Justin Griffith explains why this is a big, big deal.… Read the rest
Evidence based prayer
Apr 7th, 2012 12:10 pm | By Ophelia BensonHayley Stevens is one of the bloggers at The Heresy Club. I met her at QED – well sort of met; we were across the table from each other at the farewell dinner, though we never actually had the “Hi I’m __” moment. I saw her at QED, then, but I didn’t realize she’s the person who made a complaint to the Advertising Standards Authority about ‘Healing on the Streets of Bath’ who were claiming to heal illnesses with prayer. I’m impressed! Young People Today eh…When I was Young People Today I wasn’t doing anything as productive as that.
She’s now being called a meany atheist because the ASA ruled against HOTS (and because three MPs are making … Read the rest
(This is a syndicated post. Read the original at FreeThoughtBlogs.)
Hayley Stevens on why atheists care
Apr 7th, 2012 | Filed by Ophelia BensonSkeptics don’t worry about spurious health claims because they’re big meanies.… Read the rest
Arvind Iyer on moving secularism forward
Apr 7th, 2012 | Filed by Ophelia BensonDo today’s freethinkers even stand a chance in correcting the courses of their regressing nations?… Read the rest
Vatican announces silencing of Irish liberal priest
Apr 7th, 2012 | Filed by Ophelia BensonFather Tony Flannery, a Catholic priest who has been outspoken in his criticism of the abuse crisis in Ireland, has found himself under investigation by the Vatican for his liberal views.… Read the rest
Defamation in absentia
Apr 6th, 2012 5:12 pm | By Ophelia BensonA cheery news item from Tunisia:
A Tunisian court has sentenced two young men to seven years in prison for publishing caricatures of the Prophet Mohammed, the justice ministry said Thursday.
“They were sentenced, one of them in absentia, to seven years in prison, for transgressing morality, defamation and disrupting public order,” ministry spokesman Chokri Nefti said, adding that the sentence was handed down late last month.
Defamation…of someone who lived 14 centuries ago.
… Read the restOn March 28, a primary court in the coastal city of Mahdia, sentenced the two men, Jabeur Mejri and Ghazi Beji, both in their late twenties. to seven years in prison and a fine of 1200 Tunisian Dinars (around USD $800) each over the use
(This is a syndicated post. Read the original at FreeThoughtBlogs.)
Speaking of coercion
Apr 6th, 2012 3:55 pm | By Ophelia BensonThe pope reminds his hostages flock that if he wanted their opinion he would ask for it.
In a rare public rebuke, Pope Benedict XVI on Thursday (April 5) denounced a call for optional celibacy and women’s ordination that was issued by a group of Austrian priests, saying true reform will not come as a result of open dissent.
How will it come then? As a result of obstinate resistance by a tiny body of priests?
… Read the restThe Austrian group launched an “Appeal to Disobedience” last year, asking for an end of compulsory celibacy for priests, the ordination of women and allowing divorced people to receive Communion. The group says it has the support of 400 priests, or around 10
(This is a syndicated post. Read the original at FreeThoughtBlogs.)
Rituals and coercion
Apr 6th, 2012 3:40 pm | By Ophelia BensonTom Flynn replies to James Croft on the subject of ritual.
First he points out that once a religious ritual is removed from its original (religious) context, it becomes something different. Why? Because religious ritual is about or addressed to a supernatural entity, and secular ritual isn’t, and that’s a big difference.
Believers direct their singing toward the supernatural; naturalists disbelieve that the supernatural exists. In other words, in the single case when activities that were ritualistic in congregational life are transplanted into humanist – even religious-humanist – practice, the motivations for engaging in that behavior do not – cannot follow along with them. The other-referring practice of ritual hymn-singing becomes non-other-referring when dragged into a naturalistic setting.
And that … Read the rest
(This is a syndicated post. Read the original at FreeThoughtBlogs.)
A small town guy
Apr 6th, 2012 6:27 am | By Ophelia BensonI posted about Bart Ehrman’s Did Jesus Exist? last month, here and here. I was addressing the fact (discussed by Richard Carrier on an article by Ehrman in the Huffington Post) that Ehrman says “we have” sources that we don’t actually literally have, because they didn’t survive. I confirmed that he does it in the book too (because Richard didn’t then have the book), and that it had jumped out at me. There are other things to say about the book though.
First, however: there are more places where his wording is (in my view) too realist about hypothetical early sources that have not survived.
In a passage where he is talking about the NT evidence (Galatians … Read the rest
(This is a syndicated post. Read the original at FreeThoughtBlogs.)
