And Simon Jenkins is a bozo.… Read the rest
All entries by this author
Pope gives top job to misogynist thug
Jul 1st, 2010 | Filed by Ophelia BensonCardinal Marc Ouellet thinks a raped woman must be forced to bear her rapist’s baby.… Read the rest
Professor charged in ‘holy water’ fraud
Jul 1st, 2010 | Filed by Ophelia BensonGuy sold digital whatsits that he said could change tap water into holy water from Lourdes.… Read the rest
Bishop who?
Jul 1st, 2010 12:32 pm | By Ophelia BensonNow that the Desmond Tutu moment is in the past, let me say, on the other hand, notice that Josh Rosenau linked to YNH just last Saturday – long after it should have been blindingly obvious to any reasonable person that it was not a truth-telling or fair or decent blog. He did partially admit that, but he linked anyway.
… Read the restYou’re Not Helping has been on a roll lately about that latter point, rightly criticizing various folks who criticize such calls for prayer without offering any alternative. While I think YNH has lately become less helpful than they used to be, their highlighting of the work being done by Mississippi Atheists, and of opportunities to donate to ongoing
Christopher Hitchens
Jul 1st, 2010 11:12 am | By Ophelia BensonI wrote this about eight years ago for “In the Library.” It hints at why I hope Christopher Hitchens stays around.
Christopher Hitchens is a standing reproach to people who write the odd essay now and then. He is like some sort of crazed writing machine, he seems to average three or four longish essays a day, along with reading everything ever written and remembering all of it, knowing everyone worth knowing on most continents, visiting war zones and trouble spots around the globe, going on television and overbearing even noisy Chris Matthews’ efforts to interrupt him, and irritating people. And what’s even more painful is that this torrent of prose is nothing like the torrents of people like Joyce … Read the rest
I’m all Desmond Tutu this morning
Jul 1st, 2010 10:59 am | By Ophelia BensonThe story partly told in Flaming Out was concluded yesterday. The “Will” who did a truculent notpology on Sunday evening, and then spent the next three days reading the reactions of the people he had targeted, gave it up and did a real apology, and answered questions, and explained without trying to explain away or evade or blame. He feels extremely crappy about it, crappy enough to abandon all the defensive self-justifying other-blaming nonsense he did before.
So that’s over. And he’s obviously nothing to do with Kees/Bernie Ranson. And he’s not “Signal,” either, so I got that wrong, so I apologized to Signal. I apologize to Ben Nelson, too, for interrupting his conversation with Signal … Read the rest
Gillard tells it as she sees it on the god issue
Jul 1st, 2010 | Filed by Ophelia BensonThe Christian lobby claims a large constituency and makes no bones about requiring political leaders to take heed.… Read the rest
Science journalists don’t know the obstacles
Jul 1st, 2010 | Filed by Ophelia BensonScientists would love to do more outreach, but they don’t have the resources.… Read the rest
Jerry Coyne on why evolution of eyespots
Jun 30th, 2010 | Filed by Ophelia BensonThe evolution of “eye avoidance” (which generalizes to eyespot avoidance) is likely to be innate rather than learned.… Read the rest
Christopher Hitchens to undergo chemotherapy
Jun 30th, 2010 | Filed by Ophelia BensonDouble-plus ungood.… Read the rest
The pope’s plans
Jun 30th, 2010 5:43 pm | By Ophelia BensonThe pope has plans to fight the good fight against secularization and re-impose Catholic theocracy in developed countries where it has lost a lot of popularity lately.
Pope Benedict XVI announced the new Vatican department dedicated to tackling what he called “a grave crisis in the sense of the Christian faith and the role of the church”…
The new department, to be called The Pontifical Council for New Evangelisation, will try to reinvigorate belief among Catholics in rich, developed countries — or, in the Pontiff’s words, “find the right means to repropose the perennial truth of the Gospel”.
Do we detect a note of sarcasm? Anyway, one wonders how this pontifical council will go about the reinvigorating. Posters on … Read the rest
Belgium sets the Vatican straight
Jun 30th, 2010 5:00 pm | By Ophelia BensonBelgium isn’t having it. Very good.
Belgium and the Vatican are on a collision course after the Holy See accused the Belgian police of using communist tactics in their paedophilia raids on Catholic bishops last week…
The Belgian Foreign Minister, Steven Vanackere, underlined the Belgian judiciary’s independence from the Church and its freedom to investigate.
“It’s good to [keep in mind] very important principles of the state of law. [There are] very elementary principles of having a separation of powers and accepting that the judiciary has to do its work,” Mr Vanackere told RNW. “That’s crucial for every democratic state.”
And that’s all there is to it. The Belgian government is the right body to investigate crimes by priests; … Read the rest
Buddhists have their sentiments hurt!
Jun 30th, 2010 | Filed by Ophelia BensonCombining pseudo-humility and threats in a new and exciting way.… Read the rest
Belgium trumps Vatican on chuch abuse probes
Jun 30th, 2010 | Filed by Ophelia BensonInsists that Belgian law enforcement authorities — not the Catholic Church — will investigate sexual abuse cases involving clergy.… Read the rest
Belgium reminds Vatican who is in charge
Jun 30th, 2010 | Filed by Ophelia BensonBelgian Foreign Minister underlined the Belgian judiciary’s independence from the Church and its freedom to investigate.… Read the rest
Pope plans new theocratic push
Jun 30th, 2010 | Filed by Ophelia BensonRatzinger will create a new Vatican office to fight secularisation and “re-evangelise” the West. … Read the rest
Why Belgian cops raided church institutions
Jun 30th, 2010 | Filed by Ophelia BensonThey had reliable information that the church was hiding information on sexual abuse.… Read the rest
The chat show in Pakistan
Jun 29th, 2010 4:35 pm | By Ophelia BensonIs it okie dokie for Muslim men to have concubines?
Why of course it is; what a silly question. Evry fule kno that.
The first condition is that if during waging of jihad the women who come with the enemy forces to support them are captured and the emir of the army distributes them, it is his discretion, we can keep them as concubines. Second, if we explore and find some market where slaves and concubines are sold and the sale is established as a social institution there, the women you buy from there will be concubine. Abducting a free woman to take her as a concubine or to sell a free woman is, I think, wrong…
Oh my, … Read the rest
Heads I win tails you lose
Jun 29th, 2010 4:06 pm | By Ophelia BensonThe Vatican seems to want to have it both ways. It wants to tell everybody what to do, especially all Catholics, especially especially all priests. It wants to tell everybody what to do about abortion and condoms and assisted suicide. It wants to tell all Catholics what to do about that only more so, and on pain of excommunication. It wants to tell priests not to marry or have sex with women (children are ok) or go to the police when they know a colleague has been raping children. It wants to be the boss of everyone. But – then when people get angry about what its priests have been getting up to, it wants to say no no … Read the rest
Vatican and Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act
Jun 29th, 2010 | Filed by Ophelia BensonIs the Vatican a state or an employer?… Read the rest