Now there’s atheist summer camp. Yee-ha.… Read the rest
Woman ‘So Offended’ by Starbucks Cup
May 7th, 2007 | Filed by Ophelia BensonCoffee addict forced to read something she didn’t agree with. World grinds to halt.… Read the rest
Salman Rushdie Rebuts Yusuf Islam
May 7th, 2007 | Filed by Ophelia BensonHowever much he may wish to rewrite his past, he was neither misunderstood nor misquoted on the fatwa.… Read the rest
Spiralling Religious Violence in Bashika and Mosul
May 7th, 2007 | Filed by Ophelia BensonStoning of Doaa Aswad Dekhil, shooting of 23 factory workers, students told to convert or die.… Read the rest
Religious Schools and Brainwashing
May 7th, 2007 | Filed by Ophelia BensonStephen Law notes two ways we can shape beliefs: giving reasons, or applying purely causal mechanisms.… Read the rest
Court Refuses ‘Miss D’ Permission to Travel
May 7th, 2007 | Filed by Ophelia BensonThe judge said that granting the order would amount to a failure to protect the rights of the unborn.… Read the rest
One is the act, the other is the agent
May 7th, 2007 11:27 am | By Ophelia BensonHmm. I’ve spotted a possible addendum or amendment that could make the apparent disagreement disappear like a popped soap bubble. I think getting it right – the gerund, the activity, the verb – is praiseworthy; but that doesn’t mean I think people who get it right are necessarily praiseworthy for doing so. I don’t really think that, I suppose – I just think they ought to, we ought to, as we ought to be civil and considerate as opposed to rude and troublesome. Maybe that was the point. I can buy that. Sure – I get it! The smugness and self-congratulation comes in if people preen themselves on simply doing the right thing. Now that, I think, is a … Read the rest
Getting things right, or trying to
May 7th, 2007 11:05 am | By Ophelia BensonI’ve been pondering the connection (if any) between getting things right or getting at the truth, and merit. The pondering was prompted by this post at Talking Philosophy and specifically one part of the overall argument:
I don’t think that getting things right – in the sense of believing or accepting something to be true, rather than finding out that something is true (yes, I know – the distinction is complex) – is praiseworthy. Or, at least, I don’t think it is praiseworthy enough to justify the cloying smugness that some people – and groups – manifest when they think that they have got things right.
I saw the point of that at first (and perhaps still do in the … Read the rest
Irish Health Service Drops Opposition
May 6th, 2007 | Filed by Ophelia BensonHSE will agree to let Miss D travel to UK for an abortion.… Read the rest
Bridge-building Football Game Called Off
May 6th, 2007 | Filed by Ophelia BensonImams refused to play if women played, priests said okay no women, women said eh?… Read the rest
Kyrgyzstan and the ‘Tradition of Bride Kidnapping’
May 6th, 2007 | Filed by Ophelia BensonBe careful not to see it through western eyes though.… Read the rest
Video of Stoning Shown on Internet
May 6th, 2007 | Filed by Ophelia BensonCellphone videos show an Iraqi mob stoning and kicking to death a 17-year-old girl.… Read the rest
Mob Films Girl’s Murder on Cameraphones
May 6th, 2007 | Filed by Ophelia BensonAs a warning to other sluts? No doubt. [Caution: don’t watch.]… Read the rest
Akinola Installs Rebel Bishop in Anglican Splinter
May 6th, 2007 | Filed by Ophelia BensonFuel for the debate over the proper reading of Scripture on homosexuality and other issues. … Read the rest
A fun outing
May 6th, 2007 11:36 am | By Ophelia Benson… Read the restCellphone videos have appeared on the Internet showing an Iraqi mob stoning and kicking to death a 17-year-old girl after she offended her minority community by eloping with a Muslim man…In the video – on the Kurdish website Jebar.Info and rapidly spreading on the Internet – Aswad is shown lying in the road as men kick her and throw a large lump of rock or concrete at her head. Her face is drenched in blood but uniformed and armed officers of the Iraqi police stand by and do nothing to prevent the attack…At one point she struggles to sit up and cover herself, but a man kicks her in the face knocking her violently back to the ground…Members
Stephen Moss Talks to Slavoj Zizek
May 5th, 2007 | Filed by Ophelia Benson‘Slovenian philosopher, cineaste, professional contrarian. He is feted as an “academic rock star”.’… Read the rest
Who’s Kwame Anthony Appiah?
May 5th, 2007 | Filed by Ophelia BensonThe questions he poses are disturbing, since they expose the errors of our most cherished forms of selfhood. … Read the rest
Interview with Amartya Sen
May 5th, 2007 | Filed by Ophelia BensonDemocracy can be seen as government by discussion, responding to and protecting public discussion. … Read the rest
Turkish Women and Islamism
May 5th, 2007 | Filed by Ophelia BensonSome fear it, others are thrilled.… Read the rest
Bush Promises to Veto Abortion Rights
May 5th, 2007 | Filed by Ophelia Benson‘I will veto any legislation that encourages the destruction of human life.’ No more capital punishment then?… Read the rest