All entries by this author

Victims React to Brady’s Apology *

Mar 17th, 2010 | Filed by

‘The notion of careful reflection is nonsense – he’s had 35 years to reflect on what he did then.’… Read the rest



Barney Zwartz Gives Atheists Some Free Advice *

Mar 17th, 2010 | Filed by

Be less strident, less dogmatic, more humble.… Read the rest



Brady Apologizes for ‘Asking’ Children to Shut Up *

Mar 17th, 2010 | Filed by

BBC keeps saying children were ‘asked’ to sign vow of silence. Victims say they were made to sign.… Read the rest



Religious Belief Cannot Trump Gender Equality *

Mar 17th, 2010 | Filed by

Tension between gender equality and religious rights in rulings by Quebec’s human rights commission.… Read the rest



Andrew Brown on Why Brady Must Go *

Mar 17th, 2010 | Filed by

It’s moral luck. He was a small cog at the time, but justice demands that he go now.… Read the rest



Oh and by the way new atheists are evil yeah?

Mar 16th, 2010 4:17 pm | By

Michael Ruse did a piece on God and morality for Comment is Free Belief and talked sense for nine paragraphs, then in the tenth and last went completely random and gratuitous and childish.

God is dead. The new atheists think that that is a significant finding. In this, as in just about everything else, they are completely mistaken. God is dead. Morality has no foundation. Long live morality. Thank goodness!

Stupid, isn’t it. Frightful man – always spoiling for a fight. Everyone says he’s like that in real life, too.… Read the rest



Robes and furr’d gowns hide all

Mar 16th, 2010 3:46 pm | By

Hitchens doesn’t altogether see things the way Damian Thompson does.

On March 10, the chief exorcist of the Vatican, the Rev. Gabriele Amorth (who has held this demanding post for 25 years), was quoted as saying that “the Devil is at work inside the Vatican,” and that “when one speaks of ‘the smoke of Satan’ in the holy rooms, it is all true—including these latest stories of violence and pedophilia.” This can perhaps be taken as confirmation that something horrible has indeed been going on in the holy precincts, though most inquiries show it to have a perfectly good material explanation.

I had the same thought when I saw the exorcist piece. The Devil is at work inside … Read the rest



Go on, kick us again

Mar 16th, 2010 12:09 pm | By

Damian Thompson, a Catholic, is in a frothing rage – not at the pope or the all-male hierarchy of his authoritarian church, but at the Times for reporting on it.

There is international outrage in Catholic circles over a headline in The Times this morning that many people regard as utterly misleading and part of the newspaper’s reliably biased coverage (reinforced by vicious cartoons) of anything to do with Pope Benedict XVI…A universally admired Catholic journalist contacted me this morning and accused The Times of (and I am toning this down for legal reasons) an extremely serious error of judgment.

A universally admired Catholic journalist? There is no such thing. There’s no universally admired anything, and certainly not a … Read the rest



Irish Catholic Church Runs Everything *

Mar 16th, 2010 | Filed by

Ninety-two percent of primary schools are still run by the Catholic Church. There’s no escape.… Read the rest



The Catholic Church in Ireland is Staggering *

Mar 16th, 2010 | Filed by

A culture of religious deference has been eroded by one scandalous story after another. … Read the rest



Maryam Namazie on Religious Tribunals *

Mar 16th, 2010 | Filed by

‘Human rights are non-negotiatble and religious tribunals put religion before people’s rights and freedoms.’… Read the rest



Damian Thompson Fumes Some More *

Mar 16th, 2010 | Filed by

‘How can Lord Rees-Mogg stand by as the paper he loves traduces the Holy Father?’… Read the rest



Damian Thompson Shocked at Pope-coverage *

Mar 16th, 2010 | Filed by

International outrage, Catholic circles, biased coverage, vicious cartoons, universally admired Catholic journalist.… Read the rest



Who cares

Mar 16th, 2010 11:11 am | By

Too bad for you if you’re Irish and you want to leave the Catholic church – the church is so dominant in public life that you can’t leave without making life difficult for yourself. Sor-reeeeee.

[T]he church is so deeply woven into the fabric of Irish life, it is difficult for many ordinary Irish people to distance themselves from it. The church is involved in education and health care, and its imprint on the Irish national identity is deep…Ninety-two percent of primary schools are still run by the Catholic Church and most of the best schools are Catholic.

So parents who want to leave are screwed. But hey, the remaining fans of the church are having a hard time too.… Read the rest



Sean Brady Being Sued by Victim of Priest *

Mar 15th, 2010 | Filed by

Victims were made to sign oaths saying they would not discuss meetings with anyone other than authorised clergy.… Read the rest



Thermal pope

Mar 14th, 2010 4:41 pm | By

Things are getting hot for the Catholic church.

The pope, meanwhile, continues to be under fire for a 2001 Vatican letter he sent to all bishops advising them that all cases of sexual abuse of minors must be forwarded to his then-office, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, and that the cases were to be subject to pontifical secret…But canon lawyers insisted Friday that there was nothing in the document that would preclude bishops from fulfilling their moral and civic duties of going to police when confronted with a case of child abuse. They stressed that the document merely concerned procedures for handling the church trial of an accused priest, and that the secrecy required by Rome

Read the rest


Nawlins Hotelier Offers to Host Cancelled Prom *

Mar 14th, 2010 | Filed by

‘New Orleans, we’re a joyful culture and a creative culture here.’ Take that, Itawamba County School District!… Read the rest



Ratzinger, Vatican Under Fire for Canonical Letter *

Mar 14th, 2010 | Filed by

Murphy report harshly criticized Vatican for mixed messages and insistence on secrecy in 2001 directive.… Read the rest



Nick Cohen on the ICA and Postmodernism *

Mar 14th, 2010 | Filed by

Is the Taliban so bad, really?… Read the rest



UK: Islamism in Prisons *

Mar 14th, 2010 | Filed by

‘Muslims run the prisons and there’s nothing the screws can do about it. For a Muslim you’d say it’s good but for a non-Muslim, it’s very, very bad.’… Read the rest