In Azerbaijan, those who physically attack journalists are never brought to justice and the cycle of impunity there is truly shocking.… Read the rest
To make the world a better place
Nov 26th, 2011 11:54 am | By Ophelia BensonThe New Humanist has a fascinating piece by Paul Sims about Robert Lambert, the retired Special Branch officer who was head of the Muslim Contact Unit.
I’ve had some critical things to say about Lambert and his colleague Jonathan Githens-Mazer in the past – in June 2010 and April 2009. They talked evasive deceptive nonsense about the wonderfulness of Islamism and the badness of “Islamophobia.” They completely ignored the issues of women’s rights and homophobia. The stuff they wrote was extremely misleading – like this, for instance:
… Read the restWhile British Islamists are as diverse as British socialists, the interviews do reveal important unifying characteristics, most notably a devotion to social justice and a concern for community needs over individual
(This is a syndicated post. Read the original at FreeThoughtBlogs.)
Paul Sims talks to Robert Lambert 
Nov 26th, 2011 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
The problems with recruiting reactionary patriarchal homophobic theocrats in order to prevent violence.… Read the rest
Jonathan Rée on dissing God
Nov 26th, 2011 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
When Stendhal said “God’s only excuse is that he does not exist,” he was continuing a tradition of angry piety handed down from the Hebrew Bible and medieval Islamic poetry.… Read the rest
An atmosphere where a slide towards violence against women is enabled
Nov 25th, 2011 4:37 pm | By Ophelia BensonKyle Sandilands says it’s free speech and also that it’s quite all right and reasonable and why not? He explains carefully.
I’ll attack any journalist that attacks me that I think’s unfair.
Well what he means is, if a journalist says something about his show that he doesn’t like, he will not respond with an explanation of why she is wrong or a criticism of her reasoning, but rather, he will call her a fat slag, a fat bitter thing with a nothing job, and a piece of shit, and then he will tell her to watch her mouth or he’ll hunt her down. In other words he’ll say the most degrading things he can think of and then … Read the rest
(This is a syndicated post. Read the original at FreeThoughtBlogs.)
Mona Eltahawy tells of sex assault in Cairo ministry
Nov 25th, 2011 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
She told CNN: “My left hand and my right arm are broken. This is as a result of a brutal beating by the Egyptian riot police who surrounded me.”… Read the rest
The edification of both sides
Nov 25th, 2011 12:35 pm | By Ophelia BensonThe chief rabbi and Charles Taylor got together recently to say stuff about “The Future of Religion in a Secular Age.” Both are big fans of religion, so the stuff they said was in that vein.
… Read the restFor Taylor and Rabbi Sacks, religion should act as a counterpoint and antidote to the rampant solipsism and breakdown of sociality that characterize the secular world. Religion, unlike the market, science, or politics, exists in its own realm beyond materiality and simple solutions, and even beyond the self. According to Taylor, religious practice entails a transcendence of the self that is desperately needed in a culture as self-obsessed as our own. Rabbi Sacks added that on one hand, religion must stand at the vanguard
(This is a syndicated post. Read the original at FreeThoughtBlogs.)
Sign the petition to 2Day and Fox FM sponsors
Nov 25th, 2011 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Cancel advertising until Kyle Sandilands is dumped from radio show.… Read the rest
Andrew O’Keefe on White Ribbon Day
Nov 25th, 2011 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
On Kyle Sandilands: “It says it’s perfectly ok to have a public discourse that is aggressive and sexist.”… Read the rest
Huffington Post on “We Are Atheism” campaign
Nov 25th, 2011 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Like the “It Gets Better” campaign, the idea is to let young atheists know they are not alone.… Read the rest
Obama thinks he “owes” Catholic bishops’ conference
Nov 25th, 2011 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Reproductive Health Reality Check reports that Obama will cave to demands by the USCCB to eliminate insurance coverage of birth control without a co-pay.… Read the rest
“Just so you know, you’re a piece of shit.”
Nov 24th, 2011 4:44 pm | By Ophelia BensonAnd then there’s Kyle Sandilands. He’s a shock jock in Australia. A journalist called Alison Stephenson wrote an unfavorable review of his shock jock radio show. He replied to her on the air.
… Read the restSome fat slag on news.com.au has already branded it a disaster. You can tell by reading the article that she just hates us and has always hated us.
What a fat bitter thing you are. You’re deputy editor of an online thing. You’ve got a nothing job anyway. Just so you know, you’re a piece of shit.
This low thing, Alison Stephenson, deputy editor of news.com.au online. Alison, you’re supposed to be impartial, you little troll.
You’re a bullshit artist, girl. You should be fired from
(This is a syndicated post. Read the original at FreeThoughtBlogs.)
Mona Eltahawy
Nov 24th, 2011 4:14 pm | By Ophelia BensonOh, Jesus – I can’t keep up with it today! I saw a brief tweet from Mona Eltahawy yesterday saying ”arrested and beaten” – it wasn’t even clear if she was the one arrested and beaten. I replied and retweeted but then got distracted…But she was the one arrested and beaten all right: her arm and leg hand are broken. And she was sexually assaulted – “Besides beating me, the dogs of CSF subjected me to the worst sexual assault ever.” Fuuuuuuuuuuuck.
Mona Mona Mona. God you’re brave.… Read the rest
(This is a syndicated post. Read the original at FreeThoughtBlogs.)
Squabble squabble
Nov 24th, 2011 3:56 pm | By Ophelia BensonVia Dan Fincke - Charlie Brown Thanksgiving Republican debate.
(This is a syndicated post. Read the original at FreeThoughtBlogs.)
The prophet’s bodyguards claim another victim
Nov 24th, 2011 3:47 pm | By Ophelia BensonHorrible news, via Maryam: the Azerbaijani atheist and critic of Islam Rafiq Tagi has been murdered.
Jahan News has gleefully reported that ‘Azerbaijan’s Salman Rushdie has been murdered’. The Islamic regime of Iran’s mouthpiece says writer Rafiq Tagi was despised by the people of Azerbaijan for his attack on Islam’s prophet Mohammad.
It’s hard to “attack” someone who’s been dead for 14 centuries – but of course they don’t mean “attack,” they mean “failure to grovel to,” and they consider that a good reason to murder him.
(This is a syndicated post. Read the original at FreeThoughtBlogs.)
They finally killed Rafiq Tagi
Nov 24th, 2011 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
The Islamic Republic of Iran has denied any role in his murder.… Read the rest
Atheist writer Rafigh Taghi killed in Azerbaijan
Nov 24th, 2011 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Taghi, author of anti-Islamist and anti-Iranian regime articles, spent one year in prison for “inciting religious hatred” by “insulting prophet Mohammed” in 2006.… Read the rest
Australia: shock jock calls journalist a fat slag
Nov 24th, 2011 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
“What a fat bitter thing you are. You’re a piece of shit. You haven’t got that much titty to be wearing that low cut a blouse. Watch your mouth girl, or I will hunt you down.”… Read the rest
Taylor and Sacks agree: new atheists suck
Nov 24th, 2011 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Sacks says Dawkins, Hitchens and Harris over-simplify religion, producing critiques that are superficially profound and profoundly superficial. Awesome, dude.… Read the rest
Susan Jacoby on the fetish of suffering
Nov 24th, 2011 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
The Iowa forum was a triumph of the union of psychobabble and public religiosity that has come to dominate American politics.… Read the rest
