He prayed, he celebrated, he visited. So what?… Read the rest
Bad book revisited
Apr 20th, 2008 1:20 pm | By Ophelia BensonFor some reason I feel like giving you another dose of Chris Hedges. It’s a morbid interest, because really his book (I Don’t Believe in Atheists) is so bad it makes more sense to ignore it than to spend time saying what’s bad about it. Its badness isn’t what you’d call subtle or hidden. But I’m interested in these displays of determined stupidity, for some reason.
Page 6.
Hitchens and Harris describe the Muslim world, where I spent seven years…in language that is as racist, crude and intolerant as that used by Pat Robertson or Jerry Falwell.
No they don’t. That’s such an absurd claim that it’s stupid to make it, when it’s so easy to check just … Read the rest
Quilliam Foundation Launches April 22
Apr 20th, 2008 | Filed by Ophelia BensonCreated by former activists of radical Islamist organizations.… Read the rest
Jakarta: Protesters Demand Ban on Ahmadiyya
Apr 20th, 2008 | Filed by Ophelia BensonAhmadiyya believe Ahmad was a prophet; most Muslims believe Mo was last prophet. Solution: a ban.… Read the rest
Priests Brawl in Jerusalem Church
Apr 20th, 2008 | Filed by Ophelia BensonAn Armenian priest forcibly ejected a Greek priest from an area near ‘the tomb of Jesus.’ Amen.… Read the rest
Pope Claims Theist Monopoly on True and Good
Apr 20th, 2008 | Filed by Ophelia BensonSays Nazi regime ‘banished God and thus became impervious to anything true and good.’… Read the rest
EU Backs Down on Equality
Apr 20th, 2008 | Filed by Ophelia BensonIrish religious schools can continue to refuse to employ atheist teachers.… Read the rest
Liberal Muslim Foundation Faces Hate Campaign
Apr 20th, 2008 | Filed by Ophelia BensonThe Quilliam Foundation, backed by Muslim and non-Muslim scholars, will be launched on Tuesday.… Read the rest
Give my my spiritual £50
Apr 19th, 2008 4:30 pm | By Ophelia BensonThe mediums have been taken by surprise, poor dears.
Today, representatives of British mediums will march up Downing Street to deliver a petition containing some 10,000 signatories demanding that the Government change its decision to repeal the 1951 Fraudulent Mediums Act in favour of a new EU directive…”What we have here is a fundamental attack on our right to practise our religion…,” said David McEntee-Taylor, head of the Spiritual Workers Association (SWA).
Yes…except that ‘fundamental right’ has limits, dalling. It doesn’t have enough limits, but it has some. You can’t kill people and eat them with horseradish and call that practicing your religion and go on your way rejoicing.
… Read the restHowever, by treating spiritualism as merely a consumer service, mediums
Michael Shermer on ‘Expelled!’
Apr 19th, 2008 | Filed by Ophelia BensonAnyone who thinks scientists do not question Darwinism has never been to an evolutionary conference.… Read the rest
Psychic Magic Woo People Are Too Funny to Ban
Apr 19th, 2008 | Filed by Ophelia BensonThe greater threat are the morons who present themselves as superficially plausible and sciencey.… Read the rest
Jesus and Mo Blurt Out the Truth
Apr 19th, 2008 | Filed by Ophelia BensonMaybe they’ll be too drunk to remember.… Read the rest
Mediums Protest New EU Directive
Apr 19th, 2008 | Filed by Ophelia BensonShouldn’t they have started protesting years ago? Since they knew it would happen?… Read the rest
Ben Goldacre on How Policy Works
Apr 19th, 2008 | Filed by Ophelia BensonPerhaps there should be a special body for issuing warnings on the rare occasions when scares aren’t bogus.… Read the rest
Chatting with clerics
Apr 18th, 2008 5:03 pm | By Ophelia BensonI can’t help noticing that clerics say odd things sometimes. I suppose it’s their job, but it surprises me anyway. I suppose it surprises me that they don’t try to cover up more.
The Bishop of Oxford (again), for instance. He said something very droll.
… Read the restI am sure the Roman Catholic bishops are intelligent, rational people, but their starting point on embryo research is mistaken. They believe that the newly fertilised egg, the tiny bundle of multiplying cells smaller than a pin head, has the same right to life as an adult. But more than two-thirds of fertilised eggs are lost in nature anyway. If each of these really is a person, that is, an eternal soul, it would lead
Rise of Conspiratorial Thinking About Science
Apr 18th, 2008 | Filed by Ophelia BensonIn its extreme and ideological form, this contrarian approach to science can turn into a form of paranoia.… Read the rest
Cairo: Police Seize Graphic Novel
Apr 18th, 2008 | Filed by Ophelia BensonOn charges that it offends public morals.… Read the rest
Bryson Brown and Chris Hedges on Atheism
Apr 18th, 2008 | Filed by Ophelia BensonHedges describes an atheism unknown on land or sea.… Read the rest
Eric Alterman on Samantha Power
Apr 18th, 2008 | Filed by Ophelia BensonHacks sneer about ‘university elitism’ in the Obama campaign. Because ignorance is preferable?… Read the rest
9/11 Conspiracy Theory and Anti-Semitism
Apr 18th, 2008 | Filed by Ophelia BensonEdmund Standing reports ‘Scriptures for America’ teaches anti-Semitism and advocates the execution of gays.… Read the rest