She tried to read it, but her grandmother, mother and father persuaded her not to. It’s all about ‘trust.’… Read the rest
All entries by this author
Catholics and Mormons Unite Against Secularism
Feb 28th, 2010 | Filed by Ophelia BensonAnd a Stanley Fish shall lead them.… Read the rest
Pisces
Feb 27th, 2010 6:30 pm | By Ophelia BensonI was rushing the other day so my look at Stanley Fish was general; I’m still rushing today but I want to look at a couple of details. Fish starts off:
In the always-ongoing debate about the role of religion in public life, the argument most often made on the liberal side (by which I mean the side of Classical Liberalism, not the side of left politics) is that policy decisions should be made on the basis of secular reasons, reasons that, because they do not reflect the commitments or agendas of any religion, morality or ideology, can be accepted as reasons by all citizens no matter what their individual beliefs and affiliations.
That’s one of the tricksy items … Read the rest
Fundamentalists Pitch Fit at Atheists in White House
Feb 27th, 2010 | Filed by Ophelia Benson‘The fact that this meeting is happening at all is an affront to the vast majority of people of all faiths.’… Read the rest
Fox News Accuses Obama of Favoring Atheists
Feb 27th, 2010 | Filed by Ophelia BensonSean Hannity claims religious leaders have not been invited to the White House. Oh please.… Read the rest
Mooney Congratulates Himself
Feb 27th, 2010 | Filed by Ophelia BensonOn his Templeton ‘Fellowship.’… Read the rest
Jerry Coyne on the Templeton Bribe
Feb 27th, 2010 | Filed by Ophelia BensonTempleton pays journalists to examine ‘the region where science and theology overlap’ and the journalists oblige.… Read the rest
Disturbances in the field
Feb 26th, 2010 12:28 pm | By Ophelia BensonWell naturally – Chris Mooney has attained the apotheosis of a Templeton Fellowship – one of the ‘Templeton–Cambridge Journalism Fellowships in Science & Religion.’ Well of course he has. It’s not as if they were going to overlook him, is it!
In the fellowship program, a diverse group of eminent journalists examine key areas in the broad field of science and religion through independent research as well as seminars and discussion groups, led by some of the world’s foremost physicists, cosmologists, philosophers, biologists, and theologians, at the University of Cambridge.
The broad field of science and religion – there is no such ‘field.’ They mean subject, but if they call it a field, that gives unwary people the impression that … Read the rest
Chris Mooney is Named a Templeton Fellow [pdf]
Feb 26th, 2010 | Filed by Ophelia BensonWhat a surprise!… Read the rest
A Festering Problem in Internet Culture
Feb 26th, 2010 | Filed by Ophelia BensonAnonymous flaming. Richard Dawkins has had enough of it, and he’s not the only one.… Read the rest
Simon Singh and the Silencing of the Scientists
Feb 26th, 2010 | Filed by Ophelia Benson‘It is what is not published or has to be omitted because of a lawyer’s letter,’ notes Evan Harris.… Read the rest
Russell Blackford on Stanley Fish
Feb 26th, 2010 | Filed by Ophelia BensonFish thinks the classical liberal tradition of Locke, Mill, and Rawls leads to an impoverishment of politics.… Read the rest
Allen Esterson on Alana Cash on Mileva Marić
Feb 26th, 2010 | Filed by Ophelia BensonEvidence lacking, evidence pointing the other way, evidence twisted then twisted again.… Read the rest
The fella says here
Feb 25th, 2010 12:12 pm | By Ophelia BensonStanley Fish is being tricksy, as he generally is, but it’s a pretty crude form of tricksiness for a supposedly sophisticated literary ‘theorist,’ especially one who is reputed to have seen through Everything at least forty years ago.
He’s comparing secularism with its opposite by setting out what he takes to be their respective views.
… Read the restLet those who remain captives of ancient superstitions and fairy tales have their churches, chapels, synagogues, mosques, rituals and liturgical mumbo-jumbo; just don’t confuse the (pseudo)knowledge they traffic in with the knowledge needed to solve the world’s problems.
This picture is routinely challenged by those who contend that secular reasons and secular discourse in general don’t tell the whole story; they leave out too
Timothy Egan on the Missionary Impulse
Feb 25th, 2010 | Filed by Ophelia BensonLaura Silsby owed her former employees unpaid wages, so she thought she would be useful in Haiti.… Read the rest
‘Saving the Sacred in a Secular Age’ Conference
Feb 25th, 2010 | Filed by Ophelia BensonTempleton Foundation co-sponsors conference presenting ‘religious responses to contemporary secularism.’… Read the rest
Senior Saudi Cleric Orders Killing of Muslims Who
Feb 25th, 2010 | Filed by Ophelia BensonWho allow the sexes to mix freely in the workplace or in educational institutions.… Read the rest
Intelligent People Have Evolutionarily Novel Values
Feb 25th, 2010 | Filed by Ophelia BensonIntelligence does not correlate with values old enough to have been shaped by evolution.… Read the rest
Rushdie is Writing a Book on the Fatwa
Feb 25th, 2010 | Filed by Ophelia BensonWhat it’s like to have theocrats in charge of your life.… Read the rest
20 questions – no make that 21
Feb 24th, 2010 5:27 pm | By Ophelia BensonJerry Coyne points out another outbreak of godbothering from Francis Collins – which is all the more inappropriate (the apt word, for a change) now that Collins is director of the National Institutes of Health. (The outbreak is inappropriate, not the pointing it out.) The publisher does not omit to get in the obligatory slap at those god damn pesky impertinent inappropriate noisy New Atheists:
“Is there a God?” is the most central and profound question that humans ask. With the New Atheists gaining a loud voice in today’s world, it is time to revisit the long-standing intellectual tradition on the side of faith.
‘Is there a god?’ is not the most central and profound question that humans ask; far … Read the rest