While at TAM9 in Vegas a couple of weeks ago, one of the many panels I listened to was one in which they discussed “communicating skepticism”. It included Phil Plait, Eugenie Scott, Jamy Ian Swiss, Sadie Crabtree, Carol Tavris, and of course PZ Myers. During this PZ came out with what I believe is a fantastic quote that very much sums it all up …
Truth is our pole star,
Science is the vessel we use to progress,
and a passion to explore and learn is the engine of our purpose
We might indeed rant about religious/political insanity, debunk popular myths that many embrace as truth, or debate how we should communicate, but if we loose sight of the above then we have lost the plot because all we strive to communicate hangs off of that core truth.
Besides, apart from being right … as a quote, it is also very poetic. It causes me to wonder if PZ will pop that quote on a mug or T-shirt and sell it on Pharyngula.