Cigarette packaging has been used for many decades to sell the crucial lie that cigarettes which are “light”, “mild”, “silver”, and the rest, are somehow “safer”.… Read the rest
All entries by this author
Tudge reviews Flannery on Darwin
Mar 12th, 2011 | Filed by Ophelia BensonAnd recycles every dreary cliché there is.… Read the rest
His elbow slipped
Mar 11th, 2011 3:43 pm | By Ophelia BensonI was inspired by the new levels of Wallyism we dug up yesterday so I thought I would dig up a little more.
Am I rubbing it in? Yes, I am. But when you look at the newly-dug levels, I think you will see why. I think nose-rubbing is just the right thing to do about this degree of mendacious bullying. I mean, in particular, the place where Wally is caught lying by one “Sean” and uses four sock puppets posting right on top of each other to bully Sean and then congratulate himself on the bullying. What could be more suitable than to make this contemptible behavior public?
It wasn’t about gnu atheists this time, December 2009; it was … Read the rest
HRW report
Mar 11th, 2011 | Filed by Ophelia BensonOn Islamic dress code for women in Chechnya.… Read the rest
Rosenhouse reviews Collins and Giberson
Mar 11th, 2011 | Filed by Ophelia BensonTheir book is not a good defense of theistic evolution.… Read the rest
A more hopeful view of women and Egypt
Mar 11th, 2011 | Filed by Ophelia BensonBut she wrote just before going to Tahrir Square for the March 8 Million Woman March…… Read the rest
Why are atheists so angry?
Mar 11th, 2011 | Filed by Ophelia BensonBecause theists keep asking why they’re so angry.… Read the rest
Daily Mail: did “supermoon” cause earthquake?
Mar 11th, 2011 | Filed by Ophelia BensonBen Goldacre finds this question tasteless. Extremely fucking tasteless, actually.… Read the rest
Chechnya: women bullied into dressing “modestly”
Mar 11th, 2011 | Filed by Ophelia BensonChechen authorities are enforcing a compulsory Islamic dress code for women and condoning violent attacks on women deemed to dress immodestly.… Read the rest
Rahila Gupta on feminism and secularism
Mar 10th, 2011 | Filed by Ophelia BensonSome on the left have developed an anti-racist politics that gives succour to religious extremism rather than challenging it.… Read the rest
A memo from Fred Halliday to LSE
Mar 10th, 2011 | Filed by Ophelia BensonHalliday wrote this memo to LSE’s governing body in October 2009 to try to convince them not to accept a grant from the Qaddafi Foundation.… Read the rest
The Holy See was tired and emotional
Mar 10th, 2011 3:38 pm | By Ophelia BensonThe “Holy See,” not for the first time, had nothing to say. Not a peep. About?
about reports that the Archbishop of Philadelphia, Cardinal Justin Rigali, this week suspended 21 priests pending investigation into allegations of child sex abuse.
Oh that. Well…what can it say? “We didn’t tell them to.” “It wasn’t our idea.” “Don’t look at us.” “It’s the parents we blame.” “Philadelphia is a very secular place.”
No doubt it will say all of those in good time, but it doesn’t like to be rushed.
… Read the restThe suspension of the priests on Tuesday follows on from the findings of a Philadelphia grand jury which last month indicted three priests and one lay teacher on charges of rape, assault
Philadelphia: 21 priests suspended
Mar 10th, 2011 | Filed by Ophelia BensonA grand jury last month indicted three priests and one lay teacher on charges of rape, assault and other felonies related to minors, mainly in the late 1990s.… Read the rest
Newt Gingrich considers secularism “elitist”
Mar 10th, 2011 | Filed by Ophelia Benson“In America, religious belief is being challenged by a cultural elite trying to create a secularized America, in which God is driven out of public life.”… Read the rest
Governor of Illinois repeals death penalty
Mar 10th, 2011 | Filed by Ophelia Benson“We cannot have a death penalty system in our state that kills innocent people.”… Read the rest
A scary theocrat
Mar 10th, 2011 | Filed by Ophelia BensonBut can the tension between religion and state always and at any time be resolved with a bias in favour of the law?… Read the rest
Sean Carroll on modal logic and the ontological proof
Mar 10th, 2011 | Filed by Ophelia BensonThe OP is perfectly logical — that is, the conclusions follow inevitably from the premises. It’s the premises that are a bit loopy.… Read the rest
CFI’s Living Without Religion campaign
Mar 9th, 2011 | Filed by Ophelia BensonToo many people think atheists are miserable or savage or both.… Read the rest
The opposite of engaging
Mar 9th, 2011 3:43 pm | By Ophelia BensonPaul Sims did an interview for the Catholic Herald, and wants to know what people think. (At least he did; the post is a couple of weeks old now.)
Ed West sets the scene for Herald readers.
Last month two groups of people met in a church in central London to discuss gay adoption, abortion and religious schools. On one side were representatives of Catholic Voices, on the other a group from the Central London Humanist Group.
The point, says Paul Sims of New Humanist magazine, was “to experiment with the idea of Humanists and Catholics sitting down and engaging with each other on contentious issues in a cordial manner”.
Yes but (I’ve said this before, … Read the rest