The county prosecutor, who initially offloaded these cases onto the city government, has said his office will continue to handle these cases, though with less staff.… Read the rest
All entries by this author
Topeka decriminalizes domestic violence to save money 
Oct 16th, 2011 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
18 people have been arrested on domestic violence charges since September and released without charges because no agency is accepting new cases.… Read the rest
NSS challenges free parking for church goers
Oct 16th, 2011 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Worshippers at three churches do not pay to use two public car parks on a Sunday
morning, while shoppers do.… Read the rest
International
Oct 15th, 2011 4:16 pm | By Ophelia BensonI got a package in the mail today and it turned out to be two copies of Does God Hate Women translated into Polish. Yip!
Dlaczego Bóg nienawidzi kobiet?
This feminist and human rights activist likes it.
Greetings, Poland.… Read the rest
(This is a syndicated post. Read the original at FreeThoughtBlogs.)
The good of the faith community takes priority
Oct 15th, 2011 3:46 pm | By Ophelia BensonValerie Tarico interviewed Janet Heimlich last May, on the subject of Heimlich’s new book on religious child maltreatment.
Tarico: Some people would say that religion prevents child abuse – that a supportive spiritual community or a personal relationship with a higher power, or a strong moral core is the antidote to maltreatment.
Heimlich: As I state in the book, families generally benefit from participating in religious activities. Still, we are only beginning to understand how children are harmed in certain religious communities. In my research, I found that, in these problematic cultures, the good of the faith community as a whole takes priority over members’ individual needs, and this is particularly true with how those communities view children.
And … Read the rest
(This is a syndicated post. Read the original at FreeThoughtBlogs.)
Therefore
Oct 15th, 2011 12:51 pm | By Ophelia BensonJesus and Mo are too deep for the barmaid.
(This is a syndicated post. Read the original at FreeThoughtBlogs.)
When in doubt, threaten
Oct 15th, 2011 12:44 pm | By Ophelia BensonDefinitely; the thing to do when you disagree with a woman or girl is to threaten violence. Absolutely. It’s only weak feeble worthless people – like women and girls - who hesitate to do that.
A high school girl objects to a prayer on a wall of her school; Fox News reports; the threats come in.
… Read the restI say just take her out to the parking lot, put on some gloves so as not to leave any marks, and just b e a t her selfish little a s s for her. If she tells on you, b e a t her a s s again. What have you got to lose? I can guarantee that throwing bibles at
(This is a syndicated post. Read the original at FreeThoughtBlogs.)
Why do televangelists ask for money?
Oct 15th, 2011 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Why don’t they just pray for it, instead?… Read the rest
YouGov–Cambridge survey of British attitudes
Oct 15th, 2011 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
79% agreed and 11% disagreed that religion is a cause of much misery and conflict in the world today.… Read the rest
Duct tape and baling wire
Oct 14th, 2011 3:27 pm | By Ophelia BensonAn interview with Valerie Tarico.
How and why she left evangelicalism:
I would say that from adolescence on I struggled to fend off moral and rational contradictions in my faith, evolving more and more idiosyncratic ways of holding the pieces together. In particular, I couldn’t understand how I was going to be blissfully, perfectly happy - indifferent to the fact that other people were experiencing eternal anguish.
Bingo. That’s something that always troubles me (to put it as mildly as possible) about non-questioning evangelicals - that indifference to the fact that other people are experiencing eternal anguish. It’s a horrible, unspeakable thought, yet some people are apparently perfectly fine with it.
… Read the restThe final straw came while I was completing
(This is a syndicated post. Read the original at FreeThoughtBlogs.)
Meanwhile, in Calabar
Oct 14th, 2011 1:52 pm | By Ophelia BensonThe Nigerian columnist and public intellectual Edwin Madunagu has written a piece about Leo Igwe and the Nigerian Humanist Movement.
… Read the restI first met Leo Igwe a couple of years ago when he came to the free library I oversee in Calabar to do some research. From the type of books he consulted in the library and the books and papers he had with him, I guessed he was interested in philosophy, sociology and human rights. Later, I learnt from him that he was working for a higher degree or diploma at the University of Calabar. I also learnt that, simultaneously, he was active in a human rights organization called the Nigerian Humanist Movement…
…when Leo Igwe sought audience with
(This is a syndicated post. Read the original at FreeThoughtBlogs.)
Edwin Madunagu on Humanism and its enemies
Oct 14th, 2011 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Our interest in Leo Igwe’s seminars was strong on account of its specific subject: rescuing, and defending the rights of, children accused of “witchcraft”.… Read the rest
Did a wolf howl?
Oct 14th, 2011 1:20 pm | By Ophelia BensonWhat’s going on, has ERV blown a new whistle or what? Suddenly Teh Menz are popping up on an old thread to display their vocabularies.… Read the rest
(This is a syndicated post. Read the original at FreeThoughtBlogs.)
Eric MacDonald on Julian Baggini on religion and science
Oct 14th, 2011 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Religion can’t give up on the hows of the universe, since, from the religious point of view, the hows just are answered in terms of whys.… Read the rest
Further detail on “Obedient Wives” story
Oct 14th, 2011 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
‘In a 115-page book titled “Islamic Sex, Fighting Jews to Return Islamic Sex to the World,” the group calls on Muslim husbands to have sex with all their wives simultaneously.’… Read the rest
Obedient Wives Club of Malaysia publishes Islamic sex guide
Oct 14th, 2011 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
In June the club’s vice-president advised women to behave like a ”first-class whore” while in the company of their husbands.… Read the rest
Fallows on anti-Mormon “bigotry”
Oct 13th, 2011 5:42 pm | By Ophelia BensonJames Fallows is irritating in a different way from Andrew Sullivan. He’s reliably…middle. Safe; predictable; good at thinking what Everyone thinks.
Sometimes what Everyone thinks is just wrong. Fallows as Everyone thinks anti-Mormonism is simply another bigotry, like racism.
Groan.
I do understand the political handicapping aspect of stories about the “Mormon angle.” It’s like asking three years ago whether America was “ready” for a black president. Or whether we’re “ready” for a Hispanic, female, Jewish, Asian, Muslim, atheist, gay, unmarried, overweight, etc President.
Not quite. Some of those items are based on ideas or beliefs, while others aren’t. It’s not sensible to treat them all as the same kind of thing for this purpose.
… Read the restTo be against Mitt Romney
(This is a syndicated post. Read the original at FreeThoughtBlogs.)
Jackpot
Oct 13th, 2011 4:23 pm | By Ophelia BensonThree long-term holds at the library all just turned up at once (long-term as in there are a lot of people on the list ahead of you).
American Gods by Neil Gaiman
The Warmth of Other Suns by Isabel Wilkerson
Delusions of Gender by Cordelia Fine.
Rubs hands with glee.
(I know, very horse-and-buggy. But I still like books.)… Read the rest
(This is a syndicated post. Read the original at FreeThoughtBlogs.)
Higher bullshitting
Oct 13th, 2011 1:02 pm | By Ophelia BensonAndrew Sullivan thinks “militant atheists” have an excessively crude epistemology. (Via WEIT)
First he tells us how his works.
… Read the restAs to Coyne’s challenge to present a criterion of what is real in the Bible and what is true, I’d argue that empirical claims - like, say, a census around the time of Christ’s birth, or the rule of Pontius Pilate in Palestine at the time – can be tested empirically. But the Gospels themselves have factually contradictory Nativity and Crucifixion stories…and so scream that these are ways to express something inexpressible – God’s entrance into human history as a human being.
If you are treating these texts as if they were just published as news stories in the
(This is a syndicated post. Read the original at FreeThoughtBlogs.)
