Colasan is one of the leading columnists of the secularist front. News that he was fired sparked angry reaction.… Read the rest
Taner Edis
Aug 17th, 2007 10:06 am | By Ophelia BensonSo Steve Paulson asks Taner Edis how he would assess the state of scientific knowledge in the Islamic world.
Dismal. Right now, if all Muslim scientists working in basic science vanished from the face of the earth, the rest of the scientific community would barely notice. There’s very little contribution coming from Muslim lands…Especially in military and commercial areas, they have put their emphasis on applied science rather than basic science. So there are lots of medical doctors and engineers in the Muslim world. But the contribution to scientific research is much lower.
Does it matter? Can’t they just import basic science from the rest of the world?
… Read the restIt permanently locks the Muslim world into a subordinate position in those
Why Another Look at the Zimbardo Experiment? 
Aug 16th, 2007 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Because the Stanford Prison Experiment may explain a vast range of disasters.… Read the rest
Bos Supports Making Leaving Islam ‘Discussable’
Aug 16th, 2007 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
But criticism of Islam is another matter.… Read the rest
Hirsi Ali Criticises Labour Over Jami
Aug 16th, 2007 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Labour leader Wouter Bos has made it clear that his party will not support the ex-Muslim committee.… Read the rest
Ramachandra Guha on India’s Internal Partition
Aug 16th, 2007 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Partition was meant to solve the Hindu-Muslim question, but it’s only made things worse.… Read the rest
The Worst Op-ed Ever Written?
Aug 16th, 2007 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Stanley Fish shrewdly notices there are fancy new coffee shops out there. No, really.… Read the rest
Twelve Iranian ‘Thugs’ Executed
Aug 16th, 2007 | By Jahanshah RashidianA new series of executions has started in Iran. On 22 July 2007, in the notorious Evin Prison, the Islamic authorities hanged in one day twelve “thugs” accused of homosexuality, drug smuggling, theft, and violation of Islamic morality.
Even if these executed twelve Iranians were thugs, they are the products of the 29- year policies of the Islamic regime.
The word “thug” in Iranian socio-economic terms would refer to a group of people who are socially and economically marginalised. Such “thugs” are mostly derived from poor classes, and they confront all unfair aspects of the society.
Because of the high rate of unemployment, poverty, widespread illiteracy, and a lack of welfare and a social protection system, they are direct victims … Read the rest
Why infidelity is essential
Aug 15th, 2007 2:04 pm | By Ophelia BensonI’m reading Infidel. I’m going to have to treat you to some samples.
This one is on p. 94. She’s been taking classes at school with a very strict Muslim teacher (though one who urges the children to think, rather than merely shouting dogma at them). She has noted that ‘Something inside me always resisted the moral values behind Sister Aziza’s lectures: a small spark of independence.’ She was troubled by the gap between the demands of the Holy Writings and the reality of daily life; she had asked how a just God could want women to be treated so unfairly; she had noted that she continued to read novels.
… Read the restA Muslim woman must not feel wild, or free,
HornAfrik a Beacon of Integrity in Somalia
Aug 15th, 2007 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Mahad Ahmed Elmi’s talk show challenged human-rights abusers and warlords and extremists.… Read the rest
Two Somali Canadian Journalists Killed
Aug 15th, 2007 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Somali associates outraged, saying both deaths were part of a deliberate campaign against the media.… Read the rest
Two Journalists Murdered in Somalia
Aug 15th, 2007 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Press freedom groups worldwide expressed horror at the ‘savage’ killings on 11 August 2007.… Read the rest
The Barmaid Doesn’t Get the Identity Problem
Aug 15th, 2007 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Perhaps the pigeon does.… Read the rest
Jesus and Mo Ask the Barmaid
Aug 15th, 2007 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
If you don’t believe in God, why don’t you go around behaving selfishly and badly? So ha.… Read the rest
Joan Smith Defends Channel 4
Aug 15th, 2007 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Channel 4 was right to investigate Wahhabi influence in British mosques.… Read the rest
Review of The Islamist
Aug 15th, 2007 | By Max DunbarEd Husain is a busy man. He is working on a PhD, and his book The Islamist has generated a huge amount of copy and follow-up work. Earlier this year, going home on the train after a tranche of interviews, he got a call from an old Muslim friend.
… Read the rest‘Salam Alaikum!’ I said. ‘How are you?’ My friend was in no mood for niceties. He was blunt and sharp as he warned me to stay away from a particular London mosque: ‘You won’t escape safely. Do you hear?’
I was perplexed. All week Muslim ‘community leaders’ had been rapping me on the knuckles for attacking, in my book, those who managed the mosque and its various octopus-like arms. ‘They’ve changed,
He dies without seeing peace in Somalia
Aug 15th, 2007 11:00 am | By Ophelia Benson… Read the restPress freedom groups worldwide expressed horror at the “savage” killings of two prominent Somali journalists on 11 August 2007…Six journalists have been killed in Somalia so far this year, according to the National Union of Somali Journalists (NUSOJ). “This wave of attack of killing and injuring media people is an intentionally organised mission to silence [the] journalistic voice in Somalia,” the union said…CBC News said HornAfrik has criticised both the government and the militant Islamic opposition, and has been shut down several times in the past few months. Reuters said the station was shelled in April, apparently from Ethiopian positions…In 2002 Canadian Journalists for Free Expression (CJFE) gave its International Press Freedom Award to Sharmarke and
Violence Against Women in Punjab
Aug 14th, 2007 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Statistics compiled by the HRCP: 172 cases of honour killing were reported in Punjab in 2003.… Read the rest
Freeman Dyson on the Need for Heretics
Aug 14th, 2007 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Experts who talk publicly about contentious questions tend to speak more clearly than they think.… Read the rest
Rorty’s Solution to a Basic Philosophical Question
Aug 14th, 2007 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
His critique of universalism constituted a liberation but left no alternative to moral ethnocentrism. … Read the rest
