Notre Dame, Obama, Abortion, Football, Identity *

May 16th, 2009 | Filed by

It’s Catholic, it has a football team, so it’s part of the ‘Catholic identity’ of people who’ve never seen it.… Read the rest



Cambridge Announces Universal Respect *

May 16th, 2009 | Filed by

University amended its equal opportunities policy to say it ‘respects religious or philosophical beliefs of all kinds.’… Read the rest



Being Shouted At in Iran *

May 16th, 2009 | Filed by

We can only hope the spirit of beauty will one day crush the plodding literal-mindedness of the misogynists in charge.… Read the rest



Judge Rules Child ‘Neglected’ by Parents *

May 16th, 2009 | Filed by

Daniel Hauser stopped chemo; he and his parents opted for ‘alternative medicines’ based on religious beliefs. … Read the rest



What they believe

May 15th, 2009 4:16 pm | By

Let’s find out what the Child Evangelism Fellowship believes and presumably teaches to very young children immediately after school, on school property.

That the whole entire bible ‘is given by inspiration of God’ and ‘that it is inerrant in the original writing and that its teaching and authority are absolute, supreme and final.’ So if something is in the bible (the translation of the bible into English, that is, though of course they don’t bother to say that) then it is absolute, supreme and final – so no matter what it is, no matter how harsh, no matter how unjust, cruel, tyrannical, interfering, none of anyone’s business, pointless, reactionary, stupid – it cannot be changed or rejected or refused. What … Read the rest



The Banking World’s Responsibility *

May 15th, 2009 | Filed by

FT journalist Gillian Tett is a cultural anthropologist, and she saw the wheels coming off.… Read the rest



Pew Forum on the Establishment Clause *

May 15th, 2009 | Filed by

Case law on government funding of religion has shifted away from separationism in recent years.… Read the rest



Journalist Talks to Children of the Taliban *

May 15th, 2009 | Filed by

Like the teenage boy who asks why women are wandering around outside.… Read the rest



Cleric Says Prayer is Part of Medicine *

May 15th, 2009 | Filed by

‘Every doctor, every nurse needs to be easy and familiar with the language of the spirit in order to express the almost inexpressible.’… Read the rest



Ed Brandon Reviews Robert Park *

May 15th, 2009 | Filed by

On the nature of religious belief in a world increasingly disenchanted by the progress of scientific understanding.… Read the rest



Be afraid

May 14th, 2009 12:14 pm | By

This is the scariest thing I’ve read in awhile, at least locally. Schoolgirls being gassed in Afghanistan is much scarier, but locally the Child Evangelism Fellowship is scary as hell. Good News Clubs are terrifying.

Remember the little girl who told her classmate that she was going to hell? Well that was a Good News Club at work.

Their teacher overheard the increasingly heated exchange. When class resumed, she asked everyone to pay attention. People from different religious backgrounds, she explained, have very different perspectives on certain kinds of issues. Emma, feeling good that she had stood her ground, seemed content with the result. But Ashley was crushed. “You mean they lied to me right here in school?!”

Read the rest


Murphy’O’Connor: ‘Atheists Not Fully Human’ *

May 14th, 2009 | Filed by

Catholic cardinal offers the hand of friendship. Or something.… Read the rest



Global Concern at Suu Kyi Arrest *

May 14th, 2009 | Filed by

Her lawyer blames the visitor from Missouri for her arrest, calling him a ‘fool.’… Read the rest



Reading, Writing, and Original Sin *

May 14th, 2009 | Filed by

Child Evangelism Fellowship targets public elementary schools in Santa Barbara.… Read the rest



Low-calory Water: Only £1.49 the 500ml Bottle *

May 14th, 2009 | Filed by

Bio-synergy Skinny Water is the first in the world to be fortified with l-carnitine and chromium.… Read the rest



Rice Aide Says Bush Admin Wanted to Torture *

May 14th, 2009 | Filed by

Refusal to acknowledge legitimacy of Common Article III of Geneva Convention was the sign.… Read the rest



Former FBI Interrogator Says Torture Didn’t Work *

May 14th, 2009 | Filed by

Non-threatening interrogation approach got results, then was shut down when CIA took over.… Read the rest



Hooray hooray hooray for FGM

May 13th, 2009 3:12 pm | By

Fuambai Ahmadu is really quite creepy.

I am not surprised that the women of Kailahun have taken to the streets to protest what is now becoming a brazen attack by anti-FGM activists against female initiation and excision in Sierra Leone…I have witnessed first-hand the proliferation (and invidiousness) of this alarming multi-million dollar “development” industry, financed largely by western countries and international agencies such as UNICEF, WHO, UNFPA and so on. Faced with a global media onslaught depicting the most insidious and racist types of representations of African men and women witnessed since colonial times and the downright force of anti-FGM campaigns to shame, more and more circumcised African women have come to see and define themselves through these media

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Salil Tripathi on Democracy and Dissent *

May 13th, 2009 | Filed by

Binayak Sen’s advocacy of
India’s ‘wretched of the earth’ has upset the corrupt nexus enriching local politicians.… Read the rest



Classroom Filled With an Odour of Insecticide *

May 13th, 2009 | Filed by

‘What will she do about education in the future, when her life is in danger?’ the distraught father added.… Read the rest