“If you start now to let women drive, let them go wherever they want, let them do whatever they want, Saudi Arabia will be like New York.”… Read the rest
All entries by this author
The barmaid cites the Dunning Kruger effect 
Oct 2nd, 2011 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
In telling the boys they don’t know enough to realize how little they know.… Read the rest
Israel court grants request to register ‘without religion’
Oct 2nd, 2011 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
“The court granted legitimacy to every person to live by their conscience in this land.”… Read the rest
A ruling of historic proportions
Oct 2nd, 2011 5:37 pm | By Ophelia Benson… Read the restAfter brief deliberations on the eve of last week’s Rosh Hashanah holiday, a Tel Aviv judge ruled that Israeli author Yoram Kaniuk could register his official religious status as “without religion.”
“Freedom from religion is a freedom derived from the right to human dignity, which is protected by the Basic Law on Human Dignity and Freedom,” Judge Gideon Ginat of the Tel Aviv District Court wrote in his unusual ruling.
…
“This is a ruling of historic proportions,” Kaniuk said to Haaretz yesterday, with audible emotion. “The court granted legitimacy to every person to live by their conscience in this land, in ruling that human dignity and freedom means a person can determine their own identity
(This is a syndicated post. Read the original at FreeThoughtBlogs.)
Humanism as the Next Step for Nigeria
Oct 2nd, 2011 | By Leo IgweA conference introductory speech delivered by Leo Igwe at the National Humanist Convention at Vines Hotel Durumi, September 23 2011.
Fellow humanists, and dear friends of humanists,
I want to join the Chairman in welcoming you all to this historic meeting. For a long time we at the Nigerian Humanist Movement have longed to bring our convention to Abuja. We have desired before now to get our politicians to understand that there are Nigerians who are openly, proudly and publicly non-religious and non-theistic. We have longed to register our presence here at the Federal capital territory and to get the politicians and people of this country to understand that Nigeria is not just a country of Christians, Muslims and traditional … Read the rest
A man generally cannot know
Oct 2nd, 2011 12:11 pm | By Ophelia BensonSomeone called “bluejohn” suggested yesterday that I should engage with James Onen of Freethought Kampala on the subject of Rebecca Watson and elevators and sexism. I replied that I already had.
… Read the restI had a discussion with James at Facebook, but we fundamentally disagree. I don’t think more discussion (on this subject) would be productive.
(What we disagreed about is that his view is: men have the right to ask women [politely] for sex, even if they are total strangers and it’s out of the blue, and it’s akin to racism to make a social or moral rule saying they shouldn’t do that. My view is: women’s right not to be pestered in that way trumps men’s right to invite stranger
(This is a syndicated post. Read the original at FreeThoughtBlogs.)
Welcome to the neighborhood
Oct 2nd, 2011 11:00 am | By Ophelia BensonIt’s a good neighborhood here at Freethought Blogs. There’s a lot to read, a lot to learn, a lot to talk about. I’ve barely scratched the surface so far.
This morning I was belatedly reading Ryan Lizza’s New Yorker article about Michele Bachmann, and there was, in the section on Bachmann’s inaccurate account of her Iowa history -
… Read the restIn fact, Muskego is a town in Wisconsin, the state where Bachmann’s forebears, the Munsons, settled in 1857, twelve years after the manifesto was written. Then, in 1861, they moved west, to the Dakota Territory, near present-day Elk Point, South Dakota. That is where, according to the family history that Bachmann relied on, they encountered the awful winter and the
(This is a syndicated post. Read the original at FreeThoughtBlogs.)
Summing up
Oct 1st, 2011 4:56 pm | By Ophelia BensonIn the final chapter of Braintrust, “Religion and Morality,” Patricia Churchland is doing an exegesis of The Euthyphro.
The pattern of questioning strongly hints, however, that whatever it is that makes something good or just or right is rooted in the nature of humans and the society we make, not in the nature of the gods we invent. There is something about the facts concerning human needs and human nature that entails that some social practices are better than others, that some human behavior cannot be tolerated, and that some forms of punishment are needed. [p 196]
That second sentence makes a nice summing up of the book, and it’s also what Sam Harris was trying to say … Read the rest
(This is a syndicated post. Read the original at FreeThoughtBlogs.)
