The Church of England has a Deliverance Ministry with a cleric on standby in each of its 43 diocese to cast out evil spirits if required to do so.… Read the rest
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Helping patients by casting out their demons
Nov 5th, 2011 | Filed by Ophelia BensonThe NHS, working with the CofE, uses exorcism as an alternative form of treatment for mental health problems.… Read the rest
Vatican stunned by Irish embassy closure
Nov 5th, 2011 | Filed by Ophelia Benson“After all we’ve done for them!” sobbed the pope.… Read the rest
Ireland closes embassy to Vatican
Nov 5th, 2011 | Filed by Ophelia BensonThis will save up to €700,000 per year.… Read the rest
The Vatican sees its diplomatic role as
Nov 5th, 2011 12:10 pm | By Ophelia BensonCan I be mean? Can I laugh a cruel laugh at the Vatican’s shock-horror that Ireland closed its “embassy” to the Vatican on account of how it was useless?
Catholic Ireland‘s stunning decision to close its embassy to the Vatican is a huge blow to the Holy See’s prestige and may be followed by other countries which feel the missions are too expensive, diplomatic sources said on Friday.
Too expensive and too worthless, being as how the Vatican isn’t actually a real state and therefore “embassies” to it are kind of pointless. It’s been very kind and theocratic and respectful for countries to send ambassadors all this time, but all the same the Vatican really does need to learn … Read the rest
(This is a syndicated post. Read the original at FreeThoughtBlogs.)
Atheism for the World
Nov 5th, 2011 | By Leo IgweWhen we organize atheism to benefit atheists only, when we promote atheism among atheists and for the good of atheists, when atheist groups defend only the interests of atheists, we make the world poorer and rob humanity of an inestimable good. This is often the way I feel when I try to reflect on how atheism is being organised today. I come from a part of the world where atheism is not something many people will openly identify with. I come from a part of the world where many people are suffering and dying due to theism’s stranglehold on their lives. I come from a part of the world where there is so much need for atheism. I think it … Read the rest
Secular groups on religious campuses
Nov 4th, 2011 | Filed by Ophelia BensonJesse Galef has heard from Baylor students who said they felt threatened with expulsion because of their lack of faith.… Read the rest
Jesus and Mo do lit crit
Nov 4th, 2011 3:42 pm | By Ophelia Benson(This is a syndicated post. Read the original at FreeThoughtBlogs.)
A former follower of Michael Pearl on the death of Hana Williams
Nov 4th, 2011 | Filed by Ophelia BensonRule 8: Be joyful about chastising your baby all day. Praise God while you slap a three-month-old’s hand with a ruler and think about how godly he’ll turn out.… Read the rest
Michael Bérubé on Libya and the left
Nov 4th, 2011 | Filed by Ophelia Benson“When a group of people who are about to be massacred ask for help, what do you do?”… Read the rest
She rebelled herself to death
Nov 4th, 2011 2:52 pm | By Ophelia BensonThere’s a terrifying piece at No Longer Quivering, by a former believer in the child-rearing methods of Michael Pearl. She followed the plan; it didn’t work; she did what Pearl said to do, and followed it harder. Hit harder, was what you were supposed to do when it didn’t work. Hit harder, and blame the child. She had a hard time with that, but her ex-husband didn’t.
… Read the restMy ex-husband got angry with the kids for thwarting the Pearl method, but he remained coldly self-controlled. He also left bruises. A lot of bruises.
Why didn’t I stop him? I finally did, but early in my marriage I was paralyzed by fear and brainwashed by bad teaching. We both feared raising
(This is a syndicated post. Read the original at FreeThoughtBlogs.)
What theology knows and how it knows it
Nov 4th, 2011 10:34 am | By Ophelia BensonNaturally in the wake of the video suppression-and-unsuppression I’ve been thinking again about the “what” of theology. I’ve been thinking about theology as an academic discipline and department, and how that works, and relatedly, about how it knows what it claims to know, and how it knows it knows it. Yes really: both of those: because surely that’s a minimal requirement for an academic: not just to know things, but to know (and be able to explain) how you know them.
