Taghi, author of anti-Islamist and anti-Iranian regime articles, spent one year in prison for “inciting religious hatred” by “insulting prophet Mohammed” in 2006.… Read the rest
All entries by this author
Australia: shock jock calls journalist a fat slag 
Nov 24th, 2011 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
“What a fat bitter thing you are. You’re a piece of shit. You haven’t got that much titty to be wearing that low cut a blouse. Watch your mouth girl, or I will hunt you down.”… Read the rest
Taylor and Sacks agree: new atheists suck
Nov 24th, 2011 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Sacks says Dawkins, Hitchens and Harris over-simplify religion, producing critiques that are superficially profound and profoundly superficial. Awesome, dude.… Read the rest
Susan Jacoby on the fetish of suffering
Nov 24th, 2011 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
The Iowa forum was a triumph of the union of psychobabble and public religiosity that has come to dominate American politics.… Read the rest
Kvetch kvetch
Nov 24th, 2011 12:03 pm | By Ophelia BensonThe Chief Rabbi (as the Telegraph sycophantically calls him) decided to go off in a brand new direction and talk about the inadequacy of consumerism as a worldview. Gosh you know what – he’s totally right!!
… Read the restSpeaking at an interfaith reception attended by the Queen this week, Lord Sacks said: “People are looking for values other than the values of a consumer society. The values of a consumer society really aren’t ones you can live by for terribly long.
“The consumer society was laid down by the late Steve Jobs coming down the mountain with two tablets, iPad one and iPad two, and the result is that we now have a culture of iPod, iPhone, iTune, i, i, i.
(This is a syndicated post. Read the original at FreeThoughtBlogs.)
Most attend their local madrassa
Nov 24th, 2011 10:56 am | By Ophelia BensonThe BBC is so stupid sometimes – so conformist and reactionary and authoritarian. There’s this piece on UK madrassas “modernizing” for example.
Most mosques have their own madrassa or religious school. Larger mosques can have a number of them, and they all form an integral part of the local community.
In close knit neighbourhoods most Muslim children regularly attend their local madrassa, in part due to peer pressure, as everyone living near the mosque does so.
See what they did there? (I say “they” even though the article has a byline, Sanjiv Buttoo, because the Beeb has a house style and this piece is typical.) See how they dressed up the situation by invoking “the local community” and “close knit … Read the rest
(This is a syndicated post. Read the original at FreeThoughtBlogs.)
BBC says UK madrassas are “modernizing”
Nov 24th, 2011 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
“In close knit neighbourhoods most Muslim children regularly attend their local madrassa, in part due to peer pressure, as everyone living near the mosque does so.”… Read the rest
Sabir Hussain jailed for child assaults at Keighley mosque
Nov 24th, 2011 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
The madrassa teacher admitted four charges of assaulting boys at the Markazi Jamia
Mosque in Keighley as they learned the Koran.… Read the rest
Chief rabbi: consumerism bad, “faith” and family good
Nov 24th, 2011 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
“The consumer society was laid down by the late Steve Jobs coming down the mountain with two tablets.” Only Moses is supposed to do that.… Read the rest
Gulnaz on CNN
Nov 23rd, 2011 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Raped and impregnated; imprisoned for being raped; threatened with death; may marry her rapist.… Read the rest
Afghan women have continued to struggle
Nov 23rd, 2011 5:30 pm | By Ophelia Benson… Read the restA law meant to protect Afghan women from a host of abusive practices, including rape, forced marriage and the trading of women to settle disputes, is being undermined by spotty enforcement, the UN said in a report released Wednesday.
Afghanistan’s Law on the Elimination of Violence Against Women was passed in August 2009, raising hopes among women’s rights activists that Afghan women would get to fight back against abuses that had been ignored under Taliban rule.
The law criminalised many abuses for the first time, including domestic violence, child marriage, driving a woman to resort to suicide and the selling and buying of women.
Yet the report found only a small percentage of reported crimes
(This is a syndicated post. Read the original at FreeThoughtBlogs.)
