What children are taught in science lessons is undermined by what is taught in religion classes, and by the overall emphasis on faith.… Read the rest
All entries by this author
Nails removed from tortured Sri Lankan maid 
Aug 28th, 2010 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Doctors say LP Ariyawathie was deeply traumatized and could not sit down or walk properly.… Read the rest
PZ Myers tells the CHE what he reads
Aug 28th, 2010 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
A book every day or two, Nature, Science, and other journals, blogs by hard-edged godless science writers who don’t mince words.… Read the rest
Oh no I circumcised my baby!
Aug 27th, 2010 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
I didn’t want to, I knew better, I think it stinks, but but but blah blah blah so I did it anyway.… Read the rest
Peter Medawar reviews Teilhard de Chardin
Aug 27th, 2010 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
“In expounding this thesis, Teilhard becomes more and more confused and excited and finally almost hysterical.” Mind 1961.… Read the rest
Hitchens and Manji
Aug 27th, 2010 12:57 pm | By Ophelia BensonHitchens explains what’s really worrying about Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf (it’s not the location of the planned Islamic cultural center):
… Read the restFor example, here is Rauf’s editorial on the upheaval that followed the brutal hijacking of the Iranian elections in 2009. Regarding President Obama, he advised that:
He should say his administration respects many of the guiding principles of the 1979 revolution—to establish a government that expresses the will of the people; a just government, based on the idea of Vilayet-i-faquih, that establishes the rule of law.
Roughly translated, Vilayet-i-faquih is the special term promulgated by Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini to describe the idea that all of Iranian society is under the permanent stewardship (sometimes rendered as guardianship) of the mullahs.
Jesus and Mo on something from nothing
Aug 27th, 2010 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Jesus asked her, what would a godless universe look like?… Read the rest
Image of toaster appears on Virgin Mary painting
Aug 27th, 2010 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Church officials report the toaster appears to be a KitchenAid KMTT200OB which is a medium quality four-slice toaster with a one year warranty.… Read the rest
Journal editor concludes Hauser fabricated data
Aug 27th, 2010 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
The editor of Cognition has seen Harvard’s internal investigation. “The graph is effectively a fiction.”… Read the rest
Irshad Manji on that mosque and Imam Rauf
Aug 26th, 2010 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
What will be taught about homosexuals? About agnostics? About atheists? About apostasy? Will Rushdie be lecturing there?… Read the rest
Hitchens on that “mosque” and Imam Rauf
Aug 26th, 2010 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
I do not find myself reassured by the fact that Imam Rauf publicly endorses the most extreme and repressive version of Muslim theocracy.… Read the rest
Iran limits number of humanities students
Aug 26th, 2010 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Last year Khamenei said humanities “promotes skepticism and doubt in religious principles and beliefs.”… Read the rest
Ötzi may have had ceremonial burial
Aug 26th, 2010 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Researchers believe his many possessions were funerary items rather than camping gear.… Read the rest
Our cherished um er ah
Aug 26th, 2010 1:29 pm | By Ophelia BensonRussell makes a good point about Quinn O’Neill’s 3 quarks post:
He quotes O’Neill
Success will be most likely if atheists and religioius moderates unite for a common goal; not the eradication of religion, but a securely secular society that optimizes well-being and respects our most cherished freedoms.
And notes
Yes, that’s what we should aim at – a secular, free society. I agree. But O’Neill doesn’t even understand what our cherished freedoms are. One of them is the freedom to criticise ideas that we disagree with, including religious ideas, and to criticise individuals and organisations that wield social power, including religious organisations and their leaders.
Indeed; well spotted. It’s quite funny when you notice it – sentimentalizing … Read the rest
Russell Blackford on confusion about freedom of religion
Aug 26th, 2010 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Religious freedom is likely to flourish in an environment where the various rival religions are not given any particular respect.… Read the rest
Susan Jacoby on multiculturalism
Aug 26th, 2010 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
“I love you” isn’t the first thing that would come to mind if my father told me I had to marry a stranger.… Read the rest
Afghanistan: chemical gas poisons girls’ school
Aug 26th, 2010 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
46 girls and their teachers were poisoned at the Tuteya Girls’ Primary School in Kabul.… Read the rest
Saudi couple “hammer 24 nails” into Sri Lankan maid
Aug 26th, 2010 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
X-rays showed one- to two-inch nails in her hands and legs, with one over her eyes, officials said.… Read the rest
On religious texts and the modern world
Aug 25th, 2010 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Only in religion do ancient texts brimming over with superstition and ideas contrary to modern human rights get a pass.… Read the rest
R Joseph Hoffmann on pedantic multiculturalism
Aug 25th, 2010 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
A zealous mullah and a zealous priest wear different tunics, but the intolerance that makes their lives happy has the same source.… Read the rest
