The words “community” and “culture” are starting to sound like weasel words for institutionalised sadism.… Read the rest
Ziauddin Sardar Explains About the Koran
Aug 28th, 2009 | Filed by Ophelia BensonIbn Sina, Ibn Rushd, Muslim Spain, the Blue Mosque! See?… Read the rest
Moses Inspires Jesus and Mo
Aug 28th, 2009 | Filed by Ophelia BensonJesus has these friends at the Templeton Foundation…… Read the rest
Jason Rosenhouse Reviews Keith Ward
Aug 28th, 2009 | Filed by Ophelia BensonWhat could be simpler than a disembodied eternal intelligence capable of bringing worlds into being with an act of will? … Read the rest
Women and Islam
Aug 28th, 2009 | Filed by Ophelia BensonIn Turkey, 69% of all female health workers polled said violence against women is sometimes excusable.… Read the rest
The bliss of harmony
Aug 27th, 2009 5:50 pm | By Ophelia BensonThe beauty and compassion of religion:
A new family law in Mali is causing a furore, partly because it no longer stipulates that wives have to obey their husbands…[Article 312] says that, once married, husbands and wives owe each other “loyalty, protection, help and assistance”. Mali’s current law specifically states that a wife must obey her husband, and that is the way things should stay says Mahmud Dicko, president of Mali’s High Islamic Council.
You bet – because that has to be a matter of national law so that if a wife is disobedient she can be arrested, charged, and imprisoned (or do they whip them?).
… Read the rest“We’re not trying to make women slaves. Not at all,” he says. “It’s
Coyne on James Wood on Dawkins or Eagleton
Aug 27th, 2009 | Filed by Ophelia BensonWood flings the usual mud at atheists, as usual with no quotations, then gets to grips with Terry.… Read the rest
Tens of Thousands Protested Mali’s New Law
Aug 27th, 2009 | Filed by Ophelia Benson‘We have to stick to the Koran. It’s a tiny minority of women here that wants this new law – the intellectuals. The poor and illiterate women of this country – the real Muslims – are against it.’… Read the rest
Islamism Slows Reform in Morocco
Aug 27th, 2009 | Filed by Ophelia BensonSenior officials speak of keeping a proper balance between freedom and social cohesion.… Read the rest
Mali: Wives Must Obey Husbands
Aug 27th, 2009 | Filed by Ophelia Benson‘We’re not trying to make women slaves. The head of the family is the man, and everyone in the family has to obey him.’… Read the rest
Mali: Women’s Rights Bill Blocked
Aug 27th, 2009 | Filed by Ophelia BensonMuslim groups have been protesting against the law ever since parliament adopted it in early August.… Read the rest
A god who makes no difference
Aug 26th, 2009 1:57 pm | By Ophelia BensonHE Baber explains something but I’m not exactly sure what.
… Read the rest[L]ike most educated Christians, I do not believe most of the empirical claims associated with Christianity. I do not believe that the universe came into being just a few thousand years ago. I do not believe that humans or other animals were created their current form or even that God had some hand in “guiding” evolution. I do not believe that the Bible provides an accurate account of Middle Eastern history, or that any of the miracles it reports actually occurred, or that the wisdom literature it includes is a suitable guide to life. I do not believe that the existence of God makes any difference to the way the
Senator From Utah Writes Book on Mormonism
Aug 26th, 2009 | Filed by Ophelia BensonAsks four questions to test whether Book of Mormon is a fake. ‘Seriously, gold plates, Moroni?’… Read the rest
Catholic Group Working to Repeal Blasphemy Law
Aug 26th, 2009 | Filed by Ophelia BensonIn Pakistan, where Christians are a minority subject to persecution. In Ireland, on the other hand…… Read the rest
Venezuela: Catholic Church Meddling in Politics
Aug 26th, 2009 | Filed by Ophelia BensonVenezuela’s bishops oppose new education law because it promotes secular education.… Read the rest
Nesrine Malik Finds Feminism Patronizing
Aug 26th, 2009 | Filed by Ophelia BensonWestern feminists must learn to understand the burqa.… Read the rest
Belief in a God That Makes No Difference
Aug 26th, 2009 | Filed by Ophelia BensonThere may not be any compelling reason to believe that such a being exists, but the question is intelligible.… Read the rest
Irish Church Paying Price for Clerical Dominance
Aug 26th, 2009 | Filed by Ophelia BensonThe Ryan report was horrendous; the effect on the morale and reputation of the church and Ireland, devastating.… Read the rest
Mr Faulks? Could we have a word?
Aug 25th, 2009 5:16 pm | By Ophelia BensonThe Telegraph, with slightly cruel mockery, has poor Sebastian Faulkes saying in the headline that he really can’t put down the Koran – giving us the irresistible impression that he can’t put it down because he has been wired to explode if he does.
While we Judaeo-Christians can take a lot of verbal rough-and-tumble about our human-written scriptures, I know that to Muslims the Koran is different; it is by definition beyond criticism. And if anything I said or was quoted as saying (not always the same thing) offended any Muslim sensibility, I do apologise – and without reservation.
Well there you go. Some people (though not all ‘Judaeo-Christians,’ whatever the hell they are) can put up with criticism and … Read the rest
Quackometer on the Society of Homeopaths
Aug 25th, 2009 | Filed by Ophelia BensonThose studies they cite? Take a closer look.… Read the rest