To show the noblity of sharia, says President Mohamed Nasheed. “That the punishments and rulings of Islamic Sharia are not inhumane is very clear to us.”… Read the rest
Maldives: officials condemn call to end flogging 
Dec 10th, 2011 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
UN HR High Commissioner Navi Pillay called for a moratorium on flogging as a punishment for fornication; outrage ensued.… Read the rest
On religious grounds
Dec 9th, 2011 12:30 pm | By Ophelia BensonHuman Rights Watch on child (meaning girl) marriage in Yemen.
… Read the restFourteen-year-old Reem, from Sanaa, was 11 years old when her father married her to her cousin, a man almost 21 years her senior. One day, Reem’s father dressed her in a niqab (the Islamic veil that covers the face, exposing only the eyes), and took her by car to Radda,150 kilometers southeast of Sanaa, to meet her soon-to-be husband. Against Reem’s will, a quick religious marriage ensued. Three days after she was married, her husband raped her. Reem attempted suicide by cutting her wrists with a razor. Her husband took her back to her father in Sanaa, and Reem then ran away to her mother (her parents are divorced).
(This is a syndicated post. Read the original at FreeThoughtBlogs.)
BioLogos snares an MIT physicist
Dec 9th, 2011 9:59 am | By Ophelia BensonVia Sigmund at WEIT, an MIT physicist offers part 1 of a series on “scientism.” Yes really, an MIT physicist. I know, I know.
He (Ian Hutchinson) gives the gist in the first para.
One of the most visible conflicts in current culture is between “scientism” and religion. Because religious knowledge differs from scientific knowledge, scientism claims (or at least assumes) that it must therefore be inferior. However, there are many other important beliefs, secular as well as religious, which are justified and rational, but not scientific, and therefore marginalized by scientism. And if that is so, then scientism is a ghastly intellectual mistake.
Notice that he carefully leaves out the “true” in “justified true beliefs” – the standard … Read the rest
(This is a syndicated post. Read the original at FreeThoughtBlogs.)
Ian Hutchinson at BioLogos on “scientism”
Dec 9th, 2011 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Scientism is a philosophy of knowledge which expands to an all-encompassing world-view. “In other words, it is essentially a religious position.”… Read the rest
Sigmund on BioLogos on “scientism”
Dec 9th, 2011 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
The aim seems to be to portray those committed to methodological naturalism as devoid of emotion or feeling.… Read the rest
“A war with people of faith”
Dec 8th, 2011 3:25 pm | By Ophelia BensonAnd then there are the Republican contestants battling each other to see who can be Most Evil.
Starting point: the Secretary of State addressed delegates to the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva on Tuesday and
… Read the restdelivered what historians will one day look back upon as a monumental speech, in which she declared that the continuing oppression of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered people is “one of the remaining human rights challenges of our time.”
Sexual minorities, Clinton said, “are treated with contempt and violence by their fellow citizens while authorities empowered to protect them look the other way or, too often, even join in the abuse.” She addressed the pernicious argument — common in Uganda and many other
(This is a syndicated post. Read the original at FreeThoughtBlogs.)
Perry and Santorum cozy up to gay-haters
Dec 8th, 2011 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Condemning the abuse of gay people overseas, Perry said, constitutes “a war with people of faith in this country.”… Read the rest
Stiff resistance
Dec 8th, 2011 2:53 pm | By Ophelia BensonThis is just terribly sad – Jerry Coyne gave a lecture on evolution at a public school and a lot of the students were simply “offended” in their religious beliefs.
… Read the restI am dispirited. I’ve just returned from a two-hour lecture and Q&A session at the Woodlawn Charter School, a public school run by the University of Chicago on the South Side of the city. Some of the high-school biology students are reading Why Evolution is True, and I gave a presentation on the evidence for evolution—with a tiny bit about why religion prevents Americans from accepting evolution, for I was asked to mention that topic—followed by an hour of questions.
Some of the questions were good, and some of
(This is a syndicated post. Read the original at FreeThoughtBlogs.)
Steve Jones on the denial of science
Dec 8th, 2011 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Why build a philosophy based on fixed untruths, when we have so many truths, and so many things still to find out?… Read the rest
Lads
Dec 8th, 2011 10:42 am | By Ophelia BensonI’m handicapped in thinking about this by the fact that I’ve never seen, let alone read, a lads’ mag. I’ve spent the past few minutes trying to figure out what they are, which has led to my finding out what “lad culture” is, which I’m not sure I wanted to know.