Thinking about thinking about thinking
Nov 23rd, 2011 11:18 am | By Ophelia BensonMore discussion of facts and belief, of Ward and Coyne, of science and philosophy, of evidence and reasons to believe. Jean Kazez did a post a couple of days ago, which I didn’t see until today, and Russell Blackford did one at Talking Philosophy.
I find Jean’s post very interesting because it talks about the same things I talked about in Ward’s brief Comment is Free piece replying to Julian Baggini. Ward’s piece might seem too slight to bear all this examination, but it’s about the place where some fundamental and important disagreements are born, so it’s worth all the close peering.
One interesting item:
… Read the restSo what’s left is Coyne’s puzzlement that atheist philosophers come to the
defense
(This is a syndicated post. Read the original at FreeThoughtBlogs.)
UN report on violence against women in Afghanistan
Nov 23rd, 2011 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
A law meant to protect Afghan women from abusive practices such as rape and forced marriage is rarely enforced.… Read the rest
The rules
Nov 22nd, 2011 4:58 pm | By Ophelia BensonTLC, the “Yay religion!” channel, has a new show called All-American Muslim. Guess what it’s about! Guess what its take is!
Well in one way its take is fine. Good, show people that Mulims aren’t some weird alien species; excellent; promote fellow-feeling and peace; great. But…
Well I’ve only managed to watch a few minutes of it, a couple of times, because it’s so annoying. It may be more annoying than it needed to be – it may have gone out of its way to be annoying, by seeking out hyper-observant Muslims. I don’t know. I don’t know what’s normal in Dearborn.
Anyway my point isn’t actually about TLC or the show overall, it’s about the bits that I … Read the rest
(This is a syndicated post. Read the original at FreeThoughtBlogs.)
Strolling cop pepper spraying everywhere
Nov 22nd, 2011 3:11 pm | By Ophelia BensonJason collected some photoshopped pepper-spraying cops.
My favorite is
Check them all out. Commenters have more. Don’t miss George W’s.
(This is a syndicated post. Read the original at FreeThoughtBlogs.)
No billboard for YOU
Nov 22nd, 2011 2:17 pm | By Ophelia BensonMid Ohio Atheists had a contract with Lind Media Company for two billboards (of the atheist variety, of course). At the last minute Lind Media Company dropped Mid Ohio Atheists a line to say “Oops we changed our minds sorry thx bye.”
No fair.
Granted, if I were putting up an atheist billboard in Ohio I would start smaller than that. I would start with something it’s easier to defend on a billboard*. But Lind Media Company shouldn’t string them along and then go “ha ha HA ha” at the last second.
See that one’s much better. Less dogmatic. Easier to defend. Also offering solidarity in place of a scolding or command. Better billboard material. But either way Lind … Read the rest
(This is a syndicated post. Read the original at FreeThoughtBlogs.)
A lawyer in Iran writes to Maryam Namazie
Nov 22nd, 2011 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
A child born of adultery (non Islamic marriage) shall not belong to the adulterer. (1167. Civil code) Marriage before puberty with the permission of the male Guardian is legal and possible. (1041.Civil code)… Read the rest
The Bombay massacre
Nov 22nd, 2011 10:36 am | By Ophelia BensonI haven’t been paying enough attention. (So often the case. There is so much to pay attention to, and it’s very difficult to pay attention to everything – ok it’s not very difficult, it’s impossible – so in paying attention to L, M and N, you miss S, T and U.) I missed David Coleman Headley. I missed the fact that an American
was one of the leading planners of the 2008 terrorist attacks in Mumbai, which killed 166 people over three days at two five-star hotels, a train station and a small Jewish community center.
I missed the fact that
… Read the restHeadley gave specific evidence about the close alliance between the ISI,
Pakistan’s intelligence force, and the Lashkar terrorist
(This is a syndicated post. Read the original at FreeThoughtBlogs.)
Sebastian Rotella on the Bombay attacks and the ISI
Nov 22nd, 2011 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi, a terrorist chief arrested for the brutal attacks in India, is still using a cell phone while in prison. Watch out.… Read the rest
Where’s the harm?
Nov 21st, 2011 5:28 pm | By Ophelia BensonVia Gnu Atheism at Facebook – a new bus ad -
(This is a syndicated post. Read the original at FreeThoughtBlogs.)