I always think about that when reading or listening to (listening to being a much slower and thus more squirmy frustrating process) John Haught and theologians like him (Alister McGrath for instance). I also think about it when … Read the rest
(This is a syndicated post. Read the original at FreeThoughtBlogs.)
This tests _____________
Nov 3rd, 2011 5:03 pm | By Ophelia BensonSo thinking about this athletic ability/strategic intelligence test I’ve been pondering what other tests would show.
A test for atheists and theists, for instance. A test in which the subjects would be told “this tests your generosity” – or warmth or empathy or compassion or altruism or kindness. I wonder if the theists would be primed to do better while the atheists would be primed to do worse.
That would be my guess, at least. I bet I have that stereotype. Do I also consciously believe it? Yes, maybe. I at least believe it’s possible.
I don’t think theists have a better metaethics than atheists; I think the reverse. But I think they might have a better motivation…depending on what … Read the rest
(This is a syndicated post. Read the original at FreeThoughtBlogs.)
Social contingencies
Nov 3rd, 2011 3:49 pm | By Ophelia BensonThanks to Stacy Kennedy on the Stereotype threat thread I’m reading Claude Steele’s Whistling Vivaldi.
He notes that we in the US live in an individualistic society.
We don’t like to think that conditions tied to our social identities have much say in our lives, especially if we don’t want them to.
We’re supposed to rise above such things. He subscribes to that idea himself. But –
… Read the restBut this book offers an important qualification to this creed: that by imposing on us certain conditions of life, our social identities can strongly affect things as important as our performance in the classroom and on standardized tests, our memory capacity, our athletic performance, the pressure we feel to prove ourselves…[p 4]
(This is a syndicated post. Read the original at FreeThoughtBlogs.)
Have some slush
Nov 3rd, 2011 11:02 am | By Ophelia BensonChanging the date on this because of renewed relevance.
A re-post of one from a year ago when I was reading God and the New Atheism by John Haught.
October 18, 2010
John Haught says, in God and the New Atheism, that gnu atheists get faith all wrong, at least from the point of view of theology, which
thinks of faith as a state of self-surrender in which one’s whole being, and not just the intellect, is experienced as being carried away into a dimension of reality that is much deeper and more real than anything that can be grasped by science and reason. [p 13]
You know…there’s a problem here. I would like to say something sober and … Read the rest
(This is a syndicated post. Read the original at FreeThoughtBlogs.)
If you want to talk about “slut shaming”…
Nov 3rd, 2011 | Filed by Ophelia BensonNathan Salo Tumberg addresses some.… Read the rest
High ranking chaplain leaves out ‘so help me god’
Nov 3rd, 2011 | Filed by Ophelia BensonThe military’s climate of hostility towards atheists is beginning to change. Foxhole atheists like Justin Griffith are slamming the ‘atheist closet’ door shut behind them.… Read the rest
Solidarity avec Charlie Hebdo
Nov 2nd, 2011 4:19 pm | By Ophelia BensonMaryam Namazie, in solidarity with Charlie Hebdo (which planned an edition with Mohammad as guest editor), features Mohammad as a guest blogger.
See some other articles she has written on free expression and the Islamic inquisition:
The Islamic Inquisition
Free expression no ifs and buts
Islam must be criticised
Offensive shomfensive
Apologise for what: On the Mohammad caricatures… Read the rest
(This is a syndicated post. Read the original at FreeThoughtBlogs.)
The video
Nov 2nd, 2011 3:23 pm | By Ophelia BensonThe Coyne-Haught video has been posted.
Watching. Watching and listening to Haught. Sigh.
We should talk about cosmic purpose; it’s good to talk about cosmic purpose. Metaphors are ok.
It’s a traditional philosophical view that a smaller thing can’t understand a greater thing.
There is evidence: the evidence that comes from being carried away by something very large, very important.
If this ultimate reality has no personality, if it’s an it, it’s smaller than we are.
Religions emphasize the importance of personal transformation.
Medieval philosopher would be skeptical that science is wired to understand deeper meaning.
I’m not convinced of anything yet. Perhaps that wasn’t the goal.… Read the rest
(This is a syndicated post. Read the original at FreeThoughtBlogs.)