OUP: If there is no God, why bother being good? Baggini: If there is a God, why bother being good?… Read the rest
November Conference at Center for Inquiry NYC 
Aug 11th, 2007 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
The Secular Society & Its Enemies: speakers include Hitchens, Singer, Kaminer, Tyson, Druyan.… Read the rest
NHS Cuts Funding of Homeopathy
Aug 11th, 2007 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
The bold idea is that scarce money ought to be spent on treatments that work.… Read the rest
Oxford Warns Wycliffe College
Aug 11th, 2007 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Complaints of homophobia and misogyny have been levelled at Wycliffe’s leadership.… Read the rest
‘We’ll Behead Taslima Next Time’
Aug 11th, 2007 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Threats violate Sections 503, 506, 350, 351, 352, 355, 120B, 153A.… Read the rest
Taslima Nasrin ‘Promoting Communal Enmity’
Aug 11th, 2007 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Hyderabad police have registered a case against her for allegedly ‘creating ill-feeling among communities.’… Read the rest
Police File Case Against Taslima Nasreen
Aug 11th, 2007 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
‘Her writings have always provoked the religious-minded so we have registered a case for provocative literature.’… Read the rest
Dawkins Right on Alt Med, Wrong on Religion
Aug 10th, 2007 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Religion is about ethics, does not compete with science. Oh really?… Read the rest
Gay Nigerians Face Death Penalty
Aug 10th, 2007 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Eighteen men have been remanded in prison after arrest for alleged sodomy in northern Nigeria.… Read the rest
Muslim Lawmakers Attack Nasreen
Aug 10th, 2007 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
She backed into a corner as men threw heavy objects at her head and threatened her with a chair.… Read the rest
Muslim ‘Protesters’ Attack Taslima Nasreen
Aug 10th, 2007 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
About 100 protesters burst in, shouting that the author was ‘anti-Islam’. … Read the rest
CDWRME Bulletin for July-August
Aug 10th, 2007 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Women in Egypt, Iran, Iraq, Pakistan, Palestine, Saudi Arabia, Israel.… Read the rest
The Attack on Taslima Nasreen
Aug 10th, 2007 | By Rationalist InternationalRationalist International expresses shock and deep concern about the attack on Bangladeshi author Taslima Nasreen today (August 9) by the radical political outfit Majlis Ittehad-ul-Muslimeen (MIM) at the Hyderabad Press Club. She was releasing the Telegu translation of her book “Shodd”. Taslima Nasreen is an Honorary Associate of Rationalist International.
MIM activists, led by three state Legislative Council members (MLAs), raised slogans against Taslima and flung bouquets and chairs at her and others attending the function. However, no injuries have been reported so far.
MIM leader Akhtar Khan, an MLA, said: “She is enemy of Islam, she is a black spot on Muslims.. We cannot bear anyone talking against Islam. She has written books against Islam. We will not tolerate … Read the rest
Great Bullies of History
Aug 10th, 2007 11:35 am | By Ophelia BensonDon’t forget, there is no compulsion in religion.
Lawmakers and members of a political party assaulted the exiled feminist author as she presented a translation of one of her novels in Hyderabad…Many Muslims have accused Ms Nasreen of ridiculing Islam…About 100 protesters, including three lawmakers, from the Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen party burst in, shouting that the author was “anti-Islam”. Ms Nasreen backed into a corner as objects rained down and she was threatened with a chair, witnesses said.
There is no compulsion in religion, but if an author is ‘anti-Islam,’ then men will throw things at her and offer to beat her with a chair, on the grounds that there is no compulsion in religion.
It’s quite understandable, of course, … Read the rest
Gustav Seibt on Raul Hilberg
Aug 9th, 2007 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
He was the first to ask: how were the victims identified, driven together, transported then murdered? … Read the rest
Roy Hattersley Says Mill is Vieux Chapeau
Aug 9th, 2007 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Mill is, like the Liberal Democrats, ‘comfortingly worthy but out-of-date.’… Read the rest
Raul Hilberg 1926-2007
Aug 9th, 2007 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Author of the great history ‘The Destruction of the European Jews.’… Read the rest
Eric Alterman on Inequality in the US
Aug 9th, 2007 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Only in the US are the rich so powerful that their interests become ‘principles’ in political discourse.… Read the rest
Libel Suits Silence Authors
Aug 9th, 2007 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Deborah Lipstadt on an appalling extension of UK libel law.… Read the rest
Filthy traitor
Aug 8th, 2007 3:00 pm | By Ophelia BensonNever forget, Islam means ‘peace’ – oh and also ‘there is no compulsion in religion.’ Got that?
… Read the restEhsan Jami, a local council member for the Dutch Labour Party and a former Muslim, has been afforded extra protection since Monday this week…The local politician, who also heads a committee established to fight for the interests of former Muslims, was the target of a violent, physical attack outside a supermarket near his home in Voorburg last Saturday…Jami was knocked to the ground and kicked by a group of three men: two young Moroccans and one Somali. During the incidents, his attackers called him a ‘filthy homo’ and ‘filthy traitor’. Mr Jami’s advisor, Afshin Ellian, later pointed out that it was not the
