‘The question everyone is asking is has Denmark learned its lesson?’… Read the rest
All entries by this author
Nick Cohen on Creationism in the UK
Oct 1st, 2006 | Filed by Ophelia BensonSufferers from the ‘balance’ fallacy don’t get that you can’t have balance between truth and falsehood.… Read the rest
Offend One, Offend All
Oct 1st, 2006 1:17 am | By Ophelia BensonThe Guardian talks some creeping sneaking nonsense.
It is now exactly a year since a Danish newspaper published a series of cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad, which Muslims found so insulting that 140 people died in the ensuing violence.
No. That’s wrong, and it’s a misleading way of putting it. Some Muslims found the cartoons ‘so insulting’, and a much much smaller number found them ‘so insulting that 140 people died in the ensuing violence’ – that is, to interpret that foolishly meaningless phrase, either found them so insulting that they caused lethal violence or found them so insulting that they thought the deaths of 140 people made an appropriate response. Not all Muslims found the cartoons insulting at … Read the rest
Clinton on Cognition
Oct 1st, 2006 1:16 am | By Ophelia BensonDavid Remnick’s account of Clinton’s trip to Africa is a good read, with some interesting truth-related points along the way.
… Read the rest“The Republicans are brilliant at creating bogus issues, cartoon cutouts,” he said, “and the press, even if it doesn’t agree with them, brings it along…This deal with Iraq makes me want to throw up,” he said. “I’m sick and tired of being told that if you voted for authorization you voted for the war. It was a mistake, and I would have made it, too. And Congress made it once before, at the Gulf of Tonkin resolution.” The blame was with the White House: “The Administration did not shoot straight on the nuclear issue or on Saddam’s supposed ties to
Answering the Question with the Question
Oct 1st, 2006 1:14 am | By Ophelia BensonI read a bit of Keith Ward this morning, looking for some sophisticated theological arguments, since we keep being told there are some and we don’t respect them enough. Various thoughts occurred to me as I read. On pages 13-14 of God, Chance and Necessity, for instance, Ward says ‘The argument of this book, then, is that a theistic interpretation of evolution and of the findings of the natural sciences is by far the most reasonable…and that it is the postulate of God, with its corollary of purpose and value, that can best provide an explanation for why the universe is as it is.’
That’s just the introduction, not the argument itself, but all the same, it prompts me … Read the rest
Liberal Principles Matter, but Shut Up Anyway
Sep 30th, 2006 | Filed by Ophelia BensonGuardian says Rushdie’s Satanic Verses generated a fatwa. Interesting take.… Read the rest
Clinton in Africa
Sep 30th, 2006 | Filed by Ophelia BensonDavid Remnick accompanies ex-pres on a hectic trip; takes notes.… Read the rest
Stephen Unwin Accuses Dawkins of Certainty
Sep 30th, 2006 | Filed by Ophelia BensonSays dismissal of Pascal’s wager is stark indication of his commitment to certainty.… Read the rest
French Philosophy Teacher Gets Death Threats
Sep 30th, 2006 | Filed by Ophelia BensonAfter writing an article critical of a certain monotheistic religion.… Read the rest
Jerry Fodor on Michael Frayn on Philosophy
Sep 30th, 2006 | Filed by Ophelia Benson400 pages, on a lot of subjects, with hostility to picking nits: in short, piffle… Read the rest
Senate Passes Bush’s Detainee Bill
Sep 29th, 2006 | Filed by Ophelia BensonBill strips detainees of a habeas corpus right to challenge their detentions in court.… Read the rest
David Luban on Bush’s New Torture Bill
Sep 29th, 2006 | Filed by Ophelia BensonThe real tragedy of the so-called compromise is what it does to the legacy of Nuremberg.… Read the rest
Meet ‘Focus on the Family’
Sep 29th, 2006 | Filed by Ophelia BensonBishop recalls youth: when ‘we see guys that don’t stand strong on principle, we call them “faggots”.’… Read the rest
BHA on New ‘Truth in Science’ Website
Sep 29th, 2006 | Filed by Ophelia BensonCreationist group launches site to encourage teaching of creationism and ID in school science.… Read the rest
Shortlist for Secularist of the Year
Sep 29th, 2006 | Filed by Ophelia BensonMalik, Rushdie, Hari, Hytner, C Bennett, S Jones, Hirsi Ali, Wafa Sultan, F Rose, M Grey.… Read the rest
Jesus and Mo Think Evolution is so Stupid
Sep 28th, 2006 | Filed by Ophelia BensonThey tell the barmaid all about it.… Read the rest
Roger Scruton on Noam Chomsky
Sep 28th, 2006 | Filed by Ophelia BensonThe constructive criticism the US so much needs is sacrificed to self-righteous rage.… Read the rest
Robert Birnbaum Interviews Sean Wilentz
Sep 28th, 2006 | Filed by Ophelia BensonCombining the history of great men and the history of social forces.… Read the rest
Efraim Karsh on Karen Armstrong
Sep 28th, 2006 | Filed by Ophelia BensonHer book is a thinly veiled hagiography, depicting the prophet as a quintessential man of peace.… Read the rest