Brevity is the soul of wit
Oct 1st, 2011 4:17 pm | By Ophelia BensonOh how cute – one of the “I really really hate Rebecca Watson” crowd has made a fake Twitter account in order to do a lot of stupid self-implicating tweets as if by Rebecca. Oh haha that’s so funny – what’s next, emptying a pail of garbage in her bed? Locking a skunk in her bathroom? Putting a bomb under her car?… Read the rest
(This is a syndicated post. Read the original at FreeThoughtBlogs.)
Lulu is right
Oct 1st, 2011 9:54 am | By Ophelia BensonI read a very fun item yesterday, thanks to a reader who sent me the link. It’s on a site called, with disarming simplicity, Atheism is False. It has a long list of names under the title “Answering Critics”; I look forward to reading each one, because they should be entertaining. ”Answering Critics” is an oddly misleading title, since it implies that each item actually answers critics when in fact, judging by the one I’ve read so far, each item disagrees with people who wrote something that has nothing to do with Atheism is False or its author, David Reuben Stone. The one I’ve read so far is about Me, and my essay in 50 Voices of Disbelief. … Read the rest
(This is a syndicated post. Read the original at FreeThoughtBlogs.)
Why Are British Muslim leaders silent about Nadarkhani?
Oct 1st, 2011 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Nothing from the Muslim Council of Britain. Nothing from the Federation of Student Islamic Societies. Nothing from the Muslim Public Affairs Committee.… Read the rest
Are Christians really being persecuted in the UK?
Oct 1st, 2011 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Or are they simply being asked to follow the same anti-discrimination laws, and
professional codes, that govern everyone else?… Read the rest
Mehdi Hasan on Iran’s death sentence on Youcef Nadarkhani
Oct 1st, 2011 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
The silence from the world’s Muslims – especially the UK’s usually voluble Muslim organisations and self-appointed “community leaders” – has been shameful.… Read the rest
Happy Blasphemy Rights Day
Sep 30th, 2011 12:32 pm | By Ophelia BensonNobody throw any stones until I blow this whistle…… Read the rest
(This is a syndicated post. Read the original at FreeThoughtBlogs.)
What to do with an infant with breathing difficulties
Sep 30th, 2011 11:01 am | By Ophelia BensonProsecutors claimed Shannon Hickman never sought prenatal care when she was pregnant with David, who was born two months early at his grandmother’s home and died less than nine hours later when he had trouble breathing. He was born with a bacterial infection and underdeveloped lungs.
Medical experts for the prosecution testified that the baby had a 99 percent chance of survival if his parents had sought medical care. But prosecutors claimed the couple never considered taking the baby to the hospital.
Was their face red, eh?
Actually no; they didn’t trip and fall and forget what you do with a sick infant, they omitted the trip to the hospital on purpose.
… Read the restDale and Shannon Hickman, both 26, are
(This is a syndicated post. Read the original at FreeThoughtBlogs.)
Oregon couple found guilty in faith-healing trial
Sep 30th, 2011 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
A couple who prayed and rubbed olive oil on their dying infant rather than seek medical care was convicted Thursday of manslaughter.… Read the rest
Anwar al-Awlaki killed in Yemen
Sep 30th, 2011 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Using the internet and an online magazine called Inspire, Awlaki encouraged his
followers to kill lots of people.… Read the rest
Life for Saudi women is a joke
Sep 30th, 2011 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
In 18 months a Saudi woman can be a member of parliament – providing that her male guardian allows her to and she finds a man to drive her there.… Read the rest
Supreme Court will hear religious exemption case
Sep 30th, 2011 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Does the “ministerial exception” apply to all church employees, who thus lose the protections of civil rights laws?… Read the rest
Carl Zimmer on meta science journalism
Sep 30th, 2011 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Science lets reporters see papers early, and reporters regularly seek out other scientists for comments on those papers before publishing their articles.… Read the rest
