That is why we see scores or hundreds murdered daily for sectarian reasons.… Read the rest
Evangelical Blogger Gets 100,000 Readers
Jul 10th, 2007 | Filed by Ophelia BensonBrody occupies a position of influence in the 2008 presidential campaign. That’s unfortunate.… Read the rest
Summer Educational Program to Explore What Lies “Beyond Belief”
Jul 10th, 2007 | By Nathan BuppAmherst, New York—The Center for Inquiry (CFI), a secular humanist think tank located in Amherst, New York, has announced that it is offering a unique educational experience this summer called “Beyond Belief.” Taking a cue from the recent flood of highly popular books on atheism and unbelief, CFI hopes to bring something new to the cultural conversation by contributing in a positive and constructive way. Running July 5 through July 22, the three-week session will explore topics such as the future of unbelief, does one need God to be good, and the constructive role of doubt and science in everyday life.
“Atheism and doubt have become popular fare in the marketplace of ideas,” said R. Joseph Hoffmann, the vice president … Read the rest
Eagleton on Rushdie and Other Apostates
Jul 9th, 2007 | Filed by Ophelia BensonThey used to be so cool, now they’re a bunch of Islamophobes; tut tut.… Read the rest
Just a note
Jul 8th, 2007 6:32 pm | By Ophelia BensonI’m here. (Where? Here. Where I said I’d be. At the Center for Inquiry, in Amherst, outside Buffalo, New York.) Jeremy’s here, Julian’s here, Joe Hoffman is here, Paul Kurtz (of course) is here, Tom Flynn, Nathan Bupp, and others. It’s good fun. I’ll tell you more later.… Read the rest
Irshad Manji on What Drives Suicide Bombers
Jul 8th, 2007 | Filed by Ophelia BensonWhy airbrush the role that religion plays in the violence carried out under its banner?… Read the rest
Woman Arrested for Having Ugly Lawn
Jul 8th, 2007 | Filed by Ophelia Benson70-year-old woman busted for failing to water lawn. Next up: felony conviction for not combing hair.… Read the rest
Johnston on Epistemology in Gaza
Jul 4th, 2007 | Filed by Ophelia Benson‘They weren’t interested in any kind of truth, they were interested in their world view being put over.’… Read the rest
It Was Like Being Buried Alive
Jul 4th, 2007 | Filed by Ophelia Benson‘I literally dreamed many times of being free and always woke up back in that room.’… Read the rest
Joan Smith on What Political Islam Hates
Jul 4th, 2007 | Filed by Ophelia BensonFree women and homosexuals, mostly.… Read the rest
A little peace and quiet
Jul 4th, 2007 11:26 am | By Ophelia BensonB&W is going to fall silent or near-silent for awhile – until July 23d to be precise. I’m off to this Beyond Belief thing. I’d love to maintain B&W in the meantime but spyware ate my laptop two years ago, so I can’t, although Jeremy has kindly offered to let me use his when he’s not, so maybe I will be able to do a little.
So long!… Read the rest
Good news for a change
Jul 3rd, 2007 7:23 pm | By Ophelia BensonSo I flick to the World Service at 7 and hear that Alan Johnston was released an hour ago . Various people around here cheered rather noisily. I may have been one of them.
Barely had they told us that than he was on the line to tell us about it. It was horrible, ‘as you may imagine’ – in solitary confinement all that time with people who at intervals talked of killing him. He said at the very end they beat him – as they took him to the car to free him, apparently, they had to pound on him. It wasn’t nice.
And as he points out, he’s not the only one.
But anyway – he’s out. Yay.… Read the rest
NY Times on Alan Johnston
Jul 3rd, 2007 | Filed by Ophelia BensonHe was been the focus of a worldwide campaign by colleagues — Palestinian, Israeli and foreign. … Read the rest
The Guardian on Alan Johnston
Jul 3rd, 2007 | Filed by Ophelia BensonMr Johnston, the only western correspondent working full-time in Gaza, went missing on March 12.… Read the rest
This Just In: Alan Johnston is Free
Jul 3rd, 2007 | Filed by Ophelia Benson‘Out of the blue’ an hour ago. I’m listening to him talk live on the World Service now.… Read the rest
Believers in a Vindictive God
Jul 3rd, 2007 | Filed by Ophelia BensonThe bish and the bomber both follow a god who kills people at random to make a point.… Read the rest
Bishops Reveal Their Opinion of the Deity
Jul 3rd, 2007 | Filed by Ophelia BensonIt kills random people in floods to punish someone for allowing gay marriage.… Read the rest
It Was ‘Ladies Night’ at tigertiger, Hitchens Notes
Jul 3rd, 2007 | Filed by Ophelia BensonThe murderers did not just want body parts in general but female body parts in particular. … Read the rest
Jesting bishops
Jul 3rd, 2007 9:38 am | By Ophelia BensonFunny god these bishops believe in. Arbitrary, whimsical, cryptic, absent-minded, brutal, sloppy, and stupidly vicious. We’d better hope it doesn’t exist. Oblivion is vastly preferable to being bossed around by a petty shit like that for eternity. Funny that the bishops seem to find it attractive. (But not really funny at all of course, since it’s merely a projection of their own petty shitness.)
… Read the restOne diocesan bishop has even claimed that laws that have undermined marriage, including the introduction of pro-gay legislation, have provoked God to act by sending the storms that have left thousands of people homeless…[Graham Dow, Bishop of Carlisle] expressed his sympathy for those who have been hit by the weather, but said that the problem
Welcome to Dar ul-Harb
Jul 2nd, 2007 12:11 pm | By Ophelia BensonHassan Butt explains.
By blaming the government for our actions, those who pushed the ‘Blair’s bombs’ line did our propaganda work for us. More important, they also helped to draw away any critical examination from the real engine of our violence: Islamic theology…And as with previous terror attacks, people are again articulating the line that violence carried out by Muslims is all to do with foreign policy. For example, yesterday on Radio 4’s Today programme, the mayor of London, Ken Livingstone, said: ‘What all our intelligence shows about the opinions of disaffected young Muslims is the main driving force is not Afghanistan, it is mainly Iraq.’
He did: here (fast forward ten minutes). He also said, to Ed Husain, … Read the rest