When those beliefs are held deeply and sincerely they become a part of you.… Read the rest
Cardinal Desmond Connell Went to Court
Feb 1st, 2008 | Filed by Ophelia BensonTo prevent an Irish state inquiry from examining files concerned with clerical child abuse.… Read the rest
A More Admiring View of the Pope
Feb 1st, 2008 | Filed by Ophelia Benson‘Human beings always stand beyond what can be scientifically seen or perceived.’ Pope can see it though.… Read the rest
Pope on Science and Human Dignity
Feb 1st, 2008 | Filed by Ophelia Benson‘Dignity’ means total respect for the human being as a person from conception until natural death.… Read the rest
Nick Cohen Talks to Martin Amis
Feb 1st, 2008 | Filed by Ophelia Benson‘If you’re ideological you’ve got two people living with you: the cheer-leader and the commissar.’… Read the rest
MySpace Deletes Atheist Group
Feb 1st, 2008 | Filed by Ophelia BensonHackers broke into the Atheist and Agnostic Group and re-named it ‘Jesus is Love.’… Read the rest
Some Clerics in Kenya Are Adding to the Strife
Feb 1st, 2008 | Filed by Ophelia BensonEthnic identity turns up in the church too.… Read the rest
Kabul Talks About the Kambaksh Case
Feb 1st, 2008 | Filed by Ophelia Benson‘You cannot criticise any principles which have been approved by sharia. It is the words of the Prophet.’… Read the rest
Prior restraint and the archbishop
Feb 1st, 2008 10:45 am | By Ophelia BensonOne or two thoughts on the Archbisop of Canterbury’s speech. One thought is that he’s a sly bastard. If you read the speech slowly and carefully, it’s clear enough what sinister nonsense he is talking, but he embeds it so deeply and thoroughly in layer upon layer upon layer of episcopally dignified verbiage that it’s very difficult to convey how nonsensical and sinister it is by for instance quoting passages. In this he is very unlike the many other people I get so much innocent pleasure from teasing. He’s just as wrong-headed they are, but he makes it much less obvious. That’s not fair! If he’s going to talk obsequious churchy bullshit, he ought to be obvious about it.… Read the rest
Neoblasphemy laws
Feb 1st, 2008 2:06 am | By Ophelia BensonGee…that there Archbishop of Canterbury really doesn’t grasp the principle of free speech, does he. Or he does but he doesn’t agree with it and is surprisingly unbashful about saying so.
The Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, has called for new laws to protect religious sensibilities that would punish “thoughtless and cruel” styles of speaking…The Archbishop…said it should not just be a few forms of extreme behaviour that were deemed unacceptable, leaving everything else as fair game. “The legal provision should keep before our eyes the general risks of debasing public controversy by thoughtless and, even if unintentionally, cruel styles of speaking and acting,” he said.
In other words the legal provision should frighten us out of saying … Read the rest