“I know from experience that once I have met & spoken with anyone I shall never again be able to show any intellectual brutality towards him, even when I feel that I ought to.”… Read the rest
All entries by this author
Australia: teachers protest goddy comic 
May 9th, 2011 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Shows a callous teacher ignoring bullying, urges prayer instead – on the website of Access Ministries, which runs 96% of RE classes in Victorian primary schools.… Read the rest
BHA on Nadine Dorries’s abstinence bill
May 9th, 2011 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Teach girls to keep their knees together because boys will be boys.… Read the rest
“An expert weighs in” on bin Laden’s afterlife
May 9th, 2011 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
The moment martyrs die, they’re given new bodies in paradise and enjoy a blessed existence, “expert” says.… Read the rest
Debating creationism, ID and Holocaust denial
May 9th, 2011 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Creationists and Holocaust deniers require a rejection of overwhelming scientific/historical evidence and thus rule themselves out of any serious discussion.… Read the rest
Why don’t the British love their intellectuals?
May 9th, 2011 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
John Naughton doesn’t know.… Read the rest
Pseudo-historian David Barton has a good week
May 8th, 2011 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
The New York Times treated Barton and the world of scholars who’ve devoted their lives to disciplined historical analysis as though their analyses are of equal weight.… Read the rest
“Progressive” Xian group rejects LGBT ad
May 8th, 2011 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Sojourners said “we don’t want to take sides.” Progressive my foot.… Read the rest
Apology for Spanish Inquisition executions
May 8th, 2011 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Thousands of “heretics” were burned at the stake after Ferdinand and Isabella set up the Inquisition to root out remnants of Islam and Judaism.… Read the rest
Templeton buys whole Oxford colleges? Srsly?
May 8th, 2011 11:04 am | By Ophelia BensonAh Templeton Templeton Templeton, how it does creep in everywhere, like mildew.
There’s this Oxford professor saying why thenewatheists are stupid and wrong. Guess where he comes from.
While “new atheists” Richard Dawkins and Christopher Hitchens have been grabbing headlines with their bold claims that modern science has killed off God, an Oxford professor has been quietly chipping away at the ground they stand on. John C Lennox, Professor of Mathematics and Fellow in the Philosophy of Science at Oxford’s Green Templeton College, has been popping up at debates around the globe to take issue with the most prominent new atheists.
At what? At Oxford’s what? Oxford’s Green what?
Can’t be, I thought. Must be just a coincidence of … Read the rest
Science hasn’t buried god so ha
May 8th, 2011 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
A professor at Oxford’s Templeton-Green College (yes) finds lots of gaps for god to sit in.… Read the rest
Cairo: Salafists attack Coptic church; ten dead
May 8th, 2011 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Salafist groups have become more assertive in the post-Mubarak era.… Read the rest
BBC1: See You in Court
May 8th, 2011 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Simon Singh v the BCA. Nick Cohen, Ben Goldacre and Dara O’Briain on libel law and freedom to criticise bad ideas.… Read the rest
Ajita Kamal on women’s rights in India
May 8th, 2011 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Superstitions such as goddess worship are cultural impediments to realizing true gender equality.… Read the rest
Massimo Pigliucci on NPR on the Rapture
May 8th, 2011 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
More bad uncritical reporting by Templeton “fellow” Barbara Bradley Hagerty.… Read the rest
Saudi Women Revolution
May 7th, 2011 4:51 pm | By Ophelia BensonIf you’re on Facebook – like the Saudi Women Revolution page. They want numbers, numbers, numbers. CNN reported the Facebook page likes.
The Saudi Women Revolution was started as a Facebook page and a discussion topic, or hash tag, on Twitter in February, by Nuha Al Sulaiman…The Facebook group now has more than 3,000 “likes” and a core of the women have met in person to discuss their campaign.
Well it’s more than 4,000 now; do your bit and make it more again.
… Read the restTheir chief aim is ending male guardianship, which means Saudi women often need permission from their husband, father, brother or even son to work, travel, study, marry, or access health care, according to Human Rights Watch.
Jackson Lears on Sam Harris and “positivists”
May 7th, 2011 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Positivist reductionism, reductionist positivism, positivistic fundamentalism, fundamentalist positivism – it’s everywhere. Be afraid.… Read the rest
One for you and three for me
May 7th, 2011 12:00 pm | By Ophelia BensonWhat was that I was just saying about beauty pageants for little girls and hyper-sexualization of girls and women and the way that plays out in gymnastics and ballet and ice skating where men usually wear clothes while women always wear bathing suit equivalents?
The Badminton World Federation has made a new rule that women players have to wear skirts or dresses. Yes really – to play a sport, women have to wear skirts. Queen Victoria would so approve.
… Read the restThe BWF has received feedback from various parties with regards to the introduction of Rule 19.2 of the General Competition Regulations which require female players to wear skirts or dresses for Level 1 to 3 tournaments. This specific regulation has
Alternative archaeology
May 7th, 2011 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
It is all too easy for political and religious extremists to appropriate the past and twist it to suit specific agendas.… Read the rest
