‘Although they are often intolerant, today’s evangelists for secular humanism do not preach or practise violence.’… Read the rest
John Gray the Apocalypticist Dreamer 
Jul 31st, 2009 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Why is Gray rebuking Garton Ash for repudiating the term ‘Enlightenment fundamentalist’?… Read the rest
Tageszeitung Talks to Activist Alham Abrahimnejad
Jul 31st, 2009 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
When women stand up in public and say they want the same rights as men, it is a major protest.… Read the rest
On Communication: a Philosophical Dialogue
Jul 31st, 2009 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Shut up he explained.… Read the rest
Joan Smith Reviews ‘Does God Hate Women?’
Jul 31st, 2009 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
‘The authors demolish any amount of modern cant.’ Ah, music.… Read the rest
The Rise of Atheist Stand-up
Jul 30th, 2009 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
All share an intellectual approach to the world and to comedy itself.… Read the rest
‘Atheist’ Camp Will Disappoint Children
Jul 30th, 2009 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Because most people aren’t rational. So children should go to Irrationality Camp?… Read the rest
Former Doctor Helped Pay for Trip to Dignitas
Jul 30th, 2009 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
‘Arrest me,’ says Michael Irwin to police. Poll shows 3/4 of Britons want assisted suicide made legal.… Read the rest
Texas Curriculum Debate Marred by Ideologues
Jul 30th, 2009 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
The board appointed a family-values activist and a minister who specializes in ‘Christian heritage.’… Read the rest
Texas: Board of Ed Wants More ‘Faith’ in History
Jul 30th, 2009 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Appoints conservative non-historians who want to emphasize the bible and drop Thurgood Marshall.… Read the rest
Khartoum: Lubna Hussein Trousers Trial
Jul 29th, 2009 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Lubna Hussein was among 13 women arrested by Sudan’s public order police for wearing trousers.… Read the rest
Scientists Protest Lack of Evolution Teaching
Jul 29th, 2009 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Say the new science curriculum for English primary schools should include teaching on natural selection. … Read the rest
Unartistic America Reviewed
Jul 29th, 2009 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
To improve art literacy in America, neorealists should pretend to respect crap that could be painted by a 5-year-old.… Read the rest
Sleeping Bags and Critical Thinking
Jul 29th, 2009 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
The camp insists that when it comes to God, it is not telling the children what to think but how to think. … Read the rest
Letters Reply to Sam Harris on Francis Collins
Jul 29th, 2009 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
‘Science reaches beyond itself to undervalue mythic insight’ etc etc.… Read the rest
Adam Hochschild: Rape of the Congo
Jul 29th, 2009 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Almost all the warring factions have used rape as a calculated method of sowing terror.… Read the rest
Waist-deep in the moral slime
Jul 29th, 2009 9:05 am | By Ophelia BensonI wasn’t going to inflict any more Mooney-Kirshenbaum nonsense on you, but now Mooney (at least) has taken a couple more steps further into the moral slime, and I feel it My Duty to record the fact. I think it’s time to declare Chris Mooney officially morally bankrupt. He’s not just wrong – he’s doing bad things.
On that post I criticized on Monday, a commenter announced that I was lying.
… Read the restWhen Ophelia Benson claims through her “questions” that Chris and Sheril have no evidence she is not telling the truth. It’s one thing for people who haven’t read the book to assert this – she has the book.
So let me say that again and more emphatically:
Religion is a very public matter
Jul 28th, 2009 12:44 pm | By Ophelia BensonEric MacDonald made a comment that needs to be on the main page:
In their little piece on civility, where Barbara Forrest is quoted as saying “Be nice”, Mooney and Kirshenbaum say this:
Religion is a very private matter, and given that liberal religionists support church-state separation, we really have no business questioning their personal way of making meaning of the world.
This is false. Religion is not a very private matter. It is a very public matter, and it is increasingly more and more public. How people make sense of the world, religiously, almost always seeks to impose itself on others.
Religion does not respect boundaries. For a long time it was thought that religion had retreated to … Read the rest
Jerry Coyne Reviews Robert Wright on God
Jul 28th, 2009 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
The faithful – the ones who care about science – have tweaked the theory of evolution to make it more congenial. … Read the rest
Quarrel Over ‘Islamic School’ in Sydney
Jul 28th, 2009 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Some campaigners say the debate has been laced with racial and religious intolerance.… Read the rest
