Juries want to blame the victim.… Read the rest
All entries by this author
Oral Roberts Preyed on Vulnerable People
Dec 23rd, 2009 | Filed by Ophelia BensonRoberts was instrumental in the founding of the Full Gospel Businessmen’s Fellowship.… Read the rest
Francine Prose on Religion and Misogyny
Dec 23rd, 2009 | Filed by Ophelia BensonDaily, all over the world, there are mutilations and murders and beatings, all in the name of God. … Read the rest
Checking in
Dec 22nd, 2009 7:03 pm | By Ophelia BensonHello. I haven’t disappeared – I spent most of today traveling and then a big chunk of it walking along a bit of the California coast in a strong wind and then another big chunk of it writing a piece for Comment is Free. Normal broadcasting will resume shortly.… Read the rest
The Vatican is Hallucinating
Dec 22nd, 2009 | Filed by Ophelia Benson‘Recent years have witnessed a great increase of affection and esteem for the person of the Holy Father.’… Read the rest
Archbishop to Bishops: Quit or Be Removed
Dec 21st, 2009 | Filed by Ophelia BensonWe did nothing wrong, say the four Irish bishops.… Read the rest
Religious Belief Depends on Inequality
Dec 21st, 2009 | Filed by Ophelia BensonFunny that believers want to admit that.… Read the rest
A System That Tiptoes Around Cultural Sensitivity
Dec 21st, 2009 | Filed by Ophelia BensonThe lives of women and girls should be worth more than what ‘the community’ thinks.… Read the rest
Female Genital Mutilation for Christmas
Dec 21st, 2009 | Filed by Ophelia Benson‘Cutters’ are being flown to the UK to carry out FGM at ‘parties’ involving up to 20 girls to save money. … Read the rest
Jasvinder Sanghera: Abuse is not Culture
Dec 21st, 2009 | Filed by Ophelia BensonSerious crimes are being treated as a matter for diversity officers rather than for police and courts.… Read the rest
When in doubt, don’t publish
Dec 20th, 2009 1:24 pm | By Ophelia BensonSad sad sad. Sunny at Liberal Conspiracy – see comment 12:
I buy Jonathan Dimbleby’s arguments:
First, even the editor agreed that printing the images were not central to the story anyway since the Yale Press was central to the story. So it’s not censorship. Printing them would be gratuitous.
Really. The images were not ‘central’ to the story because Yale Press was central to the story. Well what about Yale Press was central to the story? Its pretty blue eyes? Its taste in music? No; its withdrawal of illustrations from a book about a controversy about those illustrations. So in what sense were the illustrations not central to the story? Who decides what’s central? Since when is reporting supposed … Read the rest
Martin Ssempa Responds to Rick Warren
Dec 20th, 2009 | Filed by Ophelia BensonYou see, Rick, it’s Africa101: Homosexuality is illegal, unnatural, ungodly and un-African.… Read the rest
Rick Warren and Uganda’s ‘Kill the Gays’ Bill
Dec 20th, 2009 | Filed by Ophelia BensonWarren has backed virulently anti-gay religious leaders in Uganda, Rwanda, and Nigeria.… Read the rest
UN Denounces Sexual Orientation Rights Abuses
Dec 20th, 2009 | Filed by Ophelia BensonMeeting discussed draconian ‘anti-homosexuality legislation’ before the Ugandan parliament.… Read the rest
HRW Report on Massacre and Rapes in Guinea
Dec 20th, 2009 | Filed by Ophelia BensonKillings and sexual assaults at an opposition rally in Conakry, largely by the Presidential Guard.… Read the rest
Clive Davis Has Doubts About Motives
Dec 20th, 2009 | Filed by Ophelia BensonTherefore censorship is the right decision.… Read the rest
Tasneem Khalil on the Censorship Fatwa
Dec 20th, 2009 | Filed by Ophelia BensonAI endorses torture; Sarah Palin goes green; Index on Censorship self-censors. Spot the real one.… Read the rest
Amnesty International on Victims of Trafigura
Dec 20th, 2009 | Filed by Ophelia BensonIn August 2006, toxic waste was brought to Abidjan on a ship chartered by Trafigura. … Read the rest
The self-fulfilling prophecy strikes again
Dec 19th, 2009 12:46 pm | By Ophelia BensonJonathan Dimbleby said one particularly odd thing in his explanation of Index’s decision.
When John Kampfner alerted me to the prospective publication of an interview with Jytte Klausen and to our editor’s wish to illustrate it with the “offending” cartoons, it was plainly a matter for the board to determine. Any other course would have been irresponsible…A year earlier, in September 2008, four men had been arrested for allegedly fire-bombing the North London home of the publisher of Gibson Books who had proposed publishing The Jewel of Medina. Only the most cavalier attitude towards the safety and security of those directly and indirectly involved in the publication of the Index interview would have failed to note that outrage.
Wait…what? … Read the rest
New Humanist on Censorship Row at Index
Dec 19th, 2009 | Filed by Ophelia BensonIf Index won’t take a stand against implied threats for perfectly legitimate acts, who will?… Read the rest