Pakistan People’s Party MP made her decision after the government ruled out changing the law.… Read the rest
All entries by this author
UK: aid money was spent on pope’s visit 
Feb 3rd, 2011 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
“Our contribution recognised the Catholic Church’s role as a major provider of health and education services in developing countries.”… Read the rest
Massimo Pigliucci reviews Sam Harris
Feb 3rd, 2011 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Harris entirely evades philosophical criticism of his positions, on the simple ground that he finds metaethics “boring.”… Read the rest
Supreme Court justice misunderstood tax form
Feb 3rd, 2011 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Clarence Thomas didn’t report his wife’s salary from the Heritage Foundation “due to a misunderstanding of the filing instructions.”… Read the rest
Women just don’t understand the offside rule
Feb 3rd, 2011 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
They haven’t got the brain cells, you see.… Read the rest
Hey kids, let’s redefine rape!
Feb 2nd, 2011 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
No broken bones? Pff, that’s not rape. No abortion for you!… Read the rest
One talk too many
Feb 2nd, 2011 4:45 pm | By Ophelia BensonHmm. Paul Sims at the New Humanist is still enthusiastic about the possibilities of dialogue between believers and non-believers. I agree that that can be a fine thing, or an anodyne thing, much of the time…but there are limits. I’m not sure Paul is sufficiently aware of what the limits ought to be.
… Read the restLast night, I attended a meeting between representatives of Catholic Voices and members of the Central London Humanist Group (CLHG), which took place in the hall of St Saviour’s Church in Pimlico. It was the second such event, the first having taken place in central London last October – the point, as I explained in a piece in the current issue of New Humanist, is to
Azar Majedi to the people of Egypt
Feb 2nd, 2011 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
As one who has struggled for human rights for years.… Read the rest
An Encomium for Richard Holloway
Feb 2nd, 2011 | By Andrew TaggartI admire Richard Holloway for his courage. Here is a religious man who, from 1986-2000, was Bishop of Edinburgh; a man of virtue concerned with his neighbor, with social justice, and with the common good; and, not the least, a contemplative man who somewhere along the way lost his faith but not his desire for transcendence. I don’t know when his doubts became so substantial that they compelled him to leave the Anglican Church, but I imagine that the decision came only after the crisis had become too acute to ignore and too great to bear.
What brought on this crisis, one that emerged, no doubt, over the course of many years only to reach critical mass in the past … Read the rest
Sisters and brothers
Feb 2nd, 2011 12:19 pm | By Ophelia BensonThe president of the Catholic Health Association, “Sister” Carol Keehan, is proud and happy to uphold the “authority” of Catholic bishops to tell medical personnel and hospital administrators what to do, including, of course, telling them to let pregnant women die if it takes an abortion to save their lives. “Sister” Carol Keehan is saying yes, bishop, it is right and good that you and your bishop friends should be able to forbid doctors to save women’s lives. “Sister” Carol Keehan is endorsing the bishops’ wish for more women to die; she’s agreeing with them that that woman in Phoenix (with four young children) should be dead. With a “sister” like her who needs enemies?
… Read the restThank you again for taking
Bangladesh: teenage girl whipped to death
Feb 2nd, 2011 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
She was 15. A village court in Shariatpur sentenced her to 100 lashes for having an affair with a married man.… Read the rest
Archbish Dolan rejoices at theocratic grip on hospitals
Feb 2nd, 2011 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
President of US Conference of Catholic Bishops sets out plans to dictate laws to Congress.… Read the rest
Catholic Health Association says bishops rule
Feb 2nd, 2011 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Bishops have the authority, so if they say a hospital must let a woman die, that’s how it is.… Read the rest
Kenan Malik on Islamists, secular radicals, and dictators
Feb 2nd, 2011 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
What the demonstrators in Cairo and Tunis have been demanding is not an Islamic state, but a more open, democratic society.… Read the rest
Mubarak should model himself on Sarah Palin
Feb 1st, 2011 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
We are with whatever CNN says we should be with.… Read the rest
Jesus and Mo lament scriptural ignorance
Feb 1st, 2011 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world, as god said somewhere.… Read the rest
Meeting David Kato
Feb 1st, 2011 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
He was a man of never-ending ideas and someone who managed to find humor in the midst of his struggles.… Read the rest
Military chaplains still allowed to be homophobic
Feb 1st, 2011 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Whew, what a relief; repeal of Don’t Ask Don’t Tell will not mean chaplains have to give up their religious belief that gays are ick.… Read the rest
85% men 15% women
Jan 31st, 2011 5:43 pm | By Ophelia BensonIt won’t do, you see. The Wikipedia gender imbalance thing – when taken with all the other gender imbalance things – won’t do.
… Read the restJane Margolis, co-author of a book on sexism in computer science, “Unlocking the Clubhouse,” argues that Wikipedia is experiencing the same problems of the offline world, where women are less willing to assert their opinions in public. “In almost every space, who are the authorities, the politicians, writers for op-ed pages?”…
According to the OpEd Project, an organization based in New York that monitors the gender breakdown of contributors to “public thought-leadership forums,” a participation rate of roughly 85-to-15 percent, men to women, is common — whether members of Congress, or writers on The New York
It’s an uprising, it must be good
Jan 31st, 2011 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
The Muslim Brotherhood pours gasoline on grievances, calls it water, then stands back in feigned surprise when the flames leap higher.… Read the rest
