Human Rights Groups Not Pleased About Caning *

Aug 22nd, 2009 | Filed by

In Kalentan authorities have decreed that supermarkets must have segregated checkout queues.… Read the rest



Woman to be Caned for Drinking Beer *

Aug 22nd, 2009 | Filed by

‘In sharia the punishment is not in the force of the whipping but to bring shame,’ said ‘whipping officer.’… Read the rest



Geology and the Evolution of Understanding *

Aug 22nd, 2009 | Filed by

17th and 18th century geology shows how views of the world evolved not by ideology but by the growth of a body of evidence.… Read the rest



Atheist Teacher Shock-horror *

Aug 22nd, 2009 | Filed by

An inquisitor at the ‘Illinois Family Institute’ is frantic that an actual atheist is teaching math.… Read the rest



The tyranny of the prevailing opinion and feeling

Aug 22nd, 2009 11:41 am | By

Often, when one cites Millian views on liberty, open discussion and the like, it emerges that people think Mill was talking only about legal rights. He wasn’t.

The fourth paragraph of On Liberty:

Like other tyrannies, the tyranny of the majority was at first, and is still vulgarly, held in dread, chiefly as operating through the acts of the public authorities. But reflecting persons perceived that when society is itself the tyrant–society collectively, over the separate individuals who compose it–its means of tyrannizing are not restricted to the acts which it may do by the hands of its political functionaries. Society can and does execute its own mandates: and if it issues wrong mandates instead of right, or any

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Wot’s it matta?

Aug 21st, 2009 4:46 pm | By

What does it all matter? I’ve been engaging in a couple of blog discussions of that question – about why people get so riled about Mooney and Kirshenbaum, what’s at stake, whence comes all the heat. (I’ve also lost a friend over it, a price I resent paying.)

One way of explaining is to quote a little of the preface to The God Delusion. It starts with Lalla Ward’s misery at school and her parents’ asking why she never said she wanted to leave and her reply: ‘But I didn’t know I could.’

Lots of people don’t know they can, and it is worth letting them know: you can. (You can even invoke ‘Yes we can’ if you want … Read the rest



Debunking YouTube Hit ‘Muslim Demographics’ *

Aug 21st, 2009 | Filed by

Population projection is an inexact science. Making up statistics doesn’t make it more exact.… Read the rest



‘More or Less’ Checks Statistics *

Aug 21st, 2009 | Filed by

Radio 4 and the Open University ask a lot of questions.… Read the rest



WHO Warns: Homeopathy Not a Cure *

Aug 21st, 2009 | Filed by

Homeopathy does not protect people from, or treat, TB, infant diarrhoea, influenza, malaria and HIV.… Read the rest



Kenya: Prayer Enlisted in War on Corruption *

Aug 21st, 2009 | Filed by

‘The Church in Kenya is actually very corrupt,’ says evangelical group, but offers Bible guide anyway.… Read the rest



Jobeda Ali on Sex Segregation and Sexism *

Aug 21st, 2009 | Filed by

Gender segregation maintains that society is the domain of men, and women are just visitors in it.… Read the rest



Mediawatchwatch on Kerkar, Threats, Ganesh *

Aug 20th, 2009 | Filed by

‘They told me that they will chop off my fingers for indulging in such acts.’ Or Ganesh might sit on him.… Read the rest



Swedish MP Challenges Irish Blasphemy Law *

Aug 20th, 2009 | Filed by

A law against blasphemy is an obligation to live your life according to the religious beliefs of others.… Read the rest



Tariq Ramadan Cites ‘Islamophobia’ *

Aug 20th, 2009 | Filed by

He argues for a ‘European Islam’ but also speaks of the supremacy over secular law of the Koran and sharia.… Read the rest



Afghanistan: Threats, Anger, Empty Polling Stations *

Aug 20th, 2009 | Filed by

One universal theme was the low turnout by women. At one station in Kabul, no women had voted.… Read the rest



Tariq Ramadan Fired From Rotterdam Jobs *

Aug 20th, 2009 | Filed by

City of Rotterdam and Erasmus University dismissed Ramadan as ‘integration adviser’ and professor.… Read the rest



Boko Haram Introduces Itself *

Aug 20th, 2009 | Filed by

‘Western ways’ are forbidden, first example being ‘the rights and privileges of Women.’ How do you do.… Read the rest



Modern radical theology

Aug 19th, 2009 5:20 pm | By

From David Lodge’s novel Paradise News. The protagonist is a theologian who was once a believer but is not any more.

‘He sat at his desk and took out his notes on a book about process theology he was reviewing for Eschatological Review. The God of process theology, he read, is the cosmic lover. “His transcendence is in His sheer faithfulness to Himself in love, in His inexhaustibility as lover, and in his capacity for endless adaptation to circumstances in which his Love may be active.” Really? Who says? The theologian says. And who cares, apart from other theologians? Not the people choosing their holidays from the travel agent’s brochures…It often seemed to Bernard that the discourse of … Read the rest



An ideal world

Aug 19th, 2009 4:55 pm | By

Michael Rosch at Examiner suggest that Mooney and Kirshenbaum suffer from a problem he calls ‘the paradox of paradise’:

They call for a non-confrontational approach to things and desire an ideal world where everyone just gets along, but they themselves create conflict with their own critics because they realize their ideal world can’t co-exist with dissenting views. So those most advocating non-confrontationalism pick fights with those who disagree with their philosophy and see merit in certain conflicts. Hence the fact that in addition to criticizing Dawkins, M&K go after their other favorite targets, PZ Myers and Jerry Coyne, each of whom wrote scathing reviews of M&K’s book. So they gave your book bad reviews because they found your conclusions

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Veto power

Aug 19th, 2009 1:04 pm | By

And here we go again.

Cowing under pressure from the Hindu Janjagruti Samiti (HJS), the police on Monday served notice on reputed Goan artist Subodh Kerkar to “desist from getting involved in such activities which may insult religious feelings or religious beliefs”. SP (North) Bosco George said Kerkar “should keep in mind the sentiments of the community and avoid creating a law and order problem. We will soon take a decision on whether or not the artist’s graphics hurt sentiments. If it is found to hurt religious sentiments, we will initiate legal action against him,” he said. HJS had petitioned the police last week alleging that Kerkar had published “drawings of Lord Ganesh in various positions”, thereby insulting religious

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