Some are goddy, others are afraid of the goddy.… Read the rest
A secular view of Obama at the “prayer breakfast”
Feb 5th, 2011 | Filed by Ophelia BensonWay way way too much talk of baby Jesus.… Read the rest
Pascal Bruckner on the invention of Islamophobia
Feb 4th, 2011 | Filed by Ophelia BensonThe word is meant to silence all those Muslims who question the Koran, who demand equality of the sexes, who claim the right to renounce religion.… Read the rest
Andrew Ross finally catches up to Thomas Frank
Feb 4th, 2011 | Filed by Ophelia BensonBy seeing through the cant about the “creative class” and other hipster nonsense.… Read the rest
Republicans push back socialism
Feb 4th, 2011 | Filed by Ophelia BensonVote to repeal Obama-backed bill that would destroy asteroid headed for earth. [The Onion]… Read the rest
Strident n combative
Feb 4th, 2011 5:02 pm | By Ophelia BensonHey guess what! Did you know that gnu atheists are obnoxious? No? Neither did I! I’ve never heard that before. Yet alas, my darlings, it is so.
… Read the restmost of those in the movement formerly known as “New Atheism” seem to share the following characteristics. They are atheists. They believe the world would be a better place if religion would go away, becoming nothing more than cultural history and cultural tradition. They think that any religion that claims to be anything other than just cultural tradition is incompatible with science and the scientific world view. They believe that if somebody aims to accept science and is intellectually honest and consistent, the success of modern science must necessarily lead that person
Kurt Westergaard’s attacker sentenced to 9 years
Feb 4th, 2011 | Filed by Ophelia BensonFollowed by deportation to Somalia.… Read the rest
Ever-growing “blasphemy”-hunt in Pakistan
Feb 4th, 2011 | Filed by Ophelia BensonThe threat of this uncontested vigilantism posing as Islamic empowerment should be taken as seriously as the Taliban.… Read the rest
It’s not just crazy liberals who get abortions
Feb 4th, 2011 | Filed by Ophelia BensonRepublicans treat abortion like an unfortunate side-effect of women’s petty, selfish natures.… Read the rest
Why Rob Knop dislikes the term “gnu atheist”
Feb 4th, 2011 | Filed by Ophelia BensonBecause it names those horrible gnu atheists.… Read the rest
Tariq Ali on Salman Taseer and Pakistan
Feb 3rd, 2011 | Filed by Ophelia BensonIt would make things so much easier if only they could give it another name: military democracy perhaps?… Read the rest
Resonant phrases
Feb 3rd, 2011 12:51 pm | By Ophelia BensonI want to dispute one small item in Philip Kitcher’s “Militant Modern Atheism.” [pdf]
He describes the people in between the mythically self-conscious and the doctrinally-entangled, “whose ideas about how to interpret doctrinal sentences are far less definite.”
They are not prepared to say, with the mythically self-conscious, that there is no defensible interpretation of those sentences on which they are committed to the existence of transcendent entities. On the other hand, they are not willing to offer any definite interpretation that would provide a content to which they would subscribe.
Oh those. Yes. The hand-wavers; the resorters to purple language. What about them?
… Read the restMany of them are inclined to take refuge in language that is resonant and opaque, metaphorical
Sherry Rehman drops effort to repeal blasphemy laws
Feb 3rd, 2011 | Filed by Ophelia BensonPakistan People’s Party MP made her decision after the government ruled out changing the law.… Read the rest
UK: aid money was spent on pope’s visit
Feb 3rd, 2011 | Filed by Ophelia Benson“Our contribution recognised the Catholic Church’s role as a major provider of health and education services in developing countries.”… Read the rest
Massimo Pigliucci reviews Sam Harris
Feb 3rd, 2011 | Filed by Ophelia BensonHarris entirely evades philosophical criticism of his positions, on the simple ground that he finds metaethics “boring.”… Read the rest
Supreme Court justice misunderstood tax form
Feb 3rd, 2011 | Filed by Ophelia BensonClarence Thomas didn’t report his wife’s salary from the Heritage Foundation “due to a misunderstanding of the filing instructions.”… Read the rest
Women just don’t understand the offside rule
Feb 3rd, 2011 | Filed by Ophelia BensonThey haven’t got the brain cells, you see.… Read the rest
Hey kids, let’s redefine rape!
Feb 2nd, 2011 | Filed by Ophelia BensonNo broken bones? Pff, that’s not rape. No abortion for you!… Read the rest
One talk too many
Feb 2nd, 2011 4:45 pm | By Ophelia BensonHmm. Paul Sims at the New Humanist is still enthusiastic about the possibilities of dialogue between believers and non-believers. I agree that that can be a fine thing, or an anodyne thing, much of the time…but there are limits. I’m not sure Paul is sufficiently aware of what the limits ought to be.
… Read the restLast night, I attended a meeting between representatives of Catholic Voices and members of the Central London Humanist Group (CLHG), which took place in the hall of St Saviour’s Church in Pimlico. It was the second such event, the first having taken place in central London last October – the point, as I explained in a piece in the current issue of New Humanist, is to
Azar Majedi to the people of Egypt
Feb 2nd, 2011 | Filed by Ophelia BensonAs one who has struggled for human rights for years.… Read the rest