Guardian says Rushdie’s Satanic Verses generated a fatwa. Interesting take.… Read the rest
Clinton in Africa 
Sep 30th, 2006 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
David 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 Benson
Says 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 Benson
After 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 Benson
400 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 Benson
Bill 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 Benson
The 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 Benson
Bishop 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 Benson
Creationist 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 Benson
Malik, 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 Benson
They tell the barmaid all about it.… Read the rest
Roger Scruton on Noam Chomsky
Sep 28th, 2006 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
The 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 Benson
Combining 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 Benson
Her book is a thinly veiled hagiography, depicting the prophet as a quintessential man of peace.… Read the rest
Scott McLemee on Michael Bérubé
Sep 28th, 2006 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
The author assumes on the part of the reader both skepticism and an open mind. … Read the rest
Here’s three on’s are sophisticated
Sep 27th, 2006 8:35 pm | By Ophelia BensonThere is sophistication and then there is sophistication.
… Read the restIn this age of terror fueled by the ideology of Islamic extremism, some old insights of the liberal historiography of the roots and nature of Nazism remain relevant. In works published in the 1960s and 1970s, two of Nazism’s preeminent historians…made a similar point about the political significance of ideological fanaticism…This underestimation, the refusal or inability to understand that Hitler meant what he said was thought to be a mark of political sophistication in the 1930s…The great classic of the postwar years which did take Nazi ideology seriously, Hannah Arendt’s The Origins of Totalitarianism, took specific issue with this liberal and left-wing reductionism. Arendt…redefined the meaning of political sophistication so
Why Self-censorship is Dangerous and Misguided
Sep 27th, 2006 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
It represents a huge victory for anyone who thinks terror is a legitimate means of political response.… Read the rest
Underestimating Fanaticism
Sep 27th, 2006 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Refusal to understand Hitler meant what he said was thought to be a mark of political sophistication.… Read the rest
Andre Glucksmann on Fanatic Warriors
Sep 27th, 2006 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
The end of the blocs liberated not only the democracies, but also homicidal and genocidal impulses.… Read the rest
Germany Holds its First ‘Conference on Islam’
Sep 27th, 2006 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
The 30 participants are to address issues of coexistence of Muslims and non-Muslims in Germany. … Read the rest
