All entries by this author

Bishop Oyedepo: A Slap in the Name of Jesus

Jan 2nd, 2012 | By Leo Igwe

A video clip of Bishop Oyedepo where this charlatan slapped a young lady during a deliverance session was being circulated on the internet but has now been taken down.

The first time I saw the link, I thought it was a joke; I thought it was something made up by someone who wanted to blackmail Oyedepo, who is the general Overseer of the Living Faith Church (aka Winners Chapel).

But after watching it I had no doubt that it was real. This is not only because of what transpired as recorded in this video clip but also what I know goes on in pentecostal churches and prayers houses across the country – impunity, torture, inhuman and degrading treatment by pastors.… Read the rest



If they get on a haredi bus

Jan 2nd, 2012 4:45 pm | By

But, to the surprise of no one, it is possible to find haredi women who think segregated buses are just fine. Well of course it is.

“If they get on a haredi bus, they should get on in the back, they need to respect us. They’re doing it just for the provocation,” said one woman who refused to give her name.

But it’s not a “haredi bus,” it’s a public bus. The word “bus” is short for “omnibus” which means, precisely, “for all.” It’s not a haredi bus so no one is obligated to get on in the back and no one needs to “respect” people who think they get to own particular public bus routes.

Others were  less

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(This is a syndicated post. Read the original at FreeThoughtBlogs.)



#lessambitiousbooks

Jan 2nd, 2012 4:24 pm | By

A riotous hashtag at Twitter, instantly addictive. I’ve been snorting with laughter and failing to drag myself away.

A few -

Breezy Hilltops

Harry Potter and the Trip to ASDA – Rhys Morgan.

Afternoon Excursion on the Beagle

Their Eyes Were Watching Netflix – Katha Pollitt.

Nice Place Lost

Squabble and Peace

Crime and a Talking To – lots of people and versions.

Around the Block in 80 Days

Bikespotting – Troels Heeger.

Two Men in a Boat – Greg Laden.

A Streetcar Named 87

Nap of a Salesman

The Glass Farmyard

The Little House in the Suburbs… Read the rest

(This is a syndicated post. Read the original at FreeThoughtBlogs.)



Still alive

Jan 2nd, 2012 1:02 pm | By

Whenever I see Joe Hoffmann’s latest burst of hatred at Da Noo Atheists, I decide to ignore it because he obviously loves the attention. (He’s like Michael Ruse that way. Exactly like Michael Ruse. Ruse writes a stupid generalized sneer about noo atheism, gets flack for the stupidity and generality, writes an aggrieved response to the flack. Repeat. Repeat repeat repeat. This is what Hoffmann has taken to doing.) Then other people don’t ignore it, so once the pleasure of seeing the post ignored is no longer available, I shrug and don’t ignore it too.

So the latest one, the New Year edition, is pathetically titled “Re-Made in America: Remembering the New Atheism (2006-2011).” As if he could make … Read the rest

(This is a syndicated post. Read the original at FreeThoughtBlogs.)



Alex Gourevitch on Mark Lilla on Corey Robin *

Jan 2nd, 2012 | Filed by

A single metaphysical commitment regarding human nature does not take one very far in any political direction, let alone in understanding the ideological universe that one inhabits.… Read the rest



Chiropractic: An Indefensible Profession *

Jan 2nd, 2012 | Filed by

The chiropractic definition of vertebral subluxation has never been demonstrated. No scientific evidence or imaging technique has ever shown these subluxations to exist.… Read the rest



“If they get on a haredi bus” *

Jan 2nd, 2012 | Filed by

“…they should get on in the back, they need to respect us,” said a woman on the 56 bus.… Read the rest



Israel: hundreds board segregated buses in protest *

Jan 2nd, 2012 | Filed by

Hundreds of men and women boarded gender-segregated buses in Jerusalem and Ramat Gan on Sunday, in protest of the exclusion of women from the public sphere.… Read the rest



Up the down staircase

Jan 1st, 2012 12:26 pm | By

There’s always another step to go up the staircase of disgust -

The latest step is the Haredi leadership putting yellow stars on children at a protest against “exclusion” (by which is meant, not being permitted to exclude women).

Over a thousand ultra-Orthodox men assembled Saturday night in Jerusalem’s Kikar Hashabbat (Sabbath Square), in protest of what they termed the exclusion of Haredim, a response to the recent outrage over the exclusion of women in Beit Shemesh and elsewhere.

You see what they did there? Men who define inclusion as men’s right to exclude and bully women are protesting their “exclusion” by using Holocaust imagery, as if being genocided were identical to being prevented from excluding and bullying women.

Some

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(This is a syndicated post. Read the original at FreeThoughtBlogs.)



Here’s what you learn

Jan 1st, 2012 11:17 am | By

Funny how sexism never goes out of style, isn’t it. I used to think it was out of style at least among people who occasionally use their heads for something other than putting food into, but I’ve been disabused of that starry-eyed notion lately. Certainly people who don’t go in for multi-purpose heads seem to think sexism is both funny and truthful. Like the tabloid press in the UK, Laurie Penny says.

We are used to seeing this sort of story about women in the tabloids, the familiar narrative of vapid idealisation, followed by shame and sexual humiliation. What we are not used to is seeing a real woman in a smart suit telling us how these stories affected

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(This is a syndicated post. Read the original at FreeThoughtBlogs.)



Laurie Penny on tabloid sexism *

Jan 1st, 2012 | Filed by

The British tabloid press is oozing with the very worst sort of malicious, heavy-breathing misogyny.… Read the rest



The Catholic church costs Italy 6 billion euros a year

Dec 31st, 2011 4:31 pm | By

But worth every penny, right? Given all the church does for child welfare, and women’s rights, and the health and well-being of people with Aids and their spouses and children, and education, and…

Well they keep the brocade industry going, at least. Do admit.

But the IHEU refuses to admit.

The findings by Italy’s Union of Rationalist Atheists and Agnostics (UAAR), a member organization of the International Humanist and Ethical Union, were published the day after Italy’s new government announced a budget filled with new taxes and drastic spending cuts.

But the spending cuts are in this world, while the Catholic church takes care of the other world, so that it will be all clean and shiny when … Read the rest

(This is a syndicated post. Read the original at FreeThoughtBlogs.)



Sakineh is not safe

Dec 31st, 2011 4:18 pm | By

Maryam says: Here’s information on what you can and must do about the possible imminent execution of Sakineh Mohamadi Ashtiani.

The International Committee Against Stoning asks the noble people of the world, as well as the press, governments and human-rights organisations, to exert pressure in any way they can in pursuit of Sakineh and Houtan’s release by the Islamic Republic.

International Committee Against Stoning

28 December 2011

 

 … Read the rest

(This is a syndicated post. Read the original at FreeThoughtBlogs.)



Choose ONE

Dec 31st, 2011 12:22 pm | By

It’s confusing. There’s this college in Dundee, called the Al-Maktoum College of Higher Education. Its

aim is the promotion of intelligent debate and understanding of Islam and the role of Muslims in the contemporary world. We are a place of knowledge and reflection on the issues facing a diverse and multicultural world in the twenty-first century.

Ok. But then you look at its Multiculturalism Course.

The programme aims to explore in depth the concept of multiculturalism, with specific reference to the development of the concept in academic studies (particularly the past 15 years). The main understanding of the term  ‘multiculturalism’ for this programme is as a means to describe contemporary contexts of cultural and religious diversity, and the

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(This is a syndicated post. Read the original at FreeThoughtBlogs.)



How Tim Tebow looks from across the pond *

Dec 31st, 2011 | Filed by

“Unusually for a sportsman, Tebow talks openly about his relationship with Jesus Christ in interviews.” His wot?… Read the rest



Looks more like malpractice

Dec 31st, 2011 10:16 am | By

This is worrying.

Authorities say two out-of-state doctors who traveled to Maryland to perform late-term abortions have been arrested and charged with multiple counts of murder, an unusual use of a law that allows for murder charges in the death of a viable fetus.

A grand jury indicted the two doctors after a 16-month investigation, police said.

The investigation began in August 2010 after what authorities say was a botched procedure at Brigham’s clinic in Elkton, located near the border of Maryland and Delaware. An 18-year-old woman who was 21 weeks pregnant had her uterus ruptured and her bowel injured, and rather than call 911, Brigham and Riley drove her to a nearby hospital, where both were uncooperative

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(This is a syndicated post. Read the original at FreeThoughtBlogs.)



2 abortion providers arrested for murder of fetuses *

Dec 31st, 2011 | Filed by

Maryland allows murder charges to be brought against someone accused of killing a viable fetus. The 2005 law had been used only for cases of assaulting or killing pregnant women.… Read the rest



The grossly misnamed Australian Vaccination Network

Dec 30th, 2011 5:15 pm | By

I just want to say

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(This is a syndicated post. Read the original at FreeThoughtBlogs.)



Phil Plait says: Stop antivaxxers. Now *

Dec 30th, 2011 | Filed by

Why? How about Dana McCaffery, 5 February 2009-9 March 2009. Pertussis.… Read the rest



Going home

Dec 30th, 2011 4:43 pm | By

The Committee to Protect Journalists reports more revelations of threats to Pakistani journalists.

Najam Sethi, editor of The Friday Times and host of a popular Urdu-language political program on Geo TV, and Jugnu Mohsin, also a Friday Times editor, said they had lived under threat for years but the level of danger had become so menacing in early 2011 that they were forced to leave Pakistan. A few months later, the two went public with the threats. Then, on Thursday, Sethi told us that he and Mohsin had decided to return to Lahore on Friday.

Pakistan is, according to the CPJ, the worst country in the world for journalists.

A level of danger pervades the industry, and for

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(This is a syndicated post. Read the original at FreeThoughtBlogs.)