I think I may have accidentally deleted some authentic comments…accidentally by accident don’t you know. Don’t be discouraged if I dropped anything of yours, don’t go away, comment again. In particular I think there was one with “Indian philosophers” in the email address – which I unchecked so that it wouldn’t be deleted, but it was anyway. I wish it hadn’t been. Anyway, I’ll stop bumbling before too long. Though not today…I’m hungry…… Read the rest
Freedom From Religion Foundation celebrates
Apr 18th, 2010 | Filed by Ophelia BensonAll presidents since 1952 have issued proclamations designating the National Day of Prayer each year.… Read the rest
Archbishops and idiocy
Apr 18th, 2010 | Filed by Ophelia Benson“Good terminal care can usually achieve adequate pain control.” That’s nice, but the issue is what to do when it can’t.… Read the rest
Eric MacDonald et al. debate ‘whose death is it?’
Apr 18th, 2010 | Filed by Ophelia BensonAlso Sholom Glouberman, Jose Pereira, and Margaret Somerville.… Read the rest
Scholarly Standards in Feminist Science Studies
Apr 18th, 2010 | By Allen EstersonIn September 2009 I submitted an article to the feminist journal Women’s Studies International Forum, and in February 2010 I was informed that the journal had decided against publication. Nothing unusual in that, of course. No doubt the great majority of articles submitted to journals are rejected, for a multitude of reasons. But when I enquired why no reason had been given, the Editor-in-Chief replied that the paper had not been sent out for review as she did not feel that it had sufficient evidence in terms of references or citations to back up some of the claims that were made.
Now, whatever deficiencies there may have been in the article, insufficient citation was not one of them. In … Read the rest
Hello world
Apr 18th, 2010 9:11 am | By Ophelia BensonOkay, so here we are! New and shiny and exciting. Tell Josh what you think.… Read the rest
What the former archbishop really wants
Apr 18th, 2010 | Filed by Ophelia BensonThe Christian conscience is so precious, virtuous and superior that it must trump all others.… Read the rest
The right to be a shit is under threat!
Apr 17th, 2010 12:12 pm | By Ophelia BensonA ‘relationship counsellor’ was fired after (and for? the Telegraph is cagy) refusing to give sex advice to homosexual couples. Therefore, the former archbish of Canterbury George Carey says, laws banning discrimination have ‘taken precedence over religious freedoms.’ Well, yes, if you like to put it that way. By the same token, if you choose to believe that the bible both mandates and allows slavery, and that that translates to people of your particular race being allowed to enslave people not of your race, and you act, or attempt to act, accordingly, then yes, your ‘religious freedom’ will be curtailed to that extent. Laws against discrimination in the form of enslavement by race or other category do indeed take precedence … Read the rest
Johann Hari Explains About the Pope
Apr 17th, 2010 | Filed by Ophelia BensonImagine the same thing happening at the BBC, he says to the BBC presenter.… Read the rest
Oxfam Report on Rape in DR Congo
Apr 17th, 2010 | Filed by Ophelia BensonA shocking 17-fold increase in rapes carried out by civilians between 2004 and 2008.… Read the rest
UK: Christians Threaten ‘Civil Unrest’
Apr 17th, 2010 | Filed by Ophelia BensonCarey and others demand the ‘right’ to discriminate against gays in the name of ‘religious freedom.’… Read the rest
Theist Says: Arrest Richard Dawkins!
Apr 17th, 2010 | Filed by Ophelia BensonBecause after all, Pol Pot was an atheist, so bust Dawkins.… Read the rest
Johann Hari on Ratzinger
Apr 17th, 2010 12:00 am | By Ophelia BensonWhatever you do don’t miss Johann Hari on the BBC saying what’s what about the pope. He does a tremendous job. He reads what the pope told the bishops in 2001; he asks what would happen if this kind of thing happened at the BBC – imagine the top boffin telling all the staff to keep everything entirely secret and moving the child rapist to a different creche in a different part of London; he says repentance is not enough, this is a criminal matter.
It’s not enough to say sorry, if you’re sorry, hand yourself over to the police and allow them to investigate it.
When Marc Roche of Le Monde is waffling on about waiting for a better … Read the rest
Asking for bread and getting a stone
Apr 16th, 2010 5:30 pm | By Ophelia BensonPZ says many good things on the subject, for instance on what the textbook that inspired De Dora’s educational advice actually said.
… Read the rest…that was a small part of a two page section of the text that summarizes the legal history of efforts to keep creationism out of the public schools. It is not a book that condemns Christianity, carries on a crusade to abolish religion, or calls believers delusional; it is moderate, entirely polite in tone (praise Jesus! It meets the most important criterion of the faitheists!), and plainly describes an entirely relevant legal and social issue for biologists in non-judgmental terms. It does use the accurate, factual term “myth” for what creationists are peddling, and that’s as harsh
Senegal: Qur’anic Schools Abuse Children
Apr 16th, 2010 | Filed by Ophelia BensonHRW reports malnutrition, widespread disease, and physical and sexual abuse at the ‘schools.’… Read the rest
Obama Will Still ‘Recognize’ Prayer Day
Apr 16th, 2010 | Filed by Ophelia BensonWhew, because naturally we all want our elected leaders telling us to pray.… Read the rest
Huge Increase in Rape in DR Congo
Apr 16th, 2010 | Filed by Ophelia Benson‘These findings imply a normalisation of rape among the civilian population.’… Read the rest
Oxfam Suspends Ops in Mbandaka, DR Congo
Apr 16th, 2010 | Filed by Ophelia BensonOxfam has been working on education, water supply and purification, and public hygiene.… Read the rest
Nawal El Saadawi: Egypt’s Radical Feminist
Apr 16th, 2010 | Filed by Ophelia BensonShe has braved prison, exile and death threats in her fight against female oppression.… Read the rest
‘National Prayer Day’ Ruled Unconstitutional
Apr 16th, 2010 | Filed by Ophelia BensonFreedom From Religion Foundation had sued Bush and Obama admins for telling Murkans to pray.… Read the rest