What really surprised me was the mendacity and sheer nastiness with which the feuds were conducted. … Read the rest
All entries by this author
Another Religion Journalist Loses Faith
Nov 18th, 2007 | Filed by Ophelia BensonBates 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 Ophelia BensonWhy 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 Ophelia BensonNew 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 Ophelia BensonMassive 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 Ophelia BensonWare 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 Ophelia BensonPress 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 Ophelia BensonThree 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 Ophelia BensonReport 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 Ophelia Benson‘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 Ophelia BensonWinterson 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 Ophelia BensonRidicule 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 Ophelia Benson‘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 Ophelia BensonSounds worrying.… Read the rest
A World Awash in Conspiracy Theories
Nov 17th, 2007 | Filed by Ophelia BensonWhat 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 Ophelia BensonThe 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 Ophelia Benson‘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 Ophelia BensonCheck 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.
… Read the restEven 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
Such jeering
Nov 16th, 2007 3:26 pm | By Ophelia BensonYet 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 Ophelia BensonThose who reject religion have had enough of pussy-footing around its votaries’ sanctimonious self-regard.… Read the rest