If there were a giant reptile in Loch Ness, it ought to be possible to find it.
Author: Ophelia Benson
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M Pigliucci on the Scope of Skeptical Inquiry
A scientific argument for atheism is outside the epistemological boundaries of science and a disservice to intellectual inquiry.
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Blackford on Pigliucci on Skeptical Inquiry
Scientists are entitled to reject claims that are presented as mere ad hoc manoeuvres to avoid falsification.
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Come on Over, Catholicism is Swell!
‘Yes, the church’s history is bloody and corrupt, but so is England’s.’ Just watch out for the sharks.
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Homo novoatheiensis
Karen Armstrong is awfully bossy for someone who talks so much about compassion.
Homo sapiens is also Homo religiosus. As soon as we became recognizably human, men and women started to create religions. We are meaning-seeking creatures. While dogs, as far as we know, do not worry about the canine condition or agonize about their mortality, humans fall very easily into despair if we don’t find some significance in our lives. Theological ideas come and go, but the quest for meaning continues. So God isn’t going anywhere. And when we treat religion as something to be derided, dismissed, or destroyed, we risk amplifying its worst faults. Whether we like it or not, God is here to stay, and it’s time we found a way to live with him in a balanced, compassionate manner.
That’s a terrible non sequitur, it seems to me – the quest for meaning continues, so God isn’t going anywhere. Eh? The quest for meaning doesn’t necessarily end up at God; God is not the only kind of meaning there is; one can ‘quest for’ or construct meaning without resorting to God. Besides – if the quest for meaning continues, then God must not be much of an answer to the problem, or the quest would have ended, because meaning would have been found.
Anyway, I always hate those ‘like it or not,’ ‘it’s always been this way and always will,’ ‘you might as well get used to it’ announcements. They piss me off. You don’t know what’s always going to be around, you don’t know what can or can’t be changed, and you don’t get to tell me what to get used to and put up with and quit struggling against. My quest for meaning involves fighting doomed battles, okay? You might as well get used to it.
I like PZ’s take.
In some ways, I’m always flattered by this argument that we need to define humans as a species by their religious beliefs, because I don’t have them…which means I get to claim that I, and my fellow atheists, are a new species. Let us go forth, my fellow Homo smartiepantsius, and take over the hominid niche.
Yeah! I’m a new species! Beats being a new atheist any day.
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No Irony Meters in Pakistan, the Vatican
They’re haram, and they do too much damage when they explode.
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Human Rights Watch Has Lost the Plot
HRW had as its original mission to pry open closed societies, advocate basic freedoms and support dissenters.
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Madeleine Bunting Discovers Political Philosophy
‘We need to be looking to political philosophy. I’m as hazy on the subject as the next person…’
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Pre-emptive Censorship in Advance of Outrage
It hasn’t offended anyone yet, but it might, so let’s not publish it after all.
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Anglican Converts May Find Catholicism Tough
They escape the horror of women priests but the Vatican is a strict boss.
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‘It Was Mehmet Who Disappeared Tulay’
Hanim Goren shouted at her husband across the courtroom: ‘Look at my face. What did you do to Tulay?’
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Malaysia: MP Urges Govt to Impose Sharia
‘The Islamic syariah law has become void because Article 4 places the country’s law above other laws.’
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Arseny Roginsky on Romanticizing Stalinism
‘There is a vast amount of pro-Stalinist literature on the bookstalls: fiction, journalism and pseudo-history.’
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The Truth About Ida
New evidence indicates that Darwinius masillae is not a transitional form in human evolution.
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Five Scheduled Executions in Iran
Appeal to U.N. for Stopping Execution of Political Prisoners in Iran
To Mr. Ban Ki-Moon, the General Secretary of the United Nations
(Also to all freedom-loving people and all governments of the Free World)Five prisoners are scheduled to be executed in Iran on charges of taking part in protests following the fraudulent presidential election in June. All freedom-loving people, free-world governments, and particularly the U.N. must intervene in this gross violation of human rights by the Iranian Islamic regime.
Following the fraudulent presidential election in Iranian, Tehran’s Revolutionary Court has recently sentenced five political activists to death, and their execution has been scheduled. With all due respect, we all freedom-loving Iranians expect you, the people and authorities of the free world, to call on the Iranian authorities to halt these death sentences.
Among those five activists, Mohammad Ali Zamani was sentenced to death on October 18. He is among the hundreds of detainees, who were brought before Tehran’s Revolutionary Court on June 12. In reality, Zamani was arrested before the presidential election for his membership in a monarchist circle. He was, thus, in prison during the election, as well as during the post-election revolution in Iran. However, he has been sentenced to death on the charge of taking part in the post-election protests.
Three other prisoners waiting for their execution, namely Arash Rahmanpour, Hamed Rouhaninejad and Davoud Faricheh Mirardebili, were convicted of being members of a monarchist circle. The fifth prisoner, Nasser Abdolhosseini, awaiting execution, is sentenced to death for his connection with the People’s Mojahedin Organization. The accused, deprived of their right to defence, were forced to confess against themselves by repeating a readout fabricated by the judicial authorities.
Reports say that these scheduled executions can be a prelude to wide-ranging executions of political prisoners in the Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI). The IRI has frequently committed such crimes, the 1988 massacre of political prisoners being a notorious example. It has been charged with genocide for killing several thousand political prisoners between June and September 1988, when all factions of the regime worked side by side.
Violation of human rights has a long history in Iran. It has now turned critical after the sham June election. The Iranian regime uses various methods of torture (including psychological torture), torture of persons close to prisoners, rape, and drugging in order to crush their resistance. Human rights violation in Iran is widely documented; there are many photographs and video films showing violent actions of the IRI security forces toward peaceful demonstrators. Other reports refer to many cases of torture and mistreatment of political prisoners.
Given the biased and atrocious character of the Iranian judiciary, we solicit you for an immediate intervention by pressuring the Iranian regime to stop these scheduled executions. There is no way that the Iranian people can go to court and use lawful ways to contest these death sentences, because the Iranian judiciary is a tool of repression of the Islamic regime. Mr. Secretary General, please express your concern about these planned executions by reminding the Iranian authorities that Iran is a signatory to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR).
We also believe that the ongoing Iranian nuclear issue should not overshadow your concern about the human rights catastrophes in Iran. It is expected that your esteemed institution would send a human rights panel to scrutinize and control the violation of human rights in Iran.
October 21, 2009
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Karen Armstrong Tells Us All About God, Again
‘The quest for meaning continues. So God isn’t going anywhere.’ There’s logic for you!
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Life With the ‘Sisters of Mercy’
‘The unforgivable part is that they told me and my sisters that my mother had given us up, that she didn’t want us.’