Because theocracy is so obviously preferable.… Read the rest
All entries by this author
Vatican launches criminal probe into unauthorised leaks 
Mar 18th, 2012 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Not child rape, not concealment of child rape, but leaks that allege corruption. That’s Vatican morality for you!… Read the rest
Lauryn Oates on bad excuses for doing nothing
Mar 18th, 2012 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
At what point does our own society reach perfection, giving us permission to worry about the problems of others?
Reducing the influence of religion in the world
Mar 18th, 2012 4:54 pm | By Ophelia BensonVictor Stenger’s talk on the panel at Moving Secularism Forward is at the Huffington Post, and I think it’s clear that he doesn’t think religious belief should be “eradicated” by sword and fire, but rather that it should be undermined and diminished over time by better ways of getting at the truth.
… Read the restScientists have to help the rest of the secular community to work toward reducing the influence of religion to the point where it has negligible effect on society. I don’t believe this is impossible. Astrology and the reading of sheep entrails are no longer used to decide on courses of events, such as going to war. Why can’t we expect the same for the imagined dialogues with
(This is a syndicated post. Read the original at FreeThoughtBlogs.)
Last Sunday afternoon at the Manchester Mercure
Mar 18th, 2012 12:37 pm | By Ophelia BensonSaturday night at QED one of the prizes was for Best Podcast, and it was won by The Pod Delusion. I felt enthusiastic about this, because they had asked to interview me at QED. Hooray for ME, thought I, I get to be interviewed by the WINNAZ.
And I did. We went into a nice quiet little room off the main area which alas turned out to be a little room on the way to another little room where the QED people were keeping things. That’s why if you listen you will hear several breaks for editing. It’s not because I burst into a flurry of oaths for no apparent reason.
(This is a syndicated post. Read the original at FreeThoughtBlogs.)
Belief as pickpocket
Mar 18th, 2012 11:27 am | By Ophelia BensonI’m amicably disagreeing with Ron Lindsay at his CFI blog, where he is amicably disagreeing with Vic Stenger and PZ Myers about something both of them said at the Sunday morning panel in Orlando two weeks ago. (I was on the same panel.)
… Read the restBoth Stenger and Myers made various recommendations about objectives on which secularists should concentrate, but they both agreed on one point: they both asserted we should aim to eliminate or eradicate religious belief…
As I have argued at greater length elsewhere, our primary objective as secularists should be to bring about a secular society, that is, one in which public policy is free of religious influence and discussions and decisions about public policy are based entirely
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Entry 47235
Mar 18th, 2012 10:23 am | By Ophelia BensonYet more from the misogyny files.
… Read the restOn Saturday morning, after getting the news that President Obama would be giving the commencement address at Barnard College this May, graduating senior Marly Faherty did what her generation does: she went online, to a Columbia University blog called Bwog. But as she watched the comments pouring in, her excitement turned to shock, and then despair. “It was the first time I’d seen something get that nasty that quickly,” she told The Daily Beast. “It was like watching a train wreck. I couldn’t take my eyes off it.”
…commenters started attacking Barnard, Columbia’s all-women’s sister school across the street, and accusing its students of academic inferiority and much, much worse. Using terms like
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That would be never
Mar 17th, 2012 4:43 pm | By Ophelia BensonUm………no.
Bill Maher explains that it’s fine for him to call Sarah Palin a cunt.
No it isn’t.
In a brief interview with ABC’s Jake Tapper, Bill Maher explains why calling Sarah Palin a “cunt” or a “twat,” as he has, is in no way equivalent to calling Sandra Fluke a “slut” or a “prostitute,” as Rush Limbaugh did.
I don’t care whether it’s equivalent or not; I care that it’s sexist and bad. Jacob Sullum notes:
Maher seems sincerely oblivious to the fact that “different tastes and different opinions” tend to color people’s views about when sexist epithets are acceptable and when they are so “disgusting” that they are beyond the pale.
And here’s another thing that tends … Read the rest
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Leo Igwe addresses the UN on belief in witchcraft
Mar 17th, 2012 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
He criticised governments for aiding and abetting belief in witchcraft, leading to the torture and killing of innocent women and children in Africa and around the world.… Read the rest
And now a word for the laydeez
Mar 17th, 2012 11:34 am | By Ophelia BensonAnother treasure from @UCCB – a patronizing ode to wimmin, from a boss of an organization that excludes women from all power and thinks its “God” is a man. You know what it says without reading it. Women are special, women are lovely, women raise the children, bless their little hearts and their soft heads.
During this month, our minds turn toward the great gift of what Blessed John Paul II in his letter Mulieris Dignitatem calls the feminine genius and its positive impact on the life of the Church and society.
Uh huh. Let’s have a look at good ol’ muley dig, shall we?
… Read the resteven the rightful opposition of women to what is expressed in the biblical words
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Normally there’s a big cozy plinth
Mar 17th, 2012 10:36 am | By Ophelia BensonInterlude. (By the way it’s snowing here right now. Quite hard. This is very odd for March 17 in this particular spot on the globe. A few miles east, in the mountains, it wouldn’t be odd, but down here it’s very odd.) One of the entertainers at QED last Saturday, as I mentioned, was Alun Cochrane, and I thought he was dam’ funny. This is what he’s like.
(This is a syndicated post. Read the original at FreeThoughtBlogs.)
The marketers advise them
Mar 17th, 2012 10:20 am | By Ophelia BensonDeep breaths taken. Onward. Cardinal Timothy Dolan, formerly archbishop of New York Timothy Dolan, tells us what keen supporters of women’s rights he and his friends in the church are. He also explains how unfair it all is, and how hard done by they all are, and how mean everyone else is, and what whoppers everyone tells about the church.
… Read the restI could go on and on: if you want to see creative, daring, lifegiving healthcare for women and their children, look at what the Church is doing.
And now understand why Catholics rightly bristle when politicians and commentators characterize the Church as backwards and insensitive when it comes to women’s health. Yes, the PR experts advise them that this
(This is a syndicated post. Read the original at FreeThoughtBlogs.)
@USCCB
Mar 17th, 2012 9:47 am | By Ophelia BensonOh hey gee what do you know, the US Conference of Catholic bishops is on Twitter. One can keep up with their theocratic doings so easily…
Here’s yesterday’s press release. It’s about their plans to pray for success at imposing their filthy theocratic laws on the entire US population.
The Administrative Committee of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB), at its March 13-14 meeting in Washington, called for a nationwide prayer campaign for protection of religious freedom and conscience rights from several threats, including the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services mandate that forces employers, including religious ones, to provide contraception/sterilization in their health plans.
What about my religious freedom? What about my conscience rights? And … Read the rest
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Frivolous law suit dismissed
Mar 17th, 2012 8:03 am | By Ophelia BensonRemember Tom Martin, the MRA who was suing LSE for sexism? The one who likes to call women “whores!” when they disagree with him? His case has been dismissed; he has to pay LSE’s costs.
… Read the restRepresenting himself at his application for a trial at the Central London County Court on Tuesday, Mr Martin complained of a lack of men-only sessions in the university’s gym and the preponderance of posters in the corridors advertising services for women without the presence of similar materials geared towards men.
Mr Martin, who describes himself as a feminist, said “hard” chairs in the library were uncomfortable for men and that a “male blaming culture” was evident in course materials, which “ignored men’s issues”
(This is a syndicated post. Read the original at FreeThoughtBlogs.)
Sarah Ditum on anti-abortion bullies
Mar 16th, 2012 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Abortion opponents are alarmingly willing to adopt increasingly aggressive tactics aimed at abortion providers and the women they treat.… Read the rest
Tom Martin’s sex discrimination case against LSE dismissed
Mar 16th, 2012 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Mr Martin was ordered to pay the LSE’s legal costs subject to a financial assessment.… Read the rest
Rock Beyond Belief wins a victory
Mar 16th, 2012 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
If you care about the constitutional rights of our nation’s armed forces personnel, and you most certainly should, make the trip out to Fort Bragg, N.C., and witness history unfold.… Read the rest
Mark your calendars
Mar 16th, 2012 3:52 pm | By Ophelia BensonAnd speaking of going to things – for people in the Seattle area – Richard Dawkins, Elisabeth Cornwell, and Sean Faircloth will be doing a talk in Bellevue on April 1. Details at RDF.… Read the rest
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Well that went awry
Mar 16th, 2012 3:47 pm | By Ophelia BensonRock Beyond Belief has an official statement from Fort Bragg saying they are allowed to be critical of organized religion. Chris Rodda explains how that happened.
… Read the restSo, why are we thanking Major Dowty? Well, because it was his blog post about his “concern” over the lyrics of a Rock Beyond Belief performer being picked up by FOX News that caused Fort Bragg officials to scrutinize the Rock Beyond Belief lineup and attempt to require additional promises from the performers and speakers that they would not be critical of religion.
But Justin stood his ground, as he always does, and got it in writing that the speakers and performers at Rock Beyond Belief can be critical of religion (just like
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Hazlitt
Mar 16th, 2012 3:32 pm | By Ophelia BensonWe were talking about Hazlitt on the Baggini/de Botton thread, and it appears that some of you know not of him. Do not die before you have remedied this!
There is a sample of his essays online along with entire books. From The Spirit of the Age, the chapter on William Gifford, editor of the Quarterly Review:
… Read the restMr. Gifford, in short, is possessed of that sort of learning which is likely to result from an over-anxious desire to supply the want of the first rudiments of education: that sort of wit which is the offspring of ill-humour or bodily pain: that sort of sense which arises from a spirit of contradiction and a disposition to cavil at
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