A team at Oxford examined 431 claims in 104 sport product adverts and found a “worrying” lack of high-quality research, calling for better studies to help inform consumers.… Read the rest
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The sacred and the profane
Jul 19th, 2012 8:52 am | By Ophelia BensonThe Catholic church in the UK is finding itself having to answer to the law. What an indignity! What presumption! Mere secular humans with secular training in secular law daring to meddle with sanctified Standers-in For Jesus. The church is god’s telephone line! Don’t these presumptuous mundane unholy law-botherers realize that? How dare they haul a bunch of priests to court?
… Read the restA landmark hearing at the Supreme Court in London on Monday will consider who is responsible for compensating victims of child abuse by Catholic priests.
The case is being brought by 170 men who allege that they were sexually and physically abused at a Roman Catholic children’s home.
The High Court at Leeds and the Court of Appeal
(This is a syndicated post. Read the original at FreeThoughtBlogs.)
Will the Catholic church be forced to take responsibility? 
Jul 19th, 2012 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
A landmark hearing at the Supreme Court in London will consider who is responsible for compensating victims of child abuse by Catholic priests.… Read the rest
Simply strange ones
Jul 18th, 2012 4:42 pm | By Ophelia BensonBut Giles Fraser looks quite thoughtful compared to Ed West in the Telegraph.
… Read the rest…people are not naturally moral relativists, and female circumcision cannot be viewed in any way as an acceptable cultural practice, violating all Western ethical principles, scarring women for life out of sheer spiteful misogyny.
But it’s inevitable that any movement that has been proved right and principled will then push its ideology too far until it too becomes intolerant and ludicrous, and the campaign against male circumcision is just one example. In theory removing a foreskin could be seen as a violation of a child’s rights, but that’s to take a theoretical liberal argument to an absurd and illiberal position. It equates genuinely horrific and immoral
(This is a syndicated post. Read the original at FreeThoughtBlogs.)
Giles Fraser versus the liberal mindset
Jul 18th, 2012 4:20 pm | By Ophelia BensonGiles Fraser is angry about the German court decision that religious circumcision of infants is a violation of their right to bodily integrity (although he doesn’t say that, but substitutes “against the best interests of the child”). He’s outraged that Merkel had to say ”I do not want Germany to be the only country in the world in which Jews cannot practise their rites.”
… Read the restYet the circumcision of babies cuts against one of the basic assumptions of the liberal mindset. Informed consent lies at the heart of choice and choice lies at the heart of the liberal society. Without informed consent, circumcision is regarded as a form of violence and a violation of the fundamental rights of the child. Which
(This is a syndicated post. Read the original at FreeThoughtBlogs.)
Giles Fraser stands up for coercion
Jul 18th, 2012 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Liberals think informed choice is a basic right, therefore Fraser regards “the liberal mindset as a diminished form of the moral imagination.”… Read the rest
German pharmaceuticals pay journo to smear Ernst
Jul 18th, 2012 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
A newspaper accuses the companies of funding the journalist to denigrate critics of homeopathy, especially Edzard Ernst.… Read the rest
Liberating and life-enhancing
Jul 18th, 2012 10:52 am | By Ophelia BensonGhaffar Hussain talks to Alom Shaha in The Commentator. Alom’s book The Young Atheist’s Handbook launches tomorrow, or launched yesterday, or last week (launches get confusing – they migrate).
Alom points out that he’s had different experiences from the horsemen, and he wants to show that atheism isn’t just for horsemen. Why promote atheism?
… Read the restI believe that lots of people only follow a religion because of parental and cultural pressure and that they would be happier if they could be true to themselves and lead godless lives. Belief in god is not something that comes naturally to all of us; many of us find it impossible to believe in god and it can be liberating and life-enhancing to fully embrace
(This is a syndicated post. Read the original at FreeThoughtBlogs.)
Ghaffar Hussain talks to Alom Shaha
Jul 18th, 2012 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Many of us find it impossible to believe in god and it can be liberating and life-enhancing to fully embrace this lack of belief and live our lives without religion.… Read the rest
54% of Americans would vote for an atheist as president
Jul 18th, 2012 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Which is an improvement, but atheists still win the “would not vote for” poll at 43%, edging out Muslims at 40%.… Read the rest
Another woman in the crowd
Jul 17th, 2012 4:53 pm | By Ophelia BensonThere’s a very informative comment on Pamela Gay’s talk, by “Stella Luna.”
… Read the restI was unable to attend TAM this year due to my work schedule, but I very much wanted to go because I enjoy it so much – and also to be another woman in the crowd. While I personally have not experienced a grab or offensive comment at TAM, I will absolutely make it clear that as a very experienced mid-level manager at the Fortune 500 company I work for, I am the target of off-color remarks, double entendres, “praise” for my skills that might add praise for my wearing a skirt that day, or even unwelcome hugs in lieue of handshakes from the program director. (I’ve yet
(This is a syndicated post. Read the original at FreeThoughtBlogs.)
The ministry of truth
Jul 17th, 2012 4:15 pm | By Ophelia BensonKausik Datta has an incisive post on Ayesha Nusrat’s op-ed in the New York Times about how liberating it is to submit to a religious obligation to wrap your head and neck in a large bandage.
Clearly, to Ms. Nusrat, the hijab is merely a few yards of cloth. For far too many women in far too many countries (for instance, the Middle East, North Africa, Far East and the Southeast of Asia, not to mention, Europe), the hijab is an obligatory article of indenturement that permits no choice, but is to be worn on pain of punishment and/or death; to them, it is a symbol of systematic oppression.
A symbol and the reality, which is why it’s so infuriating … Read the rest
(This is a syndicated post. Read the original at FreeThoughtBlogs.)
The hijab is not a symbol of freedom
Jul 17th, 2012 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
For far too many women the hijab is an obligatory article of indenturement that permits no choice; to them, it is a symbol of systematic oppression.… Read the rest
Afghanistan: are reported poisonings mass psychogenic illness?
Jul 17th, 2012 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
“Patient Zero” turned out to be a girl suffering from epilepsy. She apparently experienced a seizure while fetching water from the school’s well, which triggered mass panic.… Read the rest
Talking about rape jokes
Jul 17th, 2012 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
The bro-code reaction speaks to uncomfortable fault lines around gender politics and unexamined power that comedians rarely like to acknowledge.… Read the rest
Toronto street imam wants law to force women to “cover up”
Jul 17th, 2012 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Convert to Islam says rapes “are continuously happening because of Canadian laws, which give too much freedom to women” in how they dress.… Read the rest
Proportions
Jul 16th, 2012 4:16 pm | By Ophelia BensonRichard Dawkins asked a very interesting question on Twitter a couple of days ago (so I’m sure he wants our input).
Writing my autobiography and struggling to find the right balance. How much personal stuff to put in, how much purely intellectual memoir?
I say more of the latter than the former. 70/30, maybe.
Intellectual is personal to people who care about intellectual matters, so making it mostly intellectual needn’t mean it’s dry or Spockian. Mill’s autobiography is fascinating. So is Gibbon’s. And then, the point of RD is the intellectual stuff, so it makes sense not to skimp on it.… Read the rest
(This is a syndicated post. Read the original at FreeThoughtBlogs.)
Acid in the face
Jul 16th, 2012 3:45 pm | By Ophelia BensonBe sure you don’t miss Taslima’s post on acid attacks on women – unless you can’t stand it: warning: it is horrific; the pictures are horrific.
It’s terrible to look at the pictures and realize people must know this is what acid does, and that’s why they do it.… Read the rest
(This is a syndicated post. Read the original at FreeThoughtBlogs.)
In your face
Jul 16th, 2012 3:32 pm | By Ophelia BensonYou know that T shirt that Harriet Hall wore?
This is the back view
She wore it three days in a row, at least. My source didn’t see her on the fourth, but it seems likely she wore it then too.
I don’t understand this. I don’t understand people.… Read the rest
(This is a syndicated post. Read the original at FreeThoughtBlogs.)
Dividing bridges
Jul 16th, 2012 2:12 pm | By Ophelia BensonKristjan Wager has a good post on the Deep Rifts. He’d rather have the rifts than no rifts at the price of entrenched sexism.
So, to sum it up, there are deep rifts in the movement, and I think it is fine. Not only that, I feel more comfortable being in a smaller community within the movement, which doesn’t include people whose opinions and behavior I find repugnant. I can still appreciate the good work done by those people (like I did with e.g. Hitchens) without wanting to be part of the same community.
Fewer but better Russians. (I kid, I kid.)
Massimo Pigliucci also has a good post, although he does do the “both sides” thing, which … Read the rest
(This is a syndicated post. Read the original at FreeThoughtBlogs.)
