Louis, this looks like the start of a beautiful friendship.… Read the rest
Mona Eltahawy on the burqa 
Apr 12th, 2011 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
The burqa represents an ideology that does not believe in Muslim women’s rights to do anything but choose to cover her face.… Read the rest
Sex trafficking charity loses out to Salvation Army
Apr 12th, 2011 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Bad move.… Read the rest
Good old interfaith atheism
Apr 12th, 2011 11:41 am | By Ophelia BensonChris Stedman is (understandably) tired of my questions about his faithy status updates at Facebook, so I’d better stop asking them there. There is such a thing as being a pain in the ass, after all.
I’ll make a couple of remarks here, instead. If I’m going to be a pain in the ass I should be it here rather than on someone else’s updates.
The update in question was to say he’s joining the board of directors of something called World Faith. I found it, and it’s what you would expect from the name – it’s an interfaith thingy. It may be very benevolent and all, but it’s an interfaith thingy. It’s pro-faith. It valorizes faith. It … Read the rest
French burqa ban is in effect
Apr 12th, 2011 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Said a man, “According to this law, my wife would have to remain cloistered at home.”… Read the rest
Rigid, authoritarian, and emotionally abusive
Apr 11th, 2011 12:10 pm | By Ophelia BensonReligion is not all bad, we’re told. Religion is often good, we’re told. Some atheists do nothing but bash religion, we’re told. Some atheists do nothing but bash “the religious,” we’re told.
Not all religions are literalist, we’re told. Not all religions are fundamentalist or theocratic or doctrinaire, we’re told. Unitarian Universalism, for instance, is liberal and swell, we’re told.
But some former Unitarian Universalists beg to differ.
… Read the restThere is a contrary trend, though, in many local UU congregations and in the national UU Association (“UUA”): extremely strong religious privilege and (largely as a consequence) severe distaste for open atheism and criticism of religion. Very few UUs believe in “God” as that term is broadly understood by theists
Bangladesh: girl whipped to death for being raped
Apr 11th, 2011 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
She was 14. The man who raped her was her cousin, age 40. He’s alive and well.… Read the rest
Does Mo want to make $50,000?
Apr 11th, 2011 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
He knows it’s not as easy as it looks.… Read the rest
Ben Goldacre on why cigarette packs matter
Apr 11th, 2011 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Cigarette packaging has been used to sell the crucial lie that cigarettes which are “light”, “mild”, “silver”, and the rest, are somehow “safer”.… Read the rest
When wives are set on fire for their dowry
Apr 11th, 2011 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
At least 249 women were killed in 2010 for their dowry, according to the Bangladesh Society for the Enforcement of Human Rights.… Read the rest
“Holy man” committed sexual assault by proxy
Apr 11th, 2011 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Golossian convinced two Greek Orthodox women that they had been cursed by black magic and had to obey his angel-given instructions.… Read the rest
The Postmodern Interpretation of Witchcraft
Apr 10th, 2011 | By Joshua LeachToday, the great wave of postmodernist and poststructuralist academic writing, with its epistemological relativism and obfuscating rhetoric, has largely subsided. It may never disappear, as few things do, and it may have become so thoroughly embedded in certain disciplines as to color them for the foreseeable future. However, the vogue for “discourses” and “hermeneutics” has largely passed its prime, and disciplines which once felt themselves to be engaged in a life-or-death struggle with the new wave of academics (anthropology, history, e.g.) now seem to be regaining their footing and reclaiming a scientific basis.
History cannot be written if we do not believe that any one narrative of the past is more “true” than another, or that it is possible, despite … Read the rest
The notion Lord Rees so casually endorses
Apr 10th, 2011 11:21 am | By Ophelia BensonNick Cohen is not unduly impressed by the Templeton Foundation.
Initially, it made no secret of its admiration for clerical hucksters and dispensed prizes to the evangelical showman Billy Graham and Mother Teresa, who sought to wallow in Calcuttan poverty rather than end it. Now it has moved upmarket and seeks to reward intellectuals who allow religion to scrape an acquaintance with science; who imply, however vaguely, that evidence-based research and ancient fable are compatible.
That’s the one. I point this out because the gnu-haters have been so energetically defending it in the past few days – I want to underline the fact that Nick is not an ally in that project.
Rees is not, Nick points out, actually religious.… Read the rest
Eric MacDonald on the betrayal of reason
Apr 10th, 2011 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Templeton is endeavouring to return human thought to the deeply conflicted state that Newton and Spinoza had to live with.… Read the rest
John Horgan in SciAm on the Templeton prize
Apr 10th, 2011 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
The Templeton Foundation promotes a view of science and religion as roughly equivalent.… Read the rest
Nick Cohen on Templeton and “respect” for religion
Apr 10th, 2011 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
In the past, the faithful did not accuse their critics of mere bad manners.… Read the rest
Ruse rhymes with loose, he says so himself
Apr 9th, 2011 3:42 pm | By Ophelia BensonJust a little note to point out the consistent rudeness and inaccuracy (to put it politely) of Michael Ruse.
I read one of the responses to my recent piece on Darwinism and the problem of evil. One of the junior new atheists — that is to say, not one of the big four of Richard Dawkins, Daniel Dennett, Christopher Hitchens and Sam Harris — took extreme umbrage to my picking on him (even more umbrage at my not naming him by name) and my suggesting that absolute reality might not correspond exactly to his worldview.
No he didn’t. Any “umbrage” he took was a good deal less extreme than the umbrage Ruse routinely takes at (not to: at) a … Read the rest
Michael Ruse on…the new atheists
Apr 9th, 2011 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Yes really. Again.… Read the rest
Barbara Forrest on a prayer network malfunction?
Apr 9th, 2011 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
The Louisiana Coalition for Science says the Louisiana Science Education Act is a creationist law; now a prayer group has slipped up and confirmed that.… Read the rest
The Tennessee legislature helps out
Apr 9th, 2011 11:35 am | By Ophelia BensonIn a 70-28 vote today, the Tennessee House of Representatives passed HB 368, a bill that encourages science teachers to explore controversial topics without fear of reprisal. Critics say the measure will enable K-12 teachers to present intelligent design and creationism as acceptable alternatives to evolution in the classroom.
…
“There has been a widespread pattern of discrimination against educators who would challenge evolution in the classroom,” Casey Luskin, a policy analyst for the pro-intelligent design Discovery Institute, in Seattle, Washington, told ScienceInsider. “Schools censor from students the evidence against evolution. This protects the rights of teachers to teach in an objective way.” The Discovery Institute supports the bill and others like it in other states.
And … Read the rest
