And I’m invited! First time ever! Marcotte and I will talk on Etiquette and Comportment for Atheist Ladies.… Read the rest
All entries by this author
Jack of Kent: ‘An Astonishingly Liberal Judgment’
Apr 1st, 2010 | Filed by Ophelia BensonScientific controversies must be settled by the methods of science rather than by the methods of litigation.… Read the rest
Index on Censorship on Singh Ruling
Apr 1st, 2010 | Filed by Ophelia BensonA chilling effect on public debate which might otherwise have assisted potential patients to make informed choices.… Read the rest
Singh’s Victory Raises Hopes for Libel Reform
Apr 1st, 2010 | Filed by Ophelia BensonThe judges quoted Orwell and Milton, made clear that court is not the place to settle scientific controversies.… Read the rest
Simon Singh Wins Appeal
Apr 1st, 2010 | Filed by Ophelia BensonRuling determines that Singh can defend his writing as ‘fair comment’ rather than having to justify it as fact. … Read the rest
The sole test of a good priest
Mar 31st, 2010 12:40 pm | By Ophelia BensonHitchens coldly observes that the pope is not above the law. ‘The pathetic excuses of Joseph Ratzinger’s apologists evaporate before our eyes.’
So now a new defense has had to be hastily improvised. It is argued that, during his time as archbishop of Munich and Freising, Germany, Ratzinger was more preoccupied with doctrinal questions than with mere disciplinary ones.
So we read that New York Times article and we learn more about the pope’s preoccupations.
… Read the restCardinal Ratzinger ruffled feathers almost upon arrival in Munich by ordering priests to return to celebrating First Communion and first confession in the same year, rather than having the first confession a year later, a practice that had become established over the previous
AI Annual Report on the Death Penalty
Mar 31st, 2010 | Filed by Ophelia BensonAfter China, the worst offending nations were Iran, Iraq, Saudi Arabia and the US.… Read the rest
Serbia Apologizes for Srebrenica Massacre
Mar 31st, 2010 | Filed by Ophelia BensonSerbia’s parliament voted to condemn the 1995 massacre of c. 8,000 Bosnians and apologize to the victims.… Read the rest
Catholic Church Practicing Unholy Art of Spin
Mar 31st, 2010 | Filed by Ophelia BensonSay it’s old news. Blame someone else. Say up is down. Demonize gays. Blame the victims. Blow smoke.… Read the rest
Washington Post Asks: Should Pope Resign?
Mar 31st, 2010 | Filed by Ophelia BensonNo. He should remain while the profiteering, woman-fearing, guilt-gorging, truth-hating, child-raping institution falls.… Read the rest
Hitchens Notes: the Pope is not Above the Law
Mar 31st, 2010 | Filed by Ophelia BensonIt is impossible to miss the calculated manner in which the predators used the authority of the confessional.… Read the rest
Not to be missed
Mar 30th, 2010 12:13 pm | By Ophelia BensonJosh Slocum suggested that I should flag up Alaina Podmorow’s retort to Melanie Butler’s article here, so that people who read just this page wouldn’t miss it. Good idea. So if you read this page and no other – well one, you’re a chump, because the front page is updated every day, so you’re missing news items and the occasional Flashback goody as well as a lot of very good articles – but two, don’t miss Alaina’s piece. Alaina is 13, she founded Little Women for Little Women in Afghanistan when she was 9, she has raised a lot of money for women in Afghanistan and has seen the money matched by the Canadian government. She doesn’t agree with … Read the rest
‘Contrarian’ Spiked Joins Defenders of Church
Mar 30th, 2010 | Filed by Ophelia BensonIt wasn’t that bad, and besides, new atheists, ew.… Read the rest
‘Hutaree’ Militia and Rise of Far-right Violence
Mar 30th, 2010 | Filed by Ophelia BensonDisingenuous for mainstream purveyors of incendiary far-right rhetoric to say there are ‘crazies on both sides.’… Read the rest
More Props for Alaina Podmorow
Mar 30th, 2010 | Filed by Ophelia BensonAnd a rebuke for Canadian universities.… Read the rest
Terry Glavin Cheers On Alaina Podmorow
Mar 30th, 2010 | Filed by Ophelia BensonSchoolgirl crushes ‘post-colonial feminist theory’ that attacks feminists who do real work for their living sisters in Afghanistan.… Read the rest
Nick Cohen on Defending Violent Misogyny
Mar 30th, 2010 | Filed by Ophelia BensonHow it becomes politically reputable to ignore the suffering of others.… Read the rest
Pharisee? Moi?
Mar 29th, 2010 5:40 pm | By Ophelia BensonAnd now, for a different take on the whole ‘why are you telling atheists to shut up when we’ve barely had time to open our mouths?’ question, we can consider how these things should be done. With a little panache, that’s how.
… Read the rest[F]reethought thrives on contrarian impulses. The whole “Who says so?” attitude of many secular humanists leads to purist rigor, one-upsman-ship, even soteriology: The God I don’t believe in is bigger than the God you don’t believe in. The harm religion did me was more serious than the harm religion did you. The full-frontal unbelief I represent is truer and purer than the unbelief you’re espousing. Reason saves, faith enslaves. (That’s pretty good: try it on a
Joe sticks it to the man
Mar 29th, 2010 5:11 pm | By Ophelia BensonThe pope is such a rad rebellious dude – he doesn’t take any shit from anybody, you know? He’s his own man. He makes up his own mind. He doesn’t let the vulgar herd tell him what to say or do or think. Odi profanum et proceo kind of thing.
Addressing crowds in St Peter’s square during a Palm Sunday service, the pope did not directly mention the scandal spreading though Europe and engulfing the Vatican, but alluded to it during his sermon. Faith in God, he said, led “towards the courage of not allowing oneself to be intimidated by the petty gossip of dominant opinion”.
Yeah, man! Sing it! The pope is like Holden Caulfield or somebody – fighting … Read the rest
Greta Christina Says Thanks for the Advice
Mar 29th, 2010 | Filed by Ophelia Benson‘I have yet to see a believer advise the atheist movement to speak up more loudly and more passionately.’… Read the rest