All entries by this author

Next up for Cranston

Feb 17th, 2012 9:59 am | By

Steve Ahlquist – Jessica’s uncle – has a plan for what to do next, to benefit Cranston public schools, which he posted at the Facebook group Support the Removal of the Cranston High School West Prayer.

Awhile back, the Cranston school committee cut funding for music at their schools, because of budgetary concerns. In response, a group of concerned parents formed a group called BASICS, which I’ll find a link to soon, with the aim of restoring the programs. Raising money for the City of Cranston or the school committee would not allow them to “learn their lesson” but funding BASICS will put money directly into cut programs. The school committee will still have to pay, but the kids

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Allies

Feb 17th, 2012 9:32 am | By

Andrew Copson at the BHA on Warsi’s theocratic bullshit:

…it is surreal to hear secularism being condemned as intolerant – it is not secular schools that select pupils according to their parents’ beliefs, it is not secular agencies that reserve employment opportunities for staff according to their beliefs, and it is not secular organisations which lobby to maintain privilege and have exemption from laws – like equality laws – that should affect everyone equally.

Terry Sanderson at the NSS on the same subject

…why is the British Government courting the Holy See in this way? Why should the last absolute theocracy in Europe be invited to participate in the affairs of the British Government?

Well, it might be

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What could possibly go wrong?

Feb 17th, 2012 9:14 am | By

Just the people we want informing Congress about contraception:

 … Read the rest

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NSS on Warsi’s theocratic nonsense *

Feb 17th, 2012 | Filed by

Why is the British Government courting the Holy See in this way? Why should the last absolute theocracy in Europe be invited to participate in the affairs of the British Government?… Read the rest



BHA responds to Warsi’s attack on secularism *

Feb 17th, 2012 | Filed by

“It is not secular organisations which lobby to maintain privilege and have exemption from laws – like equality laws – that should affect everyone equally.”… Read the rest



Can one adviser explain women to David Cameron? *

Feb 17th, 2012 | Filed by

No, says a Guardian panel. What infuriates Pragna Patel is that the issue of gender equality should already be at the heart of policymaking in government.… Read the rest



Archbish Dolan threatens secularism *

Feb 17th, 2012 | Filed by

Timothy Dolan told a meeting of the pope and his fellow cardinals that they must spread the
faith with joy, love — and blood if necessary.… Read the rest



Cranston school committee votes not to appeal *

Feb 17th, 2012 | Filed by

The atmosphere in the auditorium was raucous at times. People pressing for the legal fight to continue wore signs around their necks that said “Appeal.”

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What does contraception have to do with women?!

Feb 16th, 2012 5:46 pm | By

In the US Congress today a hearing on birth control and religion, chaired by a Republican, included on the panel a Catholic bishop, a rabbi, a minister, and two male academics, but no women.

No women.

No women on a Congressional panel discussing birth control.

No women.

No women on a panel discussing birth control. For the government.

Three clerics, and no women.

They have more in common with the Taliban than they have with me.… Read the rest

(This is a syndicated post. Read the original at FreeThoughtBlogs.)



Underpants bomber is proud to kill in the name of god

Feb 16th, 2012 5:28 pm | By

There were almost 300 people on the flight from Amsterdam to Detroit.

In [a] statement to the BBC, the family of Abdulmutallab said they were “grateful to God that the unfortunate incident of that date did not result in any injury or death”.

Grateful to “God”? But without “God,” the incident wouldn’t have happened in the first place.  Abdulmutallab thought he was doing a good deed for “God.” It’s ridiculous to thank “God” for Abdulmutallab’s failure to make the bomb go off.

A video from the FBI showing the power of the explosive material found in Abdulmutallab’s underwear was also shown at the hearing. As the video played Abdulmutallab twice said loudly “Allahu akbar” – Arabic for “God is great”.

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They kept beating us with sticks

Feb 16th, 2012 4:54 pm | By

More religious bullying. (Of a much worse variety. Of a nightmarish variety. That’s how it is – we lurch from the bad to the horrendous, day by day and hour by hour. But the horrendous doesn’t make the bad something we should shrug off. We have to pay attention to all of it.)

Shakila, age 8, was grabbed by a bunch of men with AK-47s, and held for a year.

…the taking of girls as payment for misdeeds committed by their elders still appears to be flourishing. Shakila, because one of her uncles had run away with the wife of a district strongman, was taken and held for about a year. It was the district leader, furious at the

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In Cranston right now

Feb 16th, 2012 4:35 pm | By

JT has a post live-blogging (via informants) the Cranston school committee meeting to discuss whether to appeal the judge’s ruling on the goddy banner. It features a lot of grown-ups bullying a teenage girl for upholding the law.

WPRO, the Cranston radio station that has been nothing but horrible to Jessica makes the following tweet.

RT @WPRO_newsroom: Change of location for Jessica Ahlquist at #prayerbanner meeting tonight: she’s in the back instead of front row, crouching way down #WPRO

These are adults, and they’re acting like they’ve achieved some form of noble triumph when a young girl who has endured an environment of threats and is probably worried for her safety is trying to stay out of the line of

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Afghan girls are punished for the misdeeds of men *

Feb 16th, 2012 | Filed by

Shakila, 8, was grabbed and held for a year because her uncle ran off with a married woman. This is a traditional Afghan form of justice. Well not so much justice…… Read the rest



Why we have moral rules but don’t follow them *

Feb 16th, 2012 | Filed by

A twist on a classic psychology experiment suggests that our minds have two parallel moral systems, and they don’t always agree.… Read the rest



God gonna torture you so ha

Feb 16th, 2012 10:40 am | By

Update: I missed the date, which is 2009. I probably blogged about it three years ago. Possibly word for word, in which case I think I’ll take up basket-weaving.

More entitled bleating from an entitled Christian about the requirement to “respect” her religious beliefs no matter how vicious they are.

A five-year-old child at a school in Devon told a classmate she would go to hell if she didn’t believe in god. The school told the child not to do that kind of thing, and the child told her mother, and her mother pitched the usual kind of fit.

Mr Read defended the school’s treatment of the matter and said they encouraged all children to “think independently”, but would not

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School tells children not to threaten each other with hell *

Feb 16th, 2012 | Filed by

Result is uproar about failure to “respect” religious beliefs.… Read the rest



The control-freaky ways of Mars Hill Church *

Feb 16th, 2012 | Filed by

To seal the deal, the prospective member must formally agree to submit to the “authority” of the Mars Hill leadership.… Read the rest



Nick Cohen on a culture that pretends to be brave

Feb 16th, 2012 9:55 am | By

At the Rally for Free Expression.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2lffXO_LLWo

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Nick Cohen at the Rally for Free Expression *

Feb 16th, 2012 | Filed by

In 1936 no newspaper would publish news of Wallis Simpson; now no newspaper will publish the Danish cartoons. This is not progress.… Read the rest



Another nightmare

Feb 15th, 2012 5:36 pm | By

Another story of children whose parents think they are witches, sent to me by Leo Igwe.

Seoul (CNN) — A pastor and his wife are in custody accused of killing three of their children by starving them to ward off evil spirits, police in South Korea said Wednesday.

The couple told police the children — aged nine, seven and three — had been ill, which they believed was a sign they were invaded by evil spirits after eating too much on Lunar New Year.

They then cut the children’s hair to chase the spirits out and starved them from January 24 until February 2, only allowing them to drink water. Local media reports said the parents had beaten the

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