By using the epithet “Dr Death” in the headline.… Read the rest
All entries by this author
Militant atheists crush freedom
Aug 18th, 2010 | Filed by Ophelia BensonMark Helprin is worried about “the rise of anti-religious orthodoxy.”… Read the rest
Cue Vera Lynn
Aug 17th, 2010 5:00 pm | By Ophelia BensonOkay I’m off. Have to make sure I have everything I need, and do various other chores. Take care of yourselves, drink your Ovaltine. I’ll be back Sunday.… Read the rest
Proud ‘n’ patriarchal
Aug 17th, 2010 4:11 pm | By Ophelia BensonJames Fergusson says everybody should calm down and not get in such a swivet about women being treated like rebellious livestock in Afghanistan.
This does not mean the west should stand by in silence. On the contrary, it is our duty to go on arguing the case for gender equality and to keep Afghans engaged in that old debate. But we have no right to be shrill…
No right to be “shrill”? Why not? Why doesn’t anybody have a right to be “shrill” about gross cruelty and vindictiveness and oppression?
Well because we don’t understand, Fergusson says.
… Read the restIt might help if we understood the Taliban better. The harshness of the punishments they sometimes mete out only seems incomprehensible to the
Mohammed Mostafaei talks to the BBC
Aug 17th, 2010 | Filed by Ophelia BensonHe says his long campaign for human rights and respect for the rule of law will continue, whether he’s inside Iran or in exile.… Read the rest
“They think they can do anything to women”
Aug 17th, 2010 | By Maryam NamazieThe bible is useful for our day-to-day challenges
Aug 17th, 2010 11:43 am | By Ophelia BensonLord Mackay of Clashfern is a funny guy. He’s a We Wee Free, and he thinks Scots courts should use the bible to help them out with the law stuff.
… Read the restMackay, who is also the current Lord Clerk Register, the oldest surviving “Great Office of State” in Scotland, now acts as honorary president of the Scottish Bible Society (SBS), and has invited sheriffs and judges to refamiliarise themselves with biblical principles and act accordingly when presiding over court cases…
“I believe the teaching of the Bible is vitally important for guidance in daily living for all of us.“The…modern version is especially useful in dealing with our day-to-day challenges.
“If we use it in this way we will soon learn
Ray Kurzweil does not understand the brain
Aug 17th, 2010 | Filed by Ophelia BensonPZ explains why it’s much, much more complicated than Kurzweil thinks.… Read the rest
How settling with the Taliban puts women at risk
Aug 17th, 2010 | Filed by Ophelia BensonIf we’re going to be realistic, let’s at least face what the sacrifices would be.… Read the rest
Bad Science: AstraZeneca exec admits “burying” data
Aug 17th, 2010 | Filed by Ophelia BensonDoctors and academics know there are only informal and ad hoc systems to deal with buried data, and these systems have clearly failed.… Read the rest
NHS Tayside sacks 500, seeks homeopath
Aug 17th, 2010 | Filed by Ophelia BensonAt £68,000 a year. Everybody should apply.… Read the rest
Russian tycoon to employees: join church or lose jobs
Aug 17th, 2010 | Filed by Ophelia BensonSays the drought and fires are “punishment for the Russian people’s sins.” Doesn’t say how he knows.… Read the rest
Pink Triangle outraged at the attack on Leo Igwe’s parents
Aug 16th, 2010 | Filed by Ophelia BensonPTT secretary George Broadhead said: “Mr Igwe has demonstrated his staunch support for LGBT rights.”… Read the rest
BioLogos at Huffington Post
Aug 16th, 2010 12:07 pm | By Ophelia BensonYou can blame Jerry Coyne for pointing out Pete Enns. The damage is done, at any rate.
He’s a condescending bugger, I must say.
To say that God’s existence is detectable with certainty through reason, logic, and evidence is a belief because it makes some crucial assumptions. For one thing, it assumes that our intellectual faculties are the best, or only, ways of accessing God. This is an assumption that privileges Western ways of knowing and excludes other wholly human qualities like emotion and intuition.
See that? He’s calling “intellectual faculties” Western, which is a little bit of an insult to people who are not Western.
… Read the restIt is an old argument but a good one: any god worthy
Reserve’s last rhino butchered for her horn
Aug 16th, 2010 | Filed by Ophelia BensonRhino horn has been used for centuries in “Traditional Chinese Medicine,” though it has no magic properties and is like a fingernail.… Read the rest
See here, chaps, what Afghan chaps do is their own affair
Aug 16th, 2010 | Filed by Ophelia BensonIs it not presumptuous to insist that a proud, patriarchal society that has survived for 3,000 years should now instantly stop cutting women’s noses off?… Read the rest
Surprise: jobless women don’t need babies
Aug 16th, 2010 | Filed by Ophelia BensonThe need for abortion goes up in a recession because pregnancy doesn’t magically make women financially secure.… Read the rest
Scots peer campaigns for biblical law
Aug 16th, 2010 | Filed by Ophelia Benson“The Bible is a unique resource as the foundational source book for Scotland’s legal system.”… Read the rest
Taliban stones a couple in a crowded bazaar
Aug 16th, 2010 | Filed by Ophelia Benson“The Taliban warned villagers if anyone does anything un-Islamic, this will be their fate.”… Read the rest
Clerical rape survivor “shattered” by pope’s decision
Aug 16th, 2010 | Filed by Ophelia Benson“If those two had stood up, children would have been stopped from being abused. The fact that the Pope doesn’t see that is the final straw for me.”… Read the rest