It is time that Hijab culture should be promoted through social media and networks to eliminate vulgarity from society.… Read the rest
All entries by this author
Charlatans preying on the vulnerable
Sep 5th, 2011 11:08 am | By Ophelia BensonOh hey, a good idea.
Chanting to cure snakebites, claiming to be a reincarnated spouse to obtain sex, and charging for miracles could soon be banned by an Indian state seeking to stop charlatans preying on the vulnerable.
Many superstitions are widely held in India but a campaign group is lobbying hard for a new law in the western state of Maharashtra to outlaw several exploitative activities, with penalties of fines or up to seven years in jail.
But………not so fast, pardner.
… Read the restBut the push to pass the Maharashtra Prevention and Eradication of Human Sacrifice and Other Inhuman, Evil Practices and Black Magic Bill has not received unanimous support.
Some Hindu nationalists fear the legislation seeks to move beyond
(This is a syndicated post. Read the original at FreeThoughtBlogs.)
Indian state considers ban on “black magic” 
Sep 5th, 2011 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
One right-wing association, the Hindu Janajagruti Samiti, called it “a draconian law targeting faith” and denounced its proponents as “atheists.”… Read the rest
Redacted v unredacted
Sep 5th, 2011 10:33 am | By Ophelia BensonOne WikiLeaks staffer says why he felt he had to leave.
… Read the restThe final straw for me came on Friday. By drawing attention to, and then publishing in full, the unredacted cache of documents, WikiLeaks has done the cause of internet freedom – and of whistleblowers – more harm than US government crackdowns ever could.
Before the first publication of carefully redacted cables, human rights activists, NGOs, and organisations working with victims of horrific crimes contacted WikiLeaks begging us to take steps not to publish any names. To be able to assure them details would be protected was an immeasurable relief.
These cables contain details of activists, opposition politicians, bloggers in autocratic regimes and their real identities, victims of crime
(This is a syndicated post. Read the original at FreeThoughtBlogs.)
“Why I felt I had to turn my back on WikiLeaks”
Sep 5th, 2011 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Dismay mounted with the arrival of Israel Shamir, a self-styled Russian “peace campaigner” with a long history of antisemitic writing.… Read the rest
More Debbi Pearl
Sep 4th, 2011 5:38 pm | By Ophelia BensonMore from “how to be a really high-quality doormat for God.”
This past week the local Preparing class invited two older mothers to share their experiences in marriage. It was quite sobering, and some of the girls came away from class unnerved by the burdens of marriage. What the mothers wanted to convey to the girls was, “Learn now while you are young to honor your husbands. Learn patience to continue in your role as a Help Meet, and commit yourself to God now while you are young so you can avoid some of our trials and errors as we struggle to find our way.”
Great. The girls were “unnerved” by the prospect of lifelong slavery, and what “the mothers” … Read the rest
(This is a syndicated post. Read the original at FreeThoughtBlogs.)
Women are faint copies of men
Sep 4th, 2011 4:14 pm | By Ophelia BensonLibby Anne’s parents always taught her that women and men are equal…sort of.
… Read the restMy parents taught me that men and women were different and had different roles to play, but that men and women and their roles were also equal and of equal worth. The male role is to provide for his family and protect them, to engage in politics and spiritual warfare, to have a career and make the decisions for his family. The female role is to keep the house and home, raise and teach her children, exercise hospitality and offer service to others, and support her husband. I was taught that these two roles are equally important and that men and women were thus different, but equal.
(This is a syndicated post. Read the original at FreeThoughtBlogs.)
Libby Anne on masters and slaves, men and women
Sep 4th, 2011 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Debi Pearl reveals that all the talk about men’s and women’s roles being different but equal is
nothing but rhetorical flourish.… Read the rest
Spiegel on Wikileaks: a disaster in six acts
Sep 4th, 2011 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
A chain of careless mistakes, coincidences, indiscretions and confusion means that no potential whistleblower would feel comfortable turning to a leaking platform now.… Read the rest
Glenn Greenwald on Wikileaks
Sep 4th, 2011 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Many of those condemning WikiLeaks care nothing about harm to civilians as long as it’s done by the U.S. government and military.… Read the rest
The fawning glitterati
Sep 3rd, 2011 6:14 pm | By Ophelia BensonTerry Glavin doesn’t think much of Julian Assange.
… Read the restJulian Assange, the Wikileaks archgeek, radical-chic avatar, the Chinese
Communist Party’s nominee for the Nobel Peace Prize, Michael Moore’s
joint-venturer, absconding debtor, American celebrity pornographer Larry Flynt’s fair-haired boy, darling of Cindy Sheehan, Medea Benjamin, Bianca Jagger…Lo, Assange hath now been found to have released more than 1,000 cables outing individual political activists – several thousand tagged as sources who could be placed in danger – and more than 150 cables outing whistleblowers, people persecuted by their governments, and victims of sex crimes.
Such is his courage in speaking truth to power that Assange had already prompted Zimbabwe’s chief executioner to set up a commission to pursue treason charges against
(This is a syndicated post. Read the original at FreeThoughtBlogs.)
Read this article
Sep 3rd, 2011 4:59 pm | By Ophelia BensonIn case you’ve missed it – I posted an article at Other B&W by the author of the Love, Joy, Feminism blog. It’s a must-read. She tells us what it’s like to grow up in the Patriarchal/Quiverfull world, and what it’s all about, and what it took away from her.
A wife and mother was all I wanted to be, because any dream of anything else was nipped in the bud before it ever took root. I truly believed that this was what God wanted of me, and that serving my family and raising my siblings was serving God. And I gloried in it.
That’s one of those philosophy thought experiments it’s interesting to puzzle over – if you … Read the rest
(This is a syndicated post. Read the original at FreeThoughtBlogs.)
Terry Glavin on Julian Assange, narcissist of the decade
Sep 3rd, 2011 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
He released more than 1,000 cables outing individual political activists and more than 150 cables outing whistleblowers and people persecuted by their governments.… Read the rest
My life as a daughter of Christian Patriarchy
Sep 3rd, 2011 | By Libby AnneDeep within America, beyond your typical evangelicals and run of the mill fundamentalists, nurtured within the homeschool movement and growing by the day, are the Christian Patriarchy and Quiverfull movements. This is where I grew up.
I learned that women are to be homemakers while men are to be protectors and providers. I was taught that a woman should not have a career, but should rather keep the home and raise the children and submit to her husband, who was her god-given head and authority. I learned that homeschooling is the only godly way to raise children, because to send them to public school is to turn a child over to the government and the secular humanists. I was taught … Read the rest
Dahlia Lithwick on Cheney and why the law matters
Sep 3rd, 2011 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
The reason Cheney keeps saying that torture is “legal” is because he has a clutch of worthless legal memoranda saying so.… Read the rest
Maryam Namazie battles media’s cone of silence on sharia
Sep 3rd, 2011 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
“Human rights are not Western – they are universal. Can we please just have the same rights, thank you very much,” Ms Namazie said.… Read the rest
Maryam Namzie on sharia on ABC News
Sep 3rd, 2011 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
“The more critical we are publicly, the easier it will be for others to step forward and do the same.”… Read the rest
Response of the Holy See to the Government of Ireland
Sep 3rd, 2011 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
It wasn’t the Holy See’s fault. Ireland is far far far away from the Holy See, and the Holy See can’t help that. The Holy See is way sorry but shut up about it.… Read the rest
Vatican retorts to Irish government
Sep 3rd, 2011 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Cardinal Sean Brady says it’s wonderful; Archbishop Diarmuid Martin says it’s terrific; Fr Lombardi says how serene the Vatican is.… Read the rest
