Rath Foundation promote vitamin pills and minerals which they say can reverse the development of HIV/Aids. … Read the rest
Giles Fraser Talks Tortured Nonsense 
Jun 13th, 2008 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Saying ‘intelligent people are less likely to believe in god’ is racist.… Read the rest
Mass Rally for Pakistani Judges
Jun 13th, 2008 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Thousands of protesters are gathering to demand the government reinstate judges fired by Musharraf… Read the rest
India: Hindu Nationalists and Muslims Clash
Jun 13th, 2008 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Supporters of the RSS and local Muslim villagers clashed after the RSS set up a camp in the area. … Read the rest
David Brooks on Obama’s Applebee’s Problem
Jun 13th, 2008 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
‘He doesn’t seem like the kind of guy who could go into an Applebee’s salad bar, and people think he fits in naturally there.’… Read the rest
Grasping at straws
Jun 13th, 2008 11:49 am | By Ophelia BensonGiles Fraser is both wrong and confused.
In a recent paper for the journal Intelligence, the notorious Professor Richard Lynn has argued that intelligent people are “less likely to believe in God”…Dr David King…said: “We find Richard Lynn’s claims that some human beings are inherently superior to others repugnant.” The same thought applies to women with blond hair, to people with darker skin, or to those of us with religious belief.
No it does not. Sex, hair colour, and skin colour are all genetically determined physical differences. Religious belief is not. The two categories are not comparable. This is not, obviously, to claim that people ‘with religious belief’ are inherently inferior to others, though Giles Fraser wants to … Read the rest
Religious Scruple Causes Neurological Damage
Jun 12th, 2008 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Midwife asks for help, father blocks male intern, baby is born with neurological damage.… Read the rest
Muslim Arbitration Tribunal on Forced Marriage
Jun 12th, 2008 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Bunglawala, MCB express doubts, point to Islamic Sharia Council.… Read the rest
BHL on Simone de Beauvoir
Jun 12th, 2008 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Women around the world, in burqas or irons, are a little more free than they would have been without her.… Read the rest
Nussbaum on Rawls’s ‘Political Liberalism’
Jun 12th, 2008 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
We can argue for political principles using ethical notions that are separable from controversial religious doctrines.… Read the rest
Steven Pinker and Ian McEwan Talk
Jun 11th, 2008 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Both speakers have devoted space in their life’s work to plumbing the mysteries of conversation.… Read the rest
Richard Wolin on François Cusset
Jun 11th, 2008 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
A paradigm opposed to the idea of a centered and cohesive ‘self’ became the basis for identity politics. … Read the rest
Theory. Literary Theory. French Theory. Theory.
Jun 11th, 2008 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Can’t understand today’s global disorders without literary theory. Literary theory the key to all things.… Read the rest
The Reign of Thuggery
Jun 11th, 2008 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Mbeki has given Mugabe political and diplomatic support in many forums, including the UN.… Read the rest
Abdullahi An-Naim Calls Himself a Muslim Heretic
Jun 11th, 2008 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Human rights are universal and trump religious dictates. That’s the heresy.… Read the rest
Norway: Parents Charged in FGM of 5 Daughters
Jun 11th, 2008 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
‘The mother and father are charged because they contributed to five of their six daughters being mutilated.’… Read the rest
Just being around isn’t experience
Jun 10th, 2008 12:49 pm | By Ophelia BensonI’ve never understood, or accepted, this idea that Clinton is the feminist candidate, or even that her election would be much of a victory for women or feminism. I’ve always thought it would be radically, drastically compromised by the huge boost she got from whose wife she was. I’ve always thought such an election would be a victory for women or feminism only if the woman in question did it on her own merits, not partly those of her husband.
… Read the restIndeed, Clinton has never been just a victim of her gender. When it came to the deeper narratives of the campaign, Clinton benefited, as do many women in politics, from her good fortune of having married a successful political
Prison for ‘Violation of Religious Sensibilities’
Jun 10th, 2008 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
‘Accused acted to blaspheme and desecrate that which the Islamic religious community deems holy.’… Read the rest
Report Marred by Errors in Arithmetic
Jun 10th, 2008 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
A frightening decline in the quality of maths in reports of the frightening decline in the quality of maths.… Read the rest
Ben Goldacre on Blogs v Mainstream Media
Jun 10th, 2008 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
MM pushed the Dore ‘miracle cure’ for Dyslexia, bloggers dug deeper.… Read the rest
