Pope invited bishops ‘to explain why so many cases had been systematically covered up.’… Read the rest
All entries by this author
The pope invited the bishops to explain
Feb 18th, 2010 5:20 am | By Ophelia BensonIt really is extraordinary how deferential the news media are toward the Vatican and how completely they are letting the pope get away with pretending to be outraged by the fact that the Irish church concealed sexual abuse of children when in fact the pope told them to do exactly that less than a decade ago. It really is extraordinary the way journalists simply fail to point that out. One is tempted to think they’re not doing their jobs properly.
… Read the restPope Benedict spent two days in one of the Vatican’s sumptuous marble audience halls closeted with 24 Irish bishops who both individually and collectively confessed to him their shortcomings and omissions in the paedophile clergy scandal which has shocked the
Why Did UK Not Ban ‘Bomb Detectors’ Sooner?
Feb 17th, 2010 | Filed by Ophelia BensonThe British government imposed an export ban on the devices only after the BBC investigation.… Read the rest
WLUML Statement in Support of Gita Sahgal
Feb 17th, 2010 | Filed by Ophelia BensonSahgal has devoted her career to exposing rights violations in Britain, South Asia and internationally.… Read the rest
North Carolina: Xian Students Harrass Teacher
Feb 17th, 2010 | Filed by Ophelia BensonScience teacher was given Bible, postcard of Jesus; students sang ‘Jesus Loves Me’ in class.… Read the rest
Scotland: Violence Against Women is Justified
Feb 17th, 2010 | Filed by Ophelia BensonMost students said it was justified if the woman had an affair, or if she was late in making the tea. … Read the rest
Poland: 22d Exorcists’ Congress Meets
Feb 17th, 2010 | Filed by Ophelia BensonParticipants argued that demonology lessons should be treated more seriously in seminaries.… Read the rest
Guilty Plea in Chinese Herbal ‘Cancer’ Case
Feb 17th, 2010 | Filed by Ophelia BensonThe sale of ‘traditional Chinese medicines’ is entirely unregulated, so no one is to blame.… Read the rest
BBC Presenter Arrested in Assisted Suicide
Feb 17th, 2010 | Filed by Ophelia Benson‘We had a pact – he said if the pain gets bad and if nothing can be done, don’t let him linger on.’… Read the rest
Papal Nuncio Refuses to Testify on Child Abuse
Feb 17th, 2010 | Filed by Ophelia BensonPeople in Ireland find this annoying; meanwhile, the pope continues to shed crocodile tears.… Read the rest
Reversing Female Genital Mutilation
Feb 17th, 2010 | Filed by Ophelia BensonAt least 77,000 women and girls in the UK have been mutilated; around 24,000 girls are at risk.… Read the rest
Political Theory and the “Group Rights” Debate
Feb 17th, 2010 | By Joshua F. LeachIt took a Bertrand Russell to first notice that political ideologies tend to evolve over time into their polar opposites; and it took a George Orwell to point out that words which today nearly all people embrace, such as freedom and democracy, can mean very different things to different people. Today, however, most people are jaded enough to accept and even expect these sorts of insincerities. To point them out at all has become banal.
But every once in a while it is incumbent upon honest people to go back to the drawing board and remind themselves what ideologies represent and what words really mean. Nowhere is this more necessary than in the debates surrounding group rights and multiculturalism.
There … Read the rest
Gentle Jesus, meek and mild
Feb 17th, 2010 11:47 am | By Ophelia BensonWe hear so much about ‘militant’ atheists and yet it is theists who like to bully people. A science teacher in North Carolina has been suspended for saying caustic’ things about her students at Facebook. The students have been bullying her.
… Read the restParents said the situation escalated after a student put a postcard of Jesus on Hussain’s desk that the teacher threw in the trash. Parents also said Hussain sent to the office students who, during a lesson about evolution, asked about the role of God in creation. On her Facebook page, Hussain wrote about students spreading rumors that she was a Jesus hater. She complained about her students wearing Jesus T-shirts and singing “Jesus Loves Me.” She objected to
The Celtic doormat
Feb 17th, 2010 10:57 am | By Ophelia BensonMeanwhile, in Scotland…
A study of schoolchildren has found that most of those questioned thought violence towards women was acceptable if there was a reason behind it. The majority of the pupils said it was justified if the woman had an affair, or if she was late in making the tea.
Or anything in between, no doubt.… Read the rest
If commanded, we will obey
Feb 17th, 2010 10:51 am | By Ophelia BensonThe Catholic church in Ireland is all heart – like Mr Collins, it graciously consents to do what it is obliged to do.
The Primate of All-Ireland Cardinal Seán Brady said this afternoon that were the remit of the Murphy Commission to be extended to other Catholic dioceses in Ireland, the Catholic Church “will co-operate fully with that inquiry.”
Is that not kind? Is that not generous? Is it not affable and condescending and truly gracious? The Catholic church will co-operate fully with an inquiry into its long habit of letting its priests molest children while it keeps the whole thing secret. I’m totally impressed.
… Read the restThe pontiff also noted “the more general crisis of faith affecting the Church,” the
A name to conjure with
Feb 16th, 2010 5:04 pm | By Ophelia BensonThe Templeton Foundation is having more and more success at getting its message under the radar. The Times Higher for instance tells us about an upcoming lecture which will include some things we have grown familiar with in recent months.
… Read the restIt is often assumed that religion and science have always been locked in a life-and-death struggle…Such views would have startled the scholars, including some of the greatest names in British science, who founded what became the Royal Society 350 years ago. In a Faraday Institute public lecture, to be delivered in Cambridge this week, Peter Harrison, Andreas Idreos professor of science and religion at the University of Oxford, will challenge such arguments about the impossibility of being both scientific and
The glowing future
Feb 16th, 2010 4:32 pm | By Ophelia BensonA guy called Joseph Mayton at Comment is Free tells us about the ‘reform-minded younger generation’ in the Muslim Brotherhood.
In many ways, these young people have created a new identity and image of the Brotherhood, both in Egypt and abroad. No longer do knowledgeable people view its members as the stereotypical bearded Islamists. Instead, they see members who talk of their desire for democracy and greater freedoms, not to mention their love for American films. The first time I met a group of the MB’s young bloggers a few years ago, they talked for 10 minutes on the upcoming Charlize Theron and Tom Cruise films.
Aw, gee, really? Isn’t that sweet? Some ‘MB’ bloggers are interested in movies … Read the rest
‘Faith’ and Science Used to Be Cuddly
Feb 16th, 2010 | Filed by Ophelia BensonSays an Oxford professor of science and religion in a lecture at the Templeton Foundation’s ‘Faraday Institute.’… Read the rest
Women Against Fundamentalism on Sahgal
Feb 16th, 2010 | Filed by Ophelia BensonWe know from global experience that women’s rights are the first to be traded in political settlements. … Read the rest