Irving says the expected things, with the expected mix of banality and foulness.… Read the rest
The twisted fathers
Jan 15th, 2009 11:20 am | By Ophelia BensonThe Vatican is different from you and me; it has an eccentric way of ordering its priorities – a way so eccentric that it passes human understanding.
It has this secret tribunal, you see, which it has only now decided to open to the public, or rather to that portion of the public known as ‘the faithful.’ This secret tribunal ‘handles confessions of sins so grave only the pope can grant absolution.’ Ooh – the pope’s a busy guy, so they must be some truly grave sins then. (But then, ‘sin’ is a silly idea, and the Catholic church’s ideas of what sin is are also silly – but still, the pope is a busy guy, so they’re not going … Read the rest
Who is evil
Jan 14th, 2009 12:03 pm | By Ophelia BensonDenialism and death threats.
A new book defending vaccines, written by a doctor infuriated at the claim that they cause autism, is galvanizing a backlash against the antivaccine movement in the United States. But there will be no book tour for the doctor, Paul A. Offit, author of “Autism’s False Prophets.” He has had too many death threats…[Offit] is also the co-inventor of a vaccine against rotavirus, a diarrheal disease that kills 60,000 children a year in poor countries.
So…Paul Offit collaborated on the invention of a vaccine that if implemented can save the lives of at least 60,000 children a year in poor countries – and yet ‘antivaccine activists’ think he’s evil and some think he should get … Read the rest
Obama Invites Gene Robinson to do the Prayer
Jan 14th, 2009 | Filed by Ophelia BensonAtheists remain uninvited.… Read the rest
Christian Voice Gives Religion a Bad Name
Jan 14th, 2009 | Filed by Ophelia BensonAnd by the way religion-bashing is boring, trite, and self-indulgent. Understand?… Read the rest
Irshad Manji Recommends Ijtihad for All Parties
Jan 14th, 2009 | Filed by Ophelia BensonUnity equals uniformity; debate equals division; division equals heresy; thus ijtihad must be suppressed.… Read the rest
Manji and Rushdie Urge: Use Your Free Inquiry
Jan 14th, 2009 | Filed by Ophelia BensonIrshad Manji and Salman Rushdie will inaugurate Moral Courage Conversations next Sunday.… Read the rest
Riazat Butt Urges Expanding Compassion
Jan 14th, 2009 | Filed by Ophelia BensonFrom Gaza to other parts of the ummah, like Darfur, and for that matter, to non-Muslims too.… Read the rest
The demonologist will see you now
Jan 13th, 2009 12:34 pm | By Ophelia BensonHahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha. Excuse me – I can’t help it.
The Pope has instructed the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, formerly the Holy Office of the Inquisition, to draw up a new handbook to help bishops snuff out an explosion of bogus heavenly apparitions. Benedict XVI plans to update the Vatican’s current rules on investigating apparitions to help distinguish between true and false claims of visions of Jesus and the Virgin Mary, messages, stigmata (the appearances of the five wounds of Christ), weeping and bleeding statues and Eucharistic miracles.
Well yes, certainly, of course; one can quite see why he would. Only…is it really, actually, genuinely possible to distinguish between true and false claims of visions and stigmata and the … Read the rest
Pope Wants to Stamp Out False Miracles
Jan 13th, 2009 | Filed by Ophelia BensonTheologians will assess the content of any heavenly messages to see if they contravene Church teachings.… Read the rest
Defender of Vaccinations Gets Death Threats
Jan 13th, 2009 | Filed by Ophelia BensonReporters should treat the antivaccine lobby like Holocaust deniers, AIDS deniers and Moon landing deniers.… Read the rest
Impregnated via Rape, Girl is Killed by Family
Jan 13th, 2009 | Filed by Ophelia BensonDoctors protected her, father promised not to kill her, she went home, her brother killed her.… Read the rest
Ron Aronson on Secularism and Commitment
Jan 13th, 2009 | Filed by Ophelia BensonWe don’t have to believe in God to see the world as meaningful and coherent.… Read the rest
Andrew Anthony on The Satanic Verses
Jan 13th, 2009 | Filed by Ophelia BensonIt dramatises the conviction that there is nothing more sacred than the freedom to question what is sacred. … Read the rest
Advertising Standards Authority to Rule on God
Jan 13th, 2009 | Filed by Ophelia BensonImagine the uproar if it became a legal requirement to insert qualifications in religious statements.… Read the rest
Dutch FM Shouts at Vatican Envoy
Jan 13th, 2009 | Filed by Ophelia BensonEnvoy has been called to a meeting to answer charges the Church opposes gay rights.… Read the rest
Vatican, don’t make me come down there…
Jan 12th, 2009 6:04 pm | By Ophelia BensonThe Vatican is in TRUB-BLE . The Dutch Foreign Minister is going to YELL AT IT. It might have to GO TO BED WITHOUT ANY DESSERT. HA ha ha HA ha.
… Read the restThe Vatican envoy to the Netherlands, we learn with enormous pleasure this weekend, is about to receive a well-deserved arse-kicking from Dutch Foreign Affairs Minister, Maxime Verhagen…[T]he envoy – Monsignor François Bacqué – has been called to a meeting to explain the Catholic Church’s stance on sexuality and marriage, and answer charges the Church opposes gay rights…LifeSiteNews said that, in December, the Vatican was attacked in the international press for refusing to endorse the UN motion claiming to “decriminalise homosexuality”…The Vatican’s representative at the UN, Archbishop Celestino Migliore, said
Cooking the books
Jan 12th, 2009 1:25 pm | By Ophelia BensonSo is the BBC a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Church of England or god’s favorite offspring or what? What’s it playing at?
… Read the restThe BBC has been forced to apologise to an acclaimed psychologist and writer after editing her derogatory comments about religion so that a radio programme broadcast “the opposite” of what she had said…[Dorothy] Rowe, best known for her work on depression, had attempted to comment on the subject proposed by the programme’s producer: “Why so many people want to believe in God and search for faith.” But she was aghast to hear how her words were eventually used…She said the interview “sounds like I am giving unqualified praise to religious belief. There is no mention of what I
UK Libel Laws, Publishing, Scandal, the Web
Jan 12th, 2009 | Filed by Ophelia BensonExpansive libel laws can silence criticism and block exposure.… Read the rest
Living Under Duress in Swat
Jan 12th, 2009 | Filed by Ophelia BensonTaliban have ordered the killing of women seen in market areas; a Bundh Bazaar dancing girl was killed.… Read the rest