That has to have been a pretty amazing event in London yesterday evening – the one at which Maryam Namazie, Nahla Mamoud, Gita Sahgal, and Leo Igwe were all present!
Damn I would have liked to be there.
Were any of you there?… Read the rest
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A gay teenager with Asperger’s makes new friends, invites them to his birthday party, is bullied to death.… Read the rest
More Jesus.
In a twirly roll.
It’s the one at ten o’clock, so it’s hard to make out.
Bird shit. You didn’t think the Ohio one was the first, did you?
A Colomba Pasquale. How appropriate!
Raisin bread.
The one on the left. Jesus of the sad face.… Read the rest
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The new Free Inquiry appeared a few days ago, but it’s not online yet, and I haven’t received a copy yet. Other people have though, and one tweeter reached out to me as a result.
TheAtheistMissionary @AtheistMission
Just read @OpheliaBenson’s lame response to @michaelshermer in Free Inquiry. Ophelia, don’t “bend a knee” – tell someone who cares.
Tell someone who cares? That’s a dumb fuck thing to say. Somebody does care, or I wouldn’t have been invited to write it, would I. Also I know a few people who care. “Tell someone who cares” is just a stupid retort to a published article. I didn’t tell “The Atheist Missionary” personally, I simply wrote a response to something that was written … Read the rest
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See update at end.
So all the irritated or difficult or especial feminist types think all of atheism is sexist to the core and hostile to all but the most compliant and Hot women, right?
No. Not at all.
Adam Lee has a post on the subject.
He starts with a post by Melissa McEwan that lists a string of rules (in the form of tweets). I’m not all that fond of strings of rules. I think that’s for the same sort of reason I’m not fond of attempts (let alone demands) to discuss complicated philosophical issues on Twitter. I’ve been finding it pretty funny lately to see Richard Dawkins doing exactly that, repeatedly – discuss abortion on Twitter, discuss … Read the rest
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One miracle after another.
Apple pie and custard.
A stone wall.
This one daffodil that looks taller than the others because of the angle.
This other dog too.
A pineapple. (Yes, I went there.)
Beans on toast.
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Ah no I can’t resist. Resistance is too much to ask.
A guy in Ohio found some bird shit on his windshield, and at first he thought it was just some bird shit, as one does, you know, but then he took a closer look and guess what?! It turned out to be a picture (delicately drawn in bird shit) of a piece of toast with a picture of Jesus on it!
No, wait, that’s not right. It was the lid of a jar of Marmite with a picture of Jesus in it.
No. It was a tortilla with a picture of Jesus on it.
No. It was a 14th century painting of Jesus that looked uncannily like Jesus.… Read the rest
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Soraya Chemaly explains, again, that internet harassment and threatening are not trivial or no biggy or “harmless expressions of free speech.”
… Read the restOften, these incidents come down to a group of men targeting a woman because they perceive a potential threat to men’s “free speech” and that this threat trumps a woman’s rights — to free speech and to actual, physical safety.
Take Rebecca Meredith. Two weeks ago, as she wrote about in an article in the Mail Online, she participated in a formal university debate. Some students, most, if not all, of whom happened to be men, heckled her. Fine, everyone gets heckled. But then, when she and her female debating partner confronted the hecklers for the sexist tone
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Ah the old put a hidden camera in the room where women use the toilets trick.
A Tippecanoe County pastor who was arrested last year under suspicions that he had planted cameras in his church’s ladies’ room has been charged going on 1 year later with child exploitation and voyeurism.
Fifty-six-year-old Robert A. Lyzenga, a former pastor at Sunrise Christian Reformed Church in Lafayette, was charged Thursday with five counts of child exploitation and five counts of voyeurism. That’s 10 felony charges.
According to court documents, on April 22, 2012, a Tippecanoe County Sheriff’s Office deputy was dispatched to the church (located on County Road 500 South) on a complaint of a camera being found in a women’s bathroom.
So … Read the rest
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Well, the Adria Richards blowup sounds very familiar.
Lindy West at Jezebel comments.
… Read the restNow. A few things. Yes, in the grand scheme of the entire earth, a few offhand jokes about “big dongles” are almost completely innocuous. In fact, I made pretty much exactly the same joke one million times, whenever my nerdy former roommate said he was looking for his “dongle” or he needed to go “dongle shopping.” However, CONTEXT MATTERS. And the issue that a lot of (white) men seem to have trouble grasping is that not everyone gets to move through the world wrapped in the comfy presumption that every space is their space. Many people almost never get to feel like that, outside of
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Julia Gillard has apologized for Australia’s policy in the 1950s 60s and 70s of forcing unmarried mothers to give up their infants for adoption.
A senate inquiry found that about 250,000 children were removed from unmarried mothers in Australian hospitals shortly after their births in the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s and given to childless married couples.
Many women said they were coerced into signing away their children.
That doesn’t sound like a very humane policy.
… Read the restMs Gillard made the apology at Parliament House in Canberra in the presence of more than 800 people affected by the policy.
They cried and cheered as they listened to Ms Gillard and responded with a standing ovation when it was finished.
The prime minister
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Atheist Convention to Feature “Dinner With The Stars,” Live Auction
Cranford, NJ—American Atheists will host some of the leading national and international atheists at a fundraiser dinner and auction on the eve of its 50th Anniversary Celebration and National Convention in Austin, Texas next week.
