Almost 60 million girls lack chance to go to school.… Read the rest
Pope Tells Africa: Keep Chaste or Die 
Jun 10th, 2005 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Church’s teachings of chastity and fidelity only ‘fail safe’ ways to stop spread of Aids.… Read the rest
Lethal Insanity Continues
Jun 10th, 2005 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Pope says HIV and Aids in Africa should be tackled through fidelity and abstinence, not condoms.… Read the rest
Blame Beethoven
Jun 10th, 2005 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Beethoven turned to narcissistic focus on composer’s own tortured soul.… Read the rest
Slightly Woolly Review of Michael Shermer Book
Jun 10th, 2005 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Woolly about Tierney book, ‘evenhandedness,’ but worth a read.… Read the rest
Racial and Religious Hatred Bill
Jun 10th, 2005 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
‘For “racial hatred” substitute “racial or religious hatred”.’… Read the rest
Yes, That’s the Problem
Jun 10th, 2005 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
‘Line in the sand which indicates to people a line beyond which they cannot go.’… Read the rest
Polly Toynbee on Religious Hatred Bill
Jun 10th, 2005 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Enlightenment values under growing threat from collective softening of the brain.… Read the rest
Not Contempt but Outrage
Jun 9th, 2005 8:18 pm | By Ophelia BensonNorm has a post on religion and Hitchens and the vexed subject of ‘contempt for religious believers and what they believe’ that I have – however reluctantly! however ashen with misgivings, trembling with nerves, tottering with distress, quaking with anxiety, keening with regret – disagreed with him about in the past.
… Read the restIt might be suggested on Hitch’s behalf that, whether it meets such needs or not, because religious belief isn’t substantively true, all it merits is contempt from atheists and humanists; and its adherents, likewise, only deserve disrespect in one or another mode. But that religion isn’t true cannot be a sufficient reason for this; it is quite standard in democratic and pluralist societies to disagree in a tolerant
Students Assault Academics
Jun 9th, 2005 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Problem more widespread than previous research had shown. … Read the rest
Religious Hatred Law
Jun 9th, 2005 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
More mischief-making claims predicted.
External Resources
- Ban ‘Life of Brian’?
‘There is a clear difference,’ says spokeswoman. But is there? - Blunkett Defends the Offence
Making it illegal to stir up hatred against people because of their religious beliefs. - Johann Hari
Even the left is reluctant to criticise religion. - Madeleine Bunting Approves
We all know religious hatred when we see it, but as a legal concept, it’s complex. - Nick Cohen
Deplores the sinister absurdity of Blunkett’s latest proposal for dealing with religious hatred. - Pisstaking Will Be Allowed
But will it? - Polly Toynbee
We must be free to criticise religion without being called racist - Rowan Atkinson Against Censorship
A veneer of tolerance concealing a snake.
Mugabe’s ‘Urban Clean-up’ Continues
Jun 9th, 2005 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
‘People disappear and you don’t know what happened to them all.’… Read the rest
Radio 4 on John Mack and ‘Alien Abduction’
Jun 9th, 2005 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
The stupidest, most credulous half hour you’ll ever listen to.… Read the rest
The Difficulties of Being a Mitigated Sceptic
Jun 9th, 2005 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Degrees of doubt and questioning don’t work with sound bites.… Read the rest
On Being a Mitigated Sceptic
Jun 9th, 2005 | By Philip StottTo be a sceptic is a difficult and dangerous business. To be what the philosopher, David Hume, called a “mitigated”, or moderate, sceptic is, in addition, deeply frustrating. In the first case, sceptics are seen as enemies of ”religion”; in the second, the moderate sceptic is constantly misunderstood, because one is dealing with carefully-modulated degrees of questioning and doubt that do not conform easily to the modern world of sound bites, shallow interviews, and pressure-group action. The media inevitably favour the religious fanatic who can encapsulate into a single sound bite simple articles of unquestioned faith that mesh readily with the prevailing public mood, which they themselves so often – too often – share.
In the UK, ”global warming” is … Read the rest
Professor Carey Will Have His Fun
Jun 8th, 2005 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Is art merely a way for people to show off? Or is there more to it than that?… Read the rest
Alan Ryan on Harvard and its Rivals
Jun 8th, 2005 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Harvard view of MIT: a hangout for nerds and social inadequates. … Read the rest
All Shall Have Prizes
Jun 8th, 2005 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
University is a consumer product and teachers are servants.… Read the rest
Heidegger, Hölderlin, and the Ister
Jun 8th, 2005 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Film is reinvigorating a conversation among philosophers.… Read the rest
Greatest Philosopher Shortlist – Vote Now
Jun 8th, 2005 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Hume, Mill, Spinoza, Marx, Nietzsche, Wittgenstein, Aristotle, Plato?… Read the rest