In an ironic, self-conscious fashion, “lads took up an anti-intellectual position, scorning sensitivity and caring in favour of drinking, violence, and a pre-feminist attitude to women as both sex objects and creatures from another species”.
Oh I hate that “ironic” thing. Pretentious jerks in the UK are always telling you they’re doing or saying whatever it is “ironically,” which just means don’t go thinking I’m a jerk merely … Read the rest
(This is a syndicated post. Read the original at FreeThoughtBlogs.)
Rapists and lads’ mags use the same language
Dec 8th, 2011 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
The findings are consistent with the possibility that lads’ mags normalise hostile sexism, by making it seem more acceptable when its source is a popular magazine.… Read the rest
HRW to Yemen: set marriage age at 18
Dec 8th, 2011 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Widespread child marriage jeopardizes Yemeni girls’ access to education, harms their health, and keeps them second-class citizens.… Read the rest
PR firm edits clients’ Wikipedia entries
Dec 8th, 2011 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Undercover BIJ reporters, posing as agents of the Uzbek government, were told that “sorting” criticism on Wikipedia was a service the company could provide.… Read the rest
Credulous journalists and a new way to mutilate women
Dec 8th, 2011 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
PR company flogs a new genital cosmetic procedure that involves injecting collagen into the vaginal wall. Journalists go “booya!” and a fad is born.… Read the rest
Evil
Dec 7th, 2011 5:02 pm | By Ophelia BensonMore on Mansor Almaribe, sentenced to 500 lashes in Saudi Arabia for “insulting the companions of the prophet.”
… Read the restTHE family of a Victorian man sentenced to 500 lashes in Saudi Arabia has made an emotional plea to bring him home, fearing he will die in jail.
The Shepparton family of Mansor Almaribe, 45, who was also sentenced to a year in jail for blasphemy, will head to Canberra to plead for help.
Isaam Almaribe, 21, said his father suffered from diabetes and had broken bones in his back and knees from a car accident in Australia.
“Dad told us ‘Take me out of here as soon as possible because if I stay here I will die’ – that’s how
(This is a syndicated post. Read the original at FreeThoughtBlogs.)
What previously unknown information is in the Koran?
Dec 7th, 2011 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Mo tries to tell Jesus, but it’s a struggle.… Read the rest
Health Sec blocks wider access to morning-after pill
Dec 7th, 2011 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Sebelius’s move drew shock from women’s health advocates who say it goes against Obama’s pledge to reassert the power of science in his administration’s decisions.… Read the rest
Words can’t express
Dec 7th, 2011 3:49 pm | By Ophelia BensonImagine going to Saudi Arabia for the hajj, all the way from Australia, and finding yourself sentenced to a year in jail and…
To the best of my knowledge, 500 lashes is a death sentence. One hundred risks being a death sentence; five hundred just plain is one.
What did Mansor Almaribe of southern Victoria state do? Torture a lot of children to death? Set fire to a hospital and laugh while patients jumped screaming from high windows? Shoot up a hotel or a night club?
No.
Saudi officials accused him of insulting the companions of the prophet Muhammad, a violation of Saudi Arabia’s blasphemy laws.
And for that they plan to torture him to death.
He … Read the rest
(This is a syndicated post. Read the original at FreeThoughtBlogs.)
What about flashlights? Candles? Yule logs?
Dec 7th, 2011 3:31 pm | By Ophelia BensonGet that smirk off your face.
CAIRO: An Islamic cleric residing in Europe said that women should not be close to bananas or cucumbers, in order to avoid any “sexual thoughts.”
The unnamed sheikh, who was featured in an article on el-Senousa news, was quoted saying that if women wish to eat these food items, a third party, preferably a male related to them such as their a father or husband, should cut the items into small pieces and serve.
He said that these fruits and vegetables “resemble the male penis” and hence could arouse women or “make them think of sex.”
He also added carrots and zucchini to the list of forbidden foods for women.
Answering another question … Read the rest
(This is a syndicated post. Read the original at FreeThoughtBlogs.)
