“The more critical we are publicly, the easier it will be for others to step forward and do the same.”… Read the rest
All entries by this author
Response of the Holy See to the Government of Ireland
Sep 3rd, 2011 | Filed by Ophelia BensonIt 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 BensonCardinal Sean Brady says it’s wonderful; Archbishop Diarmuid Martin says it’s terrific; Fr Lombardi says how serene the Vatican is.… Read the rest
How to patronize the wimminz
Sep 2nd, 2011 5:16 pm | By Ophelia BensonWilliam Hamby has a rather annoying article on women in atheism. (The annoying quality is probably inevitable. We get tired of being written about. We get tired of men saying about women. That’s probably unfair; we’d probably get tired of men not saying, too; but all the same – it gets tiresome having men say about women.) He bases it, for some reason, on the elevator thing – and as G Felis points out, he does it rather snidely. He makes an arbitrary and unexplained distinction between “radical” and “mainstream” feminists that boils down to agree-with-Watson and disagree-with-Watson respectively, and I have to say that’s not consistent with usage over the past four decades or so. Agreeing with Watson … Read the rest
(This is a syndicated post. Read the original at FreeThoughtBlogs.)
Snipping around the edges
Sep 2nd, 2011 4:37 pm | By Ophelia BensonSuzanne Moore is not persuaded by the new gang of anti-abortionists.
… Read the restNow this new breed of anti-abortionists snip round the edges of the process with their strategies of delay … er, sorry, “independent counselling”. But beware their language of care. This is not about care but about control. This control absolutely depends on shame: sexual shame. This shame keeps us quiet. Shame keeps us locked into individual guilt. Shame even makes us stupidly grateful that we are allowed to have any choice at all.
This whole debate around counselling pivots on the idea of deep and private shame, positing the idea of counselling being used to sell an evil procedure. Women are always “vulnerable” dupes, never simply adults who
(This is a syndicated post. Read the original at FreeThoughtBlogs.)
A thoroughly disreputable approach
Sep 2nd, 2011 3:45 pm | By Ophelia BensonOh honestly. Bad scientists, no cookie.
The editor of a science journal has resigned after admitting that a recent paper
casting doubt on man-made climate change should not have been published.
The paper was outside the journal’s field.
… Read the restPublishing in “off-topic” journals is generally frowned on in scientific
circles, partly because editors may lack the specialist knowledge and contacts
needed to run a thorough peer review process.…
“The problem is that comparable studies published by other authors have already been refuted…, a fact which was ignored by Spencer and Braswell in their paper and, unfortunately, not picked up by the reviewers.
“In other words, the problem I see with the paper… is not that it declared
a minority
(This is a syndicated post. Read the original at FreeThoughtBlogs.)
Elsie Dinsmore
Sep 2nd, 2011 3:03 pm | By Ophelia BensonEver read any Elsie Dinsmore books? No, neither have I. I know the name, because it’s a byword for slushy pious Victorian dogoodery, though I don’t remember where – Little Women? Which is no slouch in the slushy pious Victorian dogoodery department itself, so maybe not. Mark Twain? Possibly.
They’re now big with the Incredibly Christian set. Rethinking Vision Forum is not impressed. But the part I really liked is from a comment there. The commenter read the first Elsie when she was a child and asked her mother what she thought of it.
… Read the rest“What a wet blanket. That girl did nothing but cry all the time. I think every page her eyes filled with tears and
(This is a syndicated post. Read the original at FreeThoughtBlogs.)
He taught me critical thinking
Sep 2nd, 2011 11:24 am | By Ophelia BensonAnother escapee is Libby Anne. She gives a ten-part account of being a good child of Patriarchy and then of being turned around.
The childhood is by no means all horrible, even seen from the outside. Much of it is quite appealing.
… Read the restI also enjoyed gardening. We always had large gardens, and we children did a great deal of the tending and weeding, sometimes waking at dawn in the summer months to weed before the summer heat. In addition to learning to garden, I found books at a homeschool convention about edible plants and medicinal herbs and set out to teach myself these important skills. I learned that dandelions could be eaten in salads, that plantain was good
(This is a syndicated post. Read the original at FreeThoughtBlogs.)
Eric MacDonald on women’s rights all over again
Sep 2nd, 2011 | Filed by Ophelia BensonThe case for women’s freedom must be made again and again, until the religious disease is cured; so long as religion is present on the political stage, every freedom we enjoy is in danger.… Read the rest
Religious rules do not trump child protection laws
Sep 2nd, 2011 | Filed by Ophelia BensonThe Irish justice minister had to reiterate this in response to Cardinal Sean Brady’s fuss about the “sacred and treasured” rite of confession.… Read the rest
Christians outraged over BC and AD v BCE and CE
Sep 2nd, 2011 | Filed by Ophelia BensonBaby Jesus is hurt that Australian high school text books will no longer use his name in dates.… Read the rest
Sarah Posner and Anthea Butler on the new Pentecostalism
Sep 2nd, 2011 | Filed by Ophelia BensonIf journalists want to understand the religious right movement, they must pay attention to diversity among evangelicals, Pentecostals, and non-denominational churches.… Read the rest
My faith dispels any doubts
Sep 1st, 2011 4:40 pm | By Ophelia BensonAnd by the way three cheers for female genital mutilation.
…some communities see the practice as an integral part of their culture. “I have two daughters and five nieces, all circumcised by doctors. I do not consider it a human rights violation because, according to our religious teachings, it has been divinely ordained. My faith dispels any doubts that some might put in my mind,” says Shaheen Abdullah.
Good old god! “He” designed us the way we are and then ordained that the females of us have to have our genitals chopped off. Why not just not include the genitals in the original package then? Why construct the thing only to ordain that it should be carved up and … Read the rest
(This is a syndicated post. Read the original at FreeThoughtBlogs.)
Get out
Sep 1st, 2011 4:14 pm | By Ophelia BensonOne woman escaped the “Quiverfull” nightmare. First she entered the trap -
I remarried, found a “bible-believing” church, and worked hard
within the Quiverfull counterculture to implement the best of the best biblical
family values into our home life. I had six more children. I homebirthed,
homeschooled, and home-churched. I submitted to my husband and joyfully
sacrificed my time, energy and talents to build him up and help him to succeed.
I published a “pro-life, pro-family” Christian family newspaper to inform and
encourage other Christians to defend “Traditional Family Values.”In 2003, we were honored as Family of the Year at the Nebraska Family
Council’s “Salt & Light” awards.
Then she noticed how bad it was -
… Read the rest…perpetual pregnancies
(This is a syndicated post. Read the original at FreeThoughtBlogs.)
One woman who escaped the “quiverfull” nightmare
Sep 1st, 2011 | Filed by Ophelia Benson“Perpetual pregnancies destroyed my health, and my indiscriminate acquiescence to my husband’s every whim transformed him from a loving father into a tantrum-throwing tyrant.”… Read the rest
God said let there be FGM
Sep 1st, 2011 | Filed by Ophelia Benson“I do not consider it a human rights violation because, according to our religious teachings, it has been divinely ordained.”… Read the rest
Stop the deportation of Mitra Kahrom to Iran
Sep 1st, 2011 | Filed by Ophelia BensonShe fled to Sweden and has been openly and vocally active in organizations that oppose the Islamic Republic regime.… Read the rest
Legal firm helps women accused of witchcraft
Sep 1st, 2011 | Filed by Ophelia BensonIt is often the widows, or the older, poorer or disabled women and those unprotected by male relatives who are most vulnerable to witchcraft accusations in Burkina Fasso.… Read the rest
The history of dissident thought
Sep 1st, 2011 11:10 am | By Ophelia BensonIt’s embarrassing and shocking that Michele Bachmann can be a serious candidate for president. The same goes for Rick Perry; the same goes for Mitt Romney; the same goes for Sarah Palin. Susan Jacoby thinks Americans’ ignorance of our history of secularism is part of the problem.
… Read the restI am less concerned about whether the American public is unacquainted with secular philosophy than I am about its vast ignorance of the founders’ determination not to establish a Christian government. College courses cannot fill the empty space left by public elementary and secondary schooling in which secularism is considered a dirty word instead of an honorable part of American history.
If Americans were not in dire need of remedial education on
(This is a syndicated post. Read the original at FreeThoughtBlogs.)