Told reporters that as president he would abolish courts whose judges make decisions that are out of step with fundamentalist Christian views.… Read the rest
Popehat v a SLAPP suit against a science blogger 
Dec 19th, 2011 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
The First Amendment protects Mr. Hawkins’ right to call naturopaths in general quacks, and to call Dr. Maloney in particular a quack for promoting naturopathy.… Read the rest
Not another one
Dec 19th, 2011 12:59 pm | By Ophelia BensonHey guess what the war is over!
This year has marked, I believe, the beginning of the end of the war between science and religion. Creationism cannot last. The New Atheists are now old (or departed). And between these camps the middle ground continues to expand.
Has it all, doesn’t it. The air of easy omniscience, the disdain for atheists, the gloating at the death of one particular atheist, the false dichotomy, the warm uncritical affection for the middle ground, the stupid assumption that it’s “extreme” (not to mention old, or dead) to think science and religion are not in every way compatible.
… Read the restIndeed, many folks have been hard at it, doing a new kind of peace work. Some
(This is a syndicated post. Read the original at FreeThoughtBlogs.)
Kim Jong-un not sure he’s crazy enough to run N Korea
Dec 19th, 2011 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
While emphasizing that he was definitely completely insane, Kim still wondered if he could ever be enough of a lunatic to replace the most unhinged dictator on the planet.… Read the rest
Katha Pollitt on Hitchens
Dec 19th, 2011 12:12 pm | By Ophelia BensonI’ve been hoping Katha would write something, because I knew she would have informed reservations. I remember her exchange with Hitchens when he left The Nation. I’ve been a fan of both of them for a long time, so their differences interest me.
Katha suggests that “he was possibly the least troubled with self-doubt of all the writers on earth” and that he didn’t wonder enough how he got from one position to another, radically different one. I think that’s a fair point, and yet…well I’m ambivalent, as I am about so many things, which is why, unlike Hitchens, I spend so much time staring blankly into space instead of being productive.
… Read the restSo many people have praised Christopher so effusively,
(This is a syndicated post. Read the original at FreeThoughtBlogs.)
Redacted section of Cloyne Report published
Dec 19th, 2011 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
The Justice Minister said the publication of redacted portions of the reprt detailed the Catholic Church’s failure to comply with its own child abuse guidelines.… Read the rest
Top Ten Peacemakers in the Science-Religion Wars
Dec 19th, 2011 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
“Both the closed-hearted scientism of atheist hardliners and the narrow creationism of religious fundamentalists kill our strange and beautiful world by flattening it.”… Read the rest
Katha Pollitt on Hitchens: complicating the picture
Dec 19th, 2011 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
He was clever, hilarious, generous to his friends, combative, prodigiously energetic and fantastically productive; he could also be a bully.
Pity the poor bishops
Dec 18th, 2011 4:48 pm | By Ophelia BensonThe Catholic bishops haz a sad again. This time it’s the Catholic bishops in the Netherlands. Not the ones in Belgium, nor in Bavaria, nor in Ireland, nor in Alaska, nor in Boston, nor in New York. No. These are the ones in the Netherlands. They haz a sad because
Tens of thousands of children have suffered sexual abuse in Dutch Catholic institutions since 1945, a report says.
Oh dear oh dear, say the Catholic bishops in the Netherlands. That is sad.
The report by an independent commission said Catholic officials had failed to tackle the widespread abuse at schools, seminaries and orphanages.
“This episode fills us with shame and sorrow,” said a bishops’ statement.
Does it? Why? Because … Read the rest
(This is a syndicated post. Read the original at FreeThoughtBlogs.)
Daughters!
Dec 18th, 2011 3:02 pm | By Ophelia BensonThis is from 2009, but I hadn’t seen it before.
