Petition to save women’s shelters in Afghanistan *

Feb 18th, 2011 | Filed by

Under a new bill, women and girls would have to appear before a panel which could decide to send them home or charge them with “adultery.”… Read the rest



Johann Hari: get bishops out of lawmaking *

Feb 18th, 2011 | Filed by

Which two nations still reserve places in their parliaments for unelected religious clerics? Iran…and Britain.… Read the rest



Religious discrimination in “faith” schools *

Feb 18th, 2011 | Filed by

The new Education Bill would allow a Muslim or Catholic school, for instance, to recruit entirely on religious grounds.… Read the rest



Ahmadinejad on true, Islamic feminism *

Feb 18th, 2011 | Filed by

It’s not Zionist.… Read the rest



Free Church minister resigns over music in services *

Feb 18th, 2011 | Filed by

Music is Satan’s fishing rod.… Read the rest



Blatant discrimination against a Christian

Feb 17th, 2011 6:15 pm | By

When is it ok to decline to hire a particular person for a scientific job and hire someone else instead? James Hannam says not when the particular person in question is a creationist. For why? For because that is a religious belief, and it is the particular person’s right to have a religious belief and that right is trampled on when someone else is given the job as director of the student observatory at the University of Kentucky. Martin Gaskell was the best guy for the job as any fule kno and so it was no fair to give that job to someone else.

[T]he mere fact he was sympathetic towards creationists and kept an open mind about evolution appears

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Religion is no excuse for promoting scientific ignorance *

Feb 17th, 2011 | Filed by

Teachers of science need to understand and convey concepts that are in accord with our understanding of nature.… Read the rest



When is it ok to “discriminate” against creationists? *

Feb 17th, 2011 | Filed by

By hiring someone else for a science job. James Hannam says never.… Read the rest



S Dakota shelves you can kill abortionists bill *

Feb 17th, 2011 | Filed by

Several people convicted of killing abortion providers have tried unsuccessfully to use the justifiable homicide argument.… Read the rest



PZ on atheism and women *

Feb 17th, 2011 | Filed by

Imagine a panel with 5 Christians and 1 atheist. Think about it.… Read the rest



Of pears and atmospheres

Feb 16th, 2011 12:33 pm | By

Jen at Blag Hag is attempting to clarify a few points about sexism and also hoping the drama will die now. I haven’t read all the relevant documents, but the gist of it is that there was a panel at a regional atheist meeting at which a woman objected to a bit of debatably sexist vocabulary and then all hell broke loose.

There’s a video of the relevant part of the panel, and I broke down and watched it this morning.

Here’s the thing. I can see that it’s not a slam-dunk that the word “female” is necessarily sexist…but by god that panel was sexist. It was sexist from the beginning (the beginning of that video, at least). It … Read the rest



Dahlia Lithwick on Clarence Thomas *

Feb 16th, 2011 | Filed by

This combination of public silence, private advocacy, and contempt for transparency is the real problem Thomas has created, not the silence itself.… Read the rest



Jesus and Mo and Moses ponder multiculturalism *

Feb 16th, 2011 | Filed by

All are welcome, all shall have prizes, right? Yes. No.… Read the rest



Dr Mehmet Oz completes journey to the dark side *

Feb 16th, 2011 | Filed by

Diet and exercise are part of science-based medicine, yet CAMsters appropriate them as “alternative,” the better to bring in the real woo along with them.… Read the rest



Two “Witch children” Rescued from Traffickers

Feb 15th, 2011 | By Leo Igwe
Two “Witch children” Rescued from Traffickers

On February 11, 2011 I led a team of child rights activists and a police officer who rescued two children – Freedom Peter Okoro-Oko (8) and Anietie Mfon Ime Etuk (10) – following a tip off from our local contacts in Uyo, Akwa Ibom State.

The kids were living in a shanty buiding with an old man, Asuquo Akpan Ukpong, whose family members – according to local sources – trafficked children.

Freedom and Anietie were accused of witchcraft and then abandoned by their families. They were living in the local market  square before they were ‘picked up’ by Mr Asuquo who used them as child labourers. (Asuquo, we were told, used to send children to work for him on his … Read the rest



A whole new field known as quantum biology

Feb 15th, 2011 1:11 pm | By

Deepak Chopra is upset because atheists make too much noise.

For most people, science deserves its reputation for being opposed to religion.

I’m not thinking of the rather noisy campaign by a handful of die-hard atheists to demote and ridicule faith…

Despite the noisy atheists, two trends in spirituality and science have started to converge.

Are the noisy atheists any more noisy than Deepak Chopra himself? He’s not particularly shy and retiring, now is he. It’s my understanding that he makes quite a lot of money by writing quite a lot of books that talk raving nonsense – like about “spirituality” and science starting to converge.

It is becoming legitimate to talk of invisible forces that shape creation – not

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Paula Kirby on religion as the ultimate tyranny *

Feb 15th, 2011 | Filed by

If you value freedom, you should flee from religion as the antelope flees the lion.… Read the rest



On Sans and islamophobia

Feb 15th, 2011 | By Sara Larsson and Christer Sturmark

Helle Klein has instinctively labeled Sans magazine as islamophobic, solely on the grounds that its cover portrays a woman in a burqa. If that is the case, most articles and news stories from Afghanistan should be labeled islamophobic in the delusional world of Helle Klein, write Sara Larsson and Christer Sturmark, editor and editor in chief of Sans magazine.

The new cultural magazine Sans has recently been launched. Its theme is the religious oppression of women and in the issue’s main article, American feminist and author Ophelia Benson is interviewed. In her book “Does God Hate Women?”, Benson examines how women’s human rights are violated in the name of conservative religious traditions all over the world.

On Sans’ cover, which … Read the rest



Go ahead, call me soppy *

Feb 15th, 2011 | Filed by

James Croft has done an inspirational Humanist video. So I’m inspired, so sue me.… Read the rest



S Dakota Moves To Legalize Killing Abortion Providers *

Feb 15th, 2011 | Filed by

A bill under consideration in South Dakota would make murder to prevent an abortion a “justifiable homicide” in many cases.… Read the rest