The Iranian authorities had an interest in making this story disappear, and they have done an effective job.… Read the rest
All entries by this author
Meet ‘the Family’: Creepy Secret Religious Group
Jul 15th, 2009 | Filed by Ophelia BensonHas a secretive network of fundamentalist Christians had undue influence over American policy? … Read the rest
Iran: 5 Years in Jail for Insulting Sanctities
Jul 15th, 2009 | Filed by Ophelia BensonSinger sentenced for insulting sanctities, ridiculing the Koran, dishonouring the holy book of the Muslims.… Read the rest
New Culture Wars: History Classes in Texas
Jul 15th, 2009 | Filed by Ophelia BensonReviewers urge emphasizing the Bible, Xianity and the ‘civic virtue’ of religion in the study of US history.… Read the rest
Sotomayor Defends Herself
Jul 15th, 2009 | Filed by Ophelia BensonDid anyone mention Dred Scott? Plessy v Ferguson? Bradwell v Illinois?… Read the rest
Free Speech in a Plural Society
Jul 15th, 2009 | By Salil TripathiThe Conference Room, British Library, London
February 20, 2009
Ian McEwan’s novel, Saturday, begins with the image of a sharp, bright light in the sky
that the neurosurgeon Henry Perowne sees from the corner of his eye on a restless
night when he is unable to sleep. It is a troubling time for Britain; it is February 15, 2003, the
day of the big march, where hundreds of thousands of people from around Britain are
going to come to central London, with the vain hope of stopping the impending war in
Iraq.
Perowne is a liberal; he does not like torture – in fact, he has learned much about Iraq by
treating an Iraqi refugee fleeing the terror of … Read the rest
At long last, have you no…
Jul 14th, 2009 1:42 pm | By Ophelia BensonI want to say a few brisk words about a new piece by Mooney and Kirshenbaum in Newsweek. First a few extracts.
… Read the restAs soon as Francis Collins, an evangelical Christian geneticist who headed up the pioneering Human Genome Project during the 1990s, was floated as the possible new director of the National Institutes of Health-he was officially named to the post on Wednesday-the criticisms began flying. Evolutionary biologist Jerry Coyne of the University of Chicago, for one, said Collins is too public with his faith…The poster boy for the so-called New Atheist movement today is biologist Richard Dawkins…The New Atheist science blogger PZ Myers, for instance, has publicly desecrated a consecrated communion wafer, presumably taken from a Catholic mass,
Mooney and Kirshenbaum Jump the Shark
Jul 14th, 2009 | Filed by Ophelia BensonThey write an article for Newsweek all about what meanies Jerry Coyne and PZ Myers are. No, really.… Read the rest
Jerry Coyne Reviews Unscientific America
Jul 14th, 2009 | Filed by Ophelia BensonFor a book advocating science literacy, it offers surprisingly little evidence to support its claims. … Read the rest
Ben Goldacre and Evidence-based Revenge
Jul 14th, 2009 | Filed by Ophelia BensonTaking revenge ends up making people feel worse, not better.… Read the rest
Saudi Arabia Still Treats Women Like Children
Jul 14th, 2009 | Filed by Ophelia Benson‘It needs to stop requiring adult women to seek permission from men, not just pretend to stop it.’… Read the rest
Yasmin Alibhai-Brown on Wearing the Burqa
Jul 14th, 2009 | Filed by Ophelia Benson‘Neo-conservative Islamic codes spread like swine flu, an infection few seem able to resist.’… Read the rest
Libel Laws Threaten to Stifle Scientific Debate
Jul 14th, 2009 | Filed by Ophelia BensonBMJ: ‘Weak science sheltered from criticism by officious laws means bad medicine.’… Read the rest
Knowledge of the Bible in Decline in UK
Jul 13th, 2009 | Filed by Ophelia BensonThat’s too bad, people are missing some good poetry and stories and rants.… Read the rest
Cats Manipulate Humans by Purring
Jul 13th, 2009 | Filed by Ophelia BensonCats use a special ‘soliciting purr’ to annoy their humans into granting their every wish.… Read the rest
Sudan: Women Whipped for Wearing Trousers
Jul 13th, 2009 | Filed by Ophelia BensonSeveral Sudanese women have been flogged for dressing “indecently”, says a local journalist among them.… Read the rest
Karen Armstrong Explains What Religion Is
Jul 13th, 2009 | Filed by Ophelia Benson‘Religious doctrines make no sense unless accompanied by such spiritual exercises as yoga and a consistently compassionate lifestyle.’… Read the rest
Questions still outstanding
Jul 13th, 2009 11:43 am | By Ophelia BensonI’ve made a list of questions for Chris Mooney (largely for him, since he’s done nearly all the posting on the subject and the questions arise from his posts as well as his book with Sheril Kirshenbaum). He’s ignored or evaded many questions over the last few weeks, and I thought it would be useful to have a list of the most pressing ones. Feel free to suggest additions.
1) What do you want? What do you mean? You say religion is private so we have no business prying into what people believe, but Kenneth Miller and Karl Giberson wrote books, Francis Collins wrote a book and has a website. The National Center for Science Education has … Read the rest
Big stupid honking mistake!
Jul 12th, 2009 12:21 pm | By Ophelia BensonCristina Odone occupies the first three paragraphs of her review of Does God Hate Women? pointing out a factual mistake – the name of one Afghan woman murdered for acting like a human being with a mind exchanged for the name of a different Afghan woman murdered for acting like a human being with a mind.
It’s a fair cop. The mistake is real. It’s mine. I have no idea how I managed it, but I did.
I didn’t realize I’d done it until the literary editor of The Observer asked our publisher (who asked us) about it, and I looked it up. That was Thursday I think. Jeremy and I had a set-to this morning about whether or not … Read the rest
Ireland: Catholic Clergy Brace for Next Report
Jul 12th, 2009 | Filed by Ophelia BensonReport will scrutinise how some of the country’s most senior prelates handled child abuse allegations.… Read the rest