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 Ophelia BensonHighest 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 Ophelia BensonPatrick 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 Ophelia BensonWhen 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 Ophelia Benson“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 Ophelia Benson“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 Ophelia BensonEmily 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 Ophelia BensonBachmann 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 Ophelia BensonThe 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 Ophelia BensonNick 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.
… Read the restYou 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
Nick Cohen on “fashionable atheism”
Jun 26th, 2011 | Filed by Ophelia BensonTrevor 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 Ophelia BensonNew 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 Ophelia BensonThey 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 Ophelia BensonBrendan 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?
… Read the restAnd feminists hate DSK because… well, because he is a man, and
Does everybody hate women?
Jun 25th, 2011 11:30 am | By Ophelia BensonYes we just can’t ever hate women enough, there always has to be a new way to hate them even more.
… Read the restAt 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
Lawbreaking schools failing to teach religion
Jun 25th, 2011 | Filed by Ophelia BensonIt’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 Ophelia BensonBen Goldacre shows why.… Read the rest
US: women prosecuted for having miscarriages
Jun 25th, 2011 | Filed by Ophelia BensonYes really.… Read the rest
Cuomo signs marriage equality bill into law
Jun 25th, 2011 | Filed by Ophelia BensonWall 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 Ophelia BensonJesus is like any kid next door…but he’s different. The ABC sitcom that got wiped.… Read the rest