The people the liberal mainstream lets down are liberal Muslims and ex-Muslims who need help in their fight against theocratic oppression.… Read the rest
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And there are more other critics of the word “Islamophobia”
Jan 22nd, 2012 12:56 pm | By Ophelia BensonThere’s Kenan Malik. I trust there won’t be too much sensitive frowning over the possibility that Kenan Malik is being obtuse about bigotry toward Muslims or immigrants or other races.
… Read the restTen years ago no one had heard of Islamophobia. Now everyone from Muslim leaders to anti-racist activists to government ministers want to convince us that Britain is in the grip of an irrational hatred of Islam – a hatred that, they claim, leads to institutionalised harassment, physical attacks, social discrimination and political alienation…
But does Islamophobia really exist? Or is the hatred and abuse of Muslims being exaggerated to suit politicians’ needs and silence the critics of Islam? The trouble with Islamophobia is that it is an irrational concept.
(This is a syndicated post. Read the original at FreeThoughtBlogs.)
Joan Smith on a dreadful week for free speech 
Jan 22nd, 2012 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Why hasn’t there been a furore about all these incidents? Why aren’t MPs and ministers insisting on the vital role of free speech?… Read the rest
There are other critics of the word “Islamophobia”
Jan 21st, 2012 4:44 pm | By Ophelia BensonThere was that statement by 12 writers in Charlie Hebdo in 2006 for instance. It includes this:
… Read the restIslamism is a reactionary ideology that kills equality, freedom and secularism wherever it is present.
Its victory can only lead to a world of injustice and domination: men over women, fundamentalists over others.
On the contrary, we must ensure access to universal rights for the oppressed or those discriminated against.
We reject the “cultural relativism” which implies an acceptance that men and women of Muslim culture are deprived of the right to equality, freedom and secularism in the name of the respect for certain cultures and traditions.
We refuse to renounce our critical spirit out of fear of being accused of “Islamophobia”, a
(This is a syndicated post. Read the original at FreeThoughtBlogs.)
Telegraph obit of Frank Cioffi
Jan 21st, 2012 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Later critics of Freud such as Frederick Crews, Allen Esterson and Malcolm Macmillan always acknowledged their debt to Cioffi, and Freud’s frequent departures from truthfulness are now conceded by even ardent admirers.… Read the rest
‘Rajasthan police invented plot to keep away Rushdie’
Jan 21st, 2012 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Local cops made up a story that hit men were planning to kill Rushdie in a plot to deter him from attending the Jaipur Literature Festival, police sources have told The Hindu.… Read the rest
David Remnick on a writer under threat again
Jan 21st, 2012 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
The festival is an astonishingly diverse and gaudy affair, with five enormous venues centered around the Diggi Palace, smack in the middle of Jaipur’s Pink City.… Read the rest
Hank Fox’s book
Jan 21st, 2012 10:06 am | By Ophelia BensonI’m reading Hank Fox’s book Blue Collar Atheist - and it’s fantastic.
He has me choking up on one page, then giggling on the next, then shrieking with laughter on the next. He’s a genius with metaphors. I love love love this book.
Some good lines -
…we live in a society so permeated by goddiness that the idea that there might not be a God seems perversely even more mystical. [p 5]
On the emancipation of escaping the entanglement of religion and the peace that goes with it:
It was the peace of understanding that, while there might be quite a lot of the world unknown to me, there was nothing purposely concealed. [p 14]
I love that. … Read the rest
(This is a syndicated post. Read the original at FreeThoughtBlogs.)
The UN plans to make everybody gay!!11!
Jan 21st, 2012 9:35 am | By Ophelia BensonAnd then there are those zany Spanish bishops.
During his Boxing Day sermon, the Bishop of Córdoba, Demetrio Fernández, said there was a conspiracy by the United Nations. “The Minister for Family of the Papal Government, Cardinal Antonelli, told me a few days ago in Zaragoza that UNESCO has a program for the next 20 years to make half the world population homosexual. To do this they have distinct programs, and will continue to implant the ideology that is already present in our schools.”
Wheeeeeee! Demetrio Fernández must have a whole wardrobe full of tinfoil hats.… Read the rest
(This is a syndicated post. Read the original at FreeThoughtBlogs.)
A big win for theocracy
Jan 21st, 2012 9:26 am | By Ophelia BensonSo Egypt is doomed. Islamists control two thirds of the seats in the People’s Assembly. In other words, the Assembly is in the hands of avowed theocrats.
The final results in Egypt’s first post-Mubarak parliamentary elections confirm an overwhelming victory for Islamist parties.
The Muslim Brotherhood’s Freedom and Justice Party (FJP) won the largest number of seats under Egypt’s complex electoral system.
The hardline Salafist Nour party came second.
…
The overall results mean that Islamist parties control around two-thirds of the seats in the assembly, though the final share out of seats is not yet known.
It’s a disaster.
Check out some Islamists in Derby.
… Read the restIhjaz Ali, 42, Kabir Ahmed, 28, and Razwan Javed, 27, were found
(This is a syndicated post. Read the original at FreeThoughtBlogs.)
Egypt: Islamist parties win
Jan 21st, 2012 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
The overall results mean that Islamist parties control around two-thirds of the seats in the assembly.… Read the rest
Nigeria: bombs kill at least 120 in Kano
Jan 21st, 2012 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Boko Haram said they carried out the attacks. A BBC reporter in Kano said he had counted 150 bodies in the mortuary of the city’s main hospital.… Read the rest
Church in Spain goes for the crazy
Jan 21st, 2012 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Bishop of Córdoba: “Cardinal Antonelli told me a few days ago in Zaragoza that UNESCO has a program for the next 20 years to make half the world population homosexual.”… Read the rest
Praveen Swami on Salman Rushdie and India’s new theocracy
Jan 21st, 2012 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Rushdie’s censoring-out from the ongoing literary festival in Jaipur will be remembered as a milestone that marked the slow motion disintegration of India’s secular state.… Read the rest
My Visit to Australia
Jan 20th, 2012 | By Leo IgweFrom August 17 to September 5 2011, I visited Australia. I was invited by the the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) and the Australian Skeptics to deliver the Canberra Lecture and to do a speaking tour of the country. It was my first visit to the country and continent. Late in 2010, I was contacted by Kevin Davies to know if I could visit Australia and deliver a lecture as part of events marking the National Science Week. I readily accepted.
What started as an invitation to deliver a lecture gradually ‘evolved’ to become a grand tour that would take me to all states in Australia. It was only the Northern Territory that has Darwin as its capital … Read the rest
Guardian on Rushdie not in Jaipur
Jan 20th, 2012 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
A cleric’s description of Rushdie as having “hurt the sentiments of Muslims all over the world” was widely reported in India, and prompted calls for Rushdie to be denied a visa.
Nigerian reporter murdered while covering bombings
Jan 20th, 2012 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Enenche Akogwu, 31, was shot by unidentified gunmen as he attempted to interview witnesses of a deadly terrorist attack in Kano.… Read the rest