A new video by Samar Minallah that highlights the importance of education for girls. It is the first pushtu/dari lullaby dedicated to daughters! The video has been shot and conceptualized by Samar. It has been sung by renowned singer Naghma and the poetry is by Watan Dost. It has been filmed in Kabul, Bagram, Khyber and Swat by Samar. It has been produced by WCLRF and Heinrich Boll Foundation Afghanistan.
(This is a syndicated post. Read the original at FreeThoughtBlogs.)
Religion is behind homophobic persecution in Africa
Dec 18th, 2011 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Digital Journal talks to Leo Igwe.… Read the rest
Bishop David Oyedepo
Dec 18th, 2011 12:33 pm | By Ophelia BensonDear sweet kind loving god, who deputizes men to hit women in the face.
H/t ‘Yemi Ademowo-Johnson.… Read the rest
(This is a syndicated post. Read the original at FreeThoughtBlogs.)
Jim Wright on Ayn Rand
Dec 18th, 2011 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
I’d rather be forced to sit with a hemorrhoidal badger in my lap through every single George W. Bush and/or Al Gore speech ever recorded than to have to read Atlas Shrugged ever again.… Read the rest
Dutch bishops filled with shame and sorrow
Dec 18th, 2011 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Tens of thousands of children have suffered sexual abuse in Dutch Catholic institutions since 1945, a report says.… Read the rest
Nick Cohen on Christopher Hitchens
Dec 18th, 2011 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Hitchens was too much of an enthusiast for life and debate to waste time being pinched and cautious; too engaged in the battle of ideas to worry about others taking his.… Read the rest
One in the eye for ferrety bureaucrats
Dec 18th, 2011 10:40 am | By Ophelia Benson… Read the restIn conversation he was the most intellectually generous man I have ever met. More writers than readers like to imagine are fretful and suspicious. They bite their tongues and hide their thoughts in case rival authors “steal their ideas”. Hitchens was too much of an enthusiast for life and debate to waste time being pinched and cautious; too engaged in the battle of ideas to worry about others taking his.
When you had an argument you needed to work through or a book you had to deliver, he would sit you down, fill your glass to the brim and pour out ideas, references, people you needed to talk to and writers you had to read.
(This is a syndicated post. Read the original at FreeThoughtBlogs.)
Pakistan: girls fight for their rights
Dec 17th, 2011 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Against overwhelming obstacles.… Read the rest
Mutilate the baby tastefully
Dec 17th, 2011 3:10 pm | By Ophelia BensonParents shouldn’t mutilate their children, amirite? I think that’s a pretty safe claim. But….
But it turns out it’s ok, as long as you make a show of angst about it first. It’s ok as long as you go on and on and on about your feelings on the subject, demonstrating how sensitive you are, and then in the end agree to lopping off a bit of your baby’s penis. The show of angst makes it ok, so it turns out that the mutilation of the baby is actually all about the feelings of the mommy.
… Read the restEver outspoken about what I considered the “barbaric” nature of the bris ritual, it is no wonder I was blessed with two sons.
(This is a syndicated post. Read the original at FreeThoughtBlogs.)
A mother rationalizes circumcising her baby
Dec 17th, 2011 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
“The bris serves as a shrill reminder that the mother’s control over her son’s well being is incomplete.” So it’s ok to snip off a bit of his penis.… Read the rest
Ian McEwan on Hitchens
Dec 17th, 2011 11:48 am | By Ophelia BensonIn the Guardian/Books, as is appropriate. The Guardian has its flaws but it does hella good book journalism.
… Read the restWhen I arrived from the airport on my last visit, he saw sticking out of my luggage a small book. He held out his hand for it – Peter Ackroyd’s London Under, a subterranean history of the city. Then we began a 10-minute celebration of its author. We had never spoken of him before, and Christopher seemed to have read everything. Only then did we say hello. He wanted the Ackroyd, he said, because it was small and didn’t hurt his wrist to hold. But soon he was making pencilled notes in its margins. By that evening he’d finished it.
He
(This is a syndicated post. Read the original at FreeThoughtBlogs.)
