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Campaign Against Witchcraft Accusations in Akwa Ibom State

Mar 9th, 2011 | By Leo Igwe
Campaign Against Witchcraft Accusations in Akwa Ibom State

A campaign to Prevent the Abuse of Children Today (PACT) in Akwa Ibom, also known as Operation Enlightenment, is underway in Eket Senatorial distirict in Akwa Ibom state. The program sponsored by Stepping Stones Nigeria aims at enlightening the people and getting them to know that child witchcraft is a myth and a form of superstition, and that the prophets and apostles who claim to cure or deliver people from witchcraft are fraudsters and criminals. The campaign team will tour all the local government areas under the senatorial zone. In each LGA a drama will be staged in two schools. 130 t-shirts, 1000 stickers, 500 posters, 800 calendars are to be distributed across the district. So far we have toured … Read the rest

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This is totally alien to the spirit of Tahrir

Mar 9th, 2011 12:14 pm | By

Well how sodding depressing.

Women hoping to extend their rights in post-revolutionary Egypt were faced with a harsh reality Tuesday when a mob of angry men beat and sexually assaulted marchers calling for political and social equality, witnesses said.

…

The demonstration on International Women’s Day drew a crowd only in the hundreds to Tahrir Square, the epicenter of the popular revolt that drove President Hosni Mubarak from power. Gone, organizers said, was the spirit of equality and cooperation between the sexes that marked most of the historic mass gatherings in the square.

As upwards of 300 marchers assembled late Tuesday afternoon, men began taunting them, insisting that a woman could never be president and objecting to women’s demands

… Read the rest

Posted in Notes and Comment Blog | 32 comments
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Cairo: women’s rights marchers report attacks *

Mar 9th, 2011 | Filed by

A mob of angry men beat and sexually assaulted women marching for political and social equality, witnesses said.… Read the rest

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Sally Feldman on shiny new anti-feminism *

Mar 9th, 2011 | Filed by

Catherine Hakim of LSE recently caused a furore with her “Feminist Myths and Magic Medicine,” in which she condemns moves towards gender equality.… Read the rest

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The Catholic Herald interviews Paul Sims *

Mar 9th, 2011 | Filed by

CH: “Not only did most people warm to the Holy Father but his opponents often seemed shrill and intolerant.” Discuss.… Read the rest

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Soldiers punished for not attending Xian concert *

Mar 9th, 2011 | Filed by

Two soldiers said they felt pressured to attend the Christian rock concert as part of what was billed as the “Commanding General’s Spiritual Fitness Concerts.”… Read the rest

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NPR head resigns in wake of sting video *

Mar 9th, 2011 | Filed by

A different executive told people “posing as Muslim philanthropists” that Tea Party supporters were racist.… Read the rest

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His hand slipped

Mar 8th, 2011 5:07 pm | By

Jen Phillips pointed out another item from Wally in October 2009. A spot of quote-mining.

What PZ wrote:

“I have zero sympathy for intelligent people who stand before a grandiose monument to lies, an institution that is anti-scientific, anti-rational, and ultimately anti-human, in a place where children are being actively miseducated, an edifice dedicated to an abiding intellectual evil, and choose to complain about how those ghastly atheists are ruining everything.

Those people can just fuck off.”

What Tom Johnson chose to quote:

“I have zero sympathy for intelligent people who stand before (religion)…Those people can just fuck off.”

(Yes, we saw that quote again a few days ago, in another “oh sweet jesus the new atheists” jeremiad.) … Read the rest

Posted in Notes and Comment Blog | 81 comments
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Waving the saffron flag

Mar 8th, 2011 4:22 pm | By

Meera Nanda is critical of myths about the timeless Hindu nature of yoga.

By and large, the US yoga industry does not hide the origins of what it teaches. On the contrary, in a country that is so young and so constantly in flux, yoga’s presumed antiquity (‘the 5,000-year-old exercise system’, etcetera.) and its connections with Eastern spirituality have become part of the sales pitch. Thus, doing namastes, intoning ‘om’ and chanting Sanskrit mantras have become a part of the experience of doing yoga in America.

I’m reminded of Kelly on The Office, dressing up in a sari and piously saying “namaste” when she was applying for a Minority Training Program, which was funny precisely because the … Read the rest

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Wendy Doniger on the real roots of yoga *

Mar 8th, 2011 | Filed by

Yoga is a rich, multi-cultural, constantly changing interdisciplinary construction, far from the pure line that its adherents often claim for it.… Read the rest

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BHA census campaign ads deemed too “offensive” *

Mar 8th, 2011 | Filed by

For railway stations, on the grounds that they could “cause widespread and serious offence.”… Read the rest

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Desk chair tourism

Mar 8th, 2011 11:55 am | By

Do you play with Google Earth enough? I’m not sure it’s possible to play with Google Earth enough. I’d forgotten to install it until fairly recently, so I’m still excited about it…Then again I doubt that I’ll get less excited about it as time goes on.

Check out the Amalfi coast some time. Or Capri. Or Norway and those notorious fjords. Or Vancouver. Or Stockholm. Or Paris. Or Edinburgh. Or Cornwall.

At the moment I’m working on the Yorkshire Dales. I took a little break there about an hour ago. I went to Gunnerside, in Swaledale; found a very local but blue-lined road partway up a moor to the west of Gunnerside, and just traveled along it pausing to do … Read the rest

Posted in Notes and Comment Blog | 23 comments


12,000-year-old fishing tackle found off California *

Mar 8th, 2011 | Filed by

“This pushes back the chronology of New World seafaring to 12,000, maybe 13,000 years ago.”… Read the rest

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Maryam Namazie on International Women’s Day *

Mar 8th, 2011 | Filed by

Women in Iran and in many other countries today continue to be deprived of many very basic human rights.… Read the rest

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International Women’s Day *

Mar 8th, 2011 | Filed by

We need to understand and tackle social institutions, such as discriminatory family codes, son bias, and limited resource rights and entitlements.… Read the rest

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Jesus and Mo apply for a Templeton Prize *

Mar 8th, 2011 | Filed by

They have a winna.… Read the rest

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Liars don’t know when they’re lying to themselves *

Mar 8th, 2011 | Filed by

This tells us a little about the mindset of people who fake their research, who build careers on plagiarised work or who wave around spurious credentials.… Read the rest

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Building bridges

Mar 7th, 2011 11:42 am | By

Wally Smith wrote an article on a forthcoming book in October 2009. In fact it’s dated October 26, 2009, which happens to be the date of Chris Mooney’s “My Thanks to ‘Tom Johnson'” post. The opening paragraph of Mooney’s article, given all that we know now, is so richly ironic that one feels dizzy reading it.

Last week, the New Atheist comment machine targeted the following post, in which I republished a preexisting blog comment from a scientist named “Tom Johnson” (a psuedonym). In the comment, Johnson had related  how some of his New Atheist-inspired scientist colleagues had behaved toward religious folks at bridge-building conservation events.

You see what I mean, I’m sure. Mooney insults us for being … Read the rest

Posted in Notes and Comment Blog | 106 comments
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The difference between journalism and churnalism *

Mar 7th, 2011 | Filed by

Publishing other people’s press releases is not journalism.… Read the rest

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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

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