The kind of headline you want to see: it’s affirmative, it’s reassuring, it gives you permission to sit on your arse all day. … Read the rest
All entries by this author
Goldacre and Science Minister Debate: Tix Free
Aug 29th, 2009 | Filed by Ophelia BensonAn important issue, good that a politician is taking it seriously.… Read the rest
Ben Goldacre on Advertising via Journalism
Aug 29th, 2009 | Filed by Ophelia BensonNewspapers are short of cash, and they print PR-reviewed ‘research’ straight from the press release.… Read the rest
‘Western Feminist’ Rebukes ‘Western Feminists’
Aug 29th, 2009 | Filed by Ophelia BensonWe should support religious feminism abroad; otherwise we’re arrogant and full of ourselves.… Read the rest
Normblog on Wisdom from Slavoj Zizek
Aug 28th, 2009 | Filed by Ophelia BensonOr not so much wisdom as sorry claptrap.… Read the rest
Nick Cohen on Turning a Blind Eye to Misogyny
Aug 28th, 2009 | Filed by Ophelia BensonMainstream opinion does not consider the oppression of women a pressing concern when it is done in the name of culture or religion.… Read the rest
Clive James on ‘Honor’ Murders
Aug 28th, 2009 | Filed by Ophelia BensonThe words “community” and “culture” are starting to sound like weasel words for institutionalised sadism.… Read the rest
Ziauddin Sardar Explains About the Koran
Aug 28th, 2009 | Filed by Ophelia BensonIbn Sina, Ibn Rushd, Muslim Spain, the Blue Mosque! See?… Read the rest
Moses Inspires Jesus and Mo
Aug 28th, 2009 | Filed by Ophelia BensonJesus has these friends at the Templeton Foundation…… Read the rest
Jason Rosenhouse Reviews Keith Ward
Aug 28th, 2009 | Filed by Ophelia BensonWhat could be simpler than a disembodied eternal intelligence capable of bringing worlds into being with an act of will? … Read the rest
Women and Islam
Aug 28th, 2009 | Filed by Ophelia BensonIn Turkey, 69% of all female health workers polled said violence against women is sometimes excusable.… Read the rest
The bliss of harmony
Aug 27th, 2009 5:50 pm | By Ophelia BensonThe beauty and compassion of religion:
A new family law in Mali is causing a furore, partly because it no longer stipulates that wives have to obey their husbands…[Article 312] says that, once married, husbands and wives owe each other “loyalty, protection, help and assistance”. Mali’s current law specifically states that a wife must obey her husband, and that is the way things should stay says Mahmud Dicko, president of Mali’s High Islamic Council.
You bet – because that has to be a matter of national law so that if a wife is disobedient she can be arrested, charged, and imprisoned (or do they whip them?).
… Read the rest“We’re not trying to make women slaves. Not at all,” he says. “It’s
Coyne on James Wood on Dawkins or Eagleton
Aug 27th, 2009 | Filed by Ophelia BensonWood flings the usual mud at atheists, as usual with no quotations, then gets to grips with Terry.… Read the rest
Tens of Thousands Protested Mali’s New Law
Aug 27th, 2009 | Filed by Ophelia Benson‘We have to stick to the Koran. It’s a tiny minority of women here that wants this new law – the intellectuals. The poor and illiterate women of this country – the real Muslims – are against it.’… Read the rest
Islamism Slows Reform in Morocco
Aug 27th, 2009 | Filed by Ophelia BensonSenior officials speak of keeping a proper balance between freedom and social cohesion.… Read the rest
Mali: Wives Must Obey Husbands
Aug 27th, 2009 | Filed by Ophelia Benson‘We’re not trying to make women slaves. The head of the family is the man, and everyone in the family has to obey him.’… Read the rest
Mali: Women’s Rights Bill Blocked
Aug 27th, 2009 | Filed by Ophelia BensonMuslim groups have been protesting against the law ever since parliament adopted it in early August.… Read the rest
A god who makes no difference
Aug 26th, 2009 1:57 pm | By Ophelia BensonHE Baber explains something but I’m not exactly sure what.
… Read the rest[L]ike most educated Christians, I do not believe most of the empirical claims associated with Christianity. I do not believe that the universe came into being just a few thousand years ago. I do not believe that humans or other animals were created their current form or even that God had some hand in “guiding” evolution. I do not believe that the Bible provides an accurate account of Middle Eastern history, or that any of the miracles it reports actually occurred, or that the wisdom literature it includes is a suitable guide to life. I do not believe that the existence of God makes any difference to the way the
Senator From Utah Writes Book on Mormonism
Aug 26th, 2009 | Filed by Ophelia BensonAsks four questions to test whether Book of Mormon is a fake. ‘Seriously, gold plates, Moroni?’… Read the rest
Catholic Group Working to Repeal Blasphemy Law
Aug 26th, 2009 | Filed by Ophelia BensonIn Pakistan, where Christians are a minority subject to persecution. In Ireland, on the other hand…… Read the rest