All entries by this author

Hitchens on 60 Minutes *

Mar 7th, 2011 | Filed by

“But don’t let the word ‘intellectual’ scare you off.” I wasn’t going to.… Read the rest



Mohammed Hanif on Pakistan’s celebrity maulanas *

Mar 7th, 2011 | Filed by

They are there on prime time TV, they thunder on FM radios between adverts for Pepsi and hair removing cream.… Read the rest



Alberta: parents fight for secular education *

Mar 7th, 2011 | Filed by

They say they want what other Canadians have: freedom of religion, or, in this case, freedom from religion.… Read the rest



Aikin and Talisse on atheism and accommodationism 2 *

Mar 7th, 2011 | Filed by

The aim of determining the truth of a statement is distinct from that of assigning epistemic blame or praise to a cognitive agent.… Read the rest



Yoga is not as old as you think *

Mar 6th, 2011 | Filed by

Nor very Hindu, either. Meera Nanda takes on some nationalist myths.… Read the rest



Orlando

Mar 6th, 2011 11:42 am | By

Remember Orlando Figes? Remember what he got up to?

The future of one of Britain’s leading historians was looking increasingly uncertain tonight after he admitted that he was the author of anonymous reviews that praised his own work as “fascinating” and “uplifting” while rubbishing that of his rivals.

Oh that. He used a pseudonym to trash people. This was considered a bad thing. Not an excusable little lapse in manners, but a seriously bad thing.

John Sutherland, professor of English at University College London, suggested Figes’s position at Birkbeck could be under threat. “On the whole academics are pretty tolerant,” he said. “Clearly in the present climate he’s a star, and Birkbeck needs stars because of the upcoming research

Read the rest


Pakistan becomes a country at war with its minorities *

Mar 6th, 2011 | Filed by

It is becoming a country at war with its individuals, with itself, with you and with me, with the human desire to be allowed to believe what we believe.… Read the rest



“Pro-life” Republicans cut funding for poison control *

Mar 6th, 2011 | Filed by

Poison control centers actually save far more money than they cost.… Read the rest



Jahanshah Rashidian on International Women’s Day *

Mar 6th, 2011 | Filed by

The world practically ignores the fate of hundreds of millions of Muslim women, who are victims of Islamic states or dominant Islamic traditions of misogyny.… Read the rest



Iran appointed to UN commission for status of women *

Mar 6th, 2011 | Filed by

A nation where we can be arrested for getting a suntan, or wearing too much makeup, will opine on ways to safeguard our rights.… Read the rest



Muslim physicist threatened for evolution lecture *

Mar 6th, 2011 | Filed by

“I seek Allah’s forgiveness for my mistakes and apologise for any offence caused,” physics lecturer Dr Usama Hasan said.… Read the rest



Nick Cohen on the assassinations in Pakistan *

Mar 6th, 2011 | Filed by

Western writers who want to criticize religious misogyny, homophobia, racism and censorship must also live with accusations of “Islamophobia.”… Read the rest



Kamila Shamsie on Pakistan’s blasphemy laws *

Mar 5th, 2011 | Filed by

From the first, the new and expanded blasphemy laws were used as tools of persecution.… Read the rest



Ahmed Rashid on the assassination of Shahbaz Bhatti *

Mar 5th, 2011 | Filed by

As leaders worldwide strongly condemn Bhatti’s murder, the reaction of the Pakistani government has been vapid.… Read the rest



Worship is immoral

Mar 5th, 2011 4:27 pm | By

Aikin and Talisse (potentially startling many readers of 3 Quarks Daily) argue that religious belief is morally wrong.

The thought is frequently associated with Bertrand Russell: The worship of anything is beneath the dignity of a rational creature.  That is, we argue that worship is immoral.  Consequently, for any type of religious belief, if it requires one to worship anything, then it is intrinsically immoral.  The argument turns on the claim that any conception of worship that’s worth its salt will involve the voluntary and irrevocable submission of one’s rational faculties to those of another.

That idea resonates with me, whether I know how to defend it or not. It addresses what I dislike about “faith,” even (or … Read the rest



Joseph Hoffmann on a secular ethics *

Mar 5th, 2011 | Filed by

A secular ethic will always require that religion enjoy no privileged status based on assertions of authority that are widely regarded as untrue.… Read the rest



Aikin and Talisse on the moral argument for atheism *

Mar 5th, 2011 | Filed by

We hold that there’s something intrinsically morally wrong about holding religious beliefs. This perhaps is a startling claim.… Read the rest



Susan Jaboby on revolutions and women *

Mar 5th, 2011 | Filed by

Egypt has many university-educated women. Will they be invited to the table when the organization of political parties begins in the post-Mubarak era?… Read the rest



When regulation is secretive, trust is all you have *

Mar 5th, 2011 | Filed by

Science  is built on transparency, but the pharmaceutical industry is regulated behind closed doors; trust is all that’s left.… Read the rest



Ben Goldacre on torpedoing cherished ideas *

Mar 5th, 2011 | Filed by

Such as the efficacy of sniffer dogs, who turn out to be doing a Clever Hans.… Read the rest