… Read the restElizabeth Smart’s ordeal as a kidnapped polygamist child bride could have ended weeks after her abduction when a policeman challenged her captor to lift her veil.
But he backed off when Brian Mitchell insisted that it was an inviolable religious obligation, condemning the 14-year-old to another eight months as a sex slave.
…
When a police detective approached an oddly dressed teenager in a Salt Lake City library and asked her to lift her veil, Mr Mitchell refused, saying their religion only permitted her husband to see her face.
“He said he was looking for Elizabeth Smart,” Ms Smart told an engrossed courtroom…
Smart said that the policeman “asked if he could be
An inviolable religious obligation
Nov 10th, 2010 4:08 pm | By Ophelia Benson“Religious obligations” are the kidnapper’s friend
Nov 10th, 2010 | Filed by Ophelia BensonA cop looking for Elizabeth Smart asked her to lift her veil but her kidnapper said no, it was a religious obligation; the cop walked away.… Read the rest
Climate change no problem: god promised
Nov 10th, 2010 | Filed by Ophelia BensonUS Representative John Shimkus wants to chair Energy Committee, quotes the bible to show that god won’t destroy the earth.… Read the rest
Atheist pastors and their struggles
Nov 10th, 2010 | Filed by Ophelia BensonOne says his initial doubts about God came as he read the work of the so-called New Atheists.… Read the rest
Banaz Mahmod ‘honour’ killing cousins jailed for life
Nov 10th, 2010 | Filed by Ophelia BensonMahmod was seen by her father and uncle to have brought shame on her family after she left her violent husband.… Read the rest
Iran, Saudi Arabia bid for global gender policy role
Nov 10th, 2010 | Filed by Ophelia BensonIran and Saudi Arabia may get seats on the board of a new UN super-agency to promote women’s rights. Yes really.… Read the rest
US atheist groups start ad campaign
Nov 10th, 2010 | Filed by Ophelia BensonOne way to end the stigma attached to atheism is to show that there are a lot of us. “It’s the same idea as the out-of-the-closet campaign for gay rights.”… Read the rest
Pakistan: gang rape of child by powerful men
Nov 10th, 2010 | Filed by Ophelia BensonThe perpetrators wanted to take revenge on her brother for his help in arranging a love marriage.… Read the rest
Science and absolute theological truths
Nov 9th, 2010 6:01 pm | By Ophelia BensonCharles Freeman replies to James Hannam’s reply to Freeman’s criticism of Hannam’s book God’s Philosophers.
My most important point, and one that Hannam does not even address in his response, is that, in comparison to the Greeks the natural philosophers operated within the context of a much more authoritarian society. Christianity brought the concept of absolute theological truths, many ring-fenced as “articles of faith” which, as Hannam notes, apparently with approval, were unchallengeable.
That has to have been a considerable stumbling block, surely.
… Read the restAs intellectual life evolved in the Middle Ages, no one quite knew where the boundaries lay, the threat of heresy was used all too widely in personal power struggles between opposing factions and individuals and the ultimate
Charles Freeman replies to James Hannam
Nov 9th, 2010 | Filed by Ophelia BensonChristianity brought the concept of absolute theological truths, many ring-fenced as “articles of faith” which were unchallengeable.… Read the rest
James Hannam replies to Charles Freeman
Nov 9th, 2010 | Filed by Ophelia BensonThe secondary purpose of the book is to deal with the old myth, no longer accepted by historians, that the Church held back science at every turn.… Read the rest
Finding the right gap
Nov 9th, 2010 4:23 pm | By Ophelia BensonThere’s been a discussion of agnosticism in comments at Pharyngula, with Stephen Novella offering some attempted clarifications. I think agnostics or “agnostics” of the Mark Vernon type have muddied the waters. Not knowing doesn’t have to be some mushy compromise between theism and atheism; not knowing really does matter.
That’s central to all these “what would it take to convince you of god/the supernatural” questions – often the examples offered are of things it would be very hard or impossible for people to actually know. If a 900 foot Jesus appeared – well, appeared where? And how would anyone know it was Jesus? And what about all the people who didn’t see it, because they were ill in bed, … Read the rest
Kumbaya
Nov 9th, 2010 12:53 pm | By Ophelia BensonChris Stedman is excited about inter-faith thingies again – interfaith cooperation, interfaith training, interfaith leadership, interfaith youth, interfaith activism, the interfaith movement, the interfaith table, interfaith work, interfaith events, interfaith understanding, interfaith coffee, interfaith ice cream, interfaith bicycles…the list goes on.
Anyway, the thing that’s so particularly exciting this time is that even atheists can do it. You would think that wouldn’t make any sense, since if there’s one thing atheists can be counted on not to be interested in, it’s faith – but it turns out that you would be wrong to think that. Atheists are all over it.
… Read the restSpeaking before a group of policy and philanthropic professionals, I explained that there are many atheists, agnostics, humanists and
Blackburn, Pinker, Krauss, Harris on morality
Nov 9th, 2010 | Filed by Ophelia BensonCan science shape human values, and if so, should it?… Read the rest
Ernie Lepore on speech and harm
Nov 9th, 2010 | Filed by Ophelia BensonWhy slurs matter.… Read the rest
Pakistan: woman sentenced to death for blasphemy
Nov 9th, 2010 | Filed by Ophelia BensonAli Hasan Dayan of Human Rights Watch: “It’s an obscene law used as a tool of persecution and to settle other scores that are nothing to do with religion.”… Read the rest
Saudi fatwa: women may not work as cashiers
Nov 9th, 2010 | Filed by Ophelia BensonOfficial board of clerics said the cashier jobs are not permissible because they would result in the women mixing with unrelated men.… Read the rest
In time for Xmas: a new book for the kiddies
Nov 9th, 2010 | Filed by Ophelia BensonAbout how the evil black Obamaclaus stole Xmas but the nice white people defeated him. Or something.… Read the rest
Oh yay, atheists are doing interfaith whatsits
Nov 8th, 2010 | Filed by Ophelia BensonIt’s totally great because you get all the advantages of faith and – um – well you get all the advantages of faith.… Read the rest
Gay suicides and the Mormon church
Nov 8th, 2010 | Filed by Ophelia BensonUtah has the highest rate of suicides among men 15-24 of any state in the US. Coincidence?… Read the rest