Withdraws attempt to withold documents from Government inquiry into allegations of sexual abuse. … Read the rest
Manila Women Fight Contraception Ban in Court
Feb 11th, 2008 | Filed by Ophelia BensonPetitioners have had many more children than they wanted because they could not afford contraception.… Read the rest
Saudis Take Giant Step Toward Women’s Rights
Feb 11th, 2008 | Filed by Ophelia BensonA woman can now stay in a hotel alone as long as she carries identification. Whatever next?!… Read the rest
UN Calls for Women’s Rights in Saudi
Feb 11th, 2008 | Filed by Ophelia BensonA Saudi delegation told the UN committee that human rights in the kingdom were based on Sharia.… Read the rest
No Valentines in Saudi Arabia
Feb 11th, 2008 | Filed by Ophelia BensonNo red items allowed, including flowers and wrapping paper. Rutting in the street thus prevented.… Read the rest
Archbishop Still Clueless About Secularism
Feb 11th, 2008 | Filed by Ophelia BensonWants ‘Christians and people of other faiths’ to reflect on the putative relationship between law and religion.… Read the rest
The postmodernist archbishop
Feb 11th, 2008 10:51 am | By Ophelia BensonI read the whole archepiscopal speech a couple of days ago; that makes two of the archbishop’s speeches I’ve read in their entirety in the last couple of weeks. That’s a lot of waffly Williamsese to get through. I would love to do a really thorough line-by-line fisking, because every line deserves it – but it would take forever, and would be a baroque kind of luxury, because no one is convinced by the archbishop anyway. So I’m not going to do a line-by-line job, but I could give you a few highlights. Would you like that? Okay then.
One item is that it takes him until the bottom of page 3 (of very closely-printed pages) to acknowledge the elephant … Read the rest
He’s just making it worse
Feb 11th, 2008 9:38 am | By Ophelia BensonPart of the “burden and the privilege of being the Church” in the UK meant, Dr Williams said, the clergy needed “some coherent voice on behalf of all the faith communities living here”…The relationship between law and religion was a subject on which “Christians and people of other faiths ought to be doing some reflecting together”, he added.
No it isn’t, because there shouldn’t be any such relationship, for reasons which the Archbish himself mentions in the speech – without, of course, perceiving them as reasons.
… Read the rest[A]s any Muslim commentator will insist, what is in view is the eternal and absolute will of God for the universe and for its human inhabitants in particular…[S]haria
There is nothing woolly-liberal about communitarianism
Feb 10th, 2008 1:59 pm | By Ophelia BensonMatthew Parris considers the archbishop dangerous.
… Read the restIt is not useful, it is not even interesting, to begin an argument on whether Sharia should be given some kind of status within British law, unless you think there are otherwise potential conflicts…Unless, therefore, Dr Williams is proposing that elements of Sharia should be tolerated even though they appear to conflict with the general law, he is saying nothing interesting. They do conflict. And what happens when they do? The moment a private law appears to defy the general law, one question, and one alone, becomes central. It is the question of consent…Of group members, of course – and first – we must ask: is consent real, unanimous, complete? Is there duress?
Matthew Parris Says the Archbish is Dangerous
Feb 10th, 2008 | Filed by Ophelia BensonIs consent real, unanimous, complete? Is there duress? Is there undue influence?… Read the rest
The Archbishop Clarifies
Feb 10th, 2008 | Filed by Ophelia BensonChristians cannot claim exceptions from a secular unitary system if they are not willing to accommodate other religious consciences.… Read the rest
Blogging Darwin
Feb 10th, 2008 | Filed by Ophelia BensonEvery single week, we at Nature publish new research that reinforces and further enlightens the Origin. … Read the rest
Nick Cohen on Silencing With Libel Laws
Feb 10th, 2008 | Filed by Ophelia BensonRich organisations and people can use British courts to suppress the freedom democratic societies rely on.… Read the rest
Catherine Bennett on the Archbishop’s Miracle
Feb 10th, 2008 | Filed by Ophelia BensonHis challenge to equality under the law was so comically extreme that it clarified the issues handily.… Read the rest
Ruth Gledhill on What the Archbish Wants
Feb 10th, 2008 | Filed by Ophelia BensonBe sure to read the para just below the YouTube links. Then tear your hair.… Read the rest
BBC Explains: Sharia is Not So Bad
Feb 9th, 2008 | Filed by Ophelia BensonSome people have concerns, but it’s all a mistake really. Sharia is quite nice. Cheer up.… Read the rest
Archbishop Under Pressure to Quit
Feb 9th, 2008 | Filed by Ophelia BensonHe is said to be shocked and hurt by the hostility his comments have provoked.… Read the rest
Riazat Butt on Settling Marital Disputes
Feb 9th, 2008 | Filed by Ophelia BensonA woman wanting divorce usually needs the consent of her husband. Men have the right of unilateral divorce. … Read the rest
Andrew Brown on Unwilling Martyrs
Feb 9th, 2008 | Filed by Ophelia BensonThere are people at Lambeth Palace who could have told Williams; some did, but he thought he knew better.… Read the rest
Yasmin Alibhai-Brown on Archy’s Idea
Feb 9th, 2008 | Filed by Ophelia BensonHe is naive to the point of folly if he imagines it is possible to pick and choose the bits that are relatively nice to the girls.… Read the rest