Goldin carefully explained the science behind phthalate safety research; her effort was wasted.… Read the rest
Lebanon Bans ‘Persepolis’
Mar 29th, 2008 | Filed by Ophelia BensonBecause somebody maybe thinks it perhaps might annoy Hizbollah possibly.… Read the rest
Ben Goldacre on an Anti-abortion Hoax
Mar 29th, 2008 | Filed by Ophelia BensonNo, the baby didn’t push his hand out and wave to the crowd.… Read the rest
Pope is a Catholic Shock
Mar 29th, 2008 | Filed by Ophelia BensonUS newspapers keep discovering that yes, the Pope does believe all that. Yes, still.… Read the rest
Cardinal Agrees to Meet Embryo Researchers
Mar 29th, 2008 | Filed by Ophelia BensonOnly condition: the scientists must be willing to accept instruction from Churches on basic morality.… Read the rest
Jesus and Mo Discuss Frankenstein Babies
Mar 28th, 2008 | Filed by Ophelia BensonMo points out emotive misleading language.… Read the rest
Martha Nussbaum on America’s Puritanical Streak
Mar 28th, 2008 | Filed by Ophelia BensonAll of us, except the independently wealthy and the unemployed, take money for the use of our body.… Read the rest
UN HRC Passes Islamic Resolution on Defamation
Mar 28th, 2008 | Filed by Ophelia BensonResolution cites deep concern about the defamation of religions, urges governments to prohibit it.… Read the rest
Project to Inquire into Religion
Mar 28th, 2008 | Filed by Ophelia BensonExperiments to look at the mental mechanisms needed to represent an omniscient deity.… Read the rest
Parvez Sharma’s Film ‘A Jihad for Love’
Mar 28th, 2008 | Filed by Ophelia BensonSharma doesn’t believe that the Iranian authorities are conducting an antigay witch-hunt.… Read the rest
The Swat Valley Taliban
Mar 28th, 2008 | Filed by Ophelia Benson‘Those promoting “enlightened moderation” are the agents of darkness,’ says Fazlullah.… Read the rest
The Taliban in the Swat Valley
Mar 28th, 2008 | Filed by Ophelia BensonThe Taliban are growing in popularity partly because the state is not functioning. … Read the rest
Many Muslim Children Kept Out of School
Mar 27th, 2008 | Filed by Ophelia BensonHajra Bibi taken out of school at puberty; parents wanted her to cook for male relatives.… Read the rest
Campaigners Support Wakefield
Mar 27th, 2008 | Filed by Ophelia BensonBBC accuses medical experts of seeking to ‘discredit’ Wakefield’s ‘findings.’… Read the rest
Return of the ‘Framing’ Debate
Mar 27th, 2008 | Filed by Ophelia BensonNisbet tells Dawkins and Myers to ‘Lay [sic] low and let others do the talking.’… Read the rest
Seumas Milne on Religion and Secularism
Mar 27th, 2008 | Filed by Ophelia BensonStartling new thoughts on the wave of atheist books, atheists as fundamentalists, Dawchens.… Read the rest
Polly Toynbee on Selective ‘Conscience’
Mar 27th, 2008 | Filed by Ophelia BensonFundamental questions of who rules are raised if Catholic ministers get a special dispensation denied to other ministers. … Read the rest
The news from Lodi
Mar 27th, 2008 11:04 am | By Ophelia BensonGirls yanked around like so much furniture.
… Read the restLike dozens of other Pakistani-American girls here, Hajra Bibi stopped attending the local public school when she reached puberty, and began studying at home. Her family wanted her to clean and cook for her male relatives, and had also worried that other American children would mock both her Muslim religion and her traditional clothes…About 40 percent of the Pakistani and other Southeast Asian girls of high school age who are enrolled in the district here are home-schooled…Some 80 percent of the city’s 2,500 Muslims are Pakistani, and many are interrelated villagers who try to recreate the conservative social atmosphere back home. A decade ago many girls were simply shipped back to their
Just ask a professor of bioethics
Mar 26th, 2008 12:26 pm | By Ophelia BensonAnd speaking of sanctimony, there’s nothing like letting a child die miserably while you pray over her instead of going to a doctor.
… Read the restAn 11-year-old girl died after her parents prayed for healing rather than seek medical help for a treatable form of diabetes, police said Tuesday…”She got sicker and sicker until she was dead,” [the police chief] said…[S]he had probably been ill for about 30 days, suffering symptoms like nausea, vomiting, excessive thirst, loss of appetite and weakness. The girl’s parents, Dale and Leilani Neumann, attributed the death to “apparently they didn’t have enough faith,” the police chief said. They believed the key to healing “was it was better to keep praying. Call more people to help pray,” he
The odour of sanctimony
Mar 26th, 2008 12:00 pm | By Ophelia BensonDavid Aaronovitch murmurs a quiet word in the ear of the bishop of Durham.
Sermon continues: “This secular utopianism is based on a belief in an unstoppable human ability to make a better world, while at the same time it believes that we have the right to kill unborn children and surplus old people…” Now, this is as close to a lie as makes no difference. Dr Wright may reply directly to the Times letters page, which, even in this fallen age, generally prints the words of high clergymen, to tell me which significant secularist body, or scientific group, or gaggle of atheists is it that believes “we” have the right “to kill surplus old people”?
Ah, you see, … Read the rest