Group calling itself “One Million Moms” accuses JC Penney of “jumping on the pro-gay bandwagon” and rants about “traditional values.”… Read the rest
All entries by this author
Iran accused of intimidating BBC Persian staff 
Feb 5th, 2012 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Mark Thompson wrote in his blog that for BBC Persian staff, “interference and harassment from the Iranian authorities has become a challenging fact of life”.… Read the rest
McLean’s on the Shafia murders
Feb 5th, 2012 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
The father on the tape: “They betrayed kindness, they betrayed Islam, they betrayed our religion and creed, they betrayed our tradition, they betrayed everything.”… Read the rest
Thou shalt not bear false witness
Feb 4th, 2012 5:20 pm | By Ophelia BensonFrom a few days ago, the same old dreck – the priest George Pitcher calls Richard Dawkins “shrill.”
First there’s the usual boring empty non-argument -
The narrow and rather meaningless argument to which Dawkins confines himself is the incessant charge that there is no “evidence” for God. And evidence, of course, is defined only within the strictures of his own empirical scientism. The problem is that faith isn’t primarily evidential, as he demands it to be, but revelatory – and we would claim no less true for all that in explaining the human condition.
Oh yes? We need a “revelation” to explain the human condition? And when we have one, it’s reliable? Please.
That contemptuously lazy pass at justifying … Read the rest
(This is a syndicated post. Read the original at FreeThoughtBlogs.)
Oh if only
Feb 4th, 2012 3:41 pm | By Ophelia BensonI get envious of people in other countries quite often. The other day on the CBC’s The National I saw an item about a politician suggesting that certain criminals should be given a rope, so that they could decide to hang themselves if they liked. There was outrage from all parties. Here in the US the outrage is all for people who want to get rid of the death penalty.
And in the UK – the Advertising Standards Authority has told a Christian group it can’t tell people God will heal them.
… Read the restThe ASA said the leaflet read: “Need Healing? God can heal today! Do you suffer from Back Pain, Arthritis, MS, Addiction … Ulcers, Depression, Allergies, Fibromyalgia, Asthma, Paralysis,
(This is a syndicated post. Read the original at FreeThoughtBlogs.)
Standup in Tehran
Feb 4th, 2012 12:38 pm | By Ophelia BensonAh it is sweet of Mehr to provide so many pretty pictures of Khomeini’s re-enacted Return to Iran as Cardboard Dude.
It’s cool that Khomeini is a giant. It’s cool that he has no feet. It’s cool the way his two handlers’ white gloves appear discreetly on his shoulders and at his sides, while his own hands don’t appear at all. It’s just all so dignified and holy and impressive.
The New York Times likes it too.
… Read the restShortly after the airport arrival, another cardboard cutout made an appearance in southern Tehran at Refah School, which served as Ayatollah Khomeini’s base of operations. There, it was joined by officials, including the education minister, who sat in a large circle
(This is a syndicated post. Read the original at FreeThoughtBlogs.)
Atheism in America
Feb 4th, 2012 12:08 pm | By Ophelia BensonWell at least Julian now realizes that we Murkan atheists haven’t been exaggerating about the level of hostility to atheism and atheists there is in the US. He took an evidence-gathering trip here last year, and a long article in the FT talks about what he found.
… Read the restAs I found out when I travelled across the US last year, atheists live in isolation and secrecy all over the country. In a nation that celebrates freedom of religion like no other, freedom not to be religious at all can be as hard to exercise as the right to swim the Atlantic…The issue is somewhat neglected because it’s not usually perceptible on the coasts and in the larger cities, but the almost
(This is a syndicated post. Read the original at FreeThoughtBlogs.)
Vancouver Sun talks to Pat Churchland
Feb 4th, 2012 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
She considers neuroscience more reliable than folk psychology.… Read the rest
Julian Baggini notes it’s not easy being atheist in the US
Feb 4th, 2012 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
In a nation that celebrates freedom of religion like no other, freedom not to be religious at all can be as hard to exercise as the right to swim the Atlantic.… Read the rest
Subject opinion to coercion: whom will you make your inquisitors?
