AI has obtained the names of more than 1,800 people reported to have died or been killed during or in connection with the protests since mid-March.
All entries by this author
A better butterfly
Aug 31st, 2011 10:11 am | By Ophelia BensonThe wheels are in motion (or do I mean they’re turning, or grinding? I want to get my clichés right, here) and I’m just about ready to start posting at the Freethought B&W. Once the banner is in place I think that will do it.
Josh fixed up my avatar, so it’s more elegant now. Less sloppy and less sparkly, both.… Read the rest
(This is a syndicated post. Read the original at FreeThoughtBlogs.)
Swedish doctors under fire for “hymen” advice 
Aug 30th, 2011 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
“Society should never condone or accept or promote, give fuel to this kind of madness,” Eduardo Grutzky said.… Read the rest
Leo Igwe on ABC radio (Australia)
Aug 30th, 2011 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
It’s hard to believe that in 2011, people are still being killed because they are believed to be witches. But that’s exactly whats happening in Nigeria, and other parts of Africa.… Read the rest
Witch Hunts and the New Dark Age in Africa
Aug 30th, 2011 | By Leo IgweAs Africa’s foremost scholar once noted, “From time to time, there are witch hunting rituals and cleansing to ensure that witches do not terrorize people and that their powers are kept under control.”
Witches and sorcerers are the most hated people in their community. Even to this day there are places and occasions when they are beaten to death by the rest of the people.
So the witch hunt is not a recent development in Africa. Belief in witchcraft constitutes part of the traditional religion and the witch hunt is a form of traditional religious expression. Witch hunting is as old as the belief in witchcraft in Africa. The persecution of alleged witches has been going on in Africa … Read the rest
Eric MacDonald on Kimberly Winston on new atheism
Aug 30th, 2011 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
All the so-called “new atheists” are tarred with the same brush, and treated in the same cavalier fashion.… Read the rest
Libya: father slit throats of 3 raped daughters
Aug 30th, 2011 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
The girls, 15, 17 and 18, were reported to have been raped by Gaddafi’s soldiers; their father killed them “to lift the shame on his family.”… Read the rest
Lawrence Wilkerson on Dick Cheney
Aug 30th, 2011 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
“The only person Cheney does not seem to find fault with is Cheney.”… Read the rest
Tony Blair “faith” foundation “helps” the Philippines
Aug 30th, 2011 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
150,000 people there have died in religious war, so more faith is just what they need. Go Tony.… Read the rest
Purdah in Texas
Aug 30th, 2011 10:47 am | By Ophelia BensonWe’ve seen all this before. It’s the stay-at-home-daughters movement.
… Read the restThe stay-at-home-daughters movement, which is promoted by Vision Forum, encourages young girls and single women to forgo college and outside employment in favor of training as “keepers at home” until they marry. Young women pursuing their own ambitions and goals are viewed as selfish and antifamily; marriage is not a choice or one piece of a larger life plan, but the ultimate goal. Stay-at-home daughters spend their days learning “advanced homemaking” skills, such as cooking and sewing, and other skills that at one time were a necessity — knitting, crocheting, soap- and candle-making. A father is considered his daughter’s authority until he transfers control to her husband.
It probably
Jesus goes butch
Aug 30th, 2011 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
The macho Jesus movement has been bolstered by books like No More Mr Christian Nice Guy and The Church Impotent – the Feminisation of Christianity.… Read the rest
At least I am not one of them
Aug 29th, 2011 5:49 pm | By Ophelia BensonHarris’s “The End of Faith” launched the so-called “New Atheist” movement, a make-no-apologies ideology that maintains that religion is not just flawed, but evil, and must be rejected.
No, that’s wrong. “New Atheism” doesn’t necessarily claim that religion is flawed; it claims that theism is wrong – not true, mistaken, false; and that it’s permissible to say so in public discussions.
Within two years, Harris was joined on the best-seller list by Richard Dawkins, Christopher Hitchens and Daniel Dennett, who all took religion to task for most — if not all — of the world’s ills.
No, that’s wrong. As usual with these things, it’s off the mark about Dennett’s book. Lazy … Read the rest
Hitchens on Rick Perry and religion
Aug 29th, 2011 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
The risks of hypocrisy seem forever invisible to the politicized Christians, for
whom sufficient proof of faith consists of loud and unambiguous declarations.… Read the rest
Bachmann says god sent quake and hurricane
Aug 29th, 2011 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Campaign says she was kidding. Oh rilly?… Read the rest
Many health-care workers use alt med
Aug 29th, 2011 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
But how many use massage compared to how many use acupuncture?… Read the rest
New atheists are bad newsflash
Aug 29th, 2011 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
New atheism is “an ideology that maintains that religion is not just flawed, but evil.” It’s strident and harmful. Tell everyone.… Read the rest
God intended women
Aug 28th, 2011 5:52 pm | By Ophelia BensonSome more crazy. From Mary Pride’s The Way Home: Beyond Feminism, Back to Reality (quoted in Quiverful, p 135):
Abortion is first of all a heart attitude: ‘Me first.’ ‘My career first.’ ‘My reputation first.’ ‘My convenience first.’ ‘My financial plans first.’ And these same choices are what family planning, which the churches have endorsed for three decades, is all about.
Yes…………and? Why not? Why not think about one’s own self and career and other plans first when deciding what to do with one’s life?
Well she explains why not.
God intended women to spend their lives serving other people.
Oh. So they don’t get to just decide to have some other kind of life, or to combine taking … Read the rest
Skepticlawyer on the collapse of the DSK case
Aug 28th, 2011 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
The prosecutors would have been trying to convince a jury beyond reasonable doubt of a witness they themselves did not believe beyond reasonable doubt.… Read the rest
Pakistan: man rapes girl age 2
Aug 28th, 2011 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Farmer tells workers to convert to Islam, they refuse, his son age 18 kidnaps and rapes their daughter. Allah is merciful.… Read the rest
To impose the lifestyle of Manhattan and Hollywood
Aug 28th, 2011 3:18 pm | By Ophelia BensonMeet the Population Research Institute. It sounds respectable, doesn’t it. But
Founded in 1989, the Population Research Institute is a non-profit research and educational organization dedicated to objectively presenting the truth about population-related issues, and to reversing the trends brought about by the myth of overpopulation. Our growing, global network of pro-life groups spans over 30 countries.
It’s dedicated to objectively presenting its pronatalist antifeminist views as truth, so that’s an oxymoron, innit.
Its mission is to
… Read the restDebunk the myth of overpopulation, which cheapens human life and paves the way for abusive population control programs
Expose the relentless promotion of abortion, abortifacient contraception, and chemical and surgical sterilization in misleadingly labeled “population stabilization,” “family planning,” and “reproductive health” programs.
