Saying that stoning is no longer in existence in Iran or labeling Ms Ashtiani a murderer has direct bearings on her case.… Read the rest
Citizens of the world against flogging and stoning
Sep 9th, 2010 | Filed by Ophelia BensonThe Islamist regime in Iran is killing Sakineh little by little, to demonstrate its continued existence.… Read the rest
The sexually abused dancing boys of Afghanistan
Sep 8th, 2010 | Filed by Ophelia BensonDancing boys are picked out at a young age by men who cruise the streets looking for boys among the poor and vulnerable.… Read the rest
The Convenience Marriage of Fundamentalism and Perversion
Sep 8th, 2010 | By Lauryn OatesIn a 2003 essay for Daedalus, Christopher Hitchens wrote that, “religious absolutism makes a good match with tribal feelings and with sexual repression—two of the base ingredients of the fascistic style.”
There’s no doubt that repressed sexuality is a feature of most religions, and the cause of many an unhappy union made under god’s banner. But less often discussed is religion’s facilitative role to sexual perversions. The more fundamentalist the dogma, the sicker the stuff taking place in between the sheets.
Take the bacha baz of Afghanistan for instance. The bacha baz are men who take boys as lovers, or more accurately, as repeated rape victims. Over the years I’ve worked in Afghanistan, there has always been hushed … Read the rest
Zeal of the X syndrome
Sep 8th, 2010 1:03 pm | By Ophelia BensonI googled zeal of the convert syndrome, out of curiosity, even though it’s pretty self-explanatory. The meaning is pretty self-explanatory, but I was curious about what and whom it’s applied to. The answer is: lots of things. Islam, Zionism, Bush/Fox News/Palin derangement, Stockholm syndrome, Yvonne Ridley syndrome (funny that one syndrome refers to others, but apparently it is so).
So anyway, does new atheism fit? Sure, probably. Clearly a lot of things fit, so why wouldn’t gnu atheism? It has aspects of “a movement,” it is in some ways political, so sure, it probably has aspects of zeal of the convert syndrome too.
But I don’t think that’s the source of my “zeal,” at least (assuming for the sake … Read the rest
The smugness files
Sep 8th, 2010 12:30 pm | By Ophelia BensonThe Telegraph is rubbing its nasty hands in glee (yes I know newspapers don’t actually have hands – they have gills) about yet another scientist saying ew ick about yet another scientist who missed an opportunity to credit god for making something out of nothing.
[Susan Greenfield] criticised the “smugness” of scientists who claim to “have all the answers”… in a BBC Radio 4 Today programme discussion about [Stephen] Hawking’s views. Last week he angered many religious believers by saying science “can explain the universe without the need for a creator”.
Says the Telegraph, self-righteously and bullyingly – and in fact smugly. The Telegraph smugly assumes that scientists and others are not supposed to “anger religious believers” by attempting to … Read the rest
Congo rape victims estimate rises again
Sep 8th, 2010 | Filed by Ophelia BensonThe estimate has risen from 150 to 240 to more than 500.… Read the rest
HRW says India should ban degrading rape “test”
Sep 8th, 2010 | Filed by Ophelia BensonMany Indian hospitals routinely subject rape survivors to forensic examinations that include the unscientific and degrading “finger” test.… Read the rest
Jesus and Mo discuss that wack guy in Florida
Sep 8th, 2010 | Filed by Ophelia BensonWhat to do about such intolerance and barbarity? Mo has a suggestion.… Read the rest
Joseph Hoffmann asks: should atheism be studied?
Sep 8th, 2010 | Filed by Ophelia BensonWe are enshrining mystery when there is no mystery. We are saying “Who could possibly know?” when there are plenty of people who know.… Read the rest
Susan Greenfield calls atheist scientists “smug”
Sep 8th, 2010 | Filed by Ophelia Benson“When they assume, rather in a Taliban-like way, that they have all the answers then I do feel uncomfortable.”… Read the rest
Open letter to the BBC
Sep 8th, 2010 | By Maryam NamazieRobert Fisk on a vicious patriarchal system
Sep 7th, 2010 | Filed by Ophelia BensonForced to marry her own rapist, Hanan now lives in terror of losing her son – and of being murdered by her family.… Read the rest
“Psychic” says a sanctuary croc ate 2 missing children
Sep 7th, 2010 | Filed by Ophelia BensonSo many of the crocs in the sanctuary were killed, and the sanctuary was demolished. Good work.… Read the rest
Robert Fisk on “honour” killings
Sep 7th, 2010 | Filed by Ophelia BensonHow should one react to a man who rapes his own daughter and, when she becomes pregnant, kills her to save the “honour” of his family?… Read the rest
Muslim stonemason models for church gargoyle
Sep 7th, 2010 | Filed by Ophelia BensonA far-right group pitches a fit; no one else is perturbed.… Read the rest
Bernard-Henri Lévy updates news on Ashtiani
Sep 7th, 2010 | Filed by Ophelia BensonOnly one thing, in fact, is sure. The stoning has been suspended, not canceled.… Read the rest
What about evidence?
Sep 6th, 2010 5:23 pm | By Ophelia BensonI don’t understand what Tim Crane is trying to say. Maybe it’s just the usual (the ingredients of which are present): religion isn’t science, it’s about meaning; the end. Maybe, but Crane says more than that, and some of what he says doesn’t go well with “religion isn’t science, it’s about meaning.”
Atheists, he says, ask for evidence for religious claims, and reject the claims when the evidence is not forthcoming. Yes that’s right. Then he says in their view those claims are
… Read the resta bit like scientific hypotheses. In other words, they are claims — like the claim that God created the world — that are supported by evidence, that are proved by arguments and tested against our experience
52 victim cards per deck
Sep 6th, 2010 12:59 pm | By Ophelia BensonThe Catholic church is pitching another fit, this time complaining that the BBC is anti-Christian and liberal and secular when it should be pro-Catholic and reactionary and theocratic like – well like the Catholic church.
Cardinal Keith O’Brien said the BBC’s news coverage is contaminated by “a radically secular and socially liberal mindset”…
“Senior news managers have admitted to the Catholic church that a radically secular and socially liberal mindset pervades their newsrooms. This sadly taints BBC news and current affairs coverage of religious issues, particularly matters of Christian beliefs.”
They certainly do think they’re owed a great deal of deference and air time, don’t they, especially for people who are mired in an institutional scandal about pervasive child-rape and … Read the rest
Cardinal says BBC has anti-Christian bias
Sep 6th, 2010 | Filed by Ophelia BensonComplains of “a radically secular and socially liberal mindset”; demands more air time for clerics.… Read the rest