If every school taught the basics – randomised trials, blinding, cohort studies, systematic reviews – it would teach some of the most important ideas in science.… Read the rest
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Existential angst about the bigger picture
Jun 11th, 2011 | Filed by Ophelia BensonAt every step, there is room for fun results to get through, and for unwelcome results to fall off the radar.… Read the rest
Humanists to Hold Anniversary Conference in Abuja
Jun 11th, 2011 | By Leo IgweIn September, humanists from across the Federation will be gathering in Abuja for their national convention. This event, to be held at Vines Hotel Durumi, will be the first of its kind at the nation’s capital. It promises to be the largest gathering of non-religious people in the history of Nigeria. The convention marks the 15th anniversary of the Nigerian Humanist Movment (NHM). Founded in 1996, NHM provides a sense of community to non-religious people who often identify themselves severally as atheists, agnostics, freethinkers, skeptics, rationalist or brights. In the last 15 years, NHM has worked to ensure that the voice of non-believers is heard and that the humanist perspective is brought to bear on issues of national importance. NHM … Read the rest
Pakistan: rangers kill a man on camera
Jun 11th, 2011 | Filed by Ophelia Benson“What we are seeing is visual records of the culture of impunity in the Pakistani law enforcement agencies,” said a researcher for Human Rights Watch.… Read the rest
Gay Girl in Damascus blog a hoax?
Jun 11th, 2011 | Filed by Ophelia BensonThe photos are all of someone else; some of the details don’t add up; nobody seems to know her.… Read the rest
Homosexuality – a Survival Advantage for Early Man
Jun 10th, 2011 | By John Hayman
Introduction
History of Homosexuality
Homosexuality is not a recent phenomenon; it is recorded in the earliest human writings and is depicted in petroglyphs. It is well documented in the Greek and Roman civilizations, in the cuneiform writings of the earlier societies along the Tigris … Read the rest
Identikit MarxoCatholic man
Jun 10th, 2011 4:49 pm | By Ophelia BensonAnthony Grayling explains some things about the New College of the Humanities.
The cast of professors is stunning but will they actually spend much time on the new campus? “They won’t give tutorials, but they will be partners, bringing advice and expertise. I want to recreate the experience I had at Oxford. I was very intensively tutored in my college but could also go and hear some amazing and extraordinary lectures.”
That’s what I thought it was about. I thought that because it was one of the many things we talked about over tea a few weeks ago. We talked about the one-on-one tutorial – I from the point of view of one who had never experienced such a thing … Read the rest
Quebec measles outbreak worsens
Jun 10th, 2011 | Filed by Ophelia BensonQuebec’s director of public health is urging people to get vaccinated. Duh.… Read the rest
Johann Hari on Philip Mountbatten at 90
Jun 10th, 2011 | Filed by Ophelia BensonMonarchists feel the need to claim that the Windsors are somehow more worthy than the rest of us.… Read the rest
Italy: self-portrait of a homophobic politician
Jun 10th, 2011 | Filed by Ophelia Benson“I’ll attend the Gay Pride parade when it’s a civil demonstration and no longer an exuse to jeer at the Holy Father and prance around in fancy costumes.”… Read the rest
M F Husain yearned to return to India
Jun 10th, 2011 | Filed by Ophelia BensonAfter he moved abroad, right-wing groups continued to vandalize exhibitions that displayed his work.… Read the rest
The myth about Dawkins is just that: a myth
Jun 9th, 2011 | Filed by Ophelia BensonThe popular meme of Dawkins The Bigot is the creation of the Christian Creationist Right, who loathe him for the power of his advocacy.… Read the rest
None of the monotheistic religions treat men and women equally
Jun 9th, 2011 5:07 pm | By Ophelia BensonOn a far more intelligent note, there’s Katha Pollitt’s conversation with Wajeha al-Huwaider.
Katha asked
Some Muslim feminists are trying to reinterpret—they would say, correctly interpret—the Koran in a gender-egalitarian way. For instance, they point out the Koran says only that women should dress modestly, not that they need to be swathed from head to toe, or even cover their hair. Do you think there can be a feminist Islam?
The answer is definite:
… Read the restThere is a feminist Islam, mainly led by Muslim women in the West. But they tend to forget that none of the monotheistic religions treat men and women equally, and there’s a limit to what scholarship can do to change that. For example, daughters inherit half
Surely now they will shut him up
Jun 9th, 2011 4:43 pm | By Ophelia BensonOh lordy, it’s Cathy Lynn Grossman again. Again? Yes, there was once before. She’s a Templeton “Fellow,” too, class of 2005. Her schtick is to point in horror at some gnu atheist or other and say how shocking and evil it all is. This time it’s PZ. She’s hoping there’s going to be a Great Cracking of the Whip.
Now that online provocateur PZ Myers, the biologist whose popular Pharyngula blog features profane attacks on religion, is part of the ScienceBlogs lineup coming under National Geographic’s editorial control, will Myers have to evolve to new standards?
Ah the voice of censorious respectability and majority opinion – will someone at last be able to make PZ Myers stop saying … Read the rest
A C Grayling talks to Shiv Malik
Jun 9th, 2011 | Filed by Ophelia Benson“A highly educated population is a really great aspiration. Of course you can only do it if you fund it properly.”… Read the rest
Katha Pollitt talks to Wajeha al-Huwaider
Jun 9th, 2011 | Filed by Ophelia BensonMuslim feminists “tend to forget that none of the monotheistic religions treat men and women equally, and there’s a limit to what scholarship can do to change that.”… Read the rest
Use of Viagra for war-rape would be a horrific first
Jun 9th, 2011 | Filed by Ophelia Benson“Now we are getting some information that Gaddafi himself decided [to authorise the rapes] and this is new.”… Read the rest
ICC says Gadhafi authorized rape as a weapon
Jun 9th, 2011 | Filed by Ophelia BensonChief prosecutor Luis Moreno Ocampo has now said he may present an additional charge of mass rape.… Read the rest
M F Husain was painting until 2 weeks ago
Jun 9th, 2011 | Filed by Ophelia BensonHis exhibitions were often attacked by reactionary Hindu groups.… Read the rest
Maqbool Fida Husain dies in exile at 95
Jun 9th, 2011 | Filed by Ophelia BensonHe lived by the motto that the confines of religion, caste, creed and color should never restrain a painter.… Read the rest