If this financial crisis taught us anything, it’s that we cannot have a thriving Wall Street while Main Street suffers.… Read the rest
All entries by this author
AI Talks About Somali Stoning on ‘Today’ 
Nov 4th, 2008 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Reporter and director of Amnesty International, discuss the influence of Al Shabab.… Read the rest
Gallery Attacked Over ‘Insulting’ Art
Nov 4th, 2008 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Windows at the SaLon Gallery were smashed after abusive phone calls about the images.… Read the rest
Exciting New Dutch Blasphemy Law
Nov 4th, 2008 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Will protect people from ‘indirect insult’ on the basis of religion or ‘conviction’ – so nearly everything could be illegal.… Read the rest
Aisha Ibrahim Duhulow Begged for Mercy
Nov 4th, 2008 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Court authorities claim she ‘wanted Sharia law and the deserved punishment to apply.’ Witnesses say otherwise.… Read the rest
Vatican-Muslim Summit in Rome
Nov 4th, 2008 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Vatican-Atheist summit and Muslim-Atheist summit not scheduled.… Read the rest
The Republican Glossary
Nov 4th, 2008 | By R Joseph Hoffman
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Usage My friends |
Definition
Rabble |
Inflammatory
Nov 4th, 2008 10:38 am | By Ophelia BensonThe Independent, or at least Arifa Akbar in The Independent, reports on attacks on a London art gallery but also, four words in, cites ‘inflammatory images.’ The art gallery was attacked but it had been quite naughty.
A gallery showing inflammatory images of veiled Muslims, including a bare-breasted woman partially clad in a burqa, is under police surveillance after being attacked earlier this week.
But the images are not ‘inflammatory’ unless people decide they are. It is open to people not to see them as inflammatory.
I don’t want to push that thought too hard. I don’t want to claim that it’s universally applicable – I don’t want to claim that nothing is genuinely malicious and aggressive unless … Read the rest
New Humanist’s Bad Faith Awards
Nov 3rd, 2008 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Ann Coulter, Sarah Palin; more to come.… Read the rest
The Hijacking of ‘Stop Sylvia Browne’
Nov 3rd, 2008 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Grabbing the website of a critic and filling it with your own content — that’s just sleazy.… Read the rest
Fred Phelps’s Son Talks About Life With Father
Nov 3rd, 2008 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
It was hell. Nate is now an atheist, and agrees with Dawkins that religion is abusive to children.… Read the rest
Women’s Rights Defenders Seek Protection
Nov 3rd, 2008 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights heard testimony from women’s rights groups.… Read the rest
Virginia Woolf and the Servant Question
Nov 3rd, 2008 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
The Woolfs paid their servants the meager wages typical of the era, £40 a year when they earned £4,000. … Read the rest
Man Kills Wife, Gets 3 Girls as Reward
Nov 3rd, 2008 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Guy kills wife over ‘honour,’ other man’s family gives him 3 young girls in ‘compensation.’… Read the rest
Interview With BHL
Nov 3rd, 2008 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
‘We must abandon this idea according to which all ideas are like plants, firmly implanted in their original soil.’… Read the rest
Telford Council Thinks Better of Mad Idea
Nov 3rd, 2008 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Sorry, says Councillor, all a mistake.… Read the rest
Park Staff Questions Adults Without Children
Nov 3rd, 2008 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Adults who want to walk in Telford Town Park will be asked to explain themselves.… Read the rest
God-talk as an unstated norm
Nov 3rd, 2008 9:49 am | By Ophelia BensonRon Aronson recently pointed out what secularists have to get used to.
… Read the restIn the vast heartland of suburban and semirural America, they grow accustomed to new acquaintances greeting them by asking what church they go to. At work, they get used to God-talk as an unstated norm…In the news media, they get used to reading or hearing that the appropriate response to stressful situations is to turn to God. They also grow accustomed to putting up with offhand insults,…would-be presidents criticizing them for trying to keep religion out of public places…When will they demand that the spirit of multiculturalism be extended to those who do not pray, instead of the widespread assumption that religious values, norms and practices apply
