Palin says she won’t hesitate to run for the presidency in four years if it’s God’s will.… Read the rest
All entries by this author
The New York Times Has Lost its Mind
Nov 11th, 2008 | Filed by Ophelia BensonRuns a piece by a psychic about his excellent psychic adventure, no disclaimer in sight.… Read the rest
The Gospel of Matthew: A Book for Today?
Nov 11th, 2008 | By Edmund StandingEarlier this month, the BBC reported that Pope Benedict XVI had opened a Synod of more than 200 cardinals and bishops from around the world to examine the modern lack of interest in the Bible.[1] As in many of his recent pronouncements, the Pope took the opportunity to repeat the same tired old claim that because modern Western society is apparently turning away from Christianity and the Bible, we are seeing the growth of ‘destructive influences’. Once again, secularism is blamed for the ills of modern society, while the Pope proposes that a return to ‘Scripture’ will solve our problems.
I decided it was time to take the Pope’s advice and re-read some ‘Scripture’.[2] Having previously come away from reading … Read the rest
A Useful Emetic
Nov 10th, 2008 | Filed by Ophelia BensonIf you’ve just accidentally swallowed some poison, this is just the ticket. Otherwise don’t bother.… Read the rest
P J O’Rourke Looks Forward
Nov 10th, 2008 | Filed by Ophelia Benson‘The South Side of Chicago is what everyplace in America will be once the Democratic administration have etc etc’… Read the rest
Prop 8 Protests at Rick Warren’s Megachurch
Nov 10th, 2008 | Filed by Ophelia BensonGay-rights advocates protested over Saddleback Church’s support of Proposition 8.… Read the rest
Secular v Haredi in Jerusalem Mayoral Election
Nov 10th, 2008 | Filed by Ophelia BensonBoth candidates favour expanding settlements.… Read the rest
Joan Smith on Secularism in America
Nov 10th, 2008 | Filed by Ophelia BensonOr rather, its absence.… Read the rest
Untested ‘Cures’ Advertised on the Net
Nov 10th, 2008 | Filed by Ophelia BensonLeading medical experts are warning patients against using untested remedies advertised on the internet.… Read the rest
Education and Wishful Thinking
Nov 10th, 2008 | By Raymond S MackintoshThe article by Charles Murray, discussed in a Note and Comment with a measure of disapprobation, raises awkward questions that need to be faced and which rarely are. The problem is that liberal-minded people, and I am one such, are not immune from falling into the trap of believing what we wish to be true rather than that which is true.
Let me first digress to tell a story. Almost twenty years ago, a senior colleague of mine became quite well-known for
writing highly regarded books on relativity and quantum mechanics (the `Uncle Albert’ series) that were targeted at
young teenagers. He gave our (physics) department a talk on the research that he did in preparation for writing
these books. … Read the rest
Victory to the elitists!
Nov 9th, 2008 4:58 pm | By Ophelia BensonOf course one reason I was so pleased about the recent election is that it’s such a nice victory for elitism. About time.
Barack Obama’s election is a milestone in more than his pigmentation. The second most remarkable thing about his election is that American voters have just picked a president who is an open, out-of-the-closet, practicing intellectual.
Damn straight. A blatant, unashamed, undisguised, unapologetic intellectual, who doesn’t pretend to be thicker than he is in order to reassure the envious or the threatened or the hostile. Staggering, isn’t it?
Compare the ineffable Charles Murray, asked what he thinks of Sarah Palin:
… Read the restI’m in love. Truly and deeply in love…The last thing we need are more pointy-headed intellectuals
CFI London: Science and Religion
Nov 9th, 2008 | Filed by Ophelia BensonSimon Singh, Mary Warnock, Jack Cohen, Stephen Law, 25th April, Conway Hall, Red Lion Square.… Read the rest
Armistice Day in the War on Brains
Nov 9th, 2008 | Filed by Ophelia BensonAmerican voters have just picked a president who is an open, out-of-the-closet, practicing intellectual.… Read the rest
Anti-Semitism in 9/11 ‘Truth’ Movement
Nov 9th, 2008 | Filed by Ophelia Benson‘Texe Marrs outlines the eight pillars, or foundations, of the Zionist elite conspiracy to undermine the US.’… Read the rest
Visit the New Age Shop
Nov 9th, 2008 | Filed by Ophelia BensonReiki; readings that combine tarot cards, angel cards and crystal dowsing; ‘Balanced Therapy’; much more.… Read the rest
Katha Pollit Says Sayonara to Sarah Palin
Nov 9th, 2008 | Filed by Ophelia BensonPalin models what feminism isn’t.… Read the rest
You can’t detect it, but you know it’s there
Nov 9th, 2008 11:33 am | By Ophelia BensonAs you may have seen in News the other day, David Colquhoun provides excerpts from ‘a lengthy set of notes for a first year course on “The Holistic Model of Healthcare”…from the 2005 course at Thames Valley University’ (along with a link to the whole thing). It’s fascinating stuff – and it raises a familiar question.
… Read the rest[T]he subject of Wholistic Nutrition transcends the area of human understanding for which science, alone, is appropriate. The reason is that it is ‘vitalistic’. It recognises the presence in all life forms including the human body, of subtle (or ‘etheric’) energy forces not easily measurable by the physicist’s equipment. It shares that position with the ‘energy medicine’ disciplines such as homoeopathy, traditional acupuncture and
Child-torture in Nigeria
Nov 8th, 2008 5:27 pm | By Ophelia BensonNow for something more serious. Something intolerable.
… Read the restOstracised, vulnerable and frightened, she wandered the streets in south-eastern Nigeria, sleeping rough, struggling to stay alive. Mary was found by a British charity worker and today lives at a refuge in Akwa Ibom province with 150 other children who have been branded witches, blamed for all their family’s woes, and abandoned. Before being pushed out of their homes many were beaten or slashed with knives, thrown onto fires, or had acid poured over them…Many of those branded “child-witches” are murdered – hacked to death with machetes, poisoned, drowned, or buried alive in an attempt to drive Satan out of their soul. The devil’s children are “identified” by powerful religious leaders at
Faith, any faith
Nov 8th, 2008 5:19 pm | By Ophelia BensonMichael Binyon in The Times slobbers over Charles for being interested in lots of religions.
[N]o monarch since the Stuarts has taken an intellectual interest in religion, and none has devoted time and respect to other faiths. The Prince, however, counts bishops and moral philosophers, rabbis, priests and Islamic scholars among those whom he regularly meets and with whom he discusses the spiritual dimensions of life in Britain today.
Find the odd one out. Got it in one. What are ‘moral philosophers’ doing in that mob? Does this beezer think moral philosophy is a ‘faith’?
… Read the restFor him, the concept of faith — any faith — is important in the crusade against the rising tide of secular materialism and scientific
Ireland: Priests Abused Children in Bulk
Nov 8th, 2008 | Filed by Ophelia BensonThe horrendous scale of clerical paedophilia in the Dublin archdiocese since 1940.… Read the rest