All entries by this author

The Religion Beat Demolishes Faith *

Nov 18th, 2007 | Filed by

What really surprised me was the mendacity and sheer nastiness with which the feuds were conducted. … Read the rest



Another Religion Journalist Loses Faith *

Nov 18th, 2007 | Filed by

Bates was turned off by the intolerance towards gays and the self-righteousness of Christians.… Read the rest



Tutu Rebukes Church for Attitudes to Gays *

Nov 18th, 2007 | Filed by

Why the obsession with sexuality when we have poverty, Aids and wars to worry about?… Read the rest



Belief in Interventionist God Not All That Rare *

Nov 18th, 2007 | Filed by

New atheists’ view of religion is far too crude, critics say; the criticism itself is out of touch with reality… Read the rest



Children Accused as Witches, Abused, Expelled *

Nov 18th, 2007 | Filed by

Massive number of children in Angola and Congo cast out, often as a rationale for not having to feed them.… Read the rest



Nick Cohen on a Mayoral Snow Job *

Nov 18th, 2007 | Filed by

Ware pointed out that all the criticisms of the MCB he broadcast came from liberal-minded British Muslims.… Read the rest



Every Group is Sacred *

Nov 18th, 2007 | Filed by

Press Complaints Commission should ‘consider distorted inaccurate coverage of groups and communities.’… Read the rest



Liberal Conspiracy on Livingstone’s Report *

Nov 17th, 2007 | Filed by

Three of the nine authors are MCB activists. One major theme is that the MCB has been unfairly criticised.… Read the rest



Nick Cohen on Livingstone’s Report *

Nov 17th, 2007 | Filed by

Report tries to bring the MCB back into the fold by accusing the critics of bigots of being bigots.… Read the rest



Jeanette Winterson Hugs Homeopathy *

Nov 17th, 2007 | Filed by

‘Homeopathy seeks to understand everything we are, everything we do, as a web of relatedness.’… Read the rest



Why Evidence-based Medicine Matters *

Nov 17th, 2007 | Filed by

Winterson tries to tell us that for some mystical reason the healing powers of homeopathic pills are special.… Read the rest



Jesus and Mo Protest Homeopathy Conference *

Nov 17th, 2007 | Filed by

Ridicule is a powerful weapon in the struggle against silly beliefs. Barmaid is speechless.… Read the rest



Look at the Methodology and the Personnel *

Nov 17th, 2007 | Filed by

‘Random’ week? Prince Naseem? Three MCB guys contributing to the ‘research’?… Read the rest



Livingstone’s Survey Finds Muslims ‘Demonised’ *

Nov 17th, 2007 | Filed by

Sounds worrying.… Read the rest



A World Awash in Conspiracy Theories *

Nov 17th, 2007 | Filed by

What difference does it make? When we believe in fairy tales, we keep ourselves timorous children.… Read the rest



Caliphate or no Caliphate? *

Nov 17th, 2007 | Filed by

The road back to the caliphate is a dead end but propaganda lends an appearance of substance to an illusion.… Read the rest



Comedy from Theo Hobson *

Nov 17th, 2007 | Filed by

‘The atheists feel that they effortlessly realise moral perfection in their daily lives.’… Read the rest



Don’t forget the waterfall

Nov 16th, 2007 4:15 pm | By

Check out the comments on Richard Francks’s Descartes and God. They’re all terrific but especially the one by gfelis, which is to say, our friend G.

Even if Descartes was right about our ability to doubt the existence of the material world when we really, really try very hard to doubt it, his insight merely reveals that absolute proof is a very stringent standard for knowledge (an ultimately unrealistic standard, sensible epistemologists now agree). It does not mean there is “no good reason to believe” in the existence of the material world, it merely means that even the very existence of the material world – as obvious as it is to us – cannot be proven absolutely beyond any

Read the rest


Such jeering

Nov 16th, 2007 3:26 pm | By

Yet another plea – or more like demand – that atheists shut up. Dave Hill foolishly comes right out and admits that’s what he’s demanding, in the very first sentence.

Even by writing this piece I risk perpetuating what I seek to end: arguments about religion that generate more heat than light.

He seeks to end arguments about religion – well at least we know where we are for a change. And where we are is (as so often) with someone who doesn’t think very clearly. He claims that ‘the critiques [AC Grayling and Polly Toynbee] offer, at least on this site, never develop beyond assertions that all religion should be got rid of because it’s always a bad … Read the rest



Grayling on New Militant Fundamentalist Atheists *

Nov 16th, 2007 | Filed by

Those who reject religion have had enough of pussy-footing around its votaries’ sanctimonious self-regard.… Read the rest