Muslim weightlifter wants to alter uniform *

Jun 27th, 2011 | Filed by

The rules require arms and legs to be bare so judges can see when elbows and knees are “locked” to determine if a lift is successful.… Read the rest



Lebanon: clerics reject domestic abuse law *

Jun 27th, 2011 | Filed by

Highest Sunni Muslim authority rejected bill aimed at protecting women from violence and rape, saying it would lead to the demise of the family.… Read the rest



When professors deny the truths of faith

Jun 27th, 2011 11:21 am | By

Patrick J. Reilly has written an article about the heterodoxy of ethics and law professors at several Jesuit universities. Who is he?

Patrick J. Reilly is founder and president of the Cardinal Newman Society, a national organization to advocate and support the renewal of genuine Catholic higher education.

Ah. So he’s someone with a clear agenda, and one that is a contradiction in terms. “Genuine Catholic higher education” clearly means orthodox Catholic “education” that adheres to established dogma, which means it is fundamentally opposed to genuine education. What he means by “education” should better be called information-stuffing, or just memorization.

Here’s his beef. The US Conference of Catholic Bishops – the one that subscribes to the bishop of Phoenix’s … Read the rest



Aikin and Talisse on various kinds of straw men *

Jun 27th, 2011 | Filed by

When we commit a straw man fallacy, we fail to live up to the responsibilities of the exchange of reasons.… Read the rest



Devon “witch” receives Christian leaflets *

Jun 27th, 2011 | Filed by

“God bless them, they’re wanting to save her from going to a lost eternity.”… Read the rest



Catholics who disagree with church teaching shock *

Jun 27th, 2011 | Filed by

“When professors deny the truths of faith and disregard the common good they violate the mission of a Catholic university.”… Read the rest



It depends where you start

Jun 27th, 2011 9:54 am | By

Emily Manuel at Religion Dispatches talks to Adam Kotsko about his new book, which is about atonement. She mentions someone posting on his blog that “we haven’t really thought through a proper atheism yet.”

Right. I think that you can see this with the New Atheists. Dawkins’ and Hitchens’ and Dennett’s books are a kind of simplistic critique of religion that’s basically not going to change anyone’s mind. I think there has to be more to say about religion other than the fact that it makes no sense as an empirical claim. That’s just too obvious to be interesting. I think that we as a society deserve a better form of atheism.

The claim that the simplistic critique of religion … Read the rest



Matt Taibbi on Michele Bachmann *

Jun 27th, 2011 | Filed by

Bachmann is a religious zealot whose brain is a raging electrical storm of divine visions and paranoid delusions. … Read the rest



Farzana Hassan on burqas and bans *

Jun 26th, 2011 | Filed by

The women’s rights activist explores whether the burqa is a symbol of religious expression or a tool of oppression. … Read the rest



The real problem is new atheism

Jun 26th, 2011 12:04 pm | By

Nick Cohen has a terrific, ferocious piece on Trevor Phillips’s failure, indeed refusal, to do anything about caste discrimination in the UK. Since Phillips is the head of the Equality and Human Rights Commission, this failure/refusal is striking as well as tragic.

Nick starts by clearing some stupid lumber out of the way.

You can tell that speakers are preparing to say something scandalous when they assert that “militant atheists” are the moral equivalents of the religious militants that so afflict humanity. Trevor Phillips, whose flighty management of the Equality and Human Rights Commission is becoming a scandal, was no exception when he announced last week that British believers were “under siege” from “fashionable” atheists.

Trevor Phillips’s

Read the rest


Nick Cohen on “fashionable atheism” *

Jun 26th, 2011 | Filed by

Trevor Phillips’s attack on “fashionable” atheists for exercising their right to speak their minds shows he does not understand modern sectarianism.… Read the rest



Tel Aviv buses mandated to “go religious” *

Jun 26th, 2011 | Filed by

New transportation “reform” means buses will no longer be allowed to operate before the Shabbat ends.… Read the rest



Eric MacDonald on the wolf in sheep’s clothing *

Jun 26th, 2011 | Filed by

They may not eat you up like wolves, but they will, like taxidermists, certainly stuff you with unfounded beliefs and display you.… Read the rest



Well, because he is a man

Jun 25th, 2011 2:56 pm | By

Brendan O’Neill is a piece of work. You knew that, but I’m saying it anyway. He had himself a good time defending the pope against the evil atheists last year, but I didn’t know he’d recently amused himself by defending Dominique Strauss-Kahn against “the feminists”; but it was so.

I can’t help feeling that his arrest on charges of sexual assault is being turned into a modern-day medieval drama, a kind of reality-show version of the witch trials of old, in which DSK has been assigned the role of all-purpose hate figure rather than suspect in a crime.

Oh, sure you can. Did you try? Really try?

And feminists hate DSK because… well, because he is a man, and

Read the rest


Does everybody hate women?

Jun 25th, 2011 11:30 am | By

Yes we just can’t ever hate women enough, there always has to be a new way to hate them even more.

At least 38 of the 50 states across America have introduced foetal homicide laws that were intended to protect pregnant women and their unborn children from violent attacks by third parties – usually abusive male partners – but are increasingly being turned by renegade prosecutors against the women themselves.

South Carolina was one of the first states to introduce such a foetal homicide law. National Advocates for Pregnant Women has found only one case of a South Carolina man who assaulted a pregnant woman having been charged under its terms, and his conviction was eventually overturned. Yet the

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Lawbreaking schools failing to teach religion *

Jun 25th, 2011 | Filed by

It’s the law, dammit. They’re breaking the law. The law says they have to. They’re breaking it.… Read the rest



Misleading money-saving claims help no one *

Jun 25th, 2011 | Filed by

Ben Goldacre shows why.… Read the rest



US: women prosecuted for having miscarriages *

Jun 25th, 2011 | Filed by

Yes really.… Read the rest



Cuomo signs marriage equality bill into law *

Jun 25th, 2011 | Filed by

Wall Street donors and gay-rights advocates demonstrated more muscle than a Roman Catholic hierarchy and an ineffective opposition. … Read the rest



A show called “Leave it to Jesus” *

Jun 24th, 2011 | Filed by

Jesus is like any kid next door…but he’s different. The ABC sitcom that got wiped.… Read the rest