The event is scheduled for 7:00 PM on Thursday, March 28, the night before the convention weekend begins.
Attendees will be able to dine with many star speakers including former California Congressman Pete Stark, Twisted Sister lead guitarist Jay Jay French, British philosopher and author A.C. Grayling, blogger and activist Greta Christina, author Katherine Stewart, Biblical scholar Dr. Hector Avalos, President of the Atheist Community of Austin Matt Dillahunty, former preacher Teresa MacBain, … Read the rest
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Well guess what the LSE Student Union has spent its afternoon doing. It spent it discussing a Motion to “Twin the LSE with the Islamic University of Gaza.” Abhishek Phadnis was there.
I spoke against the Motion, saying I was non-committal on the support of Palestine but strongly opposed to any alliance with the Islamic University of Gaza, on account of it being inseparably intertwined with Hamas and having as its stated aim the reformation of Islamic societies “in line with the revolutionary side of religion”; the wish of its founder, Hamas’s Ahmed Yassin.
Yes the “revolutionary side of religion” that’s all about stripping women of all rights while muffling them in yards of cloth.
But Abhishek might as well … Read the rest
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Oh, god, another one. A girl of 16 in Morocco was raped, and the judge ruled that she had to marry her rapist, which was nice for the rapist because it allowed him to stay out of jail, but was a bucket of rancid liquid shit for the girl. The rapist, to show his gratitude to Amina Filali, beat her severely – so she ate rat poison and died.
… Read the restThe girl’s father said he “did not want to accept this marriage,” which some have said was pushed in order to protect the family’s honor. But “my wife, my family and the court of the city of Larache” wanted the union to proceed, as it did.
“The judge decided he must
(This is a syndicated post. Read the original at FreeThoughtBlogs.)
… Read the restIt was exactly three months ago that Richard Littlejohn published a piece in the Daily Mail viciously attacking Lucy Meadows, a primary school teacher in Britain. Littlejohn targeted Meadows because she’s transgender and had chosen to remain in her job as a teacher after beginning to present as a woman – this was the entire basis for his outrageous, unprovoked assault on her identity, her career, and her very life. It was vile and hateful in all the ways we’ve come to expect from a publication that, like much of the press these days, treats trans women as alternately ridiculous or a threat to society. It was quite literally intolerant of everything that Lucy Meadows was.
So
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David Cameron threw an “Easter reception” (a whut?) at 10 Downing Street, at which he promised to support theocracy.
The Prime Minister promised Christians that the Government “cares about faith” despite clashes with religious groups over gay marriage and welfare cuts.
At an Easter reception in Downing Street, Mr Cameron pledged the Coalition is committed to Britain’s links with the Church of England.
“It does care about the institutions of faith and it does want to stand up and oppose aggressive secularisation that can sometimes happen in our society,” he said.
“Wherever we go, we stand up for the right of Christians to practise their faith.”
Well that’s a sinister thing to say. Secularists don’t oppose anyone’s right “to practise … Read the rest
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Eric has a reading post up, and it suggested some thoughts to me, which turned out to be thoughts I want to expand on a bit, so I took the bus back.
Typically, in my magpie way, I zoomed in on the meta part of what he said at the expense of the substantive part. Never mind. The substantive part is also interesting, but for the moment – it’s about reading and thinking and blogging.
Eric’s introductory meta:
… Read the restAs usual, I am trying to read two or three books at one time, and that means I have several different lines of thought running in my head all at the same time. Lately, this has been especially true, since I went
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Aw. I got a present. A surprise present. It came in the mail.
Cupcakes! Fancy gourmet cupcakes from a fancy gourmet cupcake place.
As a surprise!
In the mail!
Unexpectedly!
Who sent me a present as a suprise in the mail unexpectedly as a surprise?
“Everyone at Skepchick”
Are they the best or what?!… Read the rest
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A thing you should do if you’re in London. (There are a lot of such things. Well it’s London. London hogs all the things, or not quite all but a lot of them. That’s good. I do turn pale with envy sometimes thought.) You can have drinks with Nahla Mahmoud. I know this via Maryam.
… Read the restI just wanted to remind you of the Council of Ex-Muslims of Britain’s evening drinks with Nahla Mahmoud this Friday 22 March from 6:30-8:00pm.
Nahla Mahmoud is a Sudanese atheist, researcher and human rights activist. In January 2013, an interview on Channel 4 featuring her as an ex-Muslim and a secularist opposing Sharia law triggered a heated debate within the Sudanese diaspora. She received numerous
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Fabulous. More religious interference with public health – religious leaders in Kenya squawked, so a public service tv ad promoting condom use has been withdrawn. Thank you baby Jesus and thank you Mo.
Christian and Muslim clerics said the advert encouraged infidelity, rather than safe sex to curb HIV/Aids.
In the government-sponsored advert, a woman in an extra-marital affair is advised to use condoms.
Dr Cherutich told the BBC the advert had been launched because up to 30% of married couples had other partners.
Never mind that. The important thing is to monitor other people’s sex lives and punish them for doing it wrong, not to prevent fatal transmissable diseases.
… Read the restThe Kenyan Anglican Church’s Bishop Julius Kalu said the advert,
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