German parties play music on Good Friday shock-horror
Apr 5th, 2012 | Filed by Ophelia BensonThe Frankfurt authorities responsible for public order have banned everything that needed banning.… Read the rest
Woman sues homeopath over sister’s cancer death
Apr 5th, 2012 | Filed by Ophelia BensonShe is suing the homeopath who persuaded the cancer victim to ignore conventional treatment in favour of fighting the deadly disease with alternative medicine.… Read the rest
Part deux
Apr 5th, 2012 4:26 pm | By Ophelia BensonMore on O’Neill. (Don’t ask ‘why.’ I’m interested in this kind of thing – the blithe indifference to facts, the perversity, the malice, the lack of responsibility, the should-know-better quality; the smugness, the preening, the bullying on behalf of the already powerful.)
on 31 March, atheists in the US military had their first-ever get-together on a military base, under the banner ‘Rock Beyond Belief’. ‘All of us want to come out of the closet and demand equality’, said one sergeant, no doubt pissing off gay military servicemen who, not unreasonably, probably think that such phrases are best used by them rather than by their godless colleagues.
Note that “no doubt.” Note the “probably.” He doesn’t in the least know … Read the rest
(This is a syndicated post. Read the original at FreeThoughtBlogs.)
How dare you rebel against the tyrant
Apr 5th, 2012 12:38 pm | By Ophelia BensonBrendan. At it again. Possibly more indifferent to the facts than ever.
… Read the restI know Easter is traditionally a time when Christians give praise for the rising again of Jesus after his flagellation and crucifixion by the Romans. But this year, in the midst of your Easter egg-eating and possible Mass-attending, try to spare a thought for the modern-day equivalent of whipped, weeping Jesuses – that is, the New Atheists, the non-believers, who would have us believe that it is they who face persecution in the twenty-first century. Playing what we might call the Crucifixion Card, the atheist lobby now argues that its members suffer the slings and arrows and jibes of the heartless hordes in a similar way that Christians
(This is a syndicated post. Read the original at FreeThoughtBlogs.)
Brendan O’Neill sneers at “the new atheists”
Apr 5th, 2012 | Filed by Ophelia BensonWow, that dude is so contrarian!… Read the rest
Obama to the rest of us: who cares?
Apr 5th, 2012 12:07 pm | By Ophelia BensonSecularism? Separation of church and state? Government should neither help nor hinder any particular religion? Pluralism? Some of us are not Christians? The president is supposed to be the president of all the people? Hello?
Oh fuck off, comes the reply. Obama hosted his third annual Easter prayer breakfast at the White House on Wednesday, and there’s not a god damn thing you can do about it.
… Read the restThough the president is Christian, surveys have repeatedly shown that as many as one in five Americans believe he is Muslim. His Easter prayer breakfasts have served as a platform for the president to wax theological in familiar surroundings where he appears most comfortable.
Among the guests were Washington Cardinal Donald Wuerl;
(This is a syndicated post. Read the original at FreeThoughtBlogs.)
Obama hosts “Easter prayer breakfast”
Apr 5th, 2012 | Filed by Ophelia BensonSo tough shit, people who think the state should stay out of religion.… Read the rest
Egypt, meet sharia
Apr 4th, 2012 4:40 pm | By Ophelia BensonOh hey gee what do you know, the Muslim Brotherhood hasn’t turned all that “moderate” after all. How about that: when they said they had they were just bullshitting people so that they could win elections and then drop the mask. What a surprise!
CAIRO (Reuters) – The Muslim Brotherhood’s candidate for the Egyptian presidency, Khairat al-Shater, declared that introducing sharia law would be his “first and final” objective if he wins elections in May and June.
Yes well – that’s what people who call themselves “Muslim” and “Brotherhood” tend to do. They like sharia. It means they get extra women, and they get to kick the women around. They like that. They’re stupid to like it, because actually … Read the rest
(This is a syndicated post. Read the original at FreeThoughtBlogs.)
Surprise! MB candidate says sharia is the main goal
Apr 4th, 2012 | Filed by Ophelia BensonOh, gee, didn’t they say they were going to be “moderate” or something?… Read the rest
Pakistan will punish parents who don’t vax children for polio
Apr 4th, 2012 | Filed by Ophelia BensonThe country is one of three – along with Afghanistan and Nigeria – that have failed to eradicate the virus.… Read the rest
Get a prezzy!
Apr 4th, 2012 4:00 pm | By Ophelia BensonThere’s this thing called Skepticon, and the next one (5) is November 9-11, and because we are Special here at FTB, we can tell you how to order a Skepticon 5 T shirt and get a free gift. (How Special is that?!) (No I don’t know what it is. I’m assuming it’s a secret decoder ring, because what else could it be, but I don’t know.)
Here’s what you do: you enter a Special Code in the Special Code section. Can you do that? I thought you could.
The Special Code is:
FtButterflies
Unless of course you decide you’d rather get a different code from a different FTB blogger.
(This is a syndicated post. Read the original at FreeThoughtBlogs.)