From the viewpoint of the non-religious, what Orwell had was not a blind spot, but clarity of vision. … Read the rest
Interview with Daniel Dennett
May 29th, 2007 | Filed by Ophelia BensonJust as cows inherit many features of the aurochs, today’s organized religions inherit features from folk religions.… Read the rest
Philosophy Not Useless After All
May 29th, 2007 | Filed by Ophelia BensonPhilosophy’s great recent achievement is the theory of structured procrastination.… Read the rest
Scientists Disagree Over Alliance with Believers
May 29th, 2007 | Filed by Ophelia BensonDawkins cites risk of buying into the fiction that there’s something virtuous about faith.… Read the rest
Tinky Winky Under Investigation in Poland
May 28th, 2007 | Filed by Ophelia BensonInsufficiently butch teletubby could make children go all limp and wobbly.… Read the rest
Johann Hari on Gordon Brown’s God
May 28th, 2007 | Filed by Ophelia BensonCan we have the benign element of Jesus’ teaching without all the other dreck?… Read the rest
Female Toddlers Treated as Merchandise
May 28th, 2007 | Filed by Ophelia BensonA ‘jirga’ decided that three-year-old Tasleem and four-year-old Farzana be given as a penalty.… Read the rest
Islamic Reformers are Called ‘Islamophobic’ Too
May 28th, 2007 | Filed by Ophelia BensonIf standing against Sharia is ‘Islamophobic’ the accusation is an honor, says Tawfik Hamid.… Read the rest
Vatican Pal to Head Labour’s ‘Faith Task Force’
May 28th, 2007 | Filed by Ophelia BensonLed Catholic ‘chivalric order,’ thinks ‘the faith communities do have a significant role to play.’… Read the rest
Four for the price of one
May 28th, 2007 10:24 am | By Ophelia BensonThe point of the theist four-step post was to note that theists tend to think the four beliefs are one – that the belief that there is an X we call ‘God’ includes other beliefs, especially the three cited.
My real point was to emphasize that they are separate beliefs, not one and not necessarily or automatically linked; that they all have to be evaluated, not just the first; that there’s no obvious reason to assume that if ‘God’ does exist it is good (in a sense we understand) (or any other either) or wants us to be good or that we reliably know any of that.
It is worth emphasizing that, because it is somewhat remarkable how often it … Read the rest
Du’a’s Murder Inspires Other Murderers
May 27th, 2007 | Filed by Ophelia BensonSince Du’a’s murder, at least 12 women have been murdered in the name of ‘honour’ in Iraqi Kurdistan.… Read the rest
Plan Canada Launches Longitudinal Study of Girls
May 27th, 2007 | Filed by Ophelia BensonThe first study of its kind following the lives of 140 girls in nine developing countries until 2015.… Read the rest
Global Campaign to Fight Gender Inequality
May 27th, 2007 | Filed by Ophelia Benson‘Hope the Because I am a Girl campaign will create the focus and outrage needed to force change.’… Read the rest
Moscow Gay Rights Demo Assaulted
May 27th, 2007 | Filed by Ophelia BensonRight-wing and Orthodox thugs attacked demonstrators. Police busted gays, left attackers alone.… Read the rest
Setting the bar
May 27th, 2007 11:20 am | By Ophelia BensonI knew I would be told I was setting too high a standard by talking of reliable knowledge (and meaning by it actually reliable knowledge, rather than credible or rationally defensible or arguable beliefs or guesses or intuitions). I knew that so well that when making a couple of notes on belief and reliable knowledge this morning, that was one of the notes I made – the prediction that I would be told that. But the high standard is exactly the point. Why would we want to set a lower standard? Why would we accept a lower standard? I can see why people want to set a lower standard for their own beliefs, and perhaps for their chosen group’s … Read the rest
Yarg yarg yarg, militant atheists, yarg yarg
May 26th, 2007 5:39 pm | By Ophelia BensonYes yes yes. We know. We’ve heard.
… Read the restBut some now say secularists should embrace more than the strident rhetoric poured out in such books as “The God Delusion” by Richard Dawkins and “The End of Faith” and “Letter to a Christian Nation” by Sam Harris. By devoting so much space to explaining why religion is bad, these critics argue, atheists leave little room for explaining how a godless worldview can be good. At a recent conference marking the 30th anniversary of Harvard’s humanist chaplaincy, organizers sought to distance the “new humanism” from the “new atheism.” Humanist Chaplain Greg Epstein went so far as to use the (other) f-word in describing his unbelieving brethren. “At times they’ve made statements that sound
Another Think Coming
May 26th, 2007 | Filed by Ophelia Benson‘The salty question of how we should live seems to have given way to the dry matter of what we think.’… Read the rest
Vernon Interviews Daniel Dennett
May 26th, 2007 | Filed by Ophelia Benson‘The philosophers I pay attention to are all, in one way or another, paying close professional attention to other disciplines.’… Read the rest
Tom Flynn on Addiction to the Big M
May 26th, 2007 | Filed by Ophelia BensonIs it frightening to think there is no Meaning in life, only the plural meanings we create for ourselves?… Read the rest
Mo Rejoices at Iran’s Technological Prowess
May 26th, 2007 | Filed by Ophelia BensonA convincing rebuttal to those who say the Islamic world has been technologically moribund for centuries.… Read the rest