No it’s not, it’s liberal theist. Which is worse?… Read the rest
All entries by this author
“Skepticism” and Ignorance
Nov 27th, 2007 | By George M. FelisImagine you found a pretty crystal while on a hike at a park. Suppose that a few hundred meters further on the hike, you ran into another hiker and struck up conversation. In that conversation, you show them your pretty crystal: “Hey, look at this neat-o quartz I found!”
Suppose your new hiker acquaintance responds by saying, “Actually, that’s not quartz at all, it’s feldspar. When I’m not a nature hiker, I’m a geology professor and a licensed gemologist.”
Naturally, your reaction (assuming you are not yourself a geologist or something) would be to say, “I don’t think so. I still say it’s a quartz. It looks all… quartz-y!”
What? That wouldn’t be your reaction?
No, of course not. Such … Read the rest
Miscellany
Nov 26th, 2007 4:24 pm | By Ophelia BensonJesus and Mo discuss the ‘personally offensive’ issue. I would love to think Bill Buckingham will see that – but perhaps if he did he wouldn’t realize that it was about people like him.
Richard Chappell also discusses it.
… Read the restIt’s so depressing how arbitrary subjective responses are presented in public discourse as though they were legitimate reasons…The underlying problem, I suspect, is that our public culture has become so infected with subjectivist assumptions that people don’t realize that there’s a difference between desires and reasons. Sentiments are taken as given; no-one ever stops to question whether their reactive attitudes are warranted. Any kind of negative emotion is not just evidence, but constitutive, of suffering injustice. You’re
‘Gulabi Gang’ Tackles Sexism in Uttar Pradesh
Nov 26th, 2007 | Filed by Ophelia BensonLocals unsurprised at a women’s vigilante group in this landscape of poverty, discrimination and chauvinism. … Read the rest
Saudis Think Adultery Charge Justifies Lashes
Nov 26th, 2007 | Filed by Ophelia BensonSaudi justice officials claim rape victim has ‘confessed’ to affair. So what?… Read the rest
Sudan: Teacher Arrested in Teddy-bear Fuss
Nov 26th, 2007 | Filed by Ophelia BensonShe let the children vote to name teddy-bear ‘Muhammad.’ Could get 40 lashes, 6 months; or worse.… Read the rest
The Taslima Nasreen Opportunity for India
Nov 26th, 2007 | Filed by Ophelia BensonWhen India banned The Satanic Verses, it breathed life into the demon of competitive intolerance.… Read the rest
Jesus and Mo on the Etiquette of Flouncing
Nov 26th, 2007 | Filed by Ophelia BensonWhen facts are offensive, reality should show more sensitivity.… Read the rest
Look out! It’s scientism!
Nov 25th, 2007 12:47 pm | By Ophelia BensonThe Manhattan Institute, a conservative ‘think tank’ in the US, declares its mission on each page:
The Mission of the Manhattan Institute is to develop and disseminate new ideas that foster greater economic choice and individual responsibility.
Oh yeah? Then what’s the latest piece of obscurantist theistic sciencephobic mystification from Leon Kass doing there? The ideas are so not new that they’re more like a putrefying corpse, they’re about closing down greater economic choice rather than fostering it, and they’re about irresponsible irrational scaremongering rather than about individual responsibility. Fucking typical of most US conservatives of the respectable stripe: they talk resounding bullshit but they line up obediently behind ‘ideas’ that ought to be anathema to them; in short, they’re … Read the rest
Blair Feared ‘Faith Nutter’ Label
Nov 25th, 2007 | Filed by Ophelia Benson‘If he sees a very attractive woman his eye will wander.’ Oh good, he’s normal then.… Read the rest
Taslima Nasrin is Now Homeless
Nov 25th, 2007 | Filed by Ophelia BensonRajasthan government is awaiting a direction on where Nasrin would stay. … Read the rest
3 Iraqi Cousins Behead Aunt and Uncle
Nov 25th, 2007 | Filed by Ophelia BensonMilitant cousins considered uncle an infidel because he did not pray and wore western-style trousers. … Read the rest
The Homeopath to Success
Nov 25th, 2007 | Filed by Ophelia BensonWhy should it be that only those who believe in homeopathy are allowed the benefits of the placebo effect?… Read the rest
Leon Kass Offers Obscurantist Nonsense
Nov 25th, 2007 | Filed by Ophelia Benson‘Scientific ideas and discoveries are being enlisted to do battle against our traditional religious and moral teachings.’… Read the rest
Not All Religions Fret About ‘Playing God’
Nov 25th, 2007 | Filed by Ophelia BensonSome don’t have ‘God,’ some don’t object to playing the part.… Read the rest
Richard Jenkyns on the Idea of a ‘Canon’
Nov 25th, 2007 | Filed by Ophelia BensonMore plausible to suppose a spectrum of creative ability than a sharp division between genius and the rest. … Read the rest
Offended in Dundee
Nov 24th, 2007 4:41 pm | By Ophelia BensonHow to get into the newspapers: say something fatuous and self-regarding and preeningly righteous.
Second-year dental student Emily Mackie said the university’s decision to call its inaugural Dundee Christmas Lecture “Why Evolution is Right … and Creationism is Wrong” is badly timed and insensitive to Christians.
And this makes it into a newspaper because…nothing ever happens in Dundee? Too chilly up there is it?
But since it did make it into a newspaper, I can’t resist looking at it.
… Read the restThe lecture is being given by Steve Jones, professor of genetics at University College, London, who claims that all biologists support the theory of evolution and that “intelligent design”—the belief that life was created as part of a divine plan—is
Muslim Women’s Group to Advise UK Gov’t
Nov 24th, 2007 | Filed by Ophelia BensonNational Muslim Women’s Advisory Group is led by 19 women from a wide range of professions and traditions.… Read the rest
‘Blasphemous’ Feminist Nasreen is Threatened
Nov 24th, 2007 | Filed by Ophelia BensonNasreen is adamant that her work is not blasphemous but that it campaigns for the rights of women.… Read the rest
Morality and Religion Are Not One and Indivisible
Nov 24th, 2007 | Filed by Ophelia BensonArchbishops mistaken to think there cannot be any meaningful secular morality.… Read the rest