion with [[Kendrick Frazier]] at [[CSICon]] 2016, Randi stated "I think that a belief in a deity is ... an unprovable claim ... and a rather ridiculous claim. It is an easy way out to explain things to which we have no answer."<ref name="CSICon">{{cite web|title=A Conversation with James Randi|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DZQNuw2jjzg&t=1s| archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211211/DZQNuw2jjzg| archive-date=December 11, 2021 | url-status=live|website=YouTube | date=August 14, 2017 |publisher=Center For Inquiry|access-date=August 25, 2017}}{{cbignore}}</ref>{{rp|7:05}} He then summarized his current concern with religious belief as follows: "A belief in a god is one of the most damaging things that infests humanity at this particular moment in history. It may improve, and I see signs that it may be improving, and I'll leave it at that."<ref name="CSICon" />{{rp|7:40}}