His claim underscores the absurdity of religious belief, instead of obscuring it with touchy-feely doubletalk… Read the rest
‘Guru-like Saint’ Had 17 Women, 60 Children 
Jan 16th, 2010 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Ratzon banned the women from communicating with men and demanded absolute obedience.… Read the rest
Tel Aviv: ‘Guru’ Arrested for Enslavement and Rape
Jan 16th, 2010 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
He was ‘romantically involved’ with 17 women, is suspected of raping several of them. How dreamy.… Read the rest
Algerian Feminist Playwright Attacked
Jan 16th, 2010 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
‘We know who you are, you miscreant whore.’… Read the rest
Universal declaration of bishops’ rights
Jan 15th, 2010 12:40 pm | By Ophelia BensonYou wouldn’t think people would be in a hurry to say stuff like this.
[Bishops] warned that Harriet Harman’s Equality Bill suggests some rights are considered “more important than others”. They backed calls for a “conscience clause” to be added to the law so that the rights of religious worshippers are not ignored by attempts to protect minorities.
You wouldn’t really think they would want to say quite so bluntly and clearly that they think ‘the rights of religious worshippers’ are in conflict with attempts to protect minorities. In fact, you would think, or at least I would think, they would want to shy right away from saying that. Haven’t they read their Karen Armstrong? Aren’t they aware of … Read the rest
Science Shows: God is the Answer to all Questions
Jan 15th, 2010 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Anxious? Try God. Want sex? Try God.… Read the rest
UK: Government is Friends With MCB Again
Jan 15th, 2010 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
The ‘communities secretary’ said the separation was simply too tragic.… Read the rest
Pope Blames Atheists for Copenhagen Summit
Jan 15th, 2010 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Moral sense comes from God; look at those materialistic and atheistic regimes; case closed.… Read the rest
Senior Member of Hizb ut-Tahrir Teaches at LSE
Jan 15th, 2010 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Reza Pankhurst is a postgraduate student and teaches for the course ‘States, Nations and Empires.’… Read the rest
Bishops Horrified by Equality and Rights
Jan 15th, 2010 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Believers must be able to insist that homosexuality is a sin and that only men and women can marry. … Read the rest
Who can answer?
Jan 14th, 2010 5:53 pm | By Ophelia BensonOn page 39 of The Dawkins Delusion Alister McGrath quotes Peter Medawar as saying, in The Limits of Science:
That there is indeed a limit upon science is made very likely by the existence of questions that science cannot answer, and that no conceivable advance of science would empower it to answer…I have in mind such questions as:
How did everything begin?
What are we all here for?
What is the point of living?Doctrinaire positivism – now something of a period piece – dismissed all such questions as nonquestions or pseudo-questions…
So far so familiar. But what I really want to know is – who or what can answer the last two questions? (The first seems in principle … Read the rest
Maia Caron Interviews Udo Schüklenk
Jan 14th, 2010 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Religious institutions and the states they control move ever more viciously against freedom of speech to protect themselves from legitimate criticism.… Read the rest
Why Do Newspapers Report on ‘Miracles’?
Jan 14th, 2010 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Why are editors who are so resistant to the evidence for climate change so uncritical about this nonsense?… Read the rest
The Never-ending Horror of Pat Robertson
Jan 14th, 2010 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Writing horror stories in the blood of innocent victims of a monstrous natural occurrence – again. … Read the rest
Pat Robertson’s Amateur History
Jan 14th, 2010 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Haiti, Napoleon, pact with the devil – what’s he talking about?… Read the rest
Wendy Kaminer: No Atheists Need Apply
Jan 14th, 2010 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Atheists who regard all religions with equal disrespect are sometimes the most reliable defenders of equal religious rights.… Read the rest
Pat Robertson Says Haiti is Cursed
Jan 13th, 2010 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Because of that pact with the devil. … Read the rest
Paul Fidalgo on Karen Armstrong
Jan 13th, 2010 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
When cornered by particularly formidable atheists and rationalists, religionists play the Socrates Card. … Read the rest
If Murder is Sincere Then it’s Not so Bad?
Jan 13th, 2010 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Judge refused prosecution request to bar evidence that might support a voluntary manslaughter conviction. … Read the rest
Manslaughter Charge ‘Could Justify Violence’
Jan 13th, 2010 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
The court ‘should not be the first to enable a defendant to justify premeditated murder because of an emotionally charged belief.’… Read the rest