Feb 4th, 2012 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Members of UCLASH were not reposting the cartoon to reoffend, but to reaffirm that if the freedom to speak means anything, it means the freedom to say things that people do not like.… Read the rest
Bath Christian group’s ‘God can heal’ adverts banned
Feb 4th, 2012 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Advertising Standards Authority said leaflet that says “Need Healing? God can heal today!” is misleading. Group said it’s just normal Christian belief.… Read the rest
US: one town’s war on gay teenagers
Feb 3rd, 2012 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
“LGBTQ students don’t feel safe at school. They’re made to feel ashamed of who they are. They’re bullied. And there’s no one to stand up for them, because teachers are afraid of being fired.”… Read the rest
Marc Stephens threatens Popehat some more
Feb 3rd, 2012 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Out of the blue, Stephens sends Popehat a message saying, “I see you’re obsessed with me.”… Read the rest
Cardboard Khomeini tours Tehran
Feb 3rd, 2012 3:52 pm | By Ophelia BensonNo really, it does.
It sits in on meetings and everything.
h/t Sigmund.
Update: I should have included a picture.
(This is a syndicated post. Read the original at FreeThoughtBlogs.)
Justin gets a megaphone!
Feb 3rd, 2012 3:26 pm | By Ophelia BensonWo! The BBC has done a huge long feature article about our man Justin Griffith and Rock Beyond Belief.
… Read the restAs an active-duty sergeant in the US Army, he’s leading the charge to get atheists more respect in the armed forces. In the process he is earning attention, both positive and negative, from around the world.
Mr Griffith’s most ambitious project is Rock Beyond Belief, a day-long event on the military base Fort Bragg, North Carolina, complete with children’s activities, rock concerts and a lecture by atheism’s most visible proponent, author and scientist Richard Dawkins….
Scheduled for 31 March, Rock Beyond Belief comes two years after another controversial concert at Fort Bragg, “Rock The Fort”. Sponsored by the Billy Graham Evangelical
(This is a syndicated post. Read the original at FreeThoughtBlogs.)
BBC on Justin Griffith and Rock Beyond Belief
Feb 3rd, 2012 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Prior to planning the concert, he registered his complaints against the army’s spiritual fitness test, a campaign that he continues.… Read the rest
Heavenly beings and astral forces: the real meaning of ‘social pedagogy’
Feb 3rd, 2012 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
‘Social pedagogy’ has its roots in anthroposophy, which holds that children – and adults with learning and developmental disabilities – exist partly in the spirit world.… Read the rest
Don’t protest the thing you are protesting
Feb 3rd, 2012 12:05 pm | By Ophelia BensonThere was an extraordinary discussion on the Rally for Free Expression Facebook page a couple of days ago. The rally, of course, is a project of One Law for All and Maryam. The discussion started when a KCL student asked, “Whose idea was it to use a Jesus and Mo picture to advertise this rally?” and when told it was One Law for All’s, said, “Bad move. Very bad move.”
Uh. Seriously? But that was the whole point – to say that Jesus and Mo is not the kind of thing that should be banned or bullied into silence or concealment.
Maryam replied, sardonically,
… Read the restI decided to use it. I couldn’t find a photo of us kneeling down in submission
(This is a syndicated post. Read the original at FreeThoughtBlogs.)
Tragic failure of education
Feb 3rd, 2012 10:34 am | By Ophelia BensonVia the LSESU ASH Facebook page and later via Alex Gabriel, a poster advertising an event put on by the LSE Socialist Worker Student Society. It reads:
Religious discrimination is irrefutably on the rise at LSE. Both the Atheist Society’s efforts to publish inflammatory “satirical” cartoons in a deliberate attempt to offend Muslims, and the ‘Nazi themed’ drinking games serve to highlight a festering undercurrent of racism.
What does really lie behind the claim that religious communities cannot be the target of racists?
Is atheism the road to social progress?
Why do Marxists defend religion?
That’s illiterate. “Religious discrimination” is somehow related to Nazism, and then it turns out to be a matter of racism, but then whoops it’s … Read the rest
(This is a syndicated post. Read the original at FreeThoughtBlogs.)
Ridiculous dispute over Koran exhibition
Feb 3rd, 2012 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Kirklees Muslim Action Committee says Ahmadiyya Muslim Association has “no right to put on an exhibition about the Qur’an” because blah blah blah.… Read the